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Pat, I think magic might be described as attempting to secure an effect by certain practices, while miracle is supposed to involve God's unforced action. Needless to say, my distinction blurs a bit in practice when one speaks of attempting to secure the effect by entreating God directly or via intermediaries, though God's will remains - by definition - free & unbound. D. P. Walker added further complications to this in a lecture I attended at the Newberry in 1983 by pointing out that Protestants he had studied questioned Catholic reports of miracles. That form of polemic - leading to the burlesque of the Latin words of consecration as "Hocus pocus" - falls more into the distinction you are making. tmi %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%