Magick (Thelema)

Magick, in the context of Aleister Crowley's Thelema, is a term used to differentiate the occult from stage magic and is defined as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", including both "mundane" acts of will as well as ritual magic. Crowley wrote that "it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature".John Symonds and Kenneth Grant attach a deeper occult significance to this preference.

Crowley saw Magick as the essential method for a person to reach true understanding of the self and to act according to one's true will, which he saw as the reconciliation "between freewill and destiny." Crowley describes this process in his Magick, Book 4:

Definitions and general purpose of Magick

The term itself is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick. Aleister Crowley chose the spelling to differentiate his practices and rituals from stage magic and the term has since been re-popularised by those who have adopted elements of his teachings.

Magic

Magic usually refers to:

Magic or Magick may also refer to:

Aviation

Computing

Film and television

Magick (album)

Magick is an album of contemporary classical music by American avant-garde composer John Zorn.

Reception

The Allmusic review awarded the album 3½ stars.

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn.

Personnel

References

Magick (Book 4)

Magick, Liber ABA, Book 4 is widely considered to be the magnum opus of 20th-century occultist Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema. It is a lengthy treatise on Magick, his system of Western occult practice, synthesised from many sources, including Eastern Yoga, Hermeticism, medieval grimoires, contemporary magical theories from writers like Eliphas Levi and Helena Blavatsky, and his own original contributions. It consists of four parts: Mysticism, Magick (Elementary Theory), Magick in Theory and Practice, and ΘΕΛΗΜΑ—the Law (The Equinox of The Gods). It also includes numerous appendices presenting many rituals and explicatory papers.

In November 1911, Crowley carried out a ritual during which he reports being commanded to write Book 4 by a discarnate entity named "Abuldiz" (sometimes spelled "Ab-ul-diz") in Crowley's incomplete record of the working, which came around the time that Liber Legis was ready to be published in The Equinox Vol VII. The working was published in The Equinox Vol. VIII of Vol I. The writing of Book 4 was duly accomplished with the aid of his seer Soror Virakam (Mary Desti) at a villa in Posillipo near Naples, Italy, and was published in the winter of 1912–1913 in The Equinox Vol. VIII of Vol I. Abuldiz appeared in Mary Desti's visions (as Crowley's seer) as an old man with a long white beard, wearing a ring which contained a white feather. Abuldiz communicated that there was a book to be given to Fra. P. (Frater Perdurabo = Crowley). The name of the book was Aba, and its number 4. Another being called Jezel was also in the room where the visions of Abuldiz were seen - he was described as a black-headed 'Turk' or 'Egyptian' wearing a "tarbush" (Fez) and a red sash; one of his hands was covered with crocodile skin. (Crowley comments in the text that Soror Virakam recognized the human counterparty of Jezel as Elias Pasha, the father of Veli Bey, a Turkish man whom man Mary Desti married after she divorced Preston Sturges).