Magic - magick

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

wavebreaker	04 Jun 2002
I see that a lot of people spell magic as "magick". Is there a special reason for this, tradition maybe? Does the word magick have a different meaning than the word magic? Just curious... ;)

Faerie Lin	04 Jun 2002
Magick with the k at the end is about spells and such... Magic is the rabbit out of the hat, illusionary trick type stuff. Lin

wavebreaker	04 Jun 2002
Thanks for explaining Faerie Lin!

Kiama	04 Jun 2002
And you know you've been talking about the spells kind of magick when you end up writing a k on the end of magic in English essays! (I keep on getting told off for this! That'll teach me to check my work!) Kiama

wavebreaker	04 Jun 2002
...and if you end up with a room full of rabbits after you've done a spell, you know you've used the wrong kind of magic/k... :D

Jenny-Li	04 Jun 2002
Hi! I posted the very same question a couple of months ago - nice to know I'm not the only one wondering! :D I think you got the shorter version of the answer though, because "my" thread ended up several pages with historical backgrounds, linguistic debates and what not...! See if you can find it, if you want the long story...! Jenny :)

rostie	04 Jun 2002
Quote: Originally posted by tarotlady_nl ...and if you end up with a room full of rabbits after you've done a spell, you know you've used the wrong kind of magic/k... :D that's a funny one, tarotlady, lol!!! and nice to know the difference, i was wondering it myself to lately...

Musicman	04 Jun 2002
Aleister Crowley is usually accredited with making 'magick' a common usage in occult matters so people would not associate it with 'magic' as a parlour trick etc...

Martin	06 Jun 2002
Hello, The "k" in magick was coined by Crowley to indicate the type of magic he performed, which is nothing like the candle magic etc which most people perform and so really shouldn't be used to denote it. Crowley being a ceremonial magician believed that before any magick could be performed it was necessary to first evoke and bind demons and other forces of the underworld. This being a distinguishing feature of many ceremonial operations. The letter K is the eleventh letter of not only the english language but several others, and corresponds to the Qlipoth. Qlipoth is a Hebrew word meaning "shells" (the singular is Qlippah), which is used as a term to denote evil demons, fallen spirits, chaotic forces etc. Thus adding a K denotes his magick includes the control of demons (being the big fan of Goetia that he was!). The anglo-saxon K also stands for kteis, which means vagina, the complement of the wand (the phallus), the two together completing the Great Work. This was important to Crowley as the OTO of which he became the head, and revised many of the rituals, had a heavy emphasis on tantra and sex magic. Crowley himself also added that the K distinguished what he saw as the true art of the magi from the counterfeits, included in those counterfeits are the magics of witchcraft. To quote Crowley himself in Book 4 "all the works of witchcraft are illusory". It seems ironic then that witches and pagans will now take up the spelling Magick to describe their own workings, when this term was coined precisely to exclude it!! Hope this clarifies the issue? I personally use the term magic, when you say it it makes no difference whether it has a k on or not, and when you read about it is quite obvious that one is not instructing on the art of sleight of hand without the addition of the k. Martin

The Magic - magick thread was originally posted on 04 Jun 2002 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.