Among the many contentious topics discussed within the pagan community, a question of spelling gets a tremendous amount of play. It's the "magic" vs. "magick" debate.

The use of "magick" is generally understood as a means to distinguish ritual and sacred work from stage magic tricks. Aleister Crowley is credited with coining the term and there are a number of esoteric bases for his choice, including numerology and ancient Greek creation mythology. Crowley defined magick as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will". The idea that Will is an essential part of magick is valid regardless of how you choose to spell it. But is the "k" really necessary?

There is a discussion thread on this subject at The Cauldron. The people who participate in that forum are a great group and have smart, thoughtful things to say:

I spell it "magick" when using English. Not to tell stage magic and "the other kind" apart, as I do not need to make such a distinction in the places where I do use written English and discuss anything related to magick.

The 'culprit' behind my usage is uncle Al. Aleister Crowley, that is. The "telling apart" -thing does not come into play, nor does any "coolness factor" whatsoever. I know why the k is there.

Crowley's writings were my introduction to modern magick (and where I always seem to return to) and the spelling stuck. Lately, I've seen moving away from spelling magick-with-the-k and even downright sneering at those who still use that particular spelling ("Oy ye ignorant fool! Trying to be cool, eh? Do you even know where it originates? It was Aleister Crowley, that evil evil man!" or something of the sorts). Oh well, I'm not inclined to change the spelling I use for others' sake.

I always spell it sans 'K' because that's the historical spelling and also, I want to differentiate it from Uncle Al. Not a diss at him, but everytime I see it spelled that way I assume that's what kind of magic the person is talking about.

Also, it seems for many people (the uniformed ones) it seems to go in hand with this weird Medieval British / 18th century Gothic novel/ New Age spelling which creeps in when ever anything occult is discussed. (sort of like Chaucer , Shakespeare and Radcliffe take LSD together and read the Bible out loud in an 'alternative' store).

Of course, others have expressed a view on the subject. This was in response to my fluffy bunny post:

Im not triying to be rude or something like that, but if its true that you are not a Fluffy Bunnie, then dont use the word magic with a K, it is only wrote like that by fluffy bunnies

I use "magick" because my teacher, Christopher Penczak, uses that spelling. For me, it's as simple as that.

I found references to "magick" and its origins at Answers.com and Thelemapedia. They are both very good sources of information and I'm sure you'll find them interesting.

So, which is it for you? Magic or Magick?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:20 PM