I guess the first thing to do is clear up what we mean by Magick, as opposed to magic in the sense of the illusionist, and why we distinguish it with a K. Magick is really a science of sorts, although as you may or may not know Magick and it's many branches are quite a few steps ahead of what we today call science. When a product, project, or more specifically a cause and effect is not understood by the majority it is called Magick, then as the understanding is discovered it becomes science. Even writing was once classed as Magick. The main objective for studying and practicing Magick is,one to reach the aim of most religions, which is in one way or another to reach and become one with the Godhead. the Divine.The other is to recognise one's potentiality in life and to learn how to use it on a practicability level, to benefit not only oneself, but more importantly mankind. The K is added not only to avoid Magick from being confused with illusion and trickery, it is also to signify knowledge. On an esoteric level K is also the eleventh letter in our alphabet, and eleven is the number of Magick. The reason the number eleven was chosen to personify Magick is as follows. The pentagram, the five pointed star a well known mystical magickal symbol represents Man. The hexagram , the six pointed star, also called Solomon's seal and is recognised more than anything I think for it's jewish associations, is taken to signify God. The Magickal objective is to unite oneself with the Divine, join the pentagram to the hexagram and offcourse five added to six gives us eleven, the number of magick. The study of Magick as with mysticism is a lifetime task, but even so, it is never too late to start. In fact when you do begin to take the study seriously, you may find in one way or another you have already been treading the path most of your life. One of the objectives of Magick is to achieve different and usually higher states of consciousness. These can be brought about in many different fashions, in mysticism meditation is the primary tool and it is also used in Magick. But Magickal progress relies more heavily on ritual, and this we will examine more closely. Magickal ritual encompasses an immense scope of activities and directions. To define ritual, particularly in a Magickal sense, we think of it as a particular set of actions, perhaps words and gestures that are performed so as the subconscious is tricked into thinking that circumstances are taking place, on a physical level, that really may not be so. If this is achieved one may obtain an unusual experience and possibly some type of enlightenment with it....................................................................by Lance Tilley (1996)