[Guide] Magic

[Aurellion]

NOTE: This class/discussion is no longer taught/led by a teacher. However, please feel free to read through it and ask any questions that you may have or express any thoughts/opinions you have. Just please don't ask, "Can I join the class?" Because the answer is 'no'. Thank you.

Contrary to what most people think, magick (or magic, whichever you prefer) isn't supernatural. It's a natural process that uses genuine powers not yet labelled by science, and uses personal, earth and divine energies to produce needed effects.

By deciding to do an act of magick - you already are. How? Well, like I said magick uses personal power. Thinking about the act will set your power into motion.

A common question I see popping up in the guild quite often is "do you need tools to do magick?". No, not at all. Magick, at it's simplest (and quite often best) is done without tools - just energy. Back in history those who practised went purely by visualisation. I guess that in "modern times" we need something material - things like crystals, herbs, colours, symbols, wands etc.

So, you don't actually need anything to do magick - just yourself. You don't need a long-winded fancy, rhyming spell. A couple of words will do.

Magick requires patience, and should only be done if there's a real need.

Scott Cunnigham

Don't do magic in hoping it will work: do it in knowing it will work.

 

[Lysdexic Lolerskate]

Very true. biggrin And I love Cunnigham!  

[PurestEmotion]

I completly agree, and most people miss this point, sadly...

I think the best way to put it though is that even prayer can be a form of magick... you are willing it to happen...

All the rituals and that kind of stuff... that is all put into place to help get one into the right mindset, help them believe if need be..  

[Leavaros]

Well that definitely clears up some things for me, such as this, which I asked in the Book of Shadows:

Quote:

Hmm. I might have to try this.... Though to be honest, I can usually sense these sorts of things without an implement. I was...taught, in so many words, that while using such tools may make such studies easier, it may become a crutch, one that I shouldn't need.

Is there any validity to the statement?

Thanks. It was bothering me that there had to be rhyming poetry and crystals. Magic--for me at least--has always been more about "essence" than "seance"*.

Love and Vale,
-LD

*Here, "essence" means "purity of spirit" or "self", whereas "seance", an old ritual using a crystal ball, chanting, and a number of people to call upon the spirits of the dead, indicates tools and outside powers.  

[fallen_sorceress317]

Aurellion

Contrary to what most people think, magick (or magic, whichever you prefer) isn't supernatural. It's a natural process that uses genuine powers not yet labelled by science, and uses personal, earth and divine energies to produce needed effects.

By deciding to do an act of magick - you already are. How? Well, like I said magick uses personal power. Thinking about the act will set your power into motion.

A common question I see popping up in the guild quite often is "do you need tools to do magick?". No, not at all. Magick, at it's simplest (and quite often best) is done without tools - just energy. Back in history those who practised went purely by visualisation. I guess that in "modern times" we need something material - things like crystals, herbs, colours, symbols, wands etc.

So, you don't actually need anything to do magick - just yourself. You don't need a long-winded fancy, rhyming spell. A couple of words will do.

Magick requires patience, and should only be done if there's a real need.

Scott Cunnigham

Don't do magic in hoping it will work: do it in knowing it will work.

Thanks for posting this. I've read a bunch of different wicca books that say you need all this stuff that I don't have available to me. Its nice to know you don't need all of it.  

[Panic Forever]

Does anyone have any spells i can learn? I'm very new at this and I'm still learning.  

[zabazor]

im totally gunna read more of scott cunningham's Wicca, for the solitary practicioner...Got the book, but never got the the magick part i dont think, or didnt get it...I totally dont get magick, i think, cuz i can never seem to get it right  

[SwirlingDark]

This is going to sound odd, but I can't actually do magic. I'm a bit useless, aren't I?

It's not out of choice. Or lack of trying. I put all my will, all my energy into prayers and small spells but they never work. The spells are always for the same thing, too, so it's not as if I'm asking a whole lot.

I'm only using magic (or trying to) because conventional methods have failed me and I really need some extra help.

It's not even as though I'm being horribly impatient. I've been trying every couple of months for over six months for the same thing and I'm getting nowhere.  

[CosmicCrystal]

Have you written spells yourself? I write all my own spells, often based off of others I have found but with my own twist, and they are very effective, but you have to be careful to put all the right energies and intentions into it. Your state of mind can make all the difference.

and no, you are not useless for having trouble with magic!