Magic paranormal: Encyclopedia II - Magic paranormal - Beliefs

Magic paranormal - Beliefs

Many people in the West claim to believe in or practise various forms of magic. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and their followers are most often credited with the resurgence of magical tradition in the English speaking world of the 20th century, but in their eagerness to reconstruct the lost traditions of the past, they often included elements of questionable authenticity, or items altogether manufactured. Other, similar movements took place at roughly the same time, centred in France and Germany. Thus, any current tradition which acknowledges the natural elements, the seasons, and the practitioner's relationship with the Earth, Gaia, or the Goddess may be correctly regarded as Neopagan, and few such traditions can be sensibly labelled more authentic than any others.

Aleister Crowley preferred the spelling magick, defining it as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will." By this, he included "mundane" acts of will as well as ritual magic. In Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter XIV, Crowley says:

Although some current practitioners of magic prefer the term Pagan, Neopaganism is more precise for scholarly reference to current rituals and traditions (though both are technically correct, as Neopaganism is but a particular subset of Paganism). Wicca is a more codified form of modern magic than Neopaganism, again owing much to Crowley and his ilk.

Wiccans and other followers of modern religious Witchcraft use magic extensively. However, they do not all subscribe to Aleister Crowley's definition of what that is, nor use it for the same purposes. Ruickbie (2004:193-209) shows that Wiccans and Witches define magic in many different ways and use it for a number of different purposes. Despite that diversity of opinion, he concludes that the general result upon the practitioner is a positive one.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Beliefs", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki