Magic represents a category used in the study of religion and the social sciences to define various practices and ideas considered separate to both religion and science. The category developed in Western culture although has since been applied to practices in other societies, particularly those regarded as being non-modern and Other. Various different definitions of magic have been proposed, with much contemporary scholarship regarding the concept to be so problematic that it is better to reject it altogether as a useful analytic construct.
The concept of magic has been an issue of debate among academics in various disciplines. Scholars have defined magic in different ways and used the term to refer to different things. One approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, suggests that magic and science are opposites, with the former based on hidden sympathies between objects that allow one to influence the other. An alternative approach, associated with the sociologists Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim, emphasises an opposition between magic and religion, arguing that the former takes place in private, while the latter is a communal and organised activity. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic, arguing that it is arbitrary and ethnocentric; it has become increasingly unpopular within religious scholarship since the 1990s.
The term magic comes from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, this term was adopted into Ancient Greek, where it was used with negative connotations, to apply to religious rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous. This meaning of the term was then adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. Via Latin, the concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE, where magic was associated with demons and thus defined against (Christian) religion. This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, when Christian authors categorised practices such as enchantment and divination under the label magic. In early modern Europe, Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, with the former largely influencing early academic usages of the word.
Throughout Western history, there have been examples of individuals who engaged in practices that their societies called magic and who sometimes referred to themselves as magicians. Within modern occultism, there are many self-described magicians and people who practice magic. In this environment, the concept of magic has again changed, usually being defined as a technique for bringing about changes in the physical world through the force of one's will. This definition was pioneered largely by the influential British occultist Aleister Crowley, who had been influenced by various magic-related anthropological discussions and personal practices.
Video Magic (paranormal)
Definition
Since the emergence of the study of religion and the social sciences, magic has been a "central theme in the theoretical literature" produced by scholars operating in these academic disciplines. Scholars have engaged in extensive debates as to how to define magic, with such debates resulting in intense dispute. Throughout such debates, the scholarly community has failed to agree on a definition of magic, in a similar manner to how they have failed to agree on a definition of religion. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as magicians, there has been no common understanding of what magic is.
There has been some debate among scholars as to whether to use the term magic at all, with many arguing for its rejection as an analytical tool. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith for example argued that it had no utility as an etic term that scholars should use. The historian of religion Wouter Hanegraaff agreed, stating that "the term magic is an important object of historical research, but not intended for doing research." The scholars of religion Berndt-Christian Otto and Michael Stausberg suggested that it would be perfectly possible for scholars to talk about amulets, curses, healing procedures and other components often regarded as magical in Western culture without any recourse to the concept of magic itself. Since the 1990s its usage among scholars of religion has declined.
Within Western culture, magic has been linked to the idea of the Other. It has also been repeatedly presented as the archetypally non-modern phenomenon. Using the term magic when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society raises problems, as it may impose Western categories that are alien to them. Alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research.
Magic is one of the most heavily theorized concepts in the study of religion. Scholars have commonly used it as a foil for the concept of religion, regarding magic as the "illegitimate (and effeminized) sibling" of religion. Alternately, others have used it as a middle-ground category located between religion and science. 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. The scholar of religion Randall Styers argued that these repeated attempts to define magic resonate with broader social concerns, and that the pliability of the concept has allowed it to be "readily adaptable as a polemical and ideological tool".
Intellectualist approach
The intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two prominent British anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This was an approach that viewed magic as being the theoretical opposite of science, which came to preoccupy much anthropological thought on the subject. The use of the term magic for sympathetic magic was also a feature of the ideas of Herbert Spencer in his A System of Synthetic Philosophy. Spencer regarded both magic and religion as being rooted in false speculation about the nature of objects and their relationship to other things.
In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on "the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy". 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". Tylor was dismissive of magic, describing it as "one of the most pernicious delusions that ever vexed mankind".
Tylor's ideas were adopted and simplified by Frazer. He used the term magic to mean sympathetic magic, 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". He further divided this magic into two forms, the "homeopathic (imitative, mimetic)" and the "contagious". 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. Like Taylor, Frazer viewed magic negatively, describing it as "the bastard sister of science", arising from "one great disastrous fallacy".
