Magic (supernatural)

The English word magic derives from the Old Persian maguš, meaning magician, which itself traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root megħ-magh, signifying the capacity to be able. This linguistic lineage reveals that the concept was never purely about supernatural tricks but originally denoted a fundamental human capability. The term entered the Greek language as mágos during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, transforming from a neutral designation for a Persian priestly tribe into a label for charlatans and fraudsters. This semantic shift was not accidental but was forged in the fires of military conflict between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire. As the Greeks sought to define themselves against their eastern enemies, the figure of the magus became a symbol of the Other, a foreigner whose rituals were viewed as dangerous, unconventional, and inherently fraudulent. The Roman adoption of the term as magus and magia in the first century BCE cemented this negative connotation, embedding it into the legal and judicial frameworks of the empire. By the time Christianity rose to prominence in the first century CE, the concept had already been thoroughly demonized, serving as a theological counterpoint to the miracles of the Bible. Early Christian authors like Augustine of Hippo argued that magic was not merely a different kind of religion but the very opposite of it, relying on the cooperation of demons rather than the grace of God. This theological framework established a binary that would dominate Western thought for millennia, casting magic as a tool of the devil and religion as the path to salvation. The history of the word itself is a history of power, showing how a label can be weaponized to marginalize entire groups of people, from Persians to women to the colonized peoples of the modern era.

Mesopotamian Defense And Egyptian Heka

In ancient Mesopotamia, magic was not a separate category of belief but the primary defense against the chaotic forces of the universe. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only viable shield against demons, ghosts, and evil sorcerers who constantly sought to harm them. They developed sophisticated rituals such as the Maqlû, or The Burning, where an effigy of a sorcerer was created, tried, and then burned to break the enemy's power. Another ritual known as the Šurpu involved transferring the guilt of unknowingly committed sins onto objects like strips of dates, onions, and wool, which were then burned to purify the sinner. These practices were not the domain of outcasts but were performed by the āšipu, a highly respected professional who served as a physician, priest, scribe, and advisor to kings. The Sumerian god Enki, later syncretized with the East Semitic god Ea, was the patron of these magical arts, regarded as the ultimate source of all arcane knowledge. The Mesopotamians made no distinction between rational science and magic; when a person fell ill, doctors prescribed both medicinal treatments and magical formulas to be recited. In ancient Egypt, magic was personified as the god Heka, a force considered morally neutral and integral to the functioning of the cosmos. The Egyptians believed that the power of words could bring things into being, a principle shared by both gods and humans. This belief system permeated every aspect of life, from the literate priestly hierarchy to illiterate farmers and herdsmen. The Pyramid Texts, inscribed on the walls of the pyramid of Unas, contained spells necessary for the pharaoh to survive the afterlife. When tomb robbers breached these royal tombs during the First Intermediate Period, commoners began inscribing similar spells on their own coffins, creating the Coffin Texts to ensure their own survival. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony, performed before a body was sealed in a tomb, used magical instruments to restore the deceased's ability to see, hear, and taste in the afterlife. Amulets, or meket, were used by both the living and the dead to reaffirm the fundamental fairness of the universe, a practice that persisted from the predynastic Badarian Period through to Roman times.

Common questions

What is the origin of the English word magic?

The English word magic derives from the Old Persian maguš, meaning magician, which traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root megħ-magh, signifying the capacity to be able. The term entered the Greek language as mágos during the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, transforming from a neutral designation for a Persian priestly tribe into a label for charlatans and fraudsters.

How did ancient Mesopotamians practice magic?

Ancient Mesopotamians developed sophisticated rituals such as the Maqlû, or The Burning, where an effigy of a sorcerer was created, tried, and then burned to break the enemy's power. They also performed the Šurpu ritual involving the transfer of guilt onto objects like strips of dates, onions, and wool, which were then burned to purify the sinner.

Why were most people executed as witches during the early modern period?

Historical records indicate that around three quarters of those executed as witches were female, leaving only a quarter who were men. This disparity resulted from the legal vulnerability of women, who possessed little or no legal standing independent of their male relatives, and the conceptual link between women and magic in Western culture.

