Magic (supernatural)
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Magic is an ancient practice rooted in rituals, spiritual
Connotations have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history,[3] Within Western culture, magic has been linked to ideas of the Other,[4] foreignness,[5] and primitivism;[6] indicating that it is "a powerful marker of cultural difference"[7] and likewise, a non-modern phenomenon.[8] During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Western intellectuals perceived the practice of magic to be a sign of a primitive mentality and also commonly attributed it to marginalised groups of people.[7]
Etymology
The English words magic, mage and magician come from the
During the late-sixth and early-fifth centuries BCE, the term goetia found its way into ancient Greek, where it was used with negative connotations to apply to rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous;[15] in particular they dedicate themselves to the evocation and invocation of daimons (lesser divinities or spirits) to control and acquire powers. This concept remained pervasive throughout the Hellenistic period, when Hellenistic authors categorised a diverse range of practices—such as enchantment, witchcraft, incantations, divination, necromancy, and astrology—under the label "magic".[16]
The Latin language adopted this meaning of the term in the first century BCE. Via Latin, the concept became incorporated into
Since the nineteenth century, academics in various disciplines have employed the term magic but have defined it in different ways and used it in reference to different things. One approach, associated with the
Branches or types
White, gray and black
Historian Owen Davies says the term "white witch" was rarely used before the 20th century.[17] White magic is understood as the use of magic for selfless or helpful purposes, while black magic was used for selfish, harmful or evil purposes.[18] Black magic is the malicious counterpart of the benevolent white magic. There is no consensus as to what constitutes white, gray or black magic, as Phil Hine says, "like many other aspects of occultism, what is termed to be 'black magic' depends very much on who is doing the defining."[19] Gray magic, also called "neutral magic", is magic that is not performed for specifically benevolent reasons, but is also not focused towards completely hostile practices.[citation needed]
High and low
Historians and anthropologists have distinguished between practitioners who engage in high magic, and those who engage in
History
Mesopotamia
Magic was invoked in many kinds of rituals and medical formulae, and to counteract evil omens. Defensive or legitimate magic in Mesopotamia (asiputu or masmassutu in the Akkadian language) were incantations and ritual practices intended to alter specific realities. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only viable defense against demons, ghosts, and evil sorcerers.[25] To defend themselves against the spirits of those they had wronged, they would leave offerings known as kispu in the person's tomb in hope of appeasing them.[26] If that failed, they also sometimes took a figurine of the deceased and buried it in the ground, demanding for the gods to eradicate the spirit, or force it to leave the person alone.[27]
The ancient Mesopotamians also used magic intending to protect themselves from evil sorcerers who might place curses on them.[28] Black magic as a category did not exist in ancient Mesopotamia, and a person legitimately using magic to defend themselves against illegitimate magic would use exactly the same techniques.[28] The only major difference was that curses were enacted in secret;[28] whereas a defense against sorcery was conducted in the open, in front of an audience if possible.[28] One ritual to punish a sorcerer was known as Maqlû, or "The Burning".[28] The person viewed as being afflicted by witchcraft would create an effigy of the sorcerer and put it on trial at night.[28] Then, once the nature of the sorcerer's crimes had been determined, the person would burn the effigy and thereby break the sorcerer's power over them.[28]
The ancient Mesopotamians also performed magical rituals to purify themselves of sins committed unknowingly.[28] One such ritual was known as the Šurpu, or "Burning",[29] in which the caster of the spell would transfer the guilt for all their misdeeds onto various objects such as a strip of dates, an onion, and a tuft of wool.[29] The person would then burn the objects and thereby purify themself of all sins that they might have unknowingly committed.[29] A whole genre of love spells existed.[30] Such spells were believed to cause a person to fall in love with another person, restore love which had faded, or cause a male sexual partner to be able to sustain an erection when he had previously been unable.[30] Other spells were used to reconcile a man with his patron deity or to reconcile a wife with a husband who had been neglecting her.[31]
The ancient Mesopotamians made no distinction between rational science and magic.
The Sumerian god
Incantation bowls
A common set of shared assumptions about the causes of evil and how to avert it are found in a form of early protective magic called incantation bowl or magic bowls. The bowls were produced in the Middle East, particularly in
Egypt
In ancient Egypt (Kemet in the Egyptian language), Magic (personified as the god heka) was an integral part of religion and culture which is known to us through a substantial corpus of texts which are products of the Egyptian tradition.[51]
While the category magic has been contentious for modern Egyptology, there is clear support for its applicability from ancient terminology.[52] The Coptic term hik is the descendant of the pharaonic term heka, which, unlike its Coptic counterpart, had no connotation of impiety or illegality, and is attested from the Old Kingdom through to the Roman era.[52] heka was considered morally neutral and was applied to the practices and beliefs of both foreigners and Egyptians alike.[53] The Instructions for Merikare informs us that heka was a beneficence gifted by the creator to humanity "in order to be weapons to ward off the blow of events".[54]
Magic was practiced by both the literate priestly hierarchy and by illiterate farmers and herdsmen, and the principle of heka underlay all ritual activity, both in the temples and in private settings.[55]
The main principle of heka is centered on the power of words to bring things into being.[56]: 54 Karenga explains the pivotal power of words and their vital ontological role as the primary tool used by the creator to bring the manifest world into being.[57] Because humans were understood to share a divine nature with the gods, snnw ntr (images of the god), the same power to use words creatively that the gods have is shared by humans.[58]
Book of the Dead
The interior walls of the pyramid of Unas, the final pharaoh of the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty, are covered in hundreds of magical spells and inscriptions, running from floor to ceiling in vertical columns.
