Magic represents the categories used in religious studies and social studies to define practices and ideas that are considered separate from religion and science. A category developed in Western culture although it has since been applied to practice in other societies, especially those considered to be non-modern and Other. Different definitions of magic have been proposed, with many contemporary scholars of such a troubled concept that it is better to refuse them altogether as a useful analytic construct.
The term magic is derived from Old Persian magu , a word applied to a form of a little-known religious functionary. During the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, this term was adopted into Ancient Greece, where it was used with negative connotations, to be applied to religious rituals considered to be fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous. The meaning of this term was then adopted by Latin in the first century BC. Via Latin, the concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century AD, where magic was associated with the devil and thus defined against religion (Christianity). This concept spread throughout the Middle Ages, when Christian writers categorized diverse practices - such as charm, magic, incantations, prophecy, necromancy, and astrology - under the magic label . In early modern Europe, Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to create the idea of ​​natural magic. These two negative and positive understandings of the term are preserved in Western culture over the ensuing centuries, with the former profoundly influencing the early academic use of the word.
Academics in various disciplines have used the term "magic" but have defined it differently and used it in reference to different things. One approach, related to anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, uses the term to describe the belief in the hidden sympathy between objects that allow one to influence the other. Defined in this way, magic is described as opposed to science. An alternative approach, associated with sociologist Marcel Mauss and ÃÆ'â € mile Durkheim, uses the term to describe ceremonies and private ceremonies and compare them with religion, defined as communal and organized activity. Many religious scholars have rejected the use of the term magic, arguing that it is arbitrary and ethnocentric; has become increasingly unpopular in scholarships since the 1990s.
Throughout Western history, there are examples of individuals who engage in practices called their wizarding societies and who sometimes refer to themselves as witches. In modern occultism, there are many self-described magicians and people who perform ritual activities that they call magic. In this environment, the concept of magic changes again, usually defined as a technique for bringing about change in the physical world through one's will power. This definition was widely pioneered by the influential British occultist, Aleister Crowley, who has been influenced by scientific studies of magic.
Video Magic (paranormal)
Definisi
Since the advent of religious studies and the social sciences, magic has become a "central theme in the theoretical literature" produced by scholars operating in this academic discipline. According to the religious scholar Randall Styers, trying to define magic represents the "act of demarcation" by which he is juxtaposed with "social practices and other modes of knowledge" such as "religion" and "science". Academics have been engaged in an extensive debate about how to define magic, with such a debate that produces strife. Throughout the debate, the scientific community has failed to agree on the definition of magic, in a manner similar to how they failed to agree on a religious definition. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as witches, there is no general understanding of what magic is. So, as historian Michael D. Bailey explains, "magic" represents "a highly contested category and a very difficult label".
Many scholars argue that the use of the term as an analytical tool in an academic scholarship should be rejected altogether. Religious scholar Jonathan Z. Smith for example argues that he has no use as an ethical term for scholars to use. The religious historian Wouter Hanegraaff agrees, stating that "the term magic is an important object of historical research, but not intended to research." The scholars of the Berndt-Christian religion Otto and Michael Stausberg suggested that it would be possible for scholars to talk about amulets, curses, healing procedures, and other cultural practices often regarded as magical in Western culture without any other path to the concept of magic itself.. The idea that "magic" should be rejected as an analytic term developed in anthropology, before moving on to Classical Studies and Bible studies in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the use of the term among religious scholars has declined.
The concept and the term "magic" was developed in European society and using it when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society poses a problem, as it may impose Western categories that are foreign to them. While "magic" remains an emotional term in the history of Western society, it remains an ethical term when applied to non-Western societies. During the twentieth century, many scholars who focused on Asian and African societies rejected the term "magic", as well as related concepts such as "magic", which supported the more precise terms and concepts that exist in this particular society. A similar approach has been taken by many scholars who studied pre-modern societies in Europe, such as the Classical age, who found the modern concept of 'magic' inappropriate and preferred specific terms derived from the ancient cultural framework they studied. Alternately, the term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western prejudice is an inescapable component of scientific research.
In Western culture, the term "magic" has been associated with the ideas of Others, and with the notion of "foreign". In the words of Styers, the word has become a "powerful marker of cultural differences". It has also been repeatedly presented as a non-modern archetypal phenomenon. Among Western intellectuals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, magic was seen as a hallmark of "primitive" mentality and is generally associated with marginal groups, locations, and periods.
