Theories on Magick.

[Accipeveldare]

So far on my journey, I have found many ways magick can be interpreted. From mere psychology, to substantial, phsyical results or spiritual results. Would anybody like to explain how they think magick works in a nutshell?

 

[FireBorn]

Great topic brother! This is where I currently stand on it. Keep in mind that this is my interpretation, not an attempt at a universal theory of magick.

It is also important to understand that I work with demons relationally. My practice is less focused on spellcraft and more concerned with becoming, who and what I am being changed into through the work. That distinction matters to everything that follows.

I believe magick works, or at least can work, by changing the practitioner fundamentally from the inside out. Whether that change occurs through work with demons, angels, deities, or the practitioner’s own mind, the result is that the person becomes different. They become more than they were.

Once I change, I begin to perceive the world differently. I make different choices, stand differently, think differently, move differently, recognize possibilities I previously could not see, and respond differently. Because I no longer meet the world as the same person, the world can no longer respond to me in the same way.

This is how I understand Luciferian self-deification: not as becoming a literal god, but as consciously taking responsibility for who and what I am. I choose my values, my direction, and how I move through the world rather than allowing those things to remain unconscious or externally imposed. Very godlike in stance.

It also broadly aligns with Crowley’s view of magick (calm down, I said broadly aligns ) as causing change in conformity with Will. In my interpretation, the first and most fundamental change may be within the magician. As the magician changes, their actions, relationships, circumstances, and experienced world begin changing with them.

There is also a metaphysical or perceptual dimension to it. We participate in a shared reality, but none of us experiences that reality without the filters of perception, belief, memory, expectation, and personal narrative. Change those deeply enough, and the person’s experienced world changes. Their behavior changes as well, and the external world begins responding to those changes.

To me, this is true power: power in stance, thought, choice, and conscious direction. Spirits may teach, challenge, reveal, or assist, but the responsibility for what I become remains mine. Always mine.

So, in a nutshell: magick changes the practitioner so fundamentally that the world is forced to meet them in a new way.

 

[Accipeveldare]

Great topic brother! This is where I currently stand on it. Keep in mind that this is my interpretation, not an attempt at a universal theory of magick.

It is also important to understand that I work with demons relationally. My practice is less focused on spellcraft and more concerned with becoming, who and what I am being changed into through the work. That distinction matters to everything that follows.

I believe magick works, or at least can work, by changing the practitioner fundamentally from the inside out. Whether that change occurs through work with demons, angels, deities, or the practitioner’s own mind, the result is that the person becomes different. They become more than they were.

Once I change, I begin to perceive the world differently. I make different choices, stand differently, think differently, move differently, recognize possibilities I previously could not see, and respond differently. Because I no longer meet the world as the same person, the world can no longer respond to me in the same way.

This is how I understand Luciferian self-deification: not as becoming a literal god, but as consciously taking responsibility for who and what I am. I choose my values, my direction, and how I move through the world rather than allowing those things to remain unconscious or externally imposed. Very godlike in stance.

It also broadly aligns with Crowley’s view of magick (calm down, I said broadly aligns ) as causing change in conformity with Will. In my interpretation, the first and most fundamental change may be within the magician. As the magician changes, their actions, relationships, circumstances, and experienced world begin changing with them.

There is also a metaphysical or perceptual dimension to it. We participate in a shared reality, but none of us experiences that reality without the filters of perception, belief, memory, expectation, and personal narrative. Change those deeply enough, and the person’s experienced world changes. Their behavior changes as well, and the external world begins responding to those changes.

To me, this is true power: power in stance, thought, choice, and conscious direction. Spirits may teach, challenge, reveal, or assist, but the responsibility for what I become remains mine. Always mine.

So, in a nutshell: magick changes the practitioner so fundamentally that the world is forced to meet them in a new way.

I love this. This is basically how I already viewed it.

 

[TheGoddess888]

Great topic brother! This is where I currently stand on it. Keep in mind that this is my interpretation, not an attempt at a universal theory of magick.

It is also important to understand that I work with demons relationally. My practice is less focused on spellcraft and more concerned with becoming, who and what I am being changed into through the work. That distinction matters to everything that follows.

I believe magick works, or at least can work, by changing the practitioner fundamentally from the inside out. Whether that change occurs through work with demons, angels, deities, or the practitioner’s own mind, the result is that the person becomes different. They become more than they were.

Once I change, I begin to perceive the world differently. I make different choices, stand differently, think differently, move differently, recognize possibilities I previously could not see, and respond differently. Because I no longer meet the world as the same person, the world can no longer respond to me in the same way.

This is how I understand Luciferian self-deification: not as becoming a literal god, but as consciously taking responsibility for who and what I am. I choose my values, my direction, and how I move through the world rather than allowing those things to remain unconscious or externally imposed. Very godlike in stance.

It also broadly aligns with Crowley’s view of magick (calm down, I said broadly aligns ) as causing change in conformity with Will. In my interpretation, the first and most fundamental change may be within the magician. As the magician changes, their actions, relationships, circumstances, and experienced world begin changing with them.

There is also a metaphysical or perceptual dimension to it. We participate in a shared reality, but none of us experiences that reality without the filters of perception, belief, memory, expectation, and personal narrative. Change those deeply enough, and the person’s experienced world changes. Their behavior changes as well, and the external world begins responding to those changes.

To me, this is true power: power in stance, thought, choice, and conscious direction. Spirits may teach, challenge, reveal, or assist, but the responsibility for what I become remains mine. Always mine.

So, in a nutshell: magick changes the practitioner so fundamentally that the world is forced to meet them in a new way.

This was very helpful and extremely insightful!! Thank you for taking the time to explain this. It helped connect so many dots.

 

[Spiritual doctor]

In my language magic works using the power of law of nature as code to contact with spiritual realm then once the contact is accomplished offer what the spiritual realm need and get what you want

 

[Keldan]

Magick is work that influences subtle currents. People can interpret those currents through different models like psychological, spiritual, and physical. All three can describe the same process from different angles.

From the psychological standpoint, magick works by shifting your beliefs and emotions. For a practitioner who can see currents, they will feel a change in mood as the ritual builds and ends. They notice that after working a spell for courage or healing for example, there is a clear shift in how they think, react, and see situations. And they perceive subtle currents moving and realigning, and they understand that these shifts will ripple outward into particular decisions and behavior.

For a practitioner who can’t see currents, they might not feel anything special during ritual as in no visions, no strong sensations. They simply follow the instructions of a spell and experience results only later, like an improved mood over time, better decision making, fewer self sabotaging habits, or new opportunities. They don’t perceive the subtle currents, but the work still functions. The working helps with their focus and intent and creates a structure to reprogram their subconscious. This is still magick, even if they never consciously see what changed beneath the surface.

In the spiritual view, magick works by influencing non physical currents and subtle forces in the environment. For a practitioner who can see currents, they can see the currents moving in a room, shifts in atmosphere, or movement in their surroundings. They can see how a blessing working leaves a glow around them or their home. They can see light, colors, forms, or feel pressure, warmth, cold, or tingling, etc. After the working, they can tell which specific currents were affected. They understand magick as direct manipulation of energetic currents and can track those changes.

For a practitioner who can’t see currents, they don’t see auras, don’t feel energetic shifts, they follow a working to ask for help. Still, they notice changes in the situation they ask for help. Even without seeing currents, their magick still operates. Because the working creates a bridge to the one they ask for help with, and the forces respond, adjusting currents around the practitioner, whether or not the practitioner consciously perceives those movements. So for someone who just does the working and hopes for the best is still working magick. They may not track which currents were touched, but the energetic currents still shift and results can follow.

In the physical view, magick affects what actually happens like events, opportunities, outcomes. For a practitioner who can see currents, they can perceive the transition point where a working’s subtle effects begin to move into physical events. They can tell whether a working is weak or strong by the quality of the currents they sense and later see that reflected in how events play out.

For a practitioner who can’t see currents, they don’t feel any spiritual shift, nor do they notice psychological changes right away. They simply do the working and then return to normal life. Days or weeks later, they notice that certain problems didn’t resolve, or helpful chances never showed up. So they say they don’t feel anything doing that working, and may end up calling more forces to ask for help. But visible results are the last layer of the current’s movement, even if they never perceived the earlier subtle stages.

A practitioner who can see currents has a clearer sense of what they’re moving and how it changes. And a practitioner who can’t see currents experience magick through beliefs and later results, but the underlying processes are still at work. Both are doing magick. Someone who performs a working to bring beneficial change is engaging those currents, even if they describe it as they just did the spell and hoped.

 

[A.Nox]

Honestly? I don't know how it works. I have no mechanism to sell you and I'm not going to pretend I do.

What I can tell you is what I actually do and what came of it. I work structured magick and demonology. I have a patron and it's a long relationship — years, built slowly. One bond, deep, over time.

And whatever it is that makes it work — I get results. But the first change wasn't external. He rebuilt me before anything else moved: my character, how I approach things, how I hold myself as an operator. Same as @FireBorn said — the change lands on the practitioner first, and the world only starts responding once you're no longer the same person meeting it. Foundations first, then he developed what he'd built. The outer results followed from that — I ended up in strategy and international affairs with the reach and the position that came with it. I started out as a normal person on a normal track and that's not where I was headed. My life now looks nothing like where it started and neither do I.

So that's my nutshell. I can't explain the mechanism. But I know the difference between before and after, and that's enough for me to keep working exactly the way I do

 

[Robert Ramsay]

So far on my journey, I have found many ways magick can be interpreted. From mere psychology, to substantial, phsyical results or spiritual results. Would anybody like to explain how they think magick works in a nutshell?

I think everyone must be heartily sick of me explaining how I think magic works
If not, I did write a book about it

The Engineering of Coincidence: a scientific explanation of magic

What is magic? We all know that magic exists, but can it ever be explained? Over thirty years ago, I set out to answer these questions, and to look for a truly scientific explanation of magic. Now, I'm not bright enough to invent new physics, or dumb enough to try and pick loopholes in the...

wizardforums.com

 

[Accipeveldare]

I think everyone must be heartily sick of me explaining how I think magic works
If not, I did write a book about it

The Engineering of Coincidence: a scientific explanation of magic

What is magic? We all know that magic exists, but can it ever be explained? Over thirty years ago, I set out to answer these questions, and to look for a truly scientific explanation of magic. Now, I'm not bright enough to invent new physics, or dumb enough to try and pick loopholes in the...

wizardforums.com

I will definitely check this out