After a person died, his or her corpse would be mummified and wrapped in linen bandages to ensure that the deceased's body would survive for as long as possible[59] because the Egyptians believed that a person's soul could only survive in the afterlife for as long as his or her physical body survived here on earth.[59] The last ceremony before a person's body was sealed away inside the tomb was known as the Opening of the Mouth.[59] In this ritual, the priests would touch various magical instruments to various parts of the deceased's body, thereby giving the deceased the ability to see, hear, taste, and smell in the afterlife.[59]
Amulets
The use of amulets (meket) was widespread among both living and dead ancient Egyptians.
Judea
In the Mosaic Law, practices such as witchcraft (
Although magic was forbidden by
Asia
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China
Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: 巫教; pinyin: wū jiào; lit. 'wu religion', 'shamanism', 'witchcraft'; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China.[71][72] Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture.[73] Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion.[74] Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders,[75] though most orders do not self-identify as such.
Also Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism:[71][76] it developed around the pursuit of long life (shou 壽/寿), or the status of a xian (仙, "mountain man", "holy man").[71] Taoism in ancient times until the modern day has used rituals, mantras, and amulets with godly or supernatural powers. Taoist worldviews were thought of as magical or alchemical.[77]
Greco-Roman world
During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, the Persian maguš was Graecicized and introduced into the ancient Greek language as μάγος and μαγεία.[15] In doing so it transformed meaning, gaining negative connotations, with the magos being regarded as a charlatan whose ritual practices were fraudulent, strange, unconventional, and dangerous.[15] As noted by Davies, for the ancient Greeks—and subsequently for the ancient Romans—"magic was not distinct from religion but rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it—the religion of the other".[78] The historian Richard Gordon suggested that for the ancient Greeks, being accused of practicing magic was "a form of insult".[79]
This change in meaning was influenced by the military conflicts that the Greek city-states were then engaged in against the Persian Empire.
In the first century BCE, the Greek concept of the magos was adopted into Latin and used by a number of ancient Roman writers as magus and magia.[15] The earliest known Latin use of the term was in Virgil's Eclogue, written around 40 BCE, which makes reference to magicis ... sacris (magic rites).[81] The Romans already had other terms for the negative use of supernatural powers, such as veneficus and saga.[81] The Roman use of the term was similar to that of the Greeks, but placed greater emphasis on the judicial application of it.[15] Within the Roman Empire, laws would be introduced criminalising things regarded as magic.[82]
In ancient Roman society, magic was associated with societies to the east of the empire; the first century CE writer
Ancient Greek scholarship of the 20th century, almost certainly influenced by Christianising preconceptions of the meanings of
the choices which lay outside the range of cults did not just add additional options to the civic menu, but ... sometimes incorporated critiques of the civic cults and Panhellenic myths or were genuine alternatives to them.
— Simon Price, Religions of the Ancient Greeks (1999)[86]
A large number of
- the use of magic words said to have the power to command spirits;[89]
- the use of mysterious sigils which are thought to be useful when invoking or evoking spirits.[90]
The practice of magic was banned in the late Roman world, and the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) states:[91]
If any wizard therefore or person imbued with magical contamination who is called by custom of the people a magician ... should be apprehended in my retinue, or in that of the Caesar, he shall not escape punishment and torture by the protection of his rank.
