What is Magick ?

Magick is the art or science of focusing, tapping into, and using the natural forces found within and around us to bring about change. Magick itself is not, to use a popular phrase, black or white. The use of it by the practitioner determines what direction or path it will take. Witches hold the rede sacred and do not perform negative magick. Spells that harm, manipulate, or cause destruction or pain are all forms of negative magick. In order to perform magick, one must take the time to understand what it is. A basic principal of magick is that you receive from it exactly what you put into it. This refers to the will and effort you put into it, not how elaborate the spell was or how many fancy tools you used. In order to be able to properly focus and work with the forces used in magick, one first be able to understand the natural forces of it in ourselves.

This force is called personal power and is something that must be exercised and understood before any magickal endeavor is done. Magick can be *extremely* dangerous if performed by an unskilled person, or flat out abused. This is why it is so important to constantly exercise and understand your our personal power first. This is done by use of meditation, visualization and concentration. Magick requires a clear purpose in order to be effective. If you don't have a clear purpose, or are scatterbrained during a spell or ritual, the very force of magick becomes just as scattered as you.

Magick is not some mysterious supernatural 'thing'. It is a totally natural force that is all around you in everything from a rock to a glass of water. It is also in you. Understand the magick within you and you will begin to understand the magick all around you. Exercising you personal power, using meditation, opens parts of your mind that in many are foggy or dormant. For some, it's a feeling they have within them that they don't understand or know what to do with. The answer is exercise it, learn to understand it, and yourself. Keeping a record of your spiritual growth in your Book of Shadows will prove very beneficial as it will help you see how far you've come, along with which areas you need to work on the most. Witches never stop exercising their personal power. Like regular exercise, once you stop or become lazy your muscles grow weak. This same principle applies to the personal power, and is the most necessary aspect or tool of magick. So don't stop your regular meditation and visualization exercises.

As you become more in tune with yourself and the natural powers within you, you will be able to feel this natural force in other things as well. You will be able to feel the energy, or vibrations, of gemstones, or ordinary rocks, sense the life force in trees and plants etc. Like all things in nature and mundane life, there is danger involved. Magick is something that must be treated with the proper respect it deserves. It must not be used carelessly. It must not be abused, or used frivolously. Remember that when you use magick, you are the instrument that is calling upon, focusing and directing it. If you are not able to master controlling the magick that is within you, how can you expect to be able to properly call upon or focus the magick that is around you?