Throughout the ages, magick has been practiced. The reason for this is not because it makes people cool or different, better or worse than anyone else. People work magick because magick works. While it is true that 'throughout the ages', people have indeed practiced magick, it is also true that not all peoples have practiced magick in the same way or in the same context. That is still true today.
Some folks practice magick with no inherent religious element.
These are the practitioners who consider magick to be entirely neutral. The words 'magick' and 'Witch' seem to be forever linked, yet it is also true that some Witches, Wiccans and other pagans use magick as part of their religious practice and some do not. Some Witches, Wiccans and pagans use magick as a tool for divination or spellwork for such things as healing, etc, yet do not consider magick as a religious practice, but rather as a practical utility tool. Heathens, like many others in the Northern traditions, acknowledge the existence of magick, but generally leave the workings of it solely to the office of a special person, usually a diviner. Religious belief and magickal workings weave together physical, mental and spiritual threads in a way that the single strands of any one element can no longer be distinguished from the entire fabric.