Middle Ages
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Magic practices such as divination, interpretation of omens, sorcery, and use of charms had been specifically forbidden in Mosaic Law [92] and condemned in Biblical histories of the kings.[93] Many of these practices were spoken against in the New Testament as well.[94][95]
Some commentators say that in the first century CE, early Christian authors absorbed the
For early Christian writers like
The model of the magician in Christian thought was provided by Simon Magus, (Simon the Magician), a figure who opposed Saint Peter in both the Acts of the Apostles and the apocryphal yet influential Acts of Peter.[100] The historian Michael D. Bailey stated that in medieval Europe, magic was a "relatively broad and encompassing category".[101] Christian theologians believed that there were multiple different forms of magic, the majority of which were types of divination, for instance, Isidore of Seville produced a catalogue of things he regarded as magic in which he listed divination by the four elements i.e. geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and pyromancy, as well as by observation of natural phenomena e.g. the flight of birds and astrology. He also mentioned enchantment and ligatures (the medical use of magical objects bound to the patient) as being magical.[102] Medieval Europe also saw magic come to be associated with the Old Testament figure of Solomon; various grimoires, or books outlining magical practices, were written that claimed to have been written by Solomon, most notably the Key of Solomon.[103]
In early medieval Europe, magia was a term of condemnation.[104] In medieval Europe, Christians often suspected Muslims and Jews of engaging in magical practices;[105] in certain cases, these perceived magical rites—including the alleged Jewish sacrifice of Christian children—resulted in Christians massacring these religious minorities.[106] Christian groups often also accused other, rival Christian groups such as the Hussites—which they regarded as heretical—of engaging in magical activities.[100][107] Medieval Europe also saw the term maleficium applied to forms of magic that were conducted with the intention of causing harm.[101] The later Middle Ages saw words for these practitioners of harmful magical acts appear in various European languages: sorcière in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish.[108] The English term for malevolent practitioners of magic, witch, derived from the earlier Old English term wicce.[108]
Ars Magica or magic is a major component and supporting contribution to the belief and practice of spiritual, and in many cases, physical healing throughout the Middle Ages. Emanating from many modern interpretations lies a trail of misconceptions about magic, one of the largest revolving around wickedness or the existence of nefarious beings who practice it. These misinterpretations stem from numerous acts or rituals that have been performed throughout antiquity, and due to their exoticism from the commoner's perspective, the rituals invoked uneasiness and an even stronger sense of dismissal.[109][110]
In the Medieval Jewish view, the separation of the mystical and magical elements of Kabbalah, dividing it into speculative theological Kabbalah (Kabbalah Iyyunit) with its meditative traditions, and theurgic practical Kabbalah (Kabbalah Ma'asit), had occurred by the beginning of the 14th century.[111]
One societal force in the Middle Ages more powerful than the singular commoner, the Christian Church, rejected magic as a whole because it was viewed as a means of tampering with the natural world in a supernatural manner associated with the biblical verses of Deuteronomy 18:9–12.[further explanation needed] Despite the many negative connotations which surround the term magic, there exist many elements that are seen in a divine or holy light.[112]
The divine right of kings in England was thought to be able to give them "sacred magic" power to heal thousands of their subjects from sicknesses.[113]
Diversified instruments or rituals used in medieval magic include, but are not limited to: various amulets, talismans, potions, as well as specific chants, dances, and
The
The influence of Arab Islamic magic in medieval and Renaissance Europe was very notable. Some magic books such as
During the early modern period, the concept of magic underwent a more positive reassessment through the development of the concept of
Adherents of this position argued that magia could appear in both good and bad forms; in 1625, the French librarian Gabriel Naudé wrote his Apology for all the Wise Men Falsely Suspected of Magic, in which he distinguished "Mosoaicall Magick"—which he claimed came from God and included prophecies, miracles, and speaking in tongues—from "geotick" magic caused by demons.[125] While the proponents of magia naturalis insisted that this did not rely on the actions of demons, critics disagreed, arguing that the demons had simply deceived these magicians.[126] By the seventeenth century the concept of magia naturalis had moved in increasingly 'naturalistic' directions, with the distinctions between it and science becoming blurred.[127] The validity of magia naturalis as a concept for understanding the universe then came under increasing criticism during the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.[128]
Despite the attempt to reclaim the term magia for use in a positive sense, it did not supplant traditional attitudes toward magic in the West, which remained largely negative.
The Renaissance
There was great uncertainty in distinguishing practices of superstition, occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern
]In
In the sixteenth century, European societies began to conquer and colonise other continents around the world, and as they did so they applied European concepts of magic and witchcraft to practices found among the peoples whom they encountered.[137] Usually, these European colonialists regarded the natives as primitives and savages whose belief systems were diabolical and needed to be eradicated and replaced by Christianity.[138] Because Europeans typically viewed these non-European peoples as being morally and intellectually inferior to themselves, it was expected that such societies would be more prone to practicing magic.[139] Women who practiced traditional rites were labelled as witches by the Europeans.[139]
In various cases, these imported European concepts and terms underwent new transformations as they merged with indigenous concepts.[140] In West Africa, for instance, Portuguese travellers introduced their term and concept of the feitiçaria (often translated as sorcery) and the feitiço (spell) to the native population, where it was transformed into the concept of the fetish. When later Europeans encountered these West African societies, they wrongly believed that the fetiche was an indigenous African term rather than the result of earlier inter-continental encounters.[140] Sometimes, colonised populations themselves adopted these European concepts for their own purposes. In the early nineteenth century, the newly independent Haitian government of Jean-Jacques Dessalines began to suppress the practice of Vodou, and in 1835 Haitian law-codes categorised all Vodou practices as sortilège (sorcery/witchcraft), suggesting that it was all conducted with harmful intent, whereas among Vodou practitioners the performance of harmful rites was already given a separate and distinct category, known as maji.[136]
Baroque period
During the Baroque era, several intriguing figures engaged with occult and magical themes that went beyond conventional thinking. Michael Sendivogius (1566–1636), a Polish alchemist, emphasized empirical experimentation in alchemy and made notable contributions to early chemistry. Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639), an Italian philosopher, blended Christianity with mysticism in works like The City of the Sun, envisioning an ideal society governed by divine principles. Jakob Böhme (1575–1624), a German mystic, explored the relationship between the divine and human experience, influencing later mystical movements.