Magic is one of the most theorized concepts in religious studies; Styers believes that this has a strong appeal to social theorists because it provides "rich sites to articulate and challenge the nature and limits of modernity". Scholars have used it as a foil for the concept of religion, about magic as an illegitimate (and burdening) "brother" of religion. Alternately, others have used it as an intermediate category located between religion and science. The context in which scholars frame a discussion of their magic is informed by the spread of European colonial powers around the world in the modern period. Repeated attempts to define magic resonate with wider social issues, and the flexibility of the concept has enabled it to "readily adapt as a polemic and ideological tool". The relationship made by the intellectuals between magic and "primitive" helped to legitimize European and European-American imperialism and colonialism, because this Western colonialist expressed the view that those who believed and practiced magic were not worthy to govern themselves and should be governed by those who, rather than believe in magic, believe in science and/or religion (Christianity). In Bailey's words, "the associations of certain people [both non-Europeans or poor, rural Europeans] with magic serve to distance and distinguish them from those who rule them, and most to justify the rule." Many different definitions of magic have been offered by scholars, though - according to Hanegraaff - this can be understood as a variation of a small number of highly influential theories.
Intellectual Approach
The intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two of England's leading anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This is an approach that sees magic as opposed to theoretical science, and begins to sequester many anthropological thoughts on the subject. The use of the term magic for sympathetic magic is also a feature of Herbert Spencer's ideas in his Synthetic Philosophy . Spencer regards magic and religion as the root of false speculation about the nature of the object and its relation to other things.
Tylor's understanding of magic is associated with the concept of animism. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as a belief based on "wrong misconception of an ideal analogy for a real analogy". In Tylor's view, "primitive man, who came to associate in the minds of things he found with experience to be connected in fact, went wrong to reverse this action, and to conclude that associations in thought must involve the same relationship in reality. Thus trying to discover, forecast, and cause events through a process that we can now see has only the ideal significance ". Tylor disdains magic, describing it as "one of the most destructive delusions that has ever annoyed mankind".
Tylor's ideas were adopted and simplified by Frazer. He uses the term "magic" to imply sympathetic magic, describing it as a practice that relies on the wizard's belief "that things are acting out at a distance through secret sympathy", something he describes as an "invisible ether". He further divides this magic into two forms, "homeopathic (imitating, mimetic)" and "contagious". The first is the idea that "likes to produce like", or that the similarity between two things can produce one other effect. The latter is based on the idea that contact between two objects allows both to continue to influence each other in the distance. Like Taylor, Frazer viewed magic negatively, describing it as a "scoundrel sister of science," arising from "a great mistake that brought disaster".
Where Frazer differs from Taylor in characterizing belief in magic as a key stage in the development of human culture, describes it as part of a tripartite division where "magic" comes first, "religion" is second, and finally "science" is in the order third.. For Frazer, all early communities began as witches, with some of them moving away from this and into religion. He believes that magic and religion involve belief in spirits, but they differ in the way they respond to these spirits. For Frazer, magic "limits or compels" these spirits while religion focuses on "reconciling or reconciling them". He acknowledges that their similarities result in the crossing of magical and religious elements in various instances; for example he claims that a sacred marriage is a fertility ritual that combines elements of both world views.
Functional Approach
The functionalist approach to defining magic is associated with the French sociologist Marcel Mauss and Emile Durkheim. In this approach, magic is understood as opposed to religious theory.
Mauss expressed his conception of "magic" in the 1902 essay, "A General Theory of Magic". Mauss uses the term magic in reference to "any ritual that is not part of a cult organized: rituals that are private, secret, mysterious, and ultimately inclined toward the forbidden". Instead, he associates religion with an organized cult. By saying that magic is essentially unsound, Mauss has been influenced by traditional Christian understanding of the concept. Mauss deliberately rejected the intellectualist approach promoted by Frazer, believing that it was inappropriate to limit the term magic to sympathetic magic, as did Frazer. He expressed the view that "there are not only magical rites that are not sympathetic, but also not sympathy as magical prerogatives, because there is sympathetic practice in religion".
Mauss' ideas were adopted by Durkheim in his 1912 Basic Form of Religious Life. Durkheim holds that both magic and religion belong to "holy things, that is, things that are forbidden and forbidden". Where he sees them as different in their social organization. Durkheim describes magic as inherently anti-social, which is in contrast to what he calls the "Church," a religious belief held by a social group; in his words, "There is no Church of Witchcraft." Durkheim expressed the view that "there is something inherently anti-religious about the magician's maneuver", and that belief in magic "does not result in bonding with those who obey it, or in uniting them into groups that lead a commonality.
Scholars criticize the idea that magic and religion can be divided into two distinct separate categories. The social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown states that "the simple dichotomy between magic and religion" does not help and hence both should be included in the broader ritual categories. Many anthropologists then follow his example. However, this distinction is still often made by experts who discuss this topic.
Emotional Approach
The emotional approach to magic is associated with the English anthropologist Robert Ranulph Marett, Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud, and the Polish anthropologist Bronis? Aw Malinowski.
