Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00388)

krishtar wrote:
> Here is a question:
> What´s the difference betwen Magic and MAGICK??
> Is it mispelled or is it another category?
After Joey "The Count" Balsamo got tossed from the courts of Europe, 
the line between stage magic and real magic became more clearly 
delineated. Jean Robert-Houdin, the first great stage magician, came up 
with the line, "A stage magician is an actor playing the part of a true 
magician" (a statement to which not nearly enough attention was paid by 
the stage magic community until the 1970's). Now, this was during an age 
where science was bordering on a religion, culminating in the occult 
revival of the mid-late 19th century. By this time, the term "magic" was 
generally used to refer to the tricks used by stage magicians (although, 
in the last 3 decades, the tricks have become special effects). Aleister 
Crowley, who was quite influential in the occult community, came up with 
the archaic spelling of "magick", to differentiate what he and his group 
was doing from the "Now you see it, now you don't, you're a jerk" magic 
of stage magicians of the time.