Modernity
By the nineteenth century, European intellectuals no longer saw the practice of magic through the framework of sin and instead regarded magical practices and beliefs as "an aberrational mode of thought antithetical to the dominant cultural logic—a sign of psychological impairment and marker of racial or cultural inferiority".[141]
As educated elites in Western societies increasingly rejected the efficacy of magical practices, legal systems ceased to threaten practitioners of magical activities with punishment for the crimes of diabolism and witchcraft, and instead threatened them with the accusation that they were defrauding people through promising to provide things which they could not.[142]
This spread of European colonial power across the world influenced how academics would come to frame the concept of magic.[143] In the nineteenth century, several scholars adopted the traditional, negative concept of magic.[128] That they chose to do so was not inevitable, for they could have followed the example adopted by prominent esotericists active at the time like Helena Blavatsky who had chosen to use the term and concept of magic in a positive sense.[128] Various writers also used the concept of magic to criticise religion by arguing that the latter still displayed many of the negative traits of the former. An example of this was the American journalist H. L. Mencken in his polemical 1930 work Treatise on the Gods; he sought to critique religion by comparing it to magic, arguing that the division between the two was misplaced.[144] The concept of magic was also adopted by theorists in the new field of psychology, where it was often used synonymously with superstition, although the latter term proved more common in early psychological texts.[145]
In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
The scholarly application of magic as a sui generis category that can be applied to any socio-cultural context was linked with the promotion of modernity to both Western and non-Western audiences.[149]
The term magic has become pervasive in the popular imagination and idiom.[6] In contemporary contexts, the word magic is sometimes used to "describe a type of excitement, of wonder, or sudden delight", and in such a context can be "a term of high praise".[150] Despite its historical contrast against science, scientists have also adopted the term in application to various concepts, such as magic acid, magic bullets, and magic angles.[6]
Modern Western magic has challenged widely-held preconceptions about contemporary religion and spirituality.[151]
The polemical discourses about magic influenced the self-understanding of modern magicians, several whom—such as Aleister Crowley—were well versed in academic literature on the subject.[152]
According to scholar of religion Henrik Bogdan, "arguably the best known emic definition" of the term magic was provided by Crowley.
The chaos magic movement emerged during the late 20th century, as an attempt to strip away the symbolic, ritualistic, theological or otherwise ornamental aspects of other occult traditions and distill magic down to a set of basic techniques.[153]
These modern Western concepts of magic rely on a belief in correspondences connected to an unknown occult force that permeates the universe.[154] As noted by Hanegraaff, this operated according to "a new meaning of magic, which could not possibly have existed in earlier periods, precisely because it is elaborated in reaction to the 'disenchantment of the world'".[154]
For many, and perhaps most, modern Western magicians, the goal of magic is deemed to be personal spiritual development.
The adoption of the term magic by modern occultists can in some instances be a deliberate attempt to champion those areas of Western society which have traditionally been marginalised as a means of subverting dominant systems of power.[156] The influential American Wiccan and author Starhawk for instance stated that "Magic is another word that makes people uneasy, so I use it deliberately, because the words we are comfortable with, the words that sound acceptable, rational, scientific, and intellectually correct, are comfortable precisely because they are the language of estrangement."[157] In the present day, "among some countercultural subgroups the label is considered 'cool'".[158]
Conceptual development
According to anthropologist
In Africa, the word magic might simply be understood as denoting management of forces, which, as an activity, is not weighted morally and is accordingly a neutral activity from the start of a magical practice, but by the will of the magician, is thought to become and to have an outcome which represents either good or bad (evil).[167][168] Ancient African culture was in the habit customarily of always discerning difference between magic, and a group of other things, which are not magic, these things were medicine, divination, witchcraft and sorcery.[169] Opinion differs on how religion and magic are related to each other with respect development or to which developed from which, some think they developed together from a shared origin, some think religion developed from magic, and some, magic from religion.[170]
Anthropological and sociological theories of magic generally serve to sharply demarcate certain practices from other, otherwise similar practices in a given society.[97] According to Bailey: "In many cultures and across various historical periods, categories of magic often define and maintain the limits of socially and culturally acceptable actions in respect to numinous or occult entities or forces. Even more, basically, they serve to delineate arenas of appropriate belief."[171] In this, he noted that "drawing these distinctions is an exercise in power".[171] This tendency has had repercussions for the study of magic, with academics self-censoring their research because of the effects on their careers.[172]
Randall Styers noted that attempting to define magic represents "an act of demarcation" by which it is juxtaposed against "other social practices and modes of knowledge" such as religion and science.[173] The historian Karen Louise Jolly described magic as "a category of exclusion, used to define an unacceptable way of thinking as either the opposite of religion or of science".[174]
Modern scholarship has produced various definitions and theories of magic.[175] According to Bailey, "these have typically framed magic in relation to, or more
frequently in distinction from, religion and science."