Where Frazer differed from Taylor 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. For Frazer, all early societies started as believers in magic, with some of them moving away from this and into religion. He believed that both magic and religion involved a belief in spirits but that they differed in the way that they responded to these spirits. For Frazer, magic "constrains or coerces" these spirits while religion focuses on "conciliating or propitiating them". He acknowledged that their common ground resulted in a cross-over of magical and religious elements in various instances; for instance he claimed that the sacred marriage was a fertility ritual which combined elements from both world-views.
Functionalist approach
The functionalist approach to defining magic is associated with the French sociologists Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim. In this approach, magic is understood as being the theoretical opposite of religion.
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". Conversely, he associated religion with organised cult. By saying that magic was inherently non-social, Mauss had been influenced by the traditional Christian understandings of the concept. 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. 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".
Mauss' ideas were adopted by Durkheim in his 1912 book Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse ("Elementary Forms of Religious Life"). Durkheim was of the view that both magic and religion pertained to "sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden". Where he saw them as being different was in their social organisation. Durkheim described magic as being 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." Durkheim expressed the view that "there is something inherently anti-religious about the maneuvers of the magician", 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."
Scholars have criticized the idea that magic can be differentiated from religion into two separate categories. 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. Many later anthropologists followed his example. Nevertheless, this distinction is still often made by scholars discussing this topic.
Emotionalist approach
The emotionalist approach to magic is associated with the English anthropologist Robert Ranulph Marett, the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, and the Polish anthropologist Bronis?aw Malinowski.
Marett viewed magic as a response to stress. In a 1904 article, he argued that magic was a cathartic or stimulating practice designed to relieve feelings of tension. As his thought developed, he increasingly rejected the idea of a division between magic and religion and began to use the term "magico-religious" to describe the early development of both. Malinowski understood magic in a similar manner to Marett, tackling the issue in a 1925 article. He rejected the evolutionary hypothesis that magic was followed by religion and then science, arguing that all three were present in each society. In his view, both magic and religion "arise and function in situations of emotional stress" although whereas religion is primarily expressive, magical is primarily practical. He therefore defined magic as "a practical art consisting of acts which are only means to a definite end expected to follow later on". He for instance believed that fertility rituals were magical because they were carried out with the intention of meeting a specific need.
Frued also saw magic as emerging from human emotion but interpreted it very differently to Marett. 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". 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 in order 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."
Maps Magic (paranormal)
Etymology and conceptual development
Ancient and medieval world
The etymology of the term magic can be traced back to the ancient language of Old Persian, which used the term magu, rendered as magu? (magician) and mágoi (magicians). The etymology of this particular Persian term is unclear, although it appeared to refer to some form of religious functionary. A number of ancient Greek authors discussed these Persian mágoi in their works. Among those to do so was the historian Herodotus, who claimed that the mágoi were one of seven Median tribes and that they served as functionaries at the court of the Achaemenid Empire, where they acted as advisers to the king. According to Herodotus, these Persian mágoi were also in charge of various religious rites, namely sacrifices and the interpretation of dreams.
During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, the Persian magu? was Graecicized and introduced into the ancient Greek language as ????? and ??????. In doing so it underwent a transformation of meaning, gaining negative connotations, with the magos being regarded as a charlatan whose ritual practices were fraudulent, strange, unconventional, and dangerous. This change in meaning was influenced by the military conflicts that the Greek city-states were then engaged in against the Persian Empire. In this context, the term makes appearances in such surviving text as Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Hippocrates' De morbo sacro, and Gorgias' Encomium of Helen.
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. The Roman use of the term was similar to that of the Greeks, but placed greater emphasis on the judicial application of it. Within the Roman Empire, laws would be introduced criminalising things regarded as magic.
In the first century CE, the idea of magic was absorbed by early Christian authors and incorporated into their developing Christian theology. These Christians retained the Graeco-Roman negative connotations of the term and enhanced them by incorporating conceptual patterns borrowed from Jewish thought. Thus, for early Christian writers like Augustine of Hippo, magic did not merely constitute fraudulent and unsanctioned ritual practices, but was the very opposite of religion because it relied upon cooperation from demons, the henchmen of Satan. Ever since, the idea that magic is something defined in opposition to religion has been pervasive throughout Western culture. Christian theologians believed that there were multiple different forms of magic, the majority of which were types of divination. For instance, Isidore of Seville listed geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and pyromancy as forms of magic alongside enchantment and ligatures. In early medieval Europe, magia was a term of condemnation.
