Introduction
What follows on the subject of magick is my personal views, some that you the reader might agree with, and some you may disagree with. Question everything, and use what I say as contrast against what you believe and experience. Each individual has their relative truth, I have mine.
Magick, science and nature
All things are nature, there is nothing beyond or outside of nature, thus to say supernatural or things beyond nature are relegated rightly to ignorant fantasy. Magick follows the laws of nature, and thus using science in relation to the use of magick is a good strategy. Science deals with what is known and visible, but magick deals with what is unknown and invisible, what some call the occult (occult means “hidden”.) Regardless of visible or invisible, science and magick both deal with nature, and as science progresses the division between the rational and irrational in nature blurs. In all things an approach of the natural philosopher who treats all things as like an empiricist who can observe, demonstrate and experience a truth, regardless as visible knowledge or invisible wisdom, is a way of staying centered between the rigorous demands of the material and the spiritual aspects of magick.
There are in the Left Hand Path two recognised divisions of magick, which some describe as lesser and greater magick.
Lesser magick
I would suggest that lesser magick is better called magic without the “k” for it deals with known variables solidly within the known visible world of nature. Lesser magick is a knowledge-based process. Lesser magick manipulates outcomes by using solid science to move visible objects to defined goals, such as striking a match will make a flame.
There are two types of lesser magick: technology and mentalism.
Technology
Of course the magick of Harry Potter is entertaining fantasy, for magick follows the natural laws of science, so that waving willow wands in the air whilst making meaningless noises in the Latin language results in impotent nothingness. But through the application of science in technology, all that which is seen in the Harry Potter films is possible from invisibility, to firing bolts of lightning to walking on water. Technology is a form of lesser magick.
Mentalism
The manipulation of the human senses and processes of the brain is mentalism, which includes card tricks, seduction, hypnotism, visualization and plain old commercial marketing. Mentalism manipulates the mind into thinking and doing things under the control of the mentalist. Mentalism is a form of lesser magick.
Greater magick
I define greater magick as making something out of nothing. Greater magick deals with the invisible side of nature, manifesting the hidden into the visible world. Those who deal with greater magick are philosophers for they deal with wisdom, whereas lesser magick is knowledge-based and is useful to the scholar in the Left Hand Path. Those that follow the knowledge based road of rationalistic Left Hand Path outlooks will limit themselves to the known visible world of the lesser magick. Those that follow the road of the greater magick step outside the domains of known science, they must use irrational methods of intuition and speculation in order to find the invisible in a wisdom-based situation. The scholar is blind to the wisdom-based road of the greater magick, they will reasonably reject it as meaningless delusion; their blindness limits their ability to go beyond their self-imposed boundaries into the highly irrational states of greater magick.
Greater magick is based in nature, it is only the invisible side of nature. The greater magick is a form of creativity, for those that use the greater magick are creating visible objects out of invisible material. The greater magick is like art, and the rules of creativity apply, to see, build then activate the object from the invisible into the visible state.