If you wish to join a specific tradition, then it is probably a good idea to find a teacher or a teaching coven or order to initiate you. If you just wish to learn magick, you can probably do this on your own.

If you would like to find a teacher, I suggest visiting your local metaphysical shop. You can search for these online using the terms (Your town) Metaphysical shop or Occult shop. In addition to providing goods and services to the magical community, these shops also often serve as a hub for activities. They may have a bulletin board or a stack of fliers to hand out and may even provide space for gatherings.

If you are looking for a specific tradition, it may be even easier to find them. Many groups have websites. Just do a search and you'll probably find them.

Remember to be safe and meet in a public place. Tell people where you are going and what time you expect to return.

Witches can curse people, but it's not a requirement. Many Witches feel that cursing people is unethical or immoral or even dangerous to the witch and so will not do it. Not every witch feels this way though.

In truth, curses are pretty easy and many folks curse people without even realizing it. Witches can do it on purpose. But most probably won't.

All you need to get started learning magick is a journal and time. Magick is a craft composed of a set of skills. There are many types of magick, some require specialized tools and some do not. Most magick can be done without any specialized tools at all. Once you've practiced meditation, done some reading and have decided on a spell you'd like to try, you will know what tools and supplies you need.

I am always sad when I hear this question because I have never kept my practice a secret. It is such an important part of my life that the idea of hiding it is like hiding a part of me. And so I can't help but imagine that the person asking this question must be in an uncomfortable place to ask such a question.

Of course, many magickal practitioners have been forced to keep their magick a secret out of self-preservation. Various magickal practices have been outlawed at various times and in various places throughout the world so keeping one's practice secret is as much a tradition as any other.

But I've digressed.

Magic, as I've said, is a simple thing. You don't need to collect a bunch of "magickal" items to practice magick. The simpler you keep your practice, the subtler it will be. Many everyday objects can be used as magical tools. I personally can do just about anything with eggs, mason jars, a sewing kit, and the contents of my garden and there is nothing about any of these things that would draw the attention of a casual onlooker. Many practitioners prefer to use things like candles, crystals, and incense and these may be a bit more difficult to explain away, but they are also simply fashionable home decor.

Your rituals and practices do not need to be noisy or flashy either. Many magical practices are simply meditative and that is quiet. You can play loud music to drown out any additional noises and, in fact, I find dancing to loud music until I fall into a trance to be a very effective divination technique and I'm pretty sure there are quite a lot of young people doing that for fun these days.

Hiding books and journals isn't as difficult as it once was now that everything can be digital, but there are many practitioners who prefer their written word in a more material format. You can write in code or shorthand (I found my grandmother's old shorthand books and that is an esoteric language if ever I've seen one) or simply find a good hiding place for them.

Of course, you may wish to hide your magick with magick. There are many spells for this purpose. Try the shield spell listed on this site with the invisibility adaptation.

A simple working definition of magick may be: Magick is the art and craft of bringing about change in conformity with Will through subtle energetic means.

But in truth, there are many definitions of magick.

Let us explore this in more detail:

Defining Magick

Many people have attempted to define the word magic. Aleister Crowley famously defined magick as "The art and science of causing change in conformity with Will." - This has given rise to many additional questions "Isn't magick anathema to science?", "What do you mean by Will exactly?" And "You know that sounds like you're saying that if I decide to go get a glass of water and then do it, I have done magick." To which Mr. Crowley may well reply: "Well yes, any intentional act is an act of magick." And this is something we could talk about all day.

Others have stepped in to further refine this definition. Donald Michael Kraig (Recommended Amazon Link: Modern Magick) said "Magick is the science and art of causing change (in consciousness) to occur in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science." Which is a bit closer, but what exactly do we mean by consciousness? Does this mean that it just makes you feel different? Aren't we trying to bring about actual, real, physical change?

Neither Crowley nor Kraig were witches. They practiced High Magick, not the Low Magick I tend to favor. Their magic was more about raising consciousness and performing The Great Work. For a more practical definition, we will have to go to a Witch.

Scott Cunningham defined magic as "The practice of causing change through the use of powers as not yet defined or accepted by science." in his book Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs and "The movement of natural (but little understood) energies from the human body and from natural objects to manifest change." In his book Dreaming the Divine.

And this begs the question- When you understand how it works, does it stop being magic?

I am interested in other definitions. Please consider commenting to share yours.

The Etymology of Magic

The word magic comes from the Middle English magik, magyk, malgik, maugik derived from Old French magique, derived from Latin magica derived from Greek μαγικός magicos, referencing the Persian magus, the astrologer priests of the Zoroastrians. And that came from the proto Indo European megʰ-*magh (be able).

The Spelling of Magick

The word Magick, is an archaic spelling of the word magic. It appears thus in many old grimoires including the 16th century works of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (Recommended Amazon Link: Three Works of Occult Philosophy (Illustrated) )

The occultist and prolific writer Aleister Crowley re-popularized this archaic spelling in the early 20th century in order to differentiate occult or spiritual magick from stage magic or sleight of hand as well as to make the word Of course, when he spoke of magick, he was speaking of High Magick while I am a practitioner of Low Magick.

In modern writing, either spelling magic or magick is acceptable. You may notice that I have alternated throughout this essay. The various authors I have quoted each have their preferred spellings and both are correct. I have also seen it spelled magyk or magik and these are both also archaic spellings as found in Middle English.