Modern world
During the early modern period, the concept of magic underwent a more positive reassessment through the development of the concept of magia naturalis (natural magic). This was a term introduced and developed by two Italian humanists, Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. For them, magia was viewed as an elemental force pervading many natural processes, and thus was fundamentally distinct from the mainstream Christian idea of demonic magic. Their ideas influenced an array of later philosophers and writers, among them Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Reuchlin, and Johannes Trithemius. According to the historian Richard Kieckhefer, the concept of magia naturalis took "firm hold in European culture" during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, although did not supplant traditional attitudes toward magic in the West, which remained largely negative.
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. By the seventeenth century the concept of magia naturalis had moved in increasingly 'naturalistic' directions, with the distinctions between it and science becoming blurred. 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.
In the discourse of early modern Europe, the term magic also continued to be used in a negative sense; Protestants often sought to denigrate Roman Catholic sacramental and devotional practices as being magical rather than religious. Many Roman Catholics were concerned by this allegation and for several centuries various Roman Catholic writers devoted attention to arguing that their practices were religious rather than magical. In this way, the concept of magic was used to prescribe what was appropriate as religious belief and practice.
In the nineteenth century, a number of scholars adopted the traditional, negative concept of magic. 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. 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.
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.
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".
History
Ancient Mesopotamia
The ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only viable defense against demons, ghosts, and evil sorcerers. 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 to appease them. If that did not work, 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.
The ancient Mesopotamians also used magic to protect themselves from evil sorcerers who might place curses on them. They had no distinction between "light magic" and "black magic" and a person defending him or herself from witchcraft would use exactly the same techniques as the person trying to curse someone. The only major difference was the fact that curses were enacted in secret; whereas a defense against sorcery was conducted in the open, in front of an audience if possible. One ritual to punish a sorcerer was known as Maqlû, or "The Burning". The person afflicted by the witchcraft would create an effigy of the sorcerer and put it on trial at night. 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 him or her.
The ancient Mesopotamians also performed magical rituals to purify themselves of sins committed unknowingly. One such ritual was known as the ?urpu, or "Burning", in which the caster of the spell would transfer the guilt for all his or her misdeeds onto various objects such as a strip of dates, an onion, and a tuft of wool. He or she would then burn the objects and thereby purify him or herself of all sins that he or she might have unknowingly committed. A whole genre of love spells existed. Such spells, which usually invoked the aid of the goddess Ishtar, 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. 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.
The ancient Mesopotamians had no distinction between "rational science" and magic. When a person became ill, doctors would proscribe both magical formulas to be recited as well as medicinal treatments. Most magical rituals were intended to be performed by an ??ipu, an expert in the magical arts. The profession was generally passed down from father to son and was held in extremely high regard and often served as advisors to kings and great leaders. An ??ipu probably served not only as a magician, but also as a physician, a priest, a scribe, and a scholar. He would have likely owned a large library of clay tablets containing important religious texts and hymns.
The Sumerian god Enki, who was later syncretized with the East Semitic god Ea, was closely associated with magic and incantations; he was the patron god of the b?r? and the a?ip? and was widely regarded as the ultimate source of all arcane knowledge. The ancient Mesopotamians also believed in omens, which could come when solicited or unsolicited. Regardless of how they came, omens were always taken with the utmost seriousness. The Mesopotamians also invented astrology.
Ancient Egypt
Magic was an integral part of ancient Egyptian religion and culture. The ancient Egyptians would often wear magical amulets, known as meket, for protection. The most common material for such amulets was a kind of ceramic known as faience, but amulets were also made of stone, metal, bone, and wood. Amulets depicted specific symbols. One of the most common protective symbols was the Eye of Horus, which represented the new eye given to Horus by the god Thoth as a replacement for his old eye, which had been destroyed during a battle with Horus's uncle Seth. The most popular amulet was the scarab beetle, the emblem of the god Khepri. Pregnant women would wear amulets depicting Tauret, the goddess of childbirth, to protect against miscarriage. The god Bes, who had the head of a lion and the body of a dwarf, was believed to be the protector of children. After giving birth, a mother would remove her Tauret amulet and put on a new amulet representing Bes.
