We've all seen this question asked many times by people, and had many arguments with those who are experienced that had differing beliefs. Ultimately, I think there is no right or wrong explanation. Since everyone who does magic has a different experience, a different set of mental filters that process information and different world views, there will always be different definitions of what magic is. With this article, I hope to offer my explanation.
To understand what magic is, we must understand some things about the creation and its makeup. Everything is made up of energy. As scientists continue to find smaller and smaller subatomic particles, they find that these particles are in fact electrical charges that have a certain vibrational rate. This vibration is the energy of creation. Energy that vibrates at one frequency will have a different outcome than energy vibrating at a different frequency. This vibration is not random. It has a purpose, a direction if you will, and it is always moving toward that purpose. Einstein proved this with his calculation E=mc2, which shows the relationship between matter and energy.
But it is not just matter. Everything, words, thoughts, light (which is a particle that acts like a wave, and has unique characteristics in and of itself), and emotions are all energy operating at different vibrational frequencies. This electrical charge is what makes up everything.
As mentioned earlier this energy moves with a definite purpose, much like the circuits on an electronic device. This structure is imposed on her energy to produce specific effects, which could vary from the structure of an element to the structure of your cat, spouse and you.
In quantum physics, there is a variable called the observer effect. This effect states that once we observe something it changes what was observed from a discontinuous change into a non-quantum state. Basically we know its current state and that stops it from being in one of its other states. This is the basis of Schrodinger?s Cat. There is also a growing belief that the expectations and the world view of the observer have a direct effect on what is observed, especially when dealing with subatomic particles. In fact, some state that matter can not exist without awareness. This is very important to answering the question of ?What is Magic?.
So, there is all this energy floating around, and it forms atoms, stars, produces new atoms, creates planets and ?poof?, there is the universe, along with all the life in it. But, if we hold that energy does not solidify into a continual form until it is observed, then there must be a consciousness that directed this energy to take the shape it did. Now, this is the beginning of a great religious debate of ?My god can beat the snot out of your god?. Within the context of this article, I am recanting religion and any and all gods. We aren?t to that point yet. For the moment we will say that a Universal Consciousness was the observer. As the universe continued to develop, it created points within itself that were focused into masses of energy in the form of various atoms. This became galaxies, systems, stars and planets. At each level, there is an ?observer intelligence?. This may have been part of the Universal Consciousness, or it may have been a different level of awareness that developed for that specific point. Whichever, the action of the observer, knowing or unknowingly, directed the direction of the flow of energy to specific effects.
The process of creation continued, and eventually we have life. Plants, animals, cats (because they would throw a fit if I lumped them with animals in general) and people. All beings with the ability to be an observer. All with the ability to change their reality. Thus, we have magic. Now, you may say ?Wait a minute. I can change my reality just by picking up my glass, which is on the left side of my keyboard, and moving it to the right side. This is a change in reality.? To which I would reply ?Exactly!? Magic, in its broadest sense is any change in reality. By definition, that makes every action, conscious or unconscious, magic. This would also include every thought (which can change your idea of reality and thereby change reality itself, even if the change is just for you), emotion and word. As I sit here and type this sentence on the keyboard, the act of moving my fingers by my will is a magical act.
Not the definition you were looking for, is it? Don?t worry, there is more. We have some limits to what we can do. I can not will the words to appear in this document. I must invoke energies to do so. As I type, I am invoking the energies of my body to move properly, the energies of the food I have eaten to power the body, and so on. Most of this is processed unconsciously. But this energy is already set up for me to use in a specific way, just like the circuit boards in your computer are made in a certain way, the energies of the Earth move in patterns, weather conditions and volcanic activity are in patterns, and even the ages of the Earth are patterns. Now, if we truly know and understand the patterns in the energy, we can use it to change our reality to the maximum effect within those guidelines. This is the first real step towards magic that fits what everyone is looking for.
So, let?s say that I want to change something beyond what I can do with my pattern. What can I do? Well, I have to have someone else do it for me. I have to contact the observer intelligence (I will use the abbreviation OI in place of ?observer intelligence? for the rest of this work.) for whatever I am looking to change. By contacting this OI, it can make the change for me within its guidelines. Of course, the change I am trying to make must not be counterproductive to the goal of the OI. If that OI can not make the change, it can contact the OI above it, and so on. Now, we are another step closer to that idea of magic. I will look at the idea of how to contact the OI in future works.
So, at the moment we have an understanding that magic is causing a change in reality by means of observing with the proper intention to affect a change in reality. Now, is this a change in actual reality, or is it just perceived in the mind? For example, I was just sitting here thinking of typing ?If I think I want my cat to come over here, and it does, does that make it a change in reality caused by my mind, or is it all just in my mind.?As I was thinking about typing those words into the computer, my cat who was nice and comfortably sunning himself in the window where the warm sunlight is shining in got up, ran over, stood on his back legs, pawed at my arm and demanded to be petted. He has since returned to his window. I guess the spell wore off. But, was that a change that I caused, or was it just a change in my mental state that occurred at that time? Does it matter? According to quantum theory, a change in my reality is a change none the less. It might not change someone else?s reality.
Now our explanation of magic at the moment is ?to cause a change in reality, be it in the perceived reality or the actual reality, by observing with proper intention to affect the change.? Going back to observing with proper intention, we are operating on the assumption that you help in creating your reality. When you change what you are observing for, things change in your reality. You notice, or ?create? new things. Actually, those things have been there all along. You just had not observed them and thereby coalesced them into reality. A simpler way of describing that would be ?with using proper mental focus?. Let?s take a look at what happens when we use that proper mental focus.
We know that everything is energy, flowing and vibrating in the proper way. When we change the observation of what we do, we change the way the energy flows. What?s more, there are ways to make that change stronger. Most people go through their life with no idea of the resources that are available to them. The more we can change our own energy and make it vibrate with the effect that we wish to produce, the stronger that change in intention, and therefore observation and effect, will be. Basically, the stronger we make our focus, the more energy we put into our desired outcome. And, the more energy we put into our desired outcome, the stronger our focus becomes. We can also use the energy of other things and other systems that are harmonious with the change we want to make, to increase the amount of energy directed to our desired outcome. This increases our desired intention thereby, according to the observer effect, changes the state of what we are observing.
Now, our definition of magic is ?to cause a change in reality, be it in the perceived reality or the actual reality, using proper mental focus and direction of energy.? This provides us with a workable definition which we can now start to apply to training and exercising to become competent users of this elusive thing called magic.
LVX,
Shawn.