Robert Todd Carroll

Magick is the ability to change circumstances and events solely by willing it. Sympathetic magick is based on the belief that "like attracts like"-for example, sticking pins in a voodoo doll will cause pain to the person the doll represents. While the ideas of magick and sympathetic magick are appealing, such beliefs show a profound ignorance of science. Magick does not influence events; real magic is in the beauty of nature and the ability to do and see simple, everyday things. Robert Todd Carroll is a philosophy professor at Sacramento City College. He is also the author of Becoming a Critical Thinker and the editor of the Skeptic's Dictionary, a website promoting skeptical thinking about paranormal and supernatural phenomena (www.skepdic.com).

Magick is the alleged art and science of causing change in...