So, I have learnt a few things from Bramble over the two years we've been together.  But I still have questions.  For instnace, what is a Book of Secrets and do all Wiccans/Witches need them?  Also, how does magick work?  I'm not sure if that is a fair question, but I don't fully understand how things work.

Hi Agent Zero,

Your questions are not uncommon but I think the answers will vary depending upon the person you ask due to the nature of our religion.

Firstly, a book of secrets, book of shadows or a grimiore might look different from person to person. I keep a leather bound journal where I take notes along my journey. Some people record their thoughts, spells or research in basic notebooks while others keep electronic files. There is no "requirement" for a book of shadows/secrets however, I personally need a central location for my ideas and my journal serves that purpose and can't imagine not writing it all down. We change so much over the course of our studies it's benefical to go back and see where you were or where you thought you'd end up. Not to mention, if something worked out the way you planned, you might want to try it again in just the same way.

Secondly, I personally believe that magic is a lot like prayer with a bit more self-responsibility thrown in. Magic is a manifestation of an intent filled prayer/ritual designed to achieve a desired result. Whether or not it works, depends on what your true intent was at the time of the ritual. You put your thoughts and energy out into the universe and you should get back what you hoped for but it may not always look exactly like you thought it would.

I am not an authority by any means

Magic is the manipulation of energy to effect change.  Since everything is made up of energy, including ourselves, we can "touch" that energy and "move it around" in a way.  Our thought process, too, are made up of a certain amount of energy, and our intention for good or ill can make a difference in how something is changed. (Which is why we must be incredibly careful not to do anything that might harm or effect another person adversely).  If you have ever had a thought about something, (i.e. "I wish their tires would go flat", "So and so hasn't called me in a while") and had it happen, don't ever think it was coincidence.  This is why we must also watch our thoughts to make sure we are bringing positive things.  (There is a thread here on "the Secret" if you can find it... )
A book of Secrets, or Shadows, is something many modern witches keep (but, by no means is it something we MUST do, although it is a smart thing to do).  It can take many forms, as Gaia has stated above.  I actually keep mine in two places.  I have a handwritten one that I keep on my altar for use in ritual and last minute "look-ups" and I have also copied it into a computer program for safekeeping.  Its always better to be safe than sorry.  I have put a lot of information in there, not just spells and rituals, but also correspondences...which candle would be best for which spell, on what day and hour is this sort of spell most effective, that sort of thing.  The actual book is leather, and I bought it for less than ten bucks at half price books, my favorite haunt.  They don't need to be some special "hide" (many go out and spend big bucks on special types of leather binding, like moleskin), and they don't have to be pretty, although it helps to set the mood.  A spiral bound notebook with all your scritchy-scratchies on it does quite nicely, as we mustn't waste paper.  

Both excellent answers.

Here's my two:
Z, I've found that magic is not as displaced as you may expect. Although I started my idea of magic with rituals and hopes, I've found that to change a circumstance or situation to the way I desire, just defining exactly what it is I want (and knowing this at it's true essence), and then keeping aware of ways (actual, physical means) of bringing it into being has a great effect on making something out of "nothing".  This to me is as real as any magic you may have heard of, and through the "magic" of knowing my desires ("know thyself" [it's the worthiest of goals] - Plato), setting my focus (goal setting) with the proper intensity (focus + time ('patience')), I can change my reality to my liking. Anyone can. Life can be lived in a continuous whim, reveling over the details of problems again and again, or can be forged down a directed path, turning your attention instead to solutions to these said problems. I find the latter to be empowering and, therefore, much more satisfying. Of course, to forge down any one path for an extended time, you better have some long term goals that you really desire to keep your focus on, for our attention spans as humans can be fleeting. The "magic", I've found, is really just process. Understanding "process", however, is a multi-layered lesson that reaches seemingly infinite layers, and so the study of making magic more effective and predictable is ever changing, ever exciting, never finished.

I am as well-versed in what I know and speak of as much as I like to talk out of my ass...take what you like, leave the rest.

Just from a less personal, more academic perspective, you find three basic conceptions of how magic works in occult literature:

1. Magic is the action of the answer of prayers or supplications to a deity. This implies that the power lies with the deity, less with the person. The deity is the patron of the supplicant.

2. Magic is the purposeful transformation of unseen forces or energies to achieve a goal. This implies that an individual is actively manipulating outside forces and molding these forces to their desired intention.