Marett sees magic in response to stress. In a 1904 article, he argues that magic is a stimulating or cathartic practice designed to ease feelings of tension. As his thinking developed, he increasingly rejected the idea of ​​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 way to Marett, addressing this problem in the 1925 article. He rejected Frazer's evolutionary hypothesis that magic was followed by religion and then science as a series of distinct stages in societal development, arguing that the three were present in each society. In his view, both magic and religion "appear and function in situations of emotional stress" although religion is primarily expressive, magical especially practical. Hence he defines magic as "a practical art composed of actions that only mean to the end which is surely expected to be followed later". He for example believes that the ritual of fertility is miraculous because it is done with the purpose of meeting special needs.
Freud also saw magic emerge from human emotions but interpreted it very differently from Marett. Freud explained that "the theory associated with magic only explains the way in which the magic results, it does not explain the true essence, that is the misunderstanding that causes it to replace the natural law with the psychological". Freud emphasizes that what causes primitive man to appear with magic is the power of hope: "His desire is accompanied by a motor drive, the will, which is then destined to change the whole earth to satisfy his desires.This motor drive was originally used to provide a representation of a satisfactory situation in such a way that it becomes possible to experience satisfaction in what way can be described as motor hallucinations, Representation of this satisfied desire is quite comparable to children's play, which succeeds in their initial satisfaction techniques pure satisfaction. [...] Over time, psychologically shifted from motif to magical action to the steps in which it was performed-that is, on the action itself. [...] Thus it appears as if it were the magical act itself which, because of its resemblance to the desired result, alone determines the occurrence of that result. "
According to Stanley Tambiah, magic, science and religion all have their own "quality of rationality," and have been influenced by politics and ideology. Unlike religion, Tambiah suggests that humankind has much more personal control over events. Science, according to Tambiah, is "a system of behavior in which humans gain control of the environment."
Maps Magic (paranormal)
Etymology and conceptual development
The ancient world
The English words magic , mage and magician are from the Latin magus , through the Greek ?? ??? , originating from Old Persian magu? ("magician"). The Old Persian magu - comes from Proto-Indo-European * magh ("can"), which is absorbed into the Iranian language; Then the Iranians started using the word magu? ("magician": that is, "capable [in ritual]") or magni , which may have caused Lama Sinitic * M? Ag ("mage" or "shaman"). The Old Persian form seems to have permeated the Ancient Semitic language as the Hebrew Talmud magosh , Aramaic amgusha ("magician"), and Kasdim maghdim (" wisdom and philosophy "); from the first century BC onwards, Syria magusai became famous as a witch and predictor.
The Magi are mentioned both in the Book of Jeremiah and the Behistun Inscription of Darius I, showing that they had gained considerable strength and influence in the first half of the millennium BC. A number of ancient Greek writers discuss this Persian mÃÆ'¡goi in their works. Among the first to do so is the historian Herodotus, who states that mÃÆ'¡goi is one of the seven Median tribes and that they serve as officials in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, where they act as counselors to the king. According to Herodotus, this Persian mÃÆ'¡goi is also responsible for various religious rituals, namely sacrifice and dream interpretation.
For a storm lasting for three days; and finally the Magians, using the sacrifices [cut into pieces and presented to the manes] and the magic spell on the wind, and at the expense also to Thetis and Nereids, made it stop on the fourth day.
The Magi traveled far beyond Mesopotamia and the Levant. They were present in India at least in the first century BC, also in Ethiopia, Egypt, and throughout Asia Minor. Many ancient sources claim they are Zarathustrians, or Zarathustra, who probably lived as early as 1100 BC, was a Magu? according to neurologist Victor H. Mair, they arrived in China around this time. Ilya Gershevitch has described them as "a professional priesthood to whom Zarathustrianisme is only one form of religion in which they serve payment, just as a professional musician earns a living by performing different composer works".
During the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries, Persia magu? is Graecicized and introduced into ancient Greek as ????? and ??? ??? . In doing so he undergoes a transformation of meaning, obtains a negative connotation, with magos being considered a shaman whose ritual practices are fraudulent, odd, unconventional, and dangerous. This change of meaning was influenced by the military conflict that the Greek city-state was later involved against the Persian Empire. In this context, this term makes appearances in living text such as Sophocles'
In the first century BC, the Greek concept of magos was adopted into Latin and was used by a number of ancient Roman writers as the magus and magia . The use of the term Romans is similar to the Greek term, but places a greater emphasis on the application of its laws. Inside the Roman Empire, the law will be introduced by criminalizing the things that are considered as magic.
Early Christianity and the Middle Ages
In the first century AD, early Christian writers absorbed the idea of ​​Greco-Roman magic and incorporated it into their growing Christian theology. These Christians retained Graeco-Roman's negative connotations of the term and increased it by incorporating the conceptual patterns borrowed from Jewish thought. Thus, for early Christian writers such as Augustine of Hippo, magic is not only a fraudulent and unofficial ritual practice, but the opposite of religion because it relies on the cooperation of the devil, the henchmen of Satan. Since then, the idea that magic is something that is defined as opposition to religion has spread throughout Western culture. This Christian emphasis on an inherent and mistaken moral depravity as opposed to a good religion is much stricter than that of other major monotheist religions of that period, Judaism and Islam. For example, while Christians regard demons as inherent evils, jinn - comparable entities in Islamic mythology - are regarded as more ambivalent figures by Muslims.
