FAQ: Is it spelled “Magick” or “Magic”? Why?

FAQ: I’m new to Wicca. I read in insert name of first source that said magic in Wicca and witchcraft is spelled as magick with a k added at the end.  Then, I read  insert name of second source and I noticed that it was spelled magic just with a c. I wonder why that is—Could anyone explain WHY the difference?

Answer: The shortest explanation is some people spell the word as "magic" and others spell it as "magick".

The reasons for the spelling variations--which I have read over the past 30 years--tend to change around quite a bit. Here are just a few:

  1. We should spell it like “magick” because Aleister Crowley  (October 12, 1875 – December 1 , 1947) did.
  2. We should NOT spell it like “magick,” because Crowley spelled it that way.
  3. We should spell it like “magic” because that is the contemporary English spelling.
  4. We should not spell it as “magic,” because people will confuse it with stage magic, which is trickery, sleight of hand, legerdemain, optical illusion, and prestidigitation.
  5. We should spell it as “magick”--because that is an archaic spelling.
  6. We should not spell it as “magick,” because Gerald Gardner did not do so.
  7. We should not spell it like “magick”/”majik”/”magik/”magyk” or any other such silly way, because serious practitioners do not do that.
  8. We should not spell it like “magick,” because only fluffy bunny Pagans/Wiccans spell it that way.
  9. We jolly well can spell it as “magick” because Crowley did, and HE WAS ABOUT AS FLUFFY AS A HORNIE TOAD.

....and the list goes on and on...

The Modern English word “magic” (noun) is derived from the Middle English magik, magyk, which was brought into Middle English from Old French magique (noun and adjective). The Romance language of Old French brought the word from the Latin adjective magicus and magica (noun use of feminine form of magicus).  The Latin-speaking Romans in turn borrowed if from the Ancient Greek word magikos, meaning “magical,” from magos, “magus”/”magician,” or a type of "priest" from a non-Greek cult.

magic (n.)
late 14c., magike, "art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces," also "supernatural art," especially the art of controlling the actions of spiritual or superhuman beings; from Old French magique "magic; magical," from Late Latin magice "sorcery, magic," from Greek magike (presumably with tekhn? "art"), fem. of magikos "magical," from magos "one of the members of the learned and priestly class," from Old Persian magush…
-- magic (n.), Origin and meaning of magic by Online Etymology Dictionary Douglas Harper 2001-2019, accessed 8/20/2019.
As one can see the meaning and spelling of this word has shifted and changed through different languages and time.

Meanwhile, the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary provided these three different contemporary definitions:

magic noun
  1. a: the use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces
    b: magic rites or incantations
  2. a: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source Both pitchers, although they are older, haven't lost their magic.
    b: something that seems to cast a spell: enchantment all the mystery, magic and romance which belong to royalty alone— J. E. P. Grigg
  3. : the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand entertained with acts of jugglery and magic
--magic, Online Merriam-Webster, 2019 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated,  accessed 8/20/2019. (Scrolling down this on same webpage, a person can read more.)
One of the above Modern English definitions of “magic” is indeed “the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand entertained with acts of jugglery and magic”. Those folks in Wicca who use the spelling of “magick” are often attempting to visually distance the word from this particular defintion.

On the other hand, although the spelling “magick” was possibly one of the many archaic spellings of magike/magik/magyk, this spelling is also intended to specifically imply the meaning of seeking to “shape genuine Change”
OR
"the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will" rather than mere trickery, illusion, sleight of hand, legerdemain, prestidigitation, stage magic, and/or outright fraud.

Since you, gentle reader, are reading this FAQ on my "Yet Another Wicca" Site, you may have noticed that on this website I have fairly consistently spelled it “magick”. I used this spelling because I like archaic words and spellings. I also presumed this spelling could be used to indicate that the practitioner is intending to influence the course of events by using a mystical art--or the practice of using spells, rituals, or charms to effect change in situations and events.

In any case, I am NOT going back through this website just to remove every k from the spelling of “magick.”

For those who wonder why I instead use the spelling of “magic” on my other website The Goddess Aradia and Other Subjects, the answer is quite simple and again involves the history of the word. The Modern English word “magic”  is often translated into contemporary Italian as “magico”/“magia,” “stregoneria,” “sortilegio.” (Interestingly, I know the contemporary Italian word, “stregonerie,”--often translated into English as “witchcraft” or “sorcery”—as found in several sources which I have stumbled across.)

Nevertheless--as far as I know--the Italian term, “magico”/“magia,” has never had a k tossed into its spelling. Thus, on The Goddess Aradia and Other Subjects website I opted to use the English spelling: “magic. ”

--Myth Woodling, 2019

My advice? Spell as you will and be ready to explain why.
“It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word.” --Andrew Jackson (Note: This comment is commonly attributed to Andrew Jackson--but he may not have actually said it. Another version of this same quote, also attributed to Jackson, is: ''It is a damn poor mind indeed which can't think of at least two ways to spell any word." (He might not have said that either.)

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