3. Magic occurs when an individual purposefully manipulates or neutralizes their own state of being to accomidate or transform themselves in a manner that achieves an intended adaptation to a particular environment or situation. This implies that the true power of magic lies within the individual's control of themselves, which is reflected in the environment around them (microcsim/macrocism). The magician through acts of will is internally adapting to the world around her, which makes the world appear that it is adapting itself to her. It's really more of a Daosit perspective.

I've tried practicing at all three understandings, and at the moment, I believe that the third explaination is the most likely. Unfortunately, that process is a bit more difficult to understand and explain.

Stacey,  This may sound funny but are you trying to say "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade"???? It's a simplistic saying but when life sends bad things, not very many people can turn the situation around so they wind up on top.

Not exactly. In the Kabbalistic and mentalistic-based literature, seems something like this:

The Universe is a being of mental energy. There is the greater, overarching energy (which we call God or Divintiy) and there is your personal energy, which is a part of the greater. Trying to vulgarly change the Divine Energy is just too big effort, but an adept is able to neutralizes peaks and waves from the Great Energy within herself, thereby weathering the storm without harm or, as you say, making lemonade from the lemons given by life.  But, this isn't just positive thinking; people are able to manifest changes or attract things in this way. Now, I'm not exactly certain of the most effecient means of self-cultivation to learn such control, so I'm still working on educating myself.  

I think the way it differs from The Secret's law of attraction is that is a bit more precise because it requires you to understand more profoundly the dimensions of the energy. I see The Secret's version of attraction frequently in my life, but it's not attracting exactly what I am think and feeling most of the time, just odd diluted hints. I think that The Secret is a good place to start, though, as you are learning, even if it is a bit commercial.  I still use it.

It's been really hectic in my life lately, so I've not been able to do more in our reading group, but I highly recommend taking a look at the book, The Kybalion, for more information. It's an okay overview, and realtively easy to read compared to most of the classics of this genre. We have it available in our downloads as well as:

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14209 (for a free download)
http://www.dover489.org/?paged=3 (A Masonic lodge has been releasing the book chapter by chapter as a podcast if you want to listen to it.

Okay.  I don't think I fully understood any of that, but I get the idea.  I think.  I'll keep reading this book and looking around the site to see what else I can learn.  I am often a slow learner, so bear with me.

Thank you all for the helpful replies.  Since my brain is fuzzy at the moment (due to having just woken up, not because of the replies), I'll likely understand this a bit more when I can think more clearly.

But, before I run away... another question to toss out there.  While I have no intentions of using magic in ill manner, I am curious if there is what mainstream fiction literature and entertainment call "White" or "Black" magic or if there is just magic.  I know I cannot trust everything I see and read, but I just want to get feedback from the perspective of people who actually practice magic (or is it magick?  That's another question, too... is there a difference between magic and magick?)

Thanks again,
Z

Well, there is definitly at lot of material out there claiming to be white or black magic. I am of the opinion that energy is energy, it is the weilder's intent that makes it "white" or "dark" for lack of better terms.

I think terms like "white magic" and "black magic" are used more as heuristic devise for people learning without a mentor than used as true categorizations of "flavors" of magic.

quickly, and to me:

black magic is manipulation of energies or perspectives into CHAOS, meant to confuse in order to achieve desired goals.

white magic works with expanding awareness, with self-actualization at heart, the aim of which is understanding in ORDER to achieve desired goals.

black = chaos. white = order. black could also be viewed as an unbalanced effort of aimed might (often deemed "evil"), as white may be viewed as a balanced understanding of the whole of a circumstance (often deemed, in contrast, as "good"). i don't know what harry potter has to say about any of this.

We all know that it would be Hermione not Harry with the explaination  

Thanks again, Stacey.  If you're able to organize the reading group again in the future, I'll be here.

As for the term "magic" as opposed to "magick", it is simply a spelling alteration (as far as I have read) to differentiate between the magic that a stage magician (rabbits and hats, for instance) does and the magick that is performed by witches.

Okay.  Makes sense.  Thanks for the help.  It a bit difficult for me to grasp, but that's likely due to having been raised under a very different system of beliefs.  Things are slowly making sense, so at least I know I'm teachable.  

Z

Hey, Z, I'd give ya odds that most of us were raised under the same or similar systems of belief.  (Damned rebels!)  I know where you're coming from.  I was a dedicated, bible-thumping, piano-playing, choir directing, Sunday School teaching, In-Church-When-the-Doors-Were-Open Baptist for a couple of decades before I realized there was more to it than that.  Gotta love research.