Someone on my message board posted the question in the subject of this post and I thought it was interesting and perhaps more people might be interested in discussing the subject.

Below is the response I gave this person:

OK to finally get to your question (and I hope that when the board is fixed this answer will be up again).

I believe that, yes, you CAN practice magick without believing in deity. However, you can't practice Wicca because Wicca is a specific religion that revolves around the worship of a God and Goddess.

But I think that you DO need to believe that we are all connected to eachother through and by the Universal Consciousness. It is a web that connects all of our consciousnesses... those who live on Earth now, and those who have gone before us and moved on to better things in places other than the material plane here on Earth.

Buddhists, in general, believe that once you achieve enlightenment you join the Universal Consciousness as a mentor and master to those who are still reincarnating. (You have to believe in that as well, I suppose.) Many paths agree that all people have access to the Universal Consciousness through your own essence and inner being. (The part of you that leaves your body when it dies and moves onto the next.) I believe the Buddhists call this part of you the Higher Self.

So, if you believe that we are all connect to and through the Web of Universal Consciousness and reincarnation then you have access to a vast storage of knowledge that may help you get the direction and help that you feel like to need and want without the burden of having to believe in deity.

And magick is easily practicable without belief. But you have to believe that all things on the Earth have a consciousness and aura/energy - not just humans. That includes animals, plants, and crystals/stones/minerals. Clearly we are the highest evolved of the four. In this belief you have to come to an understanding, I think, that the Earth herself has power and energy.

You *COULD* do magick without drawing on Earth energy to help but it's much harder to recover and regain your own energy. This is, in fact, considered a dangerous way to practice magick.

We do all have magick ability but it's just latent in most. And you can use magick without the aid of Earth but it's tiring and dangerous.

So to recap: I BELIEVE, (That means that some other people might disagree and my opinion is not absolute fact here.), that in order to practice you must believe in:

1.) Reincarnation (and in so believing also believe in your Higher Self)

2.) The Web of Universal Consciousness

3.) The fact that all things that exist on Earth (plants, animals, stones/crystals/minerals, and humans) all have their own unique aura and energy, including the Earth itself.