The context in which scholars framed their discussions of magic was informed by the spread of European colonial power across the world in the modern period.[143] These repeated attempts to define magic resonated with broader social concerns,[8] and the pliability of the concept has allowed it to be "readily adaptable as a polemical and ideological tool".[130] The links that intellectuals made between magic and those they characterized as primitives helped to legitimise European and Euro-American imperialism and colonialism, as these Western colonialists expressed the view that those who believed in and practiced magic were unfit to govern themselves and should be governed by those who, rather than believing in magic, believed in science and/or (Christian) religion.[7] In Bailey's words, "the association of certain peoples [whether non-Europeans or poor, rural Europeans] with magic served to distance and differentiate them from those who ruled over them, and in large part to justify that rule."[5]
Many different definitions of magic have been offered by scholars, although—according to Hanegraaff—these can be understood as variations of a small number of heavily influential theories.[176]
Intellectualist approach
The intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two British
Tylor's understanding of magic was linked to his concept of animism.[187] In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on "the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy". [188] In Tylor's view, "primitive man, having come to associate in thought those things which he found by experience to be connected in fact, proceeded erroneously to invert this action, and to conclude that association in thought must involve similar connection in reality. He thus attempted to discover, to foretell, and to cause events by means of processes which we can now see to have only an ideal significance".[189] Tylor was dismissive of magic, describing it as "one of the most pernicious delusions that ever vexed mankind".[190] Tylor's views proved highly influential,[191] and helped to establish magic as a major topic of anthropological research.[184]
Tylor's ideas were adopted and simplified by James Frazer.[192] He used the term magic to mean sympathetic magic,[193] describing it as a practice relying on the magician's belief "that things act on each other at a distance through a secret sympathy", something which he described as "an invisible ether".[189] He further divided this magic into two forms, the "homeopathic (imitative, mimetic)" and the "contagious".[189] The former was the idea that "like produces like", or that the similarity between two objects could result in one influencing the other. The latter was based on the idea that contact between two objects allowed the two to continue to influence one another at a distance.[194] Like Taylor, Frazer viewed magic negatively, describing it as "the bastard sister of science", arising from "one great disastrous fallacy".[195]
Where Frazer differed from Tylor was in characterizing a belief in magic as a major stage in humanity's cultural development, describing it as part of a tripartite division in which magic came first, religion came second, and eventually science came third.
Some scholars retained the evolutionary framework used by Frazer but changed the order of its stages; the German ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt argued that religion—by which he meant monotheism—was the first stage of human belief, which later degenerated into both magic and polytheism.[199] Others rejected the evolutionary framework entirely. Frazer's notion that magic had given way to religion as part of an evolutionary framework was later deconstructed by the folklorist and anthropologist Andrew Lang in his essay "Magic and Religion"; Lang did so by highlighting how Frazer's framework relied upon misrepresenting ethnographic accounts of beliefs and practiced among indigenous Australians to fit his concept of magic.[200]
Functionalist approach
The functionalist approach to defining magic is associated with the French
Mauss set forth his conception of magic in a 1902 essay, "A General Theory of Magic".[203] Mauss used the term magic in reference to "any rite that is not part of an organized cult: a rite that is private, secret, mysterious, and ultimately tending towards one that is forbidden".[201] Conversely, he associated religion with organised cult.[204] By saying that magic was inherently non-social, Mauss had been influenced by the traditional Christian understandings of the concept.[205] Mauss deliberately rejected the intellectualist approach promoted by Frazer, believing that it was inappropriate to restrict the term magic to sympathetic magic, as Frazer had done.[206] He expressed the view that "there are not only magical rites which are not sympathetic, but neither is sympathy a prerogative of magic, since there are sympathetic practices in religion".[204]
Mauss' ideas were adopted by Durkheim in his 1912 book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.[207] Durkheim was of the view that both magic and religion pertained to "sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden".[208] Where he saw them as being different was in their social organisation. Durkheim used the term magic to describe things that were inherently anti-social, existing in contrast to what he referred to as a Church, the religious beliefs shared by a social group; in his words, "There is no Church of magic."[209] Durkheim expressed the view that "there is something inherently anti-religious about the maneuvers of the magician",[202] and that a belief in magic "does not result in binding together those who adhere to it, nor in uniting them into a group leading a common life."[208] Durkheim's definition encounters problems in situations—such as the rites performed by Wiccans—in which acts carried out communally have been regarded, either by practitioners or observers, as being magical.[210]
Scholars have criticized the idea that magic and religion can be differentiated into two distinct, separate categories.[211] The social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown suggested that "a simple dichotomy between magic and religion" was unhelpful and thus both should be subsumed under the broader category of ritual.[212] Many later anthropologists followed his example.[212] Nevertheless, this distinction is still often made by scholars discussing this topic.[211]
Emotionalist approach
The emotionalist approach to magic is associated with the English anthropologist Robert Ranulph Marett, the Austrian Sigmund Freud, and the Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski.[213]
Marett viewed magic as a response to stress.
