New to magick. Have some questions.

[Lectus]

Hello!
I'm new here and I'm interested in this subject.
I have a few beginner questions:

1) How does magick work? Does it really changes reality, the physical environment? Or is it just a shift your own perceptions?
2) Can you affect others with your spells?
3) What's the recommended book to started learning about this?

Sorry for the newbie questions. But this is probably the only place I can ask this.

Thanks

[Rin]

1 & 2) People have different opinions on this, but I'd say the majority of people who use magic believe it can influence the external world in some manner.

3) That depends on where your interest lies. 'Magic(k)' is a pretty wide field.

[adawehi]

I agree with Rin. We all look at it from different angles but in my experience thus far, yes I can effect the material world around me, but probably not in the way you may be thinking. When I need a bit of extra help paying the bills, I get it. If I need/want something that I can't afford just now, I find a super bargain on it somewhere. A good for instance on this one, I wanted the CD collection of The New Hermetics which sells for a few hundreds and found it at Goodwill for $10 including untouched workbooks. Making things happen have to fall within the laws of physics. How it is done I believe is learning how to manipulate the energy that the entire world is made up of. Can we effect others. The answer is yes. In my experience though there are repercussions for doing things like taking revenge or being just downright mean. Newtons Laws cover this one. For every action there is a reaction. One Golden Rule that we all have to keep in mind is, be careful what you ask for because we really have no idea how things will turn out when we elect to make something happen.
To understand how magic actually works it's better to study it on your own and make up your own mind. Regardless of whether or not one believes, it's real, it works and everyone is using it regardless of whether or not they are realizing it.
There is a section here on the forum where you can find links to free info online that will acquaint you with various paradigms of magic.

[Lectus]

Thanks for the answers.
I have read some material about Chaos Magick. I really like this paradigm. Because I realized I used to do this kind of stuff without knowing.
I also made my first official sigil and it did work. But I realized the manifestation is not always like I imagined it to be. I got a dream and directions about how to reach my goal, but I didn't get the goal itself.
I think I'm on the right path.

[Nahemah]

Have a read around the forums.

We have a resource/links thread in Beginners Info,as mentioned by adawehi above and one with free books and so on in Off Topic Occult...you will find a lot varied material to get your teeth into across the folders and more questions are always welcome too. [thumbup]