Abstract: Observations of X-ray absorption lines in magnetically driven disc winds around black hole binaries and active galactic nuclei yield a universal radial density profile ? ? r(sup -1.2) in the wind. This is in disagreement with the standard Blandford and Payne profile ?BP ? r(sup -1.5) expected when the magnetic field is neither advected nor diffusing through the accretion disc. In order to account for this discrepancy, we establish a new paradigm for magnetically driven astrophysical winds acc…