Like the Mesopotamians, the ancient Egyptians had no distinction between magic and medicine. The Egyptians believed that diseases stemmed from supernatural origins and ancient Egyptian doctors would prescribe both magical and practical remedies to their patients. Doctors would interrogate their patients to find out what ailments the person was suffering from. The symptoms of the disease determined which deity the doctor needed to invoke in order to cure it. Doctors were extremely expensive, so, for most everyday purposes, the average Egyptian would have relied on individuals who were not professional doctors, but who possessed some form of medical training or knowledge. Among these individuals were folk healers and seers, who could set broken bones, aid mothers in giving birth, proscribe herbal remedies for common ailments, and interpret dreams. If a doctor or seer was unavailable, then everyday people would simply cast their spells on their own without assistance. Although most Egyptians were illiterate, it was likely commonplace for individuals to memorize spells and incantations for later use.
The main principle behind Egyptian magic seems to have been the notion that, if a person said something with enough conviction, the statement would automatically become true. 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. These inscriptions are known as the "Pyramid Texts" and they contain spells needed by the pharaoh in order to survive in the Afterlife. The Pyramid Texts were strictly for royalty only; the spells were kept secret from commoners and were written only inside royal tombs. During the chaos and unrest of the First Intermediate Period, however, tomb robbers broke into the pyramids and saw the magical inscriptions. Commoners began learning the spells and, by the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, commoners began inscribing similar writings on the sides of their own coffins, hoping that doing so would ensure their own survival in the Afterlife. These writings are known as the "Coffin Texts".
Eventually, the Coffin Texts became so extensive that they no longer fit on the outside of a coffin. They began to be instead recorded on scrolls of papyrus, which would then be placed inside the coffin with the deceased's own corpse. The writings on these scrolls are now known as The Book of the Dead. There were hundreds of different versions of The Book of the Dead, all of them containing different spells. Egyptologists have identified more than four hundred different spells belonging to The Book of the Dead collectively. Egyptologists have codified and classified these spells, assigning them specific numbers based on their content and purpose.
As The Book of the Dead became more popular, a whole industry of scribes arose for the sole purpose of copying manuscripts so that customers would be able to buy copies of the spells to be buried with them in their tombs. The quality of manuscripts was highly variable. Some editions were ninety feet long and contained beautiful, color illustrations to illuminate the text; others were short with no illustrations whatsoever. The scrolls were copied before they were bought, meaning that the name of the owner was unknown. As such, the scribes would leave the places for the person's name blank and fill in the person's name after the scroll was purchased. Sometimes scribes would accidentally misread or miscopy what they were writing. Sometimes the spells would be abbreviated in order to avoid running out of space. Such mistakes could render the texts unintelligible.
After a person died, his or her corpse would be mummified and wrapped in linen bandages in order to ensure that the deceased's body would survive for as long as possible 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. The last ceremony before a person's body was sealed away inside the tomb was known as the "Opening of the Mouth". 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.
Before dead person was buried, his or her mummified corpse would be stuffed full of magic amulets and protective charms in order to ensure that he or she would be safe in the next world. The family would also place important grave goods inside the person's tomb in order to ensure that he or she had everything he or she would need in the next life. Among these grave goods were small figurines made of faience or wood known as shabti. The shabti were intended as slaves for the deceased. The ancient Egyptians believed that physical labor was just as necessary in the Afterlife as it was in the present one. As such, they believed that the deceased could cast a spell to animate these figurines so that he or she would be able to order them to perform tasks and chores in the Afterlife so that the deceased him or herself would not be forced to perform any labor.
Classical antiquity
Ancient Greek scholarship of the 20th century, almost certainly influenced by Christianising preconceptions of the meanings of magic and religion, and the wish to establish Greek culture as the foundation of Western rationality, developed a theory of ancient Greek magic as primitive and insignificant, and thereby essentially separate from Homeric, communal ("polis") religion. Since the last decade of the century, however, recognising the ubiquity and respectability of acts such as katadesmoi ("binding spells"), described as magic by modern and ancient observers alike, scholars have been compelled to abandon this viewpoint. The Greek word mageuo ("practise magic") itself derives from the word Magos, originally simply the Greek name for a Persian tribe known for practising religion. Non-civic "mystery cults" have been similarly re-evaluated:
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.