The term magic was used liberally by Freud.[218] He also saw magic as emerging from human emotion but interpreted it very differently to Marett.[219] Freud explains that "the associated theory of magic merely explains the paths along which magic proceeds; it does not explain its true essence, namely the misunderstanding which leads it to replace the laws of nature by psychological ones".[220] Freud emphasizes that what led primitive men to come up with magic is the power of wishes: "His wishes are accompanied by a motor impulse, the will, which is later destined to alter the whole face of the earth to satisfy his wishes. This motor impulse is at first employed to give a representation of the satisfying situation in such a way that it becomes possible to experience the satisfaction by means of what might be described as motor hallucinations. This kind of representation of a satisfied wish is quite comparable to children's play, which succeeds their earlier purely sensory technique of satisfaction. [...] As time goes on, the psychological accent shifts from the motives for the magical act on to the measures by which it is carried out—that is, on to the act itself. [...] It thus comes to appear as though it is the magical act itself which, owing to its similarity with the desired result, alone determines the occurrence of that result."[221]
In the early 1960s, the anthropologists Murray and
According to
Ethnocentrism
The magic-religion-science triangle developed in European society based on evolutionary ideas i.e. that magic evolved into religion, which in turn evolved into science.[202] However using a Western analytical tool when discussing non-Western cultures, or pre-modern forms of Western society, raises problems as it may impose alien Western categories on them.[228] While magic remains an emic (insider) term in the history of Western societies, it remains an etic (outsider) term when applied to non-Western societies and even within specific Western societies. For this reason, academics like Michael D. Bailey suggest abandon the term altogether as an academic category.[229] During the twentieth century, many scholars focusing on Asian and African societies rejected the term magic, as well as related concepts like witchcraft, in favour of the more precise terms and concepts that existed within these specific societies like Juju.[230] A similar approach has been taken by many scholars studying pre-modern societies in Europe, such as Classical antiquity, who find the modern concept of magic inappropriate and favour more specific terms originating within the framework of the ancient cultures which they are studying.[231] Alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research.[228] This century has seen a trend towards emic ethnographic studies by scholar practitioners that explicitly explore the emic/etic divide.[232]
Many scholars have argued that the use of the term as an analytical tool within academic scholarship should be rejected altogether.
Bailey noted that, as of the early 21st century, few scholars sought grand definitions of magic but instead focused with "careful attention to particular contexts", examining what a term like magic meant to a given society; this approach, he noted, "call[ed] into question the legitimacy of magic as a universal category".
Witchcraft
The historian
Those regarded as being magicians have often faced suspicion from other members of their society.[242] This is particularly the case if these perceived magicians have been associated with social groups already considered morally suspect in a particular society, such as foreigners, women, or the lower classes.[243] In contrast to these negative associations, many practitioners of activities that have been labelled magical have emphasised that their actions are benevolent and beneficial.[244] This conflicted with the common Christian view that all activities categorised as being forms of magic were intrinsically bad regardless of the intent of the magician, because all magical actions relied on the aid of demons.[99] There could be conflicting attitudes regarding the practices of a magician; in European history, authorities often believed that cunning folk and traditional healers were harmful because their practices were regarded as magical and thus stemming from contact with demons, whereas a local community might value and respect these individuals because their skills and services were deemed beneficial.[245]
In Western societies, the practice of magic, especially when harmful, was usually associated with women.[246] For instance, during the witch trials of the early modern period, around three quarters of those executed as witches were female, to only a quarter who were men.[247] That women were more likely to be accused and convicted of witchcraft in this period might have been because their position was more legally vulnerable, with women having little or no legal standing that was independent of their male relatives.[247] The conceptual link between women and magic in Western culture may be because many of the activities regarded as magical—from rites to encourage fertility to potions to induce abortions—were associated with the female sphere.[248] It might also be connected to the fact that many cultures portrayed women as being inferior to men on an intellectual, moral, spiritual, and physical level.[249]
Magicians
Many of the practices which have been labelled magic can be performed by anyone.
Economic incentives can encourage individuals to identify as magicians.[142] In the cases of various forms of traditional healer, as well as the later stage magicians or illusionists, the label of magician could become a job description.[251] Others claim such an identity out of a genuinely held belief that they have specific unusual powers or talents.[252] Different societies have different social regulations regarding who can take on such a role; for instance, it may be a question of familial heredity, or there may be gender restrictions on who is allowed to engage in such practices.[253] A variety of personal traits may be credited with giving magical power, and frequently they are associated with an unusual birth into the world.[254] For instance, in Hungary it was believed that a táltos would be born with teeth or an additional finger.[255] In various parts of Europe, it was believed that being born with a caul would associate the child with supernatural abilities.[255] In some cases, a ritual initiation is required before taking on a role as a specialist in such practices, and in others it is expected that an individual will receive a mentorship from another specialist.[256]
Davies noted that it was possible to "crudely divide magic specialists into religious and lay categories".[257] He noted for instance that Roman Catholic priests, with their rites of exorcism, and access to holy water and blessed herbs, could be conceived as being magical practitioners.[258] Traditionally, the most common method of identifying, differentiating, and establishing magical practitioners from common people is by initiation. By means of rites the magician's relationship to the supernatural and his entry into a closed professional class is established (often through rituals that simulate death and rebirth into a new life).[259] However, Berger and Ezzy explain that since the rise of Neopaganism, "As there is no central bureaucracy or dogma to determine authenticity, an individual's self-determination as a Witch, Wiccan, Pagan or Neopagan is usually taken at face value".[260] Ezzy argues that practitioners' worldviews have been neglected in many sociological and anthropological studies and that this is because of "a culturally narrow understanding of science that devalues magical beliefs".[261]
Mauss argues that the powers of both specialist and common magicians are determined by culturally accepted standards of the sources and the breadth of magic: a magician cannot simply invent or claim new magic. In practice, the magician is only as powerful as his peers believe him to be.[262]
Throughout recorded history, magicians have often faced skepticism regarding their purported powers and abilities.[263] For instance, in sixteenth-century England, the writer Reginald Scot wrote The Discoverie of Witchcraft, in which he argued that many of those accused of witchcraft or otherwise claiming magical capabilities were fooling people using illusionism.[264]
See also
- Books about magic
- Body of light – Hermetic starfire body
- Clarke's three laws – Three axioms proposed by British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke
- Isaac Newton's occult studies – Works by Newton now seen as non-scientific
- Juju – West African spiritual belief system
- Magic in fiction – Magic depicted in fictional stories
- Magical organization – Organization for the practice of occult magic
- Psionics – Science fiction theme of 1950s and 1960s
- Runic magic – Ancient or modern magic performed with runes or runestones
- Scrying – Practice of seeking visions in a reflective surface
- Shamanism – Religious practice
- Thaumaturgy – The working of miracles by an individual
References
This article has an unclear citation style. (November 2022) |
Citations
- ^ "magic | Etymology, origin and meaning of magic by etymonline". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
- ^ Hutton 2017, p. x.
