Magick?

WindSock

Why is there sometimes a K?

From google dictionary:

The use of energy and a person’s own will and intent to cause change. It has a “k” added to the end to establish it as spiritually unique and to distinguish it as separate from magic tricks.

Nevyn

English used to have many ways to spell the same word and as the language developed it became codified.

So in olde english you would see magick, majik, magik, majick ect.

The 'k' was reintroduced by Alister Crowley in his writings to difference between stage and 'parlour' magic and what he was writing about.

The spelling with the terminal "k" was repopularized in the first half of the 20th century by Aleister Crowley when he introduced it as a core component of Thelema.[2]

"The Anglo-Saxon k in Magick, like most of Crowley's conceits, is a means of indicating the kind of magic which he performed. K is the eleventh letter of several alphabets, and eleven is the principal number of magick, because it is the number attributed to the Qliphoth - the underworld of demonic and chaotic forces that have to be conquered before magick can be performed. K has other magical implications: it corresponds to the power or shakti aspect of creative energy, for k is the ancient Egyptian khu, the magical power. Specifically, it stands for kteis (vagina), the complement to the wand (or phallus) which is used by the Magician in certain aspects of the Great Work."[3]

For Crowley, the alternate spelling was used to differentiate it from other practices, such as stage magic. Magick is not capable of producing "miracles" or violating the physical laws of the universe (e.g., it cannot cause a solar eclipse), although "it is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature".[4]

This forum is about magic, stage and parlour 'tricks', feats and illusions.

Discussions of and about Magick are welcome in the paganism forum.

GhostInTheRuins

Good post Thaedydal, I've wondered about this too.

Talliesin

That said, while Crowley had his reasons, it's largely dying out and the spelling "magic" returning. Outside of a few people who have specific reasons for following Crowley accurately, it tends to be a warning sign in much the same way that someone using txt spk or l33t-sp33k indicates a low signal-to-noise ratio.