A common form of magic in ancient Greece and Rome involved invoking the chthonic deities of the underworld, using the spirits of the dead as messengers. One popular method of doing this was taking a lead tablet and inscribing it with the names of individuals that the person wished the curse. Then the person would "cancel" the tablet by driving nails through it or by otherwise rendering it no longer usable for living beings. Such lead curse tablets were known as katadesmoi (Latin: defixiones) and were frequently executed by all strata of Greek society, sometimes to protect the entire polis. Communal curses carried out in public declined after the Greek classical period, but private curses remained common throughout antiquity. They were distinguished as magical by their individualistic, instrumental and sinister qualities. These qualities, and their perceived deviation from inherently mutable cultural constructs of normality, most clearly delineate ancient magic from the religious rituals of which they form a part. Another common technique involved a primitive form of voodoo doll; the spellcaster would take a lead figurine with its arms bound behind its back and drive nails or needles into it, often through the breast.
The ancient Greeks often wore magic amulets to protect themselves from curses and misfortune. Amulets made from precious stones or metals were believed to be especially effective. A large number of magical papyri, in Greek, Coptic, and Demotic, have been recovered and translated. They contain early instances of:
- the use of "magic words" said to have the power to command spirits;
- the use of mysterious symbols or sigils which are thought to be useful when invoking or evoking spirits. Magicians would often use secret code names for their ingredients to make them sound more foreign, exotic, and intimidating than they really were.
The practice of magic was banned in the late Roman world, and the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) states:
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
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.
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. Despite the many negative connotations which surround the term magic, there exist many elements that are seen in a divine or holy light.
Diversified instruments or rituals used in medieval magic include, but are not limited to: various amulets, talismans, potions, as well as specific chants, dances, prayers. Along with these rituals are the adversely imbued notions of demonic participation which influence of them. The idea that magic was devised, taught, and worked by demons would have seemed reasonable to anyone who read the Greek magical papyri or the Sefer-ha-Razim and found that healing magic appeared alongside rituals for killing people, gaining wealth, or personal advantage, and coercing women into sexual submission. Archaeology is contributing to a fuller understanding of ritual practices performed in the home, on the body and in monastic and church settings.
Islam
According to Quran, magic was revealed to mankind by the Angels Harut and Marut:
And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic and that which was revealed to the two angels at Babylon, Harut and Marut. But the they do not teach anyone unless they say, "We are a trial, so do not disbelieve [by practicing magic]." And [yet] they learn from them that by which they cause separation between a man and his wife. But they do not harm anyone through it except by permission of Allah . And the people learn what harms them and does not benefit them. But the Children of Israel certainly knew that whoever purchased the magic would not have in the Hereafter any share. And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew. (A-Quran 2:102)
The Surah Al-Falaq is commonly thought to protect against curses, and "knot bindings".
However this verses does not confirm, that magic necessarily exists. Islamic scholars differ in the regard of the true essence of magic:
- Magic mentioned in Qur'an is thought to be illusive and caused by superstition. Especially the Mu?tazila were famous for rejecting the supernatural.
- Magic is the work of Jinn. Therefore a sorcery needs the aid of spiritual entities to pretend performing magic.
- A divination between licit and illicit magic (witchcraft), therefore licit magic is done by God's mercy and illicit magic in aid of demons or Jinn. The ability to perform magic is viewed as a divine gift.
Islamic traditions, who accept magic as a reality, still does not condemn it generally. Some magics are viewed as miracles especially performed by saints. For example Ibn Arabi narrated Al-?ajj?j ibn Yusuf al-Shubarbuli could be able to walk on water due to his piety. Ibn al-Nadim explains the difference between magic and witchcraft as the following: Exorcists gain their power by their obedience to God, while sorcerers please the demons by acts of disobidience and sacrifices and they in return do him a favor. However in the most concepts of Sharia magic became prohibited.
Modern Western magic
Modern Western magic has challenged widely-held preconceptions about contemporary religion and spirituality. The polemical discourses about magic influenced the self-understanding of modern magicians, a number of whom--such as Aleister Crowley and Julius Evola--were well versed in academic literature on the subject. According to scholar of religion Henrik Bogdan, "arguably the best known emic definition" of the term "magic" was provided by Crowley. Crowley--who favoured the spelling "magick" over "magic"--was of the view that "Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will". Crowley's definition influenced that of subsequent magicians. Dion Fortune of the Fraternity of the Inner Light for instance stated that "Magic is the art of changing consciousness according to Will". Gerald Gardner, the founder of Gardnerian Wicca, stated that magic was "attempting to cause the physically unusual", while Anton LaVey, the founder of LaVeyan Satanism, described magic as "the change in situations or events in accordance with one's will, which would, using normally acceptable methods, be unchangeable."
