[Opinion] Why do you study and practice magick?

[zedy]

History and wanting to understand more about the unseen world. To protect oneself and loved ones.

 

[sistersu]

Welcome to the forum!

For me it started more as curiosity than anything else. I’ve always felt drawn to the occult, but for a long time it was something I approached on and off, without much structure.

Over time, that curiosity turned into a more intentional interest. I began to realize that studying and practicing magick wasn’t just about experiences, but about understanding myself better — my mind, my reactions, and my level of discipline.

At this point, I see it as a path of personal development as much as anything else. I’m still at an early stage, but I’m focusing on building foundations, learning discernment, and approaching things with more seriousness rather than just fascination.

 

[Vysas]

Hello, everyone! This is my first post here on Wizard Forums, and I'd like to talk with you all about magick. I found this website while searching for a PDF. Since I started practicing, I've met a few people on this path, mainly because I chose the Left-Hand Path. I've always known it is a solitary path, and I am perfectly fine with that; however, I've always been curious about why others choose it as well.

In this community, I'm looking forward to discovering new perspectives and discussing what made you fall in love with magick, witchcraft or esoteric arts. I am looking to connect with others and gain new insights into the craft.

For example: I recently started learning about Hoodoo. It opened up a whole new world for me, and I'm currently studying the history and social movements surrounding it. It's incredibly interesting.

That is all for now. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.

Tl;dr: What drew you to the study and practice of magick?

Originally, a rather niche bit of knowledge. Presently, constantly exceeding my prior self.

 

[RoseRain]

I worked in a library as a teenager. It was a very large library with one of the most extensive book collections in our state.

I lost my ability to walk. I am bed-bound. To pass the time I decided to learn Tarot. To explain the cards, I bought Michelle Tea’s Tarot book. After each card, Michelle included a spell.

Curious, I looked up spell work. I was absolutely stunned at the amount of books. I was even more shocked to realize that the library I worked at for years carried NO books on the occult. Welcome to the South.

I’ve been an avid reader of all subjects. When I learned that an entire subject had been hidden from me, I was angry. I couldn’t read enough occult books. I devoured them. Fast forward, two years and hundreds of books later, I realized that my beliefs had changed.

Voilà my practice was born.

 

[moonbow]

To be honest, to attain immortality, which obviously includes enlightenment, spiritual empowerment and freedom to as greatest a degree as possible.

Ironically almost everything about magic and occultism as usually practiced today doesn't interest me.

 

[tiede7]

I got into magick through curiosity and a different way of seeing the world since childhood.

When I was a kid, I always felt different from others in how I saw the world, spirituality, and everything around it. I never really believed in the idea of a merciful God sending his son to Earth in a humble and compassionate way. To me, it always sounded too fantastical, especially when compared to a more scientific view.

For me, magick is like a science. You need to document your progress and the circumstances of your practice to observe the results of your intent. That makes much more sense to me.

So I started studying Hermetism, Ceremonial Magick, Chaos Magick, and various other related topics. I also participated in an African-influenced Brazilian tradition called Kimbanda, but I left a few months later.

Since then, I’ve focused on Luciferianism and the Left-Hand Path, and I’m also part of a magical circle.

If I sounded disrespectful in my criticism of Christianity, I apologize — that was not my intention.

 

[SAWAN]

To discover whether it works or not

 

[nopenotmebrofug]

I began out of curiosity and fear-facing. Growing up never fitting in with my religious upbringing, I chose to lean into what I was taught to fear: doubt and anything other than mindlessly regurgitating "god is good, all the time"

Little did I know my journey into demonolatry and magick would help me reclaim, rediscover and heal my soul.

 

[skatedom]

I've always been curious, and there came a time when I had to search for book after book and start studying.

 

[onyxlanding]

To make my life better, as well as to be the best version of myself and connect with the spiritual realm.

 

[A.Nox]

I did not come to magick through romanticism or aesthetics. I came to it through the kind of work that teaches you very quickly that visible decisions are rarely the real ones.When you operate inside political and institutional structures you stop believing that outcomes are shaped by argument, merit, or surface logic alone.They are shaped by strategy, perception, timing, leverage, and the careful management of what people are allowed to see.
Magick interested me because it operates on the same layer.It is not a parallel world to that one —it is the same terrain, approached more honestly. Will, influence, consequence, and the alignment of intent with action are not metaphors to me. They are working categories. I do not align myself with a particular path. I work with specific entities under specific agreements, and I assess the work by its results. What drew me in, and what keeps me here, is the same thing: it works. The rest is vocabulary.

 

[smallville1979]

my problems began when stopped going to church and did a spell. regret it now. still struggling. but was destiny to learn and know how I am and was. dont fully know the truth. how to make it stop. and lost purpose now.

 

[thytheban]

Full transparency, I got into magick because I wanted Lambos. That's it. Lambos and to be on the cover of Hit Parader with a band, looking like a guy who pumps gas for a living but also happens to play drums. So naturally, like any rational human being, I dove headfirst into devil worship.

Now. I found a guy. Haunting a thrift store. Which, in retrospect, should have been the first sign. He said he could show me the ropes, black candles, a butter knife that had to be buried under a blood moon, and apparently, somewhere in the curriculum was desecrating headstones, which even by devil worship standards seems like kind of a dick move. Two nights of hanging out in this dudes garage, not doing a single thing involving devil worship, listening to music so bad it was almost impressive, and drinking beer that tasted like it was filtered through a dumpster, and I thought, you know what, I don't think the devil is getting these Lambos delivered anytime soon. So I bailed.

OK, none of that is actually true.

The real story is this, Catholic guilt, which as a delivery system for spiritual curiosity, is remarkably efficient. Then the Satanic Bible, which is a hell of a costume but fits like someone else's shoes. Then Demonolatry, which was the first time ceremonial magick looked me dead in the eye and said pay attention, kid. Closer. Still not home. Then years of wandering shelves. Then Lon Milo DuQuette. Then Crowley. Then Thelema.

And what actually brought me here? I just kept asking questions that polite society pretended it didn't hear. Some people want to summon demons. Some want power, forbidden knowledge, cosmic revenge on an ex. Me? I'm just trying to summon a version of myself that doesn't suck. One Resh, one LBRP, and one Qabalistic Cross at a time.