First, a quick explanation.  In the past few years, many people have started spelling the skill of Mages, magick,  with a "k" at the end in order to indicate the difference between it and stage magic.  I personally think this is a great idea.  Unfortunately the two professions have used the same label and this results in all sorts of misunderstandings.  Having a different spelling saves a lot of unnecessary explanations.  For that reason, I refer to the skills of a Mage as "magick" and stage magicians skills as "magic".

Lets begin with some clarification.  Stage magic is the use of illusions and tricks to make the audience believe they see something that they don't.  Stage magicians are performers and freely admit these are tricks (generally) and do not usually claim to be doing magick.  Learning magick will not result in lightning shooting from your finger tips.  You cannot make your boss magically burst into flame. You will not be able to turn anyone into a toad (don't laugh - someone seriously asked me once - good grief!).  You will not be able to wave your arms and materialize a chest of gold.   Sorry.  That's stage magic.  You do not have to paint your fingernails blue/black/green or wear three pounds of makeup and  strange "witchy-poo" costumes.  More stage magic and posturing.  You do not have to work naked or participate in orgies - that's Hollywood via priesthoods.  You do not need to become an herbalist or begin raising toads. That's misinformation spread by the religious sects.  

Magick is the deliberate manipulation of the life energy in and around all living things.  It is called by many names depending on your culture.  Honorable Mages use magick to protect places and people from the harm of ill will by manipulating the energy around them, to attract things like friendship, courage, or prosperity, or to banish unwanted energies or change bad habits, to heal and to help things grow.  It is a skill involving a potent energy source and as such can be used to help or to harm, which brings us to the question of ethics. 

Just as you wouldn't hire a door to door home remodeler, trust the nut in the airport waving a bible in your face, or hire any obvious scam artist to help you, you need to use common sense in looking at Mages as well.  Just like any other skill, there are Mages who are honorable and ethical and those that are self-serving and dishonorable.   Unfortunately, we can't as yet call the Better Business Bureau of Mages to check them out, so we have to be a bit more observant.  If you are thinking of studying magick, or of looking up a Mage for help with a problem, keep in mind what you are doing.   You don't want to consult "witchy-poo", costumed and theatrically flamboyant, except maybe to refer him to a good image consultant <G> because that is a clear sign of an individual who doesn't understand the difference between magic and magick, or more likely, is in the business of conning unsuspecting people.  More often, these are the sad folks who have deluded themselves into thinking costumes and props make them Mages and they prey on the gullible to shore up their egos.  Look for a Mage that is a functioning member of their community, preferably with a day job and "normal" responsibilities.  Ask for a definition of magick and ask lots of questions.  If they don't give you satisfactory answers, go elsewhere.  Avoid like the plague those who charge money for their skills because these are most often the scam artists who combine stage magic and a bit of magick to line their pockets or to attract "disciples".  Above all, be sure to get a clear idea of where this Mage gets his ethics and what they are.  Just because they wear robes and work out of a church doesn't automatically make them ethical or honorable.  Psychology has also adopted some tools of magick, even occasionally with the skill to use them if the "doc" has natural ability.  Same goes here - look for the ethics.  A diploma doesn't guarantee honor. 

The goal of a Mage is to become adept in manipulating the life energy that is in and around all of us all the time.  This energy is a physical thing, like electricity, gravity, or microwaves. The goal may or may not be "tangible".  Often it is intangible, like attracting friendship or banishing a bad attitude.  You may be surprised at how many untrained Mages are practicing all around us all the time.  You frequently see them in politics, healing arts like Reiki, priesthoods, martial arts, athletics, and sales.  The last time you bought something you didn't intend to buy after a pitch by a salesperson that wasn't really new information, he was practicing magick.  When the preacher or politician whips the crowd into a frenzy with his charismatic presentation, he is practicing magick.  When you do meditation techniques or breathing exercises in conjunction with self help goals, you are doing magick. The "toxic" person who makes you nervous or uncomfortable, or the warm and welcoming person that makes you feel safe and accepted just by being in their company are both doing magick.  It's everywhere.  The degree of intensity and focus  and flexibility of purpose are a function of training and natural ability.  This is Magecraft.

Historically, Mages have been intimately involved in religion.  During the cross-over from small family/tribal religious shrines to organized priesthoods, it was still common for the average person to go to the local Mage for a working for a good harvest or  successful breeding of his cow, or for luck in the battle with the neighbor tribe.  Since, being nature religion focused, these same people considered the ultimate source of these blessings to be the God/desses, they naturally assumed the Mages had the "hot line" to those Deities.  Understandably, when the priesthoods began to formalize, they considered this a threat to their power base and decided that only *they* should be able to do magick.  Thus, being politically and financially motivated,  they usually outlawed practice of magick outside priesthoods and often punished it with death or labeled it as "evil" - still do in most of the major religious sects.  Therefore, much of the practice of magic is wrapped in religious trappings of various kinds, from Christian, to Wiccan to Jewish, to Voudon.   There are Mages in all religions, but the religions themselves have nothing to do with the ability to do magick.

When choosing a magick teacher it is very, very important to be careful who you work with.  The biggest contribution that religion makes to magick is the ethical frameworks already in place but you don't need religion to practice ethical honorable magick.   In learning Magick, there is no substitute for having an experienced person to provide guidance and feedback.  However, no matter how good the teacher is, ultimately the student must learn to recognize and control the energy himself.   Otherwise, it is like trying to explain Mozart to a deaf person.  There is only so far you can go with a student who just doesn't "see it".  Books can give a student a good background and help to establish context, but when you get into the actual working, there just is no other way but to do it yourself.  When you get it right, you'll know.