These modern Western concepts of magic rely on a belief in correspondences connected to an unknown occult force that permeates the universe. 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"." For many, and perhaps most, modern Western magicians, the goal of magic is deemed to be personal spiritual development. The perception of magic as a form of self-development is central to the way that magical practices have been adopted into forms of modern Paganism and the New Age phenomenon. One significant development within modern Western magical practices has been sex magic. This was a practice promoted in the writings of Paschal Beverly Randolph and subsequently exerted a strong interest on occultist magicians like Crowley and Theodor Reuss.
Common features of magical practice
Rituals
Magical rituals are the precisely defined actions (including speech) used to work magic. Bronis?aw Malinowski describes ritual language as possessing a high "coefficient of weirdness" in that the language used in rituals is archaic and out of the ordinary. This he ascribes to the need to create a mindset that fosters belief in the ritual. However, S. J. Tambiah notes that even if the power of the ritual is said to reside in the words, "[they] only become effective if uttered in the special context of other actions." These other actions typically consist of gestures, possibly performed with special objects at a particular place or time. The objects, locations, and performers may require purification beforehand, a condition that parallels the felicity conditions J. L. Austin requires of performative utterances.
Magical symbols
Principle of contagion
An example given by Tambiah relates to adoption: among some American Indians when a child is adopted, his or her adoptive mother will pull the child through some of her clothes, symbolically representing the birth process and thereby associating the child with herself, thereby 'becomes' hers emotionally even though their relationship is not biological. As Claude Lévi-Strauss put it the birth "would consist, therefore, in making explicit a situation originally existing on the emotional level and in rendering acceptable to the mind pains which the body refuses to tolerate...the woman believes in the myth and belongs to a society which believes in it."
Symbols, for many cultures that use magic, are seen as a type of technology: native peoples might use symbols and symbolic actions to bring about change and improvements in the same way as those from advanced cultures use advanced irrigation techniques to promote soil fertility and crop growth. Michael Brown discusses the use of nantag stones among the Aguaruna as being similar to this type of technology.
Magical language
In "The Magical Power of Words" (1968) S. J. Tambiah argues that the connection between language and magic is due to a belief in the inherent ability of words to influence the universe. Bronis?aw Malinowski, in Coral Gardens and their Magic (1935), suggests that this belief is an extension of man's basic use of language to describe his surroundings, in which "the knowledge of the right words, appropriate phrases and the more highly developed forms of speech, gives man a power over and above his own limited field of personal action."
Magical speech is, therefore, a ritual act, and is of equal or even greater importance to the performance of magic than non-verbal acts. However, not all speech is considered magical. Only certain words and phrases or words spoken in a specific context are considered to have magical power.
Magical language, according to C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards's (1923) categories of speech, is distinct from scientific language because it is emotive and it converts words into symbols for emotions. On the other hand, in scientific language, words are tied to specific meanings and refer to an objective external reality. Magical language is therefore particularly adept at constructing metaphors that establish symbols and link magical rituals to the world.
Malinowski argues that "the language of magic is sacred, set and used for an entirely different purpose to that of ordinary life", the two forms of language being differentiated through word choice, grammar, style, or by the use of specific phrases or forms: spells, songs, blessings, or chants. Sacred modes of language often employ archaic words and forms in an attempt to invoke the purity or truth of a religious or a cultural golden age, the usage of Hebrew in Judaism being cited as an example.
Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity: very sacred language is differentiated enough from common language that it is incomprehensible to the majority of the population and it can only be used and interpreted by specialized practitioners (magicians, priests, shamans, even mullahs).
In this respect, Tambiah argues that magical languages violate the primary function of language: communication. This leads Tambiah to conclude that "the remarkable disjunction between sacred and profane language which exists as a general fact is not necessarily linked to the need to embody sacred words in an exclusive language."
Magicians
A magician is any practitioner of magic, even if they are specialists or common practitioners who do not consider themselves to be magicians. In some cultures, terms such as sorcerer, wizard, witch, etc. are applied to specific types of magicians based on their abilities, sources of power, moral standing within the community, etc. but there is no universally agreed-upon definition of these terms.
