Is magick real, can anyone prove it?
Usually this question is asked by someone who thinks they already know what magick is. Once you have made up your mind, it is difficult to unmake it, so throw out what you think you know and try for a fresh perspective. There are any number of demonstrations of the intentional manipulation of reality. Aleister Crowley wrote that all intentional acts are magical acts. Every act we perform is a mysterious operation by which what we conceive becomes what happens, to a greater or lesser degree. Now, usually, when we think of magick we don’t think of something so banal as twiddling our thumbs. We think of somehow affecting the world around us directly by manipulating symbols, thoughts, and feelings. So, let’s consider the placebo effect. A placebo is a chemically inert substance that has the power to heal or relieve symptoms entirely because the recipient believes that it is, in fact, medicine. The placebo effect can be and has been measured by scientific experiments, beginning with H.K. Be