The model of a magician in Christian thought is provided by Simon Magus, or "Simon the Witch," a figure who opposes Saint Peter in both apocryphal and influential Acts and Stories. Historian Michael D. Bailey states that in medieval Europe, "magic" was "a relatively broad and encompassing category". Christian theologians believe that there are different forms of magic, most of which are predictive types. For example, Isidore of Seville produced catalogs of things he considered magic in which he was listed on augury lists, necromancy, astrology, incantations, horoscopes, amulets, geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, enchantment and ligatures.
In early medieval Europe, magia was a curse term. In medieval Europe, Christians often suspect Muslims and Jews engaged in magical practices. Christian groups often also accuse other competing Christian groups - which they perceive to be heretical - to engage in magical activities. The European Middle Ages also saw the term "maleficium" applied to magical forms performed with the aim of causing damage. The middle ages then saw the words for this practitioner of a dangerous magical act appearing in various European languages: sorciÃÆ'¨re in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish. The English term for evil magic practitioners, witch , is derived from the previous Old English term wicce .
early modern Europe
During the early modern period, the concept of magic experienced a more positive reassessment through the development of the concept of magia naturalist (natural magic). This is a term that was introduced and developed by two Italian humanists, Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. For them, magia is regarded as the elemental force surrounding many natural processes, and thus essentially different from the main Christian idea of ​​Satanic magic. Their ideas influenced later philosophers and writers, among them Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Reuchlin, and Johannes Trithemius. According to historian Richard Kieckhefer, the concept of magia naturalist took a "strong grip on European culture" during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, attracting the interest of natural philosophers from various theoretical orientations, including Aristotle, Neoplatonis, and Hermetisis. Nonetheless, it does not replace traditional attitudes toward magic in the West, which remain largely negative. At the same time as the magni naturalist is intriguing and highly tolerated, Europe sees the active persecution of the defendant's witches who are believed to be guilty of maleficia.
While the proponents of magia naturalist insist that this does not depend on the actions of demons, critics disagree, on the grounds that the devil only deceives these magicians. In the seventeenth century the concept of magia naturalist has moved in an increasingly 'naturalistic' direction, with the difference between it and science becoming blurred. The validity of the magia naturalist as a concept for understanding the universe then came under increasing criticism during the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century.
In the early modern European discourse, the term magic was also used in a negative sense; Protestants often sought to defame the sacramental and devotional practices of Roman Catholics as magic rather than religion. Many Roman Catholics are concerned about this accusation and for several centuries various Roman Catholic writers devote attention to argue that their practice is more religious than magical. At the same time, Protestants often use allegations of magic against other Protestant groups they follow. In this way, the concept of magic is used to prescribe what is appropriate as religious beliefs and practices.
Colonialism and academia
In the sixteenth century, European societies began to conquer and colonize other continents throughout the world, and as they did so, they applied European concepts of "magic" and "witchcraft" to the practices found among those who they meet. Typically, this European colonialist regarded the indigenous people as primitive and savage whose belief systems were evil and needed to be eradicated and replaced by Christianity. Since Europeans usually consider these non-Europeans to be morally and intellectually inferior to themselves, it is hoped that such a society will be more vulnerable to practicing magic. Women who perform traditional rituals are labeled "witches" by Europeans.
In many cases, these imported European concepts and terms undergo a new transformation when combined with original concepts. In West Africa, for example, Portuguese tourists introduced their terms and concepts feitiÃÆ'§aria (often translated as magic ) and feitiÃÆ'§o > (mantra) to the natives, where it is converted into the concept of the talisman . When Europeans later discovered this West African society, they mistakenly believed that fetiche was an African native term rather than a result of previous inter-continental meetings. Sometimes, self-colonized populations adopt these European concepts for their own purposes. In the early nineteenth century, the newly independent Haitian government Jean-Jacques Dessalines began to suppress the practice of Vodou, and by 1835 the Haitian law code categorized all of Vodou's practices as sortilÃÆ'¨ge (magic), indicating that it's all done with dangerous intentions, whereas among Vodou practitioners the performance of dangerous rites has been given separate and distinct categories, known as maji .
In 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 "aberrational mode of thought contrary to the dominant cultural logic - a sign of psychological disorder and racial or cultural inferiority marker". As the educated elite in Western societies increasingly reject the efficacy of magical practice, the legal system causes threatening magical practitioners with punishment for the crimes of diabolism and witchcraft, and instead threatens them with accusations that they cheat people by promising to give things they can not.
