In fiction, it is often about control, ambition, or the pursuit of desired or even urgently needed (or supposedly most urgent) results.

I’m not sure how often magic in literature adheres to real-world practices. Tonight’s readers may want to comment on that. My impression is that magic in literature is mostly just imitated because authors have to adapt whatever they present so that their readers will recognize and enjoy it. In this case, that is probably also influenced by how it has been portrayed before in classic and genre literature. And that can be radically different from practice in the past or present.

To begin,

…when a person performs certain actions in the right way, in the right order and at the right time, then (it should) bring about a certain result in the natural world.

(It does not necessarily depend) on an appeal to gods, spirits, deities or other beings…

…“In this sense, magic is a parallel to science. The world is a naturally one of cause and effect relationships. The magician, like the scientist, seeks to control the causes in order to produce the desired effects.” “If religion can be said to depend largely on ‘who’ one knows, then magic can be said to depend on ‘what’ one knows, for it is knowledge of the appropriate action that produces the intended results” …. “Magic is a form of (intellectual) property known only to those who have been granted the right to share in it through training, friendship, or the payment of gifts.”

^{Emphasis added.}

Payment can be from the clients to the magician. It can also be what the magician and his associates pay more or less TO the magic, possibly a high payment to show respect or loyalty or to balance in that realm what will pass into this reality or simply to bring the necessary from the mundane world that the invisible realm needs to make things happen. Payment can be as simple as accepting that one will give up valuable life experiences or possessions or relationships in order to capable to do magic.

The goals are different. And the same applies to understanding.

“…most witches and neo-pagans do not associate ‘magic’ with the ‘supernatural.'” … “(They may work) with techniques that alter consciousness to enable psychic activity” (and insights).

Why insight? Because knowledge is wisdom! Traditionally, it is often what magic seeks to achieve.

Certain ideas may be shared by people who are involved in religion or magic. Law of Similaritythe belief that there is a connection between similar things or actions. Interestingly, Gestalt psychologists, “the first … to systematically investigate perceptual grouping” reported that

Organisms perceive some parts of their perceptual fields as more “connected” than others…. When individuals perceive the world, they eliminate complexity and unknowns so that they can observe reality in its simplest form. Eliminating extraneous stimuli helps the mind create meaning. This meaning created by perception implies a global regularity.

The law of similarity facilitates Imitative Magic, that what happens in magic will also happen in the material world.

Another, The Law of Contagion – that the relationship between objects once in contact is always maintained, so that a change in one object results in a change in the other.

And​​

“The Law of Opposites: Opposite objects have a connection and therefore what affects one can affect the other. For example, to bring about rain, the ceremony can focus on dry earth or sand.

Words/speech are involved in countless types of magic. George Wells writes in an article in Free inquiry:

“It is official Catholic teaches that when the priest pronounces the words of consecration during the celebration of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine is changed into the body and blood of Christ. It is therefore assumed that the mere utterance of words in the ritual situation can bring about a change in the character of material objects….”

Word magic is also closely linked to taboo words – words that are (NOT) spoken in certain social contexts. Taboo words include the disrespectful use of sacred names and obscene language. By avoiding these words, speakers try to avoid negative consequences…

…In his book The stuff of thought: language as a window to human nature, Psychologist Steven Pinker writes:

“Incantations, spells, Prayersand curses are ways in which people try to influence the world through words, and taboos and euphemisms are ways in which people try not to influence it.”

or to escape from it.

As for the objects – the sword in the stone, Othmar’s (normally purple) onion, the duffel bag of least resistance 🙂 —

… According to an exhibition on religions in ancient Scotland at the National Museum of Scotland:

“In a world where luck – for better or for worse – influenced life, it was important to have magic on your side. People wore charms and amulets to bring good luck and ward off evil.”

… “Amulets and lucky charms were used everywhere (in China and almost everywhere else), placed in the house and worn on the body. Protective figures were painted on the gates and the entrances behind them, both in temples and in houses, were covered with walls to keep evil spirits away.”