Among the Azande, for example, in order to question an oracle, a man must have both the physical oracle (poison, or a washboard, for example), and knowledge of the words and the rites needed to make the object function.
A variety of personal traits may be credited with giving magical power, and frequently they are associated with an unusual birth into the world.
However, 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).
Given the exclusivity of the criteria needed to become a magician, much magic is performed by specialists, laypeople being limited to some simple magical rituals that relate to everyday living. Thus, in situations of particular importance, especially when health or major life events are concerned, a specialist magician will often be consulted.
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.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised individually, by designated social groups, or by persons with the necessary esoteric knowledge. In non-scientific societies, perceived magical attack is an idea sometimes employed to explain personal or societal misfortune.
In anthropological and historical contexts this is often termed witchcraft or sorcery, and the perceived attackers witches or sorcerers. Their maleficium - a term that applies to any magical act intended to cause harm or death to people or property - is often seen as a biological trait or an acquired skill.
Known members of the community may be accused as witches, or the witches may be perceived as supernatural, non-human entities. In early modern Europe and Britain such accusations led to the executions of tens of thousands of people, who were seen to be in league with Satan. Those accused of being satanic witches were often practitioners of (usually benign) folk magic.
The English term 'witch' is used on occasion as a purely descriptive term without its pejorative sense to describe such practitioners, and includes both male and female practitioners.
Theories
Theories on the relationship of magic, science, art, and religion
S. J. Tambiah
According to Stanley Tambiah, magic, science, and religion all have their own "quality of rationality", and have been influenced by politics and ideology. As opposed to religion, Tambiah suggests that mankind has a much more personal control over events. Science, according to Tambiah, is "a system of behavior by which man acquires mastery of the environment."
Much of the debate between religion and magic originated during the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church was attacked for its doctrine of transubstantiation because it was considered a type of sacramental magic. Furthermore, the possibility of anything happening outside of God's purpose was denied. Spells were viewed as ineffective and blasphemous, because religion required belief in "a conscious agent who could be deflected from this purpose by prayer and supplication". During the Renaissance, magic was less stigmatized even though it was done in secret and therefore considered "the occult". Renaissance magic was based on cosmology, and its powers were said to be derived from the stars and the alignment of the planets. Newton himself began his work in mathematics because he wanted to see "whether judicial astrology had any claim to validity."
Robin Horton
Robin Horton compared the magical and religious thinking of non-modernized cultures with western scientific thought. He argues that both traditional beliefs and western science are applications of "theoretical thinking". The common form, function, and purpose of these theoretical idioms are therefore structured and explained by eight main characteristics of this type of thought:
- In all cultures, the majority of human experience can be explained by common sense. The purpose then of theory is to explain forces that operate behind and within the commonsense world. Theory should impose order and reason on everyday life by attributing a cause to a few select forces.
- Theories also help place events in a causal context that is greater than common sense alone can provide, because commonsense causation is inherently limited by what we see and experience. Theoretical formulations are therefore used as intermediaries to link natural effects to natural causes.
- "Common sense and theory have complementary roles in everyday life." Common sense is more handy and useful for a wide range of everyday circumstances, but occasionally there are circumstances that can only be explained using a wider causal vision, so a jump to theory is made.
- "Levels of theory vary with context." There are widely and narrowly encompassing theories, and the individual can usually choose which to use in order to understand and explain a situation as is deemed appropriate.
- All theory breaks up aspects of commonsense events, abstracts them and then reintegrates them into the common usage and understanding.
- Theory is usually created by analogy between unexplained and familiar phenomena.
- When theory is based on analogy between explained and unexplained observations, "generally only a limited aspect of the familiar phenomena is incorporated into (the) explanatory model". It is this process of abstraction that contributes to the ability of theories to transcend common sense explanation. For example, gods have the quality of spirituality by the omission of many common aspects of human life.
- Once a theoretical model has been established, it is often modified to explain contradictory data so that it may no longer represent the analogy on which it was based.
While both traditional beliefs and western science are based on theoretical thought, Horton argues that the differences between these knowledge systems in practice and form are due to their states in open and closed cultures.
See also
References
Footnotes
Sources
External links
Quotations related to Magic at Wikiquote
- Catholic Encyclopedia "Occult Art, Occultism"
- Catholic Encyclopedia "Witchcraft"
- Sorcery and Forbidden Lore (Lecture)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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