The spread of European colonial power around the world affects how academics will come to frame the concept of magic. In the nineteenth century, a number of scholars adopted the concept of traditional and negative magic. That they chose to do that is inevitable, because they can follow the example adopted by the leading esoteric who is active at a time like Helena Blavatsky who has chosen to use the term and concept of magic in a positive sense. Various authors also use the concept of magic to criticize religion by saying that the latter still shows many negative traits from the previous ones. An example of this is American journalist H. L. Mencken in his 1930 polemical work Treatise on the Gods ; he tried to criticize religion by comparing it with magic, arguing that the division between the two was wrong.
The scientific application of magic as a category sui generis that can be applied to any socio-cultural context is related to the promotion of modernity for both Western and non-Western audiences.
In a contemporary context, the word magic is sometimes used to "describe a type of joy, miracle, or sudden pleasure," and in such a context can be "a high praise term".
Modern Western Occultism
Modern Western magic has challenged the widely held prejudices of contemporary religion and spirituality. The polemical discourse on magic affects the modern self-understanding of the magicians, some of them - like Aleister Crowley and Julius Evola - are well versed in the academic literature on this subject. According to religious scholar Henrik Bogdan, "arguably the most famous emic definition" of the term "magic" is provided by Crowley. Crowley - who likes the spelling of magic over "magic" to distinguish it from stage illusionism - is the view that "Magick is the Science and Art that causes Change to occur in Will". The definition of Crowley influenced the next magician. Dion Fortune of the Fraternity of the Inner Light for example states that "Magic is the art of altering consciousness according to Will". Gerald Gardner, founder of Gardnerian Wicca, states that magic is "trying to cause unusual physicality", while Anton LaVey, founder of LaVeyan Satanism, describes magic as "a change in situations or events according to one's will, which would, acceptable, irreversible. "
Modern Western concepts of magic depend on beliefs in correspondence connected to unknown supernatural powers that penetrate the universe. As noted by Hanegraaff, this is operated in accordance with the meaning of "a new magic, which could not have existed in the preceding period, precisely because it was described in reaction to the" world's disappointment "." For many, and perhaps most, modern Western magicians, the purpose of magic is regarded as a personal spiritual development. The perception of magic as a form of self-development is at the heart of the way magical practices are adopted into the forms of modern Paganism and New Age phenomena. One of the significant developments in modern Western magical practices is sex magic. This is a practice promoted in Paschal Beverly Randolph's writings and then uses a strong interest in occult magicians like Crowley and Theodor Reuss.
The adoption of the term "magic" by modern occultists can in some instances be a deliberate attempt to champion the traditionally marginalized areas of Western society as a means of transforming the dominant power system. Influential American Wiccan and the author of Starhawk for example states that " Magic is another word that makes people uneasy, so I use it intentionally, because words that are comfortable for us, words that sound acceptable, rational , scientific, and intellectually correct, convenient precisely because they are the language of estrangement. "
Magician
Many practices that have been labeled magic can be done by anyone. For example, some charm can be read by individuals who have no special knowledge or claim to have a certain strength. Others need special training to carry it out. Some individuals who perform magical acts more than occasionally come to be identified as magicians, or with related concepts like shamans/magicians, witches, or cunning people. Identity as a magician can be derived from someone's claims about himself, or it could be a label given to them by others. In the latter case, a person may receive such a label, or they can reject it, sometimes with enthusiasm.
There may be economic incentives that encourage individuals to identify as magicians. In the case of various forms of traditional healers, as well as the magicians or illusionists of the next stage, magic labels can be a job description. Others claim such identities from a firmly held belief that they have unusual special powers or talents.
Some historians have drawn the distinction between the practitioners involved in high magic, and those involved in low magic. Within this framework, high magic is seen as more complex, involving long and detailed ceremonies and sophisticated, sometimes expensive equipment. Low magic is associated with simpler rituals such as short, pronounced spells.
In some cultures, terms like dukun / witch , witch , witch , etc. Applied to a particular type of magician based on gender, ability, source of strength, moral standing in the community, etc.
Various personal traits can be credited with giving supernatural powers, and are often associated with unusual births to the world.
However, the most common method of identifying, discriminating, and establishing occult practitioners from ordinary people is by initiation. By way of the rite of witch relations with the supernatural and entering into a closed professional class is established (often through rituals that simulate death and rebirth into new life).
Mauss argues that the powers of both experts and magicians are generally determined by the standards of culturally accepted resources and the extent of magic: magicians can not simply create or claim new magic. In practice, magicians are just as strong as their peers believe.
Suspicions and alleged witchcraft
Those who are considered wizards often face the suspicion of other members of their society. This is especially true if the magicians deemed to have been associated with social groups are already considered morally suspect in a particular society, such as foreigners, women, or lower classes. In contrast to these negative associations, many of the practitioners whose activities have been labeled magical have emphasized that their actions are good and beneficial. This is contrary to the general Christian view that all activities categorized as magical forms are intrinsically bad regardless of what the magician intends, because all magical actions depend on the help of Satan. There may be conflicting attitudes about the practice of a magician; In European history, authorities often believe that cunning people and traditional healers are dangerous because their practice is regarded as magic and therefore comes from contact with demons, whereas local communities may appreciate and honor these people because their skills and services are considered beneficial.
In Western societies, the practice of magic, especially when dangerous, is usually associated with women. For example, during wizard trials at the beginning of the modern period, about three-quarters of those executed as witches, only a quarter were male. That women are more likely to be accused and punished for magic in this period may be because their positions are more legally vulnerable, with women having little or no legal standing independent of their male relatives. The conceptual relationship between women and magic in Western cultures may be due to many magical activities - from rituals to encouraging fertility to the concoction to induce abortion - is linked to the scope of women. It may also be related to the fact that Western culture regularly portrays women inferior to men on an intellectual, moral, spiritual, and physical level.
History
Ancient Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only proper defense against evil spirits, ghosts, and wizards. To defend themselves against the spirits of those whom they had sacrificed, they would leave the offerings known as the kispu in their graves in the hope of comforting them. If that does not work, they also occasionally take the deceased statue and bury it on the ground, demanding the gods to exterminate the spirit, or forcing him to leave the man alone.
Ancient Mesopotamia also uses magic to protect themselves from evil sorcerers who might curse them. They have no distinction between "light magic" and "black magic" and someone who defends himself from magic will use exactly the same technique as a person who tries to curse someone. The only major difference is the fact that the curse is in secret; while the defense of magic takes place in the open, in front of the audience whenever possible. One ritual to punish a wizard is known as MaqlÃÆ'Â », or" The Burning ". The one who suffers by magic will create a statue of a witch and judge her at night. Then, once the evil nature of the witch is determined, the person will burn the statue and thus break the shaman's power over him.
Ancient Mesopotamia also performs magical rituals to purify themselves from the unconscious sin. One such ritual is known as "urpu", or "Burning", in which the castle castles will transfer the guilt for all its misdeeds to various objects such as date strips, onions, and a woolly beam. He would then burn those things and thus purify himself of all the sins he might have done unknowingly. The whole genre of love spells is there. Such a spell, which usually asks for the help of Ishtar's goddess, is believed to cause someone to fall in love with another person, restore a faded love, or cause a male sexual partner to be able to maintain an erection when she was previously unable to. Another mantra is used to reconcile a man with his patron deity or to reconcile his wife with a husband who has ignored him.
Ancient Mesopotamia had no distinction between "rational science" and magic. When someone gets sick, doctors will forbid both magical formulas to be read as well as medical care. Most magical rituals are meant to be performed by a ?? ipu , an expert in magical art. The profession is generally passed down from father to son and is highly respected and often advisor to kings and great leaders. An ?? ipu may be presented not only as a magician, but also as a doctor, pastor, clerk, and scholar. He will likely have a large library of clay tablets containing important texts and religious songs.
The Sumerian god Enki, who was later incognited with the eastern Semitic god Ea, was closely associated with magic and incantations; he is the protective god of b? r? and a? ip? and is widely regarded as the main source of all secret knowledge. Ancient Mesopotamia also believed in omens, which could come when asked or not asked. Regardless of how they came, the omens are always taken very seriously. Mesopotamia also created astrology.
Ancient Egyptian
Magic is an integral part of the religion and culture of ancient Egypt. Ancient Egyptians often wore a magical amulet, known as meket , for protection. The most common material for such amulets is a kind of ceramic known as faience, but the amulets are also made of stone, metal, bone, and wood. Amulet describes certain symbols. One of the most common symbols of protection is the Eye of Horus, representing the new eye given to Horus by the god Thoth as a substitute for his old eyes, which had been destroyed during the battle with Uncle Seth Horus. The most popular amulet is the scarab beetle, the symbol of the god Khepri. Pregnant women will wear a talisman depicting Tauret, the goddess of labor, to protect from a miscarriage. Dewa Bes, who has a lion's head and dwarf body, is believed to be the protector of children. After childbirth, a mother will issue a talisman of the Torah and wear a new amulet representing Bes.
Like Mesopotamia, the ancient Egyptians had no distinction between magic and medicine. The Egyptians believed that the disease came from supernatural origins and the ancient Egyptian doctors would prescribe both the magical and practical cure for their patients. Doctors will interrogate their patients to find out what diseases he suffered. The symptoms of the disease determine which divinity the physician needs to ask to heal him. Doctors are very expensive, so, for most everyday purposes, the average Egyptian depends on people who are not professional physicians, but have some kind of training or medical knowledge. Among these people are healers and sailors of the people, who can break broken bones, assist mothers in childbirth, prohibit herbal treatment for common ailments, and interpret dreams. If a doctor or fortune-teller is not available, ordinary people will only issue their own spells without help. Although most Egyptians are illiterate, it may be common for individuals to memorize spells and incantations for later use.