- ^ Bailey 2018, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Bogdan 2012, p. 2; Graham 2018, p. 255.
- ^ a b Bailey 2018, p. 89.
- ^ a b c Davies 2012, p. 1.
- ^ a b c Styers 2004, p. 14.
- ^ a b Styers 2004, p. 8.
- ^ Crowley (1997), Introduction to Part III.
- ^ a b Bogdan 2012, p. 12; Bailey 2018, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Berger & Ezzy 2007, p. 24.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2012, p. 169; Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 16.
- ^ Mair 2015, p. 47.
- ^ Mair 2015, p. 36.
- ^ a b c d e f g Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 16.
- ^ Graf 1997, p. [page needed].
- ^ Davies 2007, p. xiii.
- ^ Miller 2010.
- ^ Petersen 2009, p. 220.
- ^ a b c Bailey 2018, p. 40.
- ^ Greenwood 2000, p. 7.
- ^ Russell 1972, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Greenwood 2000, p. 6.
- ^ Greenwood 2000, p. 89.
- ^ Sasson 1995, pp. 1896–1898.
- ^ Sasson 1995, p. 1897.
- ^ Sasson 1995, pp. 1898–1898.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sasson 1995, p. 1898.
- ^ a b c Sasson 1995, p. 1899.
- ^ a b Sasson 1995, pp. 1900–1901.
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- ^ Sasson 1995, p. 1895.
- ^ a b c Abusch 2002, p. 56.
- ^ a b c Brown 1995, p. 42.
- ^ a b c Sasson 1995, pp. 1901–1902.
- ^ Kuiper 2010, p. 178.
- ^ a b Sasson 1995, pp. 1901–1904.
- ^ Sasson 1995, p. 1843.
- ^ Sasson 1995, p. 1866.
- ^ Delaporte 2013, p. 152.
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- ^ a b Sasson 1995, pp. 1899–1900.
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- ^ Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. "Incantation bowls". Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
- ^ "Babylonian Demon Bowls". Michigan Library. Lib.umich.edu. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
- ^ Gordon, C. H. (1941). "Aramaic Incantation Bowls". Orientalia. X. Rome: 120ff (Text 3).
- ^ Orientalia 65 3-4 Pontificio Istituto biblico, Pontificio Istituto biblico. Facoltà di studi dell'antico oriente - 1996 "may have been Jewish, but Aramaic incantation bowls also commonly circulated in pagan communities". ... Lilith was, of course, the frequent subject of concern in incantation bowls and amulets, since her presence was ."
- ^ J. A. Montgomery, "A Syriac Incantation Bowl with Christian Formula," AJSLL 34
- ^ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia p. 217 Geoffrey W. Bromiley 1986 2007 "D. Aramaic Incantation Bowls. One important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices is the nearly eighty extant incantation bowls made by Jews in Babylonia during the Sassanian period (ad 226–636). ... Though the exact use of the bowls is disputed, their function is clearly apotrapaic in that they are meant to ward off the evil effects of several malevolent supernatural beings and influences, e.g., the evil eye, Lilith, and Bagdana."
- ^ A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature p. 454, David L. Jeffrey. 1992 "Aramaic incantation bowls of the 6th cent, show her with disheveled hair and tell how"
- ^ Bell, H. I., Nock, A. D., Thompson, H., "Magical Texts From A Bilingual Papyrus In The British Museum", Proceedings of The British Academy, Vol, XVII, London, p. 24.
- ^ a b Ritner, R. K., "Magic: An Overview", in Redford, D. B., ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 321
- ^ Ritner, R. K., "Magic: An Overview", in Redford, D. B., ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 321–322
- ^ Ritner, R. K., "Magic: An Overview", in Redford, D. B., ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 322
- ^ Ritner, R. K., "Magic: An Overview", in Redford, D. B., ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 323
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4549-0907-1.
