Magic, sometimes stylized as 

magick,[1] is the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed in the belief that they can subdue or manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces.[2] It is a
category into which have been placed various beliefs and practices sometimes considered separate from both religion and science. [3]

Although connotations have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history, [4] magic "continues to have an important religious and medicinal role in many cultures today". [5]

Within Western culture, magic has been linked to ideas of the Other,[6] foreignness,[7] and primitivism;[8] indicating that it is "a powerful marker of cultural difference" [9] and likewise, a non-modern
phenomenon.[10] During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Western intellectuals perceived the practice of magic to be a sign of a primitive mentality and also commonly attributed it
to marginalised groups of people.[9]

In modern occultism and Neopagan religions, many self-described magicians and witches regularly practice ritual magic; [11] defining magic as a technique for bringing about change in the
physical world through the force of one's will. This definition was popularised by Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), an influential British occultist, and since that time other religions
(e.g. Wicca and LaVeyan Satanism) and magical systems (e.g. chaos magic) have adopted it.