The main principle behind Egyptian magic seems to be the assumption that, if someone says something with enough faith, that statement will be automatically correct. The interior walls of the Unas pyramids, the last pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, are covered in hundreds of magical spells and inscriptions, running from floor to ceiling in vertical columns. This inscription is known as the "Pyramid Texts" and contains the mantra required by pharaohs to survive in the afterlife. Pyramid Texts are for royalty only; the mantras were kept secret from the commoners and written only in the royal tomb. During the chaos and riots of the First Intermediate Period, however, robber tombs enter the pyramids and see the magical inscriptions. The commoners began studying the mantras and, at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, the commoners began to write similar writings on the side of their own coffins, hoping that it would ensure their own survival in the afterlife. These writings are known as "Coffin Texts".
Finally, the text of the coffin became so large that it no longer fit outside the coffin. They began to be recorded on papyrus scrolls, which would then be placed in coffins with the corpses of the deceased themselves. The writings on this scroll are now known as The Book of the Dead . There are hundreds of different versions of The Book of the Dead , all of which contain different mantras. Egyptian scholars have identified more than four hundred different spells belonging to The Book of the Dead collectively. Egyptian scholars have codified and classified these mantras, assigning them certain numbers based on their content and purpose.
As the Book of the Dead became more popular, the entire scribe industry appeared only to copy the script so that customers would be able to buy copies of spells to be buried with them in their graves.. The quality of the manuscript varies greatly. Some of the editions are ninety feet long and contain beautiful illustrations of colors to illuminate the text; others are short with no illustrations at all. The scroll was copied before it was purchased, meaning the owner's name is unknown. Thus, the scribes will leave the place for the person's name empty and fill in the person's name after the scroll has been purchased. Sometimes scribes accidentally misread or misread what they write. Sometimes the spell will be shortened to avoid running out of space. Such errors can make the text incomprehensible.
After a person dies, his body will be mummified and wrapped in linen wrapping to ensure that the deceased's body will last as long as possible because the Egyptians believe that a person's soul can only survive in the afterlife as long as his physical body survives on this earth. The last ceremony before a person's body is sealed inside the tomb is known as "The Opening of the Mouth". In this ritual, the priests will touch various magical instruments to various parts of the deceased's body, thus giving the deceased's ability to see, hear, feel, and kiss in the afterlife.
Before the dead are buried, the dead body will be filled with magic charms and amulets to ensure that it will be safe in the next world. The family will also place grave items in a person's grave to make sure he has everything he needs in the next life. Among these grave items are small statues made of faience or wood known as shabti . Shabti was intended as a slave to the deceased. The ancient Egyptians believed that physical labor was as important in the afterlife as it is today. Thus, they believed that the deceased could read a mantra to animate these statues so that he would be able to command them to perform the duties and duties of the Hereafter so that the deceased alone would not be forced to do any work..
Classic ancient
Ancient Greek scholarship of the 20th century, almost certainly influenced by the Christian understanding of the meanings of magic and religion, and the desire to build Greek culture as the foundation of Western rationality, developed ancient Greek magic theory as primitive and unimportant, and thus essentially separate from Homer's religion, communal ("policy"). Since the last decades of this century, however, recognizing the existence and honor of acts such as
options that are beyond the reach of the cult not only add additional options to the citizenship menu, but... sometimes include criticism of the civil cult and Panhellenic myths or are a genuine alternative to them.
A form of magic common in ancient Greece and Rome involves calling the gods of chris from the underworld, using the spirits of the dead as messengers. One popular method of doing this is to take the main tablet and write it down with the names of individuals that the person wants a curse. Then the person will "cancel" the tablet by moving the spikes through it or by other means making it no longer usable for living things. Such lead curse tablets are known as katadesmoi (Latin: defixiones ) and are often executed by all levels of Greek society, sometimes to protect all policemen. Public condemnal condemnation declines after the classical period of Greece, but private condemnations remain common throughout ancient times. They are distinguished as magical by individualistic, instrumental, and light qualities. These qualities, and the perversions they perceive from the construction of an immutable culture of normality, most certainly depict the ancient magic of the religious rituals that are part of it. Other common techniques involve primitive forms of voodoo dolls; spellcaster will take the main figure with his arm tied behind his back and push the spikes or needles into it, often through the breast.
The ancient Greeks often wore magic charms to protect themselves from cursing and misfortune. Amulets made of precious stones or metals are believed to be very effective. A large number of magical papyrus, in Greek, Coptic, and Demotic, have been found and translated. They contain an early example:
- the use of "magic words" is said to have the power to command spirits;
- the use of mysterious symbols or sigils that are considered useful when begging or uplifting. Magicians often use secret code names for their materials to sound more alien, exotic, and intimidating than they really are.