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- ^ a b c d Mark, Joshua (2017). "Magic in Ancient Egypt". World History Encyclopedia.
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- ^ Andrews, C. (1994), Amulets of Ancient Egypt, University of Texas Press, p. 1.
- ^ Deuteronomy 18:9–18:14 Bible Hub provides an interlinear translation of the verses.
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- ^ Clinton Wahlen, Jesus and the impurity of spirits in the Synoptic Gospels, 2004, p. 19. "The Jewish magical papyri and incantation bowls may also shed light on our investigation. ... However, the fact that all of these sources are generally dated from the third to fifth centuries and beyond requires us to exercise particular ..."
- ^ a b c Libbrecht 2007, p. 43.
- ^ Eichhorn 1973, pp. 55–70.
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- ^ 2 Chronicles 33:1–33:9
- ^ Acts 13:6–13:12
- ^ Galatians 5:16–5:26
- ^ Davies 2012, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b c Bailey 2006, p. 8.
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- ^ a b c Bailey 2018, p. 72.
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- ^ a b Bailey 2018, p. 22.
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- ^ Eric Geoffroy, Introduction to Sufism: The Inner Path of Islam, World Wisdom, 2010 p. 21
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- ^ a b Bailey 2018, p. 25.
- ^ Styers 2004, p. 60; Bailey 2018, p. 23.
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- ^ a b c d e f g Bogdan 2012, p. 11.
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- ^ Bailey 2006, p. 2.
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- ^ Blain, Ezzy & Harvey 2004, pp. 118–119.
- ^ Styers 2004, p. 25.
- ^ Jolly 1996, p. 17.
- ^ a b Bailey 2006, p. 3.
- ^ a b Hanegraaff 2012, p. 164.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 21.
- ^ Styers 2004, p. 21.
- ^ a b Styers 2004, p. 6.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2012, pp. 164–165.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2012, p. 165; Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 4.
- ^ Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 4.
- ^ Davies 2012, pp. 14–15.
- ^ a b Davies 2012, p. 15.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 17.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 15; Bailey 2018, p. 15.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Hanegraaff 2012, p. 164.
- ^ a b c Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 18; Davies 2012, p. 16.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 16.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Davies 2012, p. 16.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Bailey 2018, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 19; Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 19.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 19; Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Davies 2012, p. 16; Bailey 2018, pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b Cunningham 1999, p. 20.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Davies 2012, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 17.
- ^ a b Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Hanegraaff 2012, p. 165.
- ^ a b c Hanegraaff 2012, p. 165.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 18; Bailey 2018, p. 16.
- ^ a b Cunningham 1999, p. 47.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2006, p. 717.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 47; Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2006, p. 716; Davies 2012, p. 17.
- ^ a b Cunningham 1999, p. 44.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2012, p. 165; Davies 2012, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b Bailey 2006, p. 4.
- ^ a b Otto & Stausberg 2013, pp. 5–6.
- ^ a b Cunningham 1999, p. 49.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Cunningham 1999, p. 24.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, pp. 28–29.
- ^ a b c d Cunningham 1999, p. 29.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 22.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 61.
- ^ Cunningham 1999, p. 25.
- ^ Freud & Strachey 1950, p. 83.
- ^ Freud & Strachey 1950, p. 84.
- ^ Davies 2012, pp. 25–26.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 26.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 27.
- ^ a b c Davies 2012, p. 107.
- ^ Tambiah 1991, p. 2.
- ^ Tambiah 1991, p. 8.
- ^ a b Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 6.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 27.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 19.
- ^ Hutton 2003, p. 104; Bailey 2018, p. 20.
- ^ Blain, Ezzy & Harvey 2004, p. 125.
- ^ Hutton 2003, p. 103; Styers 2004, p. 7; Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 1; Bailey 2018, p. 3.
- ^ a b Hanegraaff 2012, p. 166.
- ^ Hanegraaff 2012, pp. 167–168.
- ^ Bailey 2006, p. 5.
- ^ Otto & Stausberg 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Hutton 2003, p. 100.
- ^ Hutton 2017, p. ix.
- ^ Hutton 2017, pp. ix–x.
- ^ Russell 1972, pp. 4–10.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 68.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 71.
- ^ Bailey 2018, pp. 71–72.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 90.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 92.
- ^ a b Bailey 2018, p. 93.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 94.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 96.
- ^ a b Davies 2012, p. 82; Bailey 2018, p. 85.
- ^ a b c d e Bailey 2018, p. 85.
- ^ Bailey 2018, p. 105.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 90.
- ISBN 978-0-19-535523-9.
- ^ a b Davies 2012, p. 92.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 93.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 88.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 89.
- ^ Mauss, Bain & Pocock 2007, pp. 41–44.
- ^ Berger & Ezzy 2007, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Blain, Ezzy & Harvey 2004, p. 120.
- ^ Mauss, Bain & Pocock 2007, pp. 33, 40.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 49.
- ^ Davies 2012, p. 51.
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Further reading
- Coleman, Simon (2008). "The Magic of Anthropology". Anthropology News. 45 (8): 8–11. .
- Dickie, Matthew W. (2001). Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World. London: Routledge.
- Gosden, Chris (2020). Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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