Magick, Intention & Desire

Aleister Crowley defined magick as “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will”, in his book Magick in Theory and Practice.

Peter Carroll further defined magick in Liber Null & Psychonaut writing, “Any act of will is magic[k].”  In the same book Carroll also states, “Will and perception are not separate but only appear so to the mind.”  

Therefore, any act of perception or exercise of the will is a magickal act.

Further contemplation results in the realization that All This Is is magickal.  What could be more magickal than creating all of existence out of non-existence, or Everything out of Nothing?

The obstacle for magicians, sorcerers, witches, etc.,  is to consciously control it; bend it to the current whim of a small piece of a person’s present understanding.  

Many report that “intention” is what makes the difference.  Pure intention through focus of the will in some manner generates the desired change.  

Intention appears to be our own brand of logic based more upon a sense of a composite range of perceptions.  For example, if you have a gun in your hand ready to shoot someone you could say that your intention is to pull the trigger and kill them.

But what if someone takes away the gun? You could say the intention to kill that person is still there, but what about pulling the trigger?  Reality, or perception, has shifted.  Your intention to pull the trigger is no longer there, but your intention, or desire, to kill them probably remains.  Intention requires a few things (i.e., symbols and relationships) to be in place within your perception.

Either way, intention depends upon your reality and what you perceive as the conditions of your reality.  Only someone truly insane would stand outside and intend to fly off into the sky, or believe that they could through simple wishing.  The sanitariums are full of those with pure intentions and resolute beliefs.

Therefore, doubt does not have the effect that most people assume, but will allow you to more clearly define the outcome by identifying necessary associations.  It could be that doubt allows you to reach that next step toward the desired reality.  However, doubting the symbols and relationships of what is within your perception will remove probability and cause failure.

Perhaps a purer form of what we most assume to be intention is called desire. In the example above, the intention to pull the trigger and kill was born of a desire for that person to no longer to live, to be gone. Again, manifesting that desire into the commonly accepted reality is the obstacle, and is still dependent upon the associations and relationships of what is perceived within the symbols of existence. But we may be closer to realizing our desires with a clearer understanding.

A magickal act that results in the person that a gun was trained on in the above example to suddenly move to another country due to an irresistible job offer or family situation would achieve the desire for that person to be gone as well.