What was the Renaissance concept of natural magic?

Italian humanists Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola introduced the concept of magia naturalis, or natural magic, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. For these thinkers, magic was not the work of demons but an elemental force pervading natural processes, fundamentally distinct from the mainstream Christian idea of demonic magic.

How did European colonialism affect the perception of magic in the sixteenth century?

European colonialists viewed the natives as primitives and savages whose belief systems were diabolical and needed to be eradicated and replaced by Christianity. By the nineteenth century, European intellectuals regarded magical practices and beliefs as an aberrational mode of thought, a sign of psychological impairment and a marker of racial or cultural inferiority.

How did Aleister Crowley define magic in the twentieth century?

Aleister Crowley, who favored the spelling magick to distinguish it from stage illusionism, defined magic as the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. This definition influenced subsequent magicians, including Dion Fortune, who stated that magic is the art of changing consciousness according to Will.

The Witch Trials And Gendered Power

During the early modern period, the practice of magic became inextricably linked with gender, resulting in a catastrophic persecution of women across Europe. Historical records indicate that around three quarters of those executed as witches were female, leaving only a quarter who were men. This disparity was not merely a reflection of belief but a consequence of the legal vulnerability of women, who possessed little or no legal standing independent of their male relatives. The conceptual link between women and magic in Western culture stemmed from the association of magical activities with the female sphere, such as rites to encourage fertility, potions to induce abortions, and the management of domestic health. Authorities often viewed cunning folk and traditional healers as harmful because their practices were magical and thus stemmed from contact with demons, even though local communities frequently valued and respected these individuals for their beneficial skills. The term witch, derived from the Old English wicce, became a tool of social control, used to police the boundaries of acceptable behavior and to suppress female autonomy. In the Greco-Roman world, the accusation of magic was a form of insult, a way to dismiss a rival's religious or political claims as fraudulent. The Roman Empire introduced laws criminalizing magic, and the Christian Church later absorbed these negative stereotypes, extending them to include the practices of Muslims and Jews. The medieval period saw the emergence of specific terms for malevolent practitioners, such as sorcière in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish. These labels were not neutral descriptions but charged political weapons used to justify the massacre of religious minorities and the suppression of heretical Christian groups like the Hussites. The idea that magic was devised and worked by demons became a central tenet of Christian thought, creating a model of the magician that was inherently evil. This theological framework allowed the Church to distinguish its own miracles from the magic of others, labeling the latter as the work of the devil. The persecution of witches was thus a complex interplay of religious dogma, legal structures, and social anxieties about the power of women and the lower classes.

Natural Magic And The Renaissance Shift

The Renaissance brought a radical reassessment of magic, as Italian humanists Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola introduced the concept of magia naturalis, or natural magic. For these thinkers, magic was not the work of demons but an elemental force pervading natural processes, fundamentally distinct from the mainstream Christian idea of demonic magic. This new perspective attracted the interest of natural philosophers of various theoretical orientations, including Aristotelians, Neoplatonists, and Hermeticists. The concept of natural magic took firm hold in European culture during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, challenging the traditional view that all magic was inherently evil. Adherents argued that magic could appear in both good and bad forms, and by the seventeenth century, the concept had moved in increasingly naturalistic directions, blurring the distinctions between it and science. The French librarian Gabriel Naudé wrote his Apology for all the Wise Men Falsely Suspected of Magic in 1625, distinguishing Mosoaicall Magick, which he claimed came from God, from geotick magic caused by demons. Despite these efforts to reclaim the term, the traditional negative attitudes toward magic remained largely intact, and Europe continued to see active persecution of accused witches. The Protestant Reformation further complicated the landscape, as Protestants often sought to denigrate Roman Catholic sacramental and devotional practices as being magical rather than religious. This accusation was used to prescribe what was appropriate as religious belief and practice, with both sides using the label of magic to attack their rivals. The Baroque era saw figures like Michael Sendivogius, Tommaso Campanella, and Jakob Böhme engage with occult and magical themes that went beyond conventional thinking. Isaac Newton, famous for his scientific achievements, also delved into alchemy and collected esoteric manuscripts, revealing his fascination with hidden knowledge. The Renaissance was a period of great uncertainty, where the intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in the Early Modern witch craze, particularly in Germany, England, and Scotland. The rise of science, including the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of the universe and the distinction of astronomy from astrology, created a new framework for understanding the world, yet magic remained a potent force in the cultural imagination.

Colonialism And The Anthropological Trap

As European societies began to conquer and colonize other continents in the sixteenth century, they applied their own concepts of magic and witchcraft to the practices found among the peoples they encountered. European colonialists typically viewed the natives as primitives and savages whose belief systems were diabolical and needed to be eradicated and replaced by Christianity. Because Europeans viewed these non-European peoples as morally and intellectually inferior, it was expected that such societies would be more prone to practicing magic. In West Africa, Portuguese travelers introduced their term feitiçaria, often translated as sorcery, which was transformed into the concept of the fetish. Later Europeans wrongly believed that the fetiche was an indigenous African term rather than the result of earlier inter-continental encounters. The newly independent Haitian government of Jean-Jacques Dessalines began to suppress the practice of Vodou in the early nineteenth century, and in 1835 Haitian law-codes categorized all Vodou practices as sortilège, suggesting that it was all conducted with harmful intent. This colonial imposition of the term magic served to distance and differentiate the colonized from those who ruled over them, legitimizing European and Euro-American imperialism. By the nineteenth century, European intellectuals no longer saw the practice of magic through the framework of sin but instead regarded magical practices and beliefs as an aberrational mode of thought, a sign of psychological impairment and a marker of racial or cultural inferiority. Legal systems ceased to threaten practitioners with punishment for diabolism and instead threatened them with the accusation that they were defrauding people. Anthropologists like Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer adopted the traditional, negative concept of magic, viewing it as the theoretical opposite of science and a primitive stage in human development. Tylor characterized magic as one of the most pernicious delusions that ever vexed mankind, while Frazer described it as the bastard sister of science. This intellectualist approach was situated within the evolutionary models that underpinned thinking in the social sciences during the early 19th century, framing magic as a primitive belief system that would eventually be replaced by religion and then science. The association of certain peoples with magic served to justify their rule by those who believed in science and religion, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of cultural inferiority.

Modern Definitions And The Will To Change

In the twentieth century, the concept of magic underwent a profound transformation, as modern Western magicians began to redefine the term for themselves. Aleister Crowley, who favored the spelling magick to distinguish it from stage illusionism, defined magic as the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will. This definition influenced subsequent magicians, including Dion Fortune, who stated that magic is the art of changing consciousness according to Will, and Gerald Gardner, who described it as attempting to cause the physically unusual. The chaos magic movement emerged during the late 20th century as an attempt to strip away the symbolic, ritualistic, and theological aspects of other occult traditions, distilling magic down to a set of basic techniques. For many modern Western magicians, the goal of magic is deemed to be personal spiritual development, a perception central to the way magical practices have been adopted into forms of modern Paganism and the New Age phenomenon. The adoption of the term magic by modern occultists can be a deliberate attempt to champion those areas of Western society which have traditionally been marginalized as a means of subverting dominant systems of power. The influential American Wiccan and author Starhawk stated that magic is another word that makes people uneasy, so she uses it deliberately because the words that sound acceptable, rational, and scientifically correct are comfortable precisely because they are the language of estrangement. In the present day, among some countercultural subgroups, the label is considered cool, and the word is sometimes used to describe a type of excitement, wonder, or sudden delight. Scientists have also adopted the term in application to various concepts, such as magic acid, magic bullets, and magic angles. The perception of magic as a form of self-development has challenged widely-held preconceptions about contemporary religion and spirituality, creating a new meaning of magic that could not possibly have existed in earlier periods. This new meaning is elaborated in reaction to the disenchantment of the world, offering a way to reclaim a sense of wonder and agency in a modern, rationalized society.