Greater and lesser magic

Greater and lesser magic (known also as high and low magic or collectively Satanic magic) is a system of magic within LaVeyan Satanism. Greater magic is a form of ritual practice and is meant as psychodramatic catharsis to focus one's emotional energy for a specific purpose. Lesser magic is the practice of manipulation by means of applied psychology and glamour (or "wile and guile") to bend an individual or situation to one's will.

Outlined in The Satanic Bible, LaVey defined magic as "the change in situations or events in accordance with one's will, which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable." This definition incorporates two broadly distinguished kinds of magic: greater and lesser. According to LaVey, one of the goals of ritual magic is "to isolate the otherwise dissipated adrenal and other emotionally induced energy, and to convert it into a dynamically transmittable force." LaVey defined lesser magic as "wile and guile obtained through various devices and contrived situations, which when utilized, can create change in accordance with one's will." Within this system of magic, the terms warlock and witch are most commonly used by, and to refer to, male and female practitioners, respectively.

LaVey espoused the view that there was an objective reality to magic, and that it relied upon natural forces that were yet to be discovered by science. Rather than characterising these as supernatural, LaVey expressed the view that they were part of the natural world. He believed that the successful use of magic involved the magician manipulating these natural forces using the force of their own willpower. LaVey also wrote of "the balance factor", insisting that any magical aims should be realistic. LaVey refused any division between black magic and white magic, attributing this dichotomy purely to the "smug hypocrisy and self-deceit" of those who called themselves "white magicians". Such neutrality correlates with LaVey's philosophical view of an impersonal, and therefore amoral, universe.

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