The best working and broadest definition I have attained comes from the Hermetic Tradition. To begin with, remember that in ancient times Fate was considered an unstoppable force that even the ruling Gods could not control and were subject to as well as humans. The Idea is that human beings can change fate, and that the act of changing fate necessitates and is characterized by an act of magic. An example of methods used is Sympathetic Magic which operates on the understanding that certain compounds, frequencies and objects correspond to it's larger representative on a broader scale. An example of this we are most familiar with is the vodou practice of doll making, in which small effigies are constructed to influence the wellbeing of the larger version who it represents.
A more topical example is the correspondence of the metal Gold with our Sun. Since the Sun was thought to be the perfect god of the planets, wearing gold was said to call down the perfect kingly energy and improve the health and livelihood of the wearer. The operating of certain small time props to beckon the powers of the stars, fate and spirits is the ancient root of magical performance.
Hermeticism is where I begin this set of writing rather than the even older standards of ritual, indigenous magic and mythology because of some vocabulary I want to assert. The first are the three pillars of Hermeticism.
-Theurgy
-Astrology
-Alchemy
In an attempt at simple english I will define these concisely.
Theurgy is the quintessential ritual act in which participants wish to solicit the aid, visitation or council of divine, otherworldly beings.
Astrology is the famous use of the charting of constellations to calendar the cycles of the year and associate happenstance with celestial movement, in hopes of Prognostication.
Alchemy is the meditative workbench pastime in which mystics invested time in trying to evoke the divine presence, the perfect stone, from the refuse of human existence.
Systematically I would associate each of these three constructs with words more broad used to describe phenomenon present in religions, systems of ritual and meditations.
I would liken Theurgy to Henosis, the act of atonement, "At-one-ment", of being at one with God, gaining a unity with one's deity and dissolving the barriers between a worshipper and their divinity.
Then connect Alchemy with Kenosis. Kenosis is the replacing of one's inner structure, complete with inflated ego and malfunctioning neurosis, with the divine will. As the alchemist sought to banish the dross, shit, and rarify from this waste the uncorruptable ore of infinity, and replace their own broken and cursed mortal selves with perfect, unstoppable ascendant souls. Again wittiness the manipulation of basic props and small objects to influence the behavior and nature of larger corespondents, the alchemists being represented by their stone. Upon successful attainment of the Magnum Opus would also gain perfection. This is equated here to Kenosis, which is the perfect will of one's higher power operating through them. This is associated with Catharsis, the act of purgation of excess pessimism and anguish, reducing pity and fear like one reduces sauce on a stove. Through ultimate tragedy one might be purged of their bloated negative feelings and once relieved be filled with positive feelings.
Finally I connect Astrology is the seeking of knowledge, Gnosis. Gnosis in its most literal form is simply knowledge, and Gnostics refer to to it as the competency, the insight necessary to move forward into the realms of religious life. This is similar to the prospect of Henosis in that it establishes a connection between the individual and their grander context, asserting the recognition of a wondrous infinite background lessens the cognitive effects of the horrors of the transient foreground.
Systematically again I would associate these three concepts with Christian counterparts.
Alchemy/Kenosis Is associated with the Cathartic, purging experience accompanied by the contemplation, or prayer, of Theoria.
The aims of Theurgy/Henosis and Astrological prognostication are aligned with the above experience in the aim of achieving Theosis, the central goal of all people's lives. Theosis is the complete boundary dissolution between man and God and can only be realized after completing the previous steps. It is provided by the definition I originally put forward that the union between man and the powers of deities was the basis of all magic henceforth .
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