What is magic, as described by the Wiccan religion?

Question

I've long considered myself a pantheist, and recently have been drawn by some of the ideas of Wicca. It seems to make a lot of sense to me, as long as I view 'magic' as a power that humans exert, that expresses itself within the laws of physics.

But is this a correct Wiccan view of magic? Is magic supposed to work within nature as we see it, or do Wiccans see magic as a force operating outside of our normal view of the world?

I have a hard time believing in things like moving objects with my mind. Is that the sort of thing a Wiccan considers magic?

Answer 1

Well, to start with here, cowboydoc is completely wrong, Wicca is a religion, and just like any other religion Wiccans have a belief i a higher power. Before talking about something I think he needs to do a little reasearch. Wicca and witchcraft are not the same thing, witchcraft is a practice of magick, Wicca is a religion, the two are not synonomous. Not all witches are Wiccan and not all Wiccans are witches. I am amused at his threats though.

Magick, in a traditional sense, is the art and science of causing change to occur in accordance with the will. It is not capable or doing anything like we see in movies and on tv. Basicly, any act of intent can be seen as magick, for in any intentional act, we are focusing energy and will into accomplishing a goal or causing a change. Everything else associated with magick is simply an expansion on this basic idea. When we do something, we are sending out energy focused by out will.

Magick is not just fantastical things and moving things with the mond etc. All of that is hype really. Now, magick can also be used in a spiritual sense rather than simply in a mundane sense. Most Wiccans practice a more spiritual form of the idea; ritual and ceremony such as the sabbats or esbats, These forms of ritual are also considered magick, and used to being us closer to the divine. Rituals that banish negative influence, and help us to focus are also still magick.

Hollywood has blown out of purportion what magick and witchcraft is, and what it can do. Yes, it can be used to focus energy, help youself to do things or to push things in a direction, it can also effect other people, but it is not anywhere near what people see it as on the tv.

Oh, and cowboydoc, the court case about the grave sites of soldiers, was to have a pentacle put on the grave of a wiccan who served in the US army... and we won that case. It was over a while ago, and veterans affairs is putting the pentacle on his gravestone.

Answer 2

There are three types of magic in the world, as I see it.1. Pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat magic. This is the sort of magic Harry Houdini did and David Copperfield does. This is the illusionary, trickery form of magic.2. Turn-a-prince-into-a-frog magic. This is the stuff of fairy tales, the sort of thing make-believe evil queens and witches (note the lowercase W) do. This is the storybook, fiction magic.3. Ritual religious magic. This type of magic is another form of prayer, this is what Wiccans/Witches (capital W here, there is a difference from "witch") and other Pagans do. This magic is as real as Christians saying rosary or Jews saying kiddish.

Answer 3

Wicca is not a religion and as "nono" states as prayer, he's wrong. Wicca is a craft that practices witchcraft, nothing more.
The ones in our area that tried to get rid of our Christmas scenes from our courthouse displays had a thing coming. They even took it to the state court who tossed it out.
They felt since they didn't pray to God, they had their right to not have a courthouse scene.
They were offered every convenience of their own scene but, refused. It was very apparent they only wanted to start trouble.

After the court case was thrown out of the county court and, the state court through it out, they were no longer welcome in our town. The business they had failed due to lack of customers, they closed down and left town, good riddance.

Their magic did them little good, if they had any, all they ever did in our area was create friction with everyone. Trying to get a ban on crosses in the shop owners windows, rites at grave sites of soldiers, etc. they're gone now and good riddance to them. Want to join them?

Answer 4

Magick is the manipulation of energy to bring about desired results.

It is based on the fact that all that is, is energy.

Spells in my opinion is mainly to help our subconscious belief and when we believe things happen.
BB

Answer 5

Your idea is closer to a Wiccan idea than most.

Answer 6

it is similar to prayer