MAGIC
Magic is a ritual performance or activity believed to influence human or
natural events through access to an external mystical force beyond the
ordinary human sphere. It constitutes the core of many religious systems and
plays a central social role in many no literate cultures.
At one time magic was considered entirely distinct from religion, as
consisting of external manipulation rather than supplication and inner grace,
and it is still so regarded by many religious thinkers. Contemporary
anthropologists and historians of religion, however, tend to hold that since
both magic and religion are concerned with the effects on human existence of
outside mystical forces, they are generically similar and connected, the
specific difference being that magic is usually a more impersonal and
mechanical affair, with an emphasis on technique.
There are usually considered to be three main elements in magic: the spell or
incantation, the rite itself, and the ritual condition of the performer.
Excellent examples of spells
are recorded from the earliest times and especially in Greco-Egyptian
papyruses of the 1st to the 4th century AD. These include both magical recipes
involving animals and animal substances and also instructions for the rites
necessary to ensure the efficacy of the spells. The frequently archaic and
esoteric vocabulary of incantations may represent in a symbolic sense the
mysterious nature of spiritual power and in a practical sense the restriction
of human access to it. Personal names are commonly used in spells by magicians
to work good or harm upon individuals. This power is regarded in some
societies as so strong that each individual bears two names--a
"real" one that is kept a careful secret and an everyday title,
through which no magic can be worked. Gods and spirits are commonly believed
to have special magic names, known only to a chosen few. Along with spells may
be included the material objects or "medicines" used in many
societies.
The techniques of magic have generally been interpreted as supposed means to
specific ends (e.g., the ensuring of an enemy's defeat; the summoning of
rain). Another view ascribes a more symbolic, expressive character to such
activity. The magic may serve to state and maintain the formal culture and
organization of the society; thus, a rainmaking ritual has also the function
of stressing the importance of rain and the agricultural activities associated
with it.
Even though regarded as an everyday and "natural" phenomenon in the
societies it characterizes, magic is nonetheless considered as potentially
dangerous and polluting, as is any sacred or religious object or activity.
Both the magician and the rite itself are typically surrounded by the
observance of taboos, by purification procedures, and the like. Failure to
observe such precautions nullifies the magic, and the precautions indicate to
the participants and witnesses the importance of the rite itself and the ends
desired.
Strains of magic in Western tradition, formerly associated with heretics,
alchemists, witches, and sorcerers, persist in modern times in the activities
of self-styled Satanists and others.
The terms witchcraft, shamanism, and sorcery are frequently confused with
magic and with each other on the basis of apparent similarities among the
practices. For a treatment of magic as entertainment.
MAGIC
