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Magic
The use of a certain
ritual action to bring about the intervention of a supernatural force,
either in human affairs or in the natural environment, for a specific
purpose.
Magic has existed
universally since ancient times, and varies in form from primary rituals
involving the well-being of an entire community, to minor, peripheral,
private acts of magic.
All forms of magic are
traditionally secret arts taught only to initiates, although in some
cultures magical knowledge can sometimes be bought and sold or can be
passed on through inheritance. A distinction is usually made between
black magic, used destructively to bring misfortune or
death, and white magic, which is used to ward off such attacks as well as
to prevent natural calamities. In itself magic is not good or
evil,
it is the magician's intentions that make the difference.
The very earliest forms
of magic were designed to produce some desired effect, such as rituals for
successful hunting. This simple magic, also called sorcery, involved
practices such as tying and untying knots, blood sacrifices, and sticking
pins in wax images or little dolls or poppets.
Sorcery is
also called sympathetