The Existence of Magick : What *is* magick?

To be a magician, one must acknowledge that magick actually exists.  But what *is* magick?  Is it the power to literally move mountains, throw fireballs, turn your enemies into frogs or other creatures and other fantastic abilities?  Is it communing with the devil, or raising dead, or summoning of spirits past?  Is it actually something that can influence us or work for us?  Or is it just a mix of hogwash used to explain non-scientifically anything that our tiny human brains cannot fully understand?

For me, as a magician, the first thing that comes to mind when the term "magick" is mentioned is "life".  Ask five hundred people what is life, and they'd probably give you five hundred definitions of "life"... and most of those definitions would likely be descriptions of what they consider to be alive, and not what life itself is.   After all, how may of us have even considered asking what life is?

[ My guess is at least one person would say life is something that is alive, or something that breathes, eats, and reproduces is alive.  If something is alive, what makes it alive... life?  If something that eats, breathes, and reproduces is alive, then is a car that eats gasoline, breathes air (and releases it into the atmosphere as fumes) and is reproduced in a factory alive?  I believe there are theories regarding the definition of life itself, but scientists have yet to create life in any sense of the word as understood by the layman ]

Why life?  Aside from it being one of the least understood things in the universe (yes we know how children are born, but when does a cell become a separate individual, and how do we know that that individual is actually a living being?  Is it only because it resembles ourselves as living beings?  So we define using comparisons, but we still don't know within ourselves what makes us "tick" so to speak), life is a valuable and powerful force in any respect.  Without life, not only would the universe be boring, in some ways it may not even fully exist (in the physical sense perhaps it'll be there, but beyond the physical sense of the universe there wouldn't be more to it than particles, because seriously, why would bodies that are comprised of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and other elements have the will to survive and the need to evolve?).  Science may be able to explain the existence of emotions and social interactions, but there still is that line between facts, interpretations, and theories.

Now back to our topic.  Life for me is what magick is all about, because whether you're a Wiccan that gives praise to our Earth Mother and Three-Horned God, a warlock or mystic who rains hexes on unfortunate folk, an exorcist who drives out evil spirits, or even a young mother who holds her young child in her arms, it's all the same: we are surrounded by life, need life, and are driven by life to do the seemingly impossible.  And the power of life combined with our desire -- our need -- to pursue it, to be one with it, to grasp it in our hands and take it to where we believe it must go, that for me is magick.

• a Wiccan who casts spells and brews potions to heal and to encourage love and peace, would be using the power of life from plants and from the environment he/she is in to promote well-being
  
• a mystic who harms others with his/her spells would be using his own life-force as well as the powers that can harm or kill that is found in the universe, combine it with his desires and intent, and throw that destructive spell/curse/energy towards the unfortunate target
  
• an exorcist, using the powers of the Higher Being(s) whose presence we don't often see with our natural senses (sometimes channeled through rituals and prayers), combined with the will to restore the possessed to his proper spiritual + psychological form, be able to drive out the possessors from his body
  
• a mother, who not only gave her child the power and chance to live, but cares for her so much that she would do everything in her physical power to give that child what she considers a proper upbringing, would somehow gain a perseverance, stamina and sometimes even strength, to go beyond what others may consider as natural (if they hadn't seen their own mothers with the same strengths, or take those strengths for granted)
  

These are but a few examples of what magick, at least for me, is.  It's not something that's readily brought into a laboratory and scrutinized, although the effects of magick may be seen everywhere and at the same time nowhere.  A paradox?  Perhaps.  But life has always been an oddity in our universe...

... unless you consider the universe itself as alive, and thus filled with magick.

- - - - -

If anyone is wondering why I'm insisting upon expressing the limits of science it's because

1. Sometimes I think science is overrated.  It's a good interpretation of facts and fairly reliable, but still it can't explain everything.
2. The old adage, for one to learn one must first unlearn still holds true to this day... and even moreso if you are to look at such an outrageous topic as magick.