A Greased Pig: Defining Magic (Part One)
Recently on Aaron Leitch’s Solomonic group , there’s been an extremely active conversation about defining magic. In fact, Aaron has himself recently chimed in on the subject with a guest post on the late Donald Michael Kraig’s Llewellyn blog. It seems that this topic crops up time and time again on various forums, and that every book on the subject must necessarily begin by providing its own definition of terms. Yet these definitions so often seem to circle around the subject without striking at the heart of it. What is so difficult about defining magic, and why should it serve as such an ongoing source of consternation to those who study and practice it?