There was no need for a term like ‘magical thinking’
in the Golden Age of Man...
There was only genuine everyday magic and mysticism.
Children were not mocked or scolded in those days
for singing to the rain or talking to the wind.

~ Anthon St. Maarten ~

PART 1:  THE TRADITION OF MAGICK

Traditional Magick, often spelled “magick” to differentiate it from  star magic  or prestidigitation, has been around from the earliest days of tribal man and as author Daniel Pinchbeck contends, magick is still “afoot in the world” today. 

(The words sorcery and wizardry are also commonly and incorrectly used, especially within the fictional Harry Potter lexicon and the world of Dungeons and Dragons, though the actual historical usage of these terms generally applies to those working in the more scientific arena of alchemy rather than to those who practiced the art of magick.)

But, what exactly is “real magick”?  There is much debate as to the true essence of magick, but a general consensus of opinion is that it is the process of transforming energy into physical reality, and as writer and shaman Alan Moore theorizes, a form of communication with the universe... 

"There is some confusion as to what magick actually is.  I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magick. Magick in its earliest form is often referred to as “the art”.  I believe this is completely literal.  I believe that magick is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic.  Art is, like magick, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magick seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events.  A grimmoir for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar. Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people's consciousness.  And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman"



Magick has been a part of the story of mankind from its earliest days, found in the symbols, pictures and language of ancient tribes and societies. If we are to cast any light on the origins of magickal thought we have to go down into the darkness, deep into the ancient caves and look upon the prehistoric cave paintings. There we find recorded the images drawn by early humans. When we go down into those caves today with our floodlights we see them as works of art.  But those ancient “artists”, deep in the earth, working by the dancing light of their fires, were really creating works of magick.

These ancient drawings were of the animals that the early humans not only hunted as food, but also venerated as spirits, and their presence of in the land meant the difference between life and death to the people. In time these early humans came to associate the appearance of these animals with the changing of the seasons, and in time the seasons with the movements of the Sun and the Moon and with this association came the awareness of the cycles of Nature. Before long early humans began to comprehend that there was something big, something “magickal” going on and with that awareness came a desire to be a part of  and to perhaps be able to recreate (and even control) that magick.



In reverence of Nature’s wonders the ancients told stories and painted pictures of the strange, mystical events they experienced and they sang and danced in celebration of these wonders. More importantly, in creating this art of myth and legend, as expressed within ritual, they sought to create a “language” through which they might be able to communicate with these magical forces of Nature, in much the same way that the shaman would later be responsible for doing for the tribe.

The shaman's goal, as is the magician's, is to align themselves with the forces of Nature and of Spirit that we can neither understand, nor control, from the perspective of our fragil reality in the material world. The shaman must be able to live astride two worlds; the world of perceived reality and the world of intuitive reality. The shaman actualizes this duality of existence by venturing into what is called the "shamanic state of consciousness" or the"shamanic ecstasy" and it is during these cosmic journeys that the  shaman will travel to other spiritual realms, encountering the people, animals and spirits that inhabit the mystical realms of the Universe and in doing so, the shaman creates an act of magick within the boundaries of these two realities, much as the magickian does within the rituals of magic.

When humans moved from the caves and into cities magick moved with them. Civilization began to take hold, but magick did not loosen its hold on the imagination. The oldest written treatise on the subject of magick is an ancient Egyptian text called the Westcar Papyrus which contains stories about  miracles performed by priests and magicians. These stories, set in the time of King Khufu of the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE), concern magical and wonderous events which happened in the past, present, and which hint at the future. Considering the proliferation of magicalk texts through the past and into the present, through times of censorship into reawakening and revival,  it can be expected that magickal texts will continue to inspire the imagination well into the future.

 

Following the rise of science, there has been a marked shift in thinking on the subject of magick. The magickal practices of the past were supposedly never based upon actul physics; religious miracles were just fairy tales and fairy tales just 'mumbo jumbo'. All of it must be dismissed, including the use of talismans, consulting astrological charts, ancient magic rituals from the past. In the current age, all such related activities have been forcibly branded as anti-scientific, and therefore a fraud. This indeed is the official policy of the establishment authorities of today. 

The alchemists of old are no longer n their dark dungeons seeking an elixir of life, because they have moved into the labs of Big Pharma popping out little blue pills to make old men young again. Moderm wisdom is that ancient magic is all an illusion even though physicists keep discovering that the quantum universe is more mystical than any magician could dream upm It just seems though that the more wisdom tries to prove magick is a fake the more imagination proves it to be real. 

© John Reder

Introduction: Traditional Magick

Part 2: The Principles of Magick

Part 3:The Science of Magick