The practice of magic is forbidden in the final Roman world, and Codex Theodosianus (438 AD) states:
If there is a magician therefore or a person exposed to a magical contamination called by the custom of a magician... should be caught in my rearguard, or at Caesar, he will not escape punishment and torture with the protection of his rank.
Medieval
Ars Magica or magic is a major component and supports contributions to spiritual beliefs and practices, and in many cases, physical healing throughout the Middle Ages. Coming from many modern interpretations lies the footsteps of a misunderstanding of magic, one of the greatest that revolves around evil or the existence of evil beings practicing it. This misinterpretation is derived from various acts or rituals that have been practiced throughout the ages, and because of their exoticism from the point of view of the common people, those rituals trigger anxiety and even a stronger sense of dismissal.
One strength of society in the Middle Ages was stronger than that of an ordinary single person, the Christian Church, rejected the magic as a whole because it was seen as a means of corrupting the natural world in a supernatural way associated with the Bible verses Deuteronomy 18: 9-12. Apart from the many negative connotations surrounding the term magic, there are many elements seen in divine or holy light.
The various instruments or rituals used in medieval magic include, but are not limited to: various amulets, amulets, herbs, and special songs, dances, prayers. Together with these rituals is a negative notion of vicious participation that affects them. The idea that magic was created, taught, and worked by the devil would seem plausible to anyone reading the Greek magical papyrus or Sefer-ha-Razim and finding that healing magic emerged with rituals to kill people, gain wealth, or personal gain. , and forcing women to be sexually abused. Archeology contributes to a more complete understanding of ritual practices performed at home, in the body and in monastic and church environments.
Islam
The Muslim scholars differ on the true essence of magic:
- The magic mentioned in the Qur'an is considered an illusion and is caused by superstition. The Mu? Tazila is especially famous for rejecting the supernatural.
- Magic is Jin's job, therefore spiritual entity help is needed for magic performance.
- There is a division between legal magic and ilit (magic). Hidden magic is done by God's mercy and forbidden magic with the help of Satan or Jin. The ability to perform magic is seen as a divine gift. Ibn al-Nadim explains the difference between magic and magic as follows: The spirit exorcists gain their power by their obedience to God, while the wizards please the devils with the act of disobedience and sacrifice and they reward him with doing good.
In most conceptions of Sharia magic it becomes forbidden.
General features of magical practice
Ritual
S. J. Tambiah notes that even if the power of ritual is said to be in words, "[they] only become effective when spoken in a specific context of other acts."
Magic symbol
The principle of transmission
The example given by Tambiah is related to adoption: among some American Indians when a child is adopted, his adoptive mother will pull the child through some of her clothes, symbolically representing the birth process and thus associate the child with herself, thus 'becoming' emotionally even if their relationship is not biological.
Symbols, for many cultures using magic, are seen as a type of technology: indigenous peoples may use symbolic and symbolic actions to bring about change and improvement in the same way that advanced cultures use advanced irrigation techniques to improve soil and crop fertility. growth. Michael Brown discusses the use of nantag stones among Aguaruna similar to this type of technology.
Magical language
In the "Power of Magical Doctrine" (1968) S. J. Tambiah argues that the connection between language and magic is due to the belief in the inherent ability of words to affect the universe. Bronis? Aw Malinowski, in their Coral Gardens and Magic (1935), shows that this belief is an extension of the use of human basic language to describe its surroundings, in which "the knowledge of the right words, the phrases appropriate and more advanced forms of speech, giving man power over his limited field of personal action. "
Therefore, magical speech is a ritual act, and is equally or even more important for a magic show than a non-verbal act. However, not all utterances are considered magical. Only certain words and phrases or words are spoken in certain contexts that are supposed to have supernatural powers.
Magical language, by the category of C. K. Ogden and I A. A. Richards (1923), differs from the scientific language because it is emotive and turns words into symbols for emotion. On the other hand, in scientific language, words are related to a particular meaning and refer to objective external reality. Magical language is therefore very adept at building metaphors that form symbols and connect magical rituals to the world.
Malinowski argues that "the magic language is sacred, governed and used for a totally different purpose from ordinary life", two forms of language distinguished through choice of words, grammar, style, or by the use of a particular phrase or form: spell, song, blessing , or singing. Sacred language modes often use ancient words and forms in an attempt to invoke sanctity or truth from the golden age of religion or culture, the use of Hebrew in Judaism is cited as an example.
Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity: a very sacred language is distinguished enough from a common language that the majority of the population can not understand and can only be used and interpreted by special practitioners (witches, priests, shamans) and even mullahs).
In this case, Tambiah argues that a magical language violates the main function of language: communication. This led Tambiah to conclude that "the extraordinary separation between the sacred and obscene language that exists as a general fact is not necessarily related to the need to embody the sacred words in an exclusive language."
See also
References
Source
External links
- The Catholic Encyclopedia "The Art of Occult, Occult"
- Catholic Encyclopedia "Witchcraft"
- Magical and Forbidden Lesson (Lecture)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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