The Five Models of Magick

The five models of magick were developed by the German occultist Frater U.D. in an effort to illustrate the processes by which magick has been used over time and to try to explain how magick works by defining and categorizing them into five types:

• Spirit

• Energy

• Psychological

• Information

• Meta

While these are by no means absolute and the list will likely grow over time, they do help to categorize and analyze the ways in which magick can be accessed and performed. In your own work, you may not need to completely understand how magick works in order for it to work--these are only theories anyway as we have no solid scientific evidence to back any of the models as of yet--but having an organized means of understanding the history of the possibilities of magick can help you get more out of your work.

Don't feel you need to rigidly define yourself or your practice by only one model or force yourself into a box. Most practitioners will find themselves often utilizing more than one, sometimes in the same working or ritual. Use the following information as far as you find it useful in your craft, but as Frater U.D. warns, "one should not mistake the map for the landscape."

If you prefer video lecture format, check mine out below. Otherwise, keep scrolling...

The Spirit Model

This is quite possibly the oldest model of magick, although it is theorized that the energy model came about around the same time.

Its basic premise is the existence of an otherworld inhabited by more or less autonomous entities such as spirits, angels, demons, gods etc.

In the spirit model, magic is seen as being effected by these entities...and it is the shaman's or magician's task to make them put his will into effect. -Frater U.D., Dance of the Paradigms: A Chaos Magick Primer

This can be accomplished through prayer, offerings, bartering, command, ritual, and in some cases, magickal force or threats (although that is mighty rude in my humble opinion). Frater U.D. also states that the practitioner is familiar with this "otherworld" and has traveled it. While that is the case for plenty of shamans, magicians, witches, and other magickal practitioners through crossing the hedge or astral projection, I don't believe this personal familiarity with an "otherworld" is a requirement in order to work in the spirit model.

Examples of working with the spirit model are providing offerings and working with deity, communicating with ancestors, or performing an evocation from The Lesser Key of Solomon.

The Energy Model

I find that in modern Pagan magickal practices, the energy model is one of the most commonly used models and sometimes, although not always, done in tandem with the spirit model. On its own, in this model, an "otherworld" is not necessarily required. Working with the energy model means accessing and working with the energy here on our material plane.

This model suggests that everyone and everything contains an esoteric energy that can be perceived, altered, moved, and manipulated. In a ritual or spell, the practitioner shapes energy to their will and directs the flow of it. If you have ever read or heard a magick instructor tell you to "charge" a spell ingredient with intent, this is exactly what you are doing: infusing your source energy with your will of manifestation and directing that infused energy into the object.

Other examples of using the energy model are grounding to earth energy, leaving water under the full moon to charge it with lunar energy, using smoke or other tools or neutralize negative energy, or performing reiki in order to move bodily energy to promote healing.

The Psychological Model

This model deals with projections of the unconscious mind. This model suggests that the unconscious mind manifests conscious will through the use of trance or gnosis and symbolism and archetypes as tools of association.

The psychological model posits that we have the ability to shape our own reality if we condition ourselves (our minds) to do so. Some people believe this is entirely a placebo effect while others (myself included) think it actually sits on the brink of scientific exploration of the mind--that the human mind is capable of much more than has been proven so far.

The works of Sigmund Freud and especially Carl Jung have heavily influenced this model. In my own practice, while I work with most of the models, I primarily work with the psychological model and this is why I believe it is important to discover magickal correspondences for yourself in order to amplify your magick with personal symbolism.

Examples of the use of the psychological model are Chaos Magick, the Law of Attraction, and even visualization: projecting your conscious will through the subconscious in order to manifest the visualized results.

The Information Model

In comparison to the other models, the information model is relatively new. It suggests that energy exists but it needs to be given information in order to have any effect or do anything. It is the practitioner that directs this information.

Frater U.D. states that the basic premises of the information model are as follows:

a) Energy as such is "dumb": it needs information on what to do; this can be so called laws of nature or direct commands.

b) Information does not have mass or energy. Thus, it is faster than light and not bound by the restrictions of the Einsteinian spacetime continuum. It can therefore be transmitted or tapped at all times and at all places. In analogy (but of course only as such!) it may be likened to quantum phenomena rather than relativistic mass-energy. It can, however, attach itself to a medium e.g. an organism or any other memory storage device.

In this model, magick works through information transfer. In comparison to the energy model in which the practitioner may transfer energy from one person, place, or object to another, the information model instead creates a copy of information to transfer instead. One benefit of this model is that is does not deplete any resources.

For an example, cybermagick came about as a result of the information model.

In spite of its very modern, untraditionalist outlook, the basic principles of Cybermagic may in truth well be the oldest form of magic extant. For we can, for example, find a number of reports in the East to the effect of a guru transferring all his knowledge to his successor before his death, which is usually achieved by an act of long, mutual meditation. -Frater U.D.

The Meta Model

The meta model is not so much a model as it is a hybrid of different combinations of the previously mentioned models. The meta model suggests that the practitioner use whichever model, or combinations of models, that will get the job done.

Let's use magickal healing as an example and forgive me while I oversimplify and try to mish-mash all the models into one. The practitioner may evoke Spirit or the deity of their patient for assistance and blessing and then use the energy of healing crystals on the patient's body to remove stagnant or malignant energy. They then may instruct the patient, within the psychological model, the create their own healing sigil. As for the information model, the healer may transmit an informational healing matrix. Then the patient's energy, now using this new information, will heal the issue.

In strategizing which model or models to work with for a particular situation, the practitioner should choose them based off of their own preferences and which one(s) will be the most suitable, expedient, efficient, and beneficial. Again, this may require using one model, more than one model at the same time, or shifting from one model to another during the working.

For an example of that shift, look back at using the information matrix to heal the patient. The practitioner may transfer the information, and then finding that the patient is low in energy, will then also transfer some of their own energy to their patient in order for the information matrix to begin working.

Remember, this information is not intended to teach you how to do magick, but is intended to help you better understand it. If you find it beneficial to categorize and break down your practice or specific spells in order to better examine them, then do so. But do not get so wrapped up in the layout of the models that your craft becomes too rigid.