Magic and religion

This article deals with magic in the context of religion and the anthropology of religion. A belief in magic as a means of influencing the supernatural was universal to all cultures and all religions prior to the advent of monotheism, and there is significant historical evidence that magic was part of early Judaism and Christianity. However, the influence of Zoroastrianism, which is generally accepted by religious scholars as the source of beliefs in an evil entity engaged in a cosmic battle with God, coincided with the beginning of the suppression of magical beliefs and practices.

The term magic is often used in various contexts that may be confused with magic in the context of religion. Similar to the concept of magic in the context of religion is magic in the context of the paranormal. In fact, some anthropologists have asserted that magical thinking is a form of proto-science or pseudoscience rather than a form of religious practice, most notable among them being Sir James Frazer. Some people also use the term magick, with a spelling that is distinct and different from magic, to distinguish these concepts of magic from the one proposed by Aleister Crowley. Wholly distinct from all of these concepts of magic is magic in the context of stage magic.

Ultimately, Judaism, Christianity and Islam came to characterize virtually all magic as witchcraft, thereby villifying tribal shamans and other practitioners of magic. In striking contrast, shamanic and polytheistic traditions have typically been more indifferent to monotheists, since there is no inherent conflict between these religions and the existence of other supernatural belief systems. Examples of the suppression of magical belief and practice range from the attempted suppression and eventual appropriation of pagan holidays by the Catholic Church, to the mingled motives of the Conquistadors, to the Salem witch trials of the Puritans. During such periods, the tendency of magic is to become more obscure and esoteric, with a certain element in society always managing to preserve lore and tradition, often in disguised or metaphorical terms. This pattern gave rise to the term 'Occult.'

Due to these waves of monotheistic persecution and the accompanying persistent destruction of art and writing related to magical traditions, modern magic is generally reconstructed from secondary, tertiary or even more remote source. Aleister Crowley and his disciples are most often credited with the resurgence of magical tradition in the last century, but in their eagerness to reconstruct the lost traditions of the past, they often included elements of questionable authenticity, or manufactured them from whole cloth. Thus, any current tradition which acknowledges the natural elements, the seasons, and the practitioner's relationship with the Earth, Gaia or the Goddess may be correctly regarded as neo-pagan, and few such traditions can be sensibly labelled more authentic than any others.

Although some current practitioners of magic prefer the term 'Pagan', NeoPaganism is more correct for scholarly reference to current rituals and traditions. Wicca is a more codified form of modern magic than Neopaganism, again owing much to Crowley and his ilk. In no case can either Wicca, or NeoPaganism be correctly identified with Satanism, which is a debased form owing its structure and memes primarily to inversions of monotheistic texts.

Magical practices

The basic mechanism of magical practices is the spell, a spoken or written formula which is used in conjunction with a particular set of ingredients. If a spell is properly executed and fails to work, then the spell is a fraud. However, in most instances, the failure of a spell to bring about the desired effect can be attributed to the failure of the person executing the spell to follow the magic formula to the letter.

Generally speaking, there are two types of magic: Contagious magic and sympathetic magic. Contagious magic involves the use of physical ingredients which were once in contact with the object or objects one hopes to influence with a spell, and sympathetic magic involves the use of physical objects which resemble the object or objects one hopes to influence.

Related religous practices

Closely related to magic is religious ritual, such as prayer. The major difference between magic and ritual is that ritual does not always work, even when it is carried out properly. Rather, the proper performance of a ritual simply increases the likelihood of a desired result coming to pass.

Also closely related to magic is religious supplication. This involves a sacrifice to a supernatural being, such as a god, angel, or demon, who is asked to intervene on behalf of the person performing the sacrifice, usually a priest, a shaman, or a medicine man or woman. Supplication can be considered a particular, specialized form of prayer.

Evidence of magical practices in the archaelogical and historical record

Appearing from aboriginal tribes in Australia and New Zealand to rainforest tribes in South America, bush tribes in Africa and pagan tribal groups in Western Europe and Britain, some form of shamanic contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of human communities. The ancient cave paintings in France are widely speculated to be early magical formulations, intended to produce successful hunts. Much of the Babylonian and Egyptian pictorial writing characters appear derived from the same sources.

Although indigenous magical traditions persist to this day, very early on some communities transitioned from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, and with this shift, the development of spiritual life mirrored that of civic life. Just as tribal elders were consolidated and transformed into kings and bureaucrats, so too were shamans and adepts devolved into priests and a priestly caste.

This shift is by no means in nomenclature alone. While the shaman's task was to negotiate between the tribe and the spirit world, on behalf of the tribe, as directed by the collective will of the tribe, the priest's role was to transfer instructions from the deities to the city-state, on behalf of the deities, as directed by the will of those deities. This shift represents the first major usurpation of power by distancing magic from those participating in that magic. It is at this stage of development that highly codified and elaborate rituals, setting the stage for formal religions, began to emerge, such as the funeral rites of the Egyptians and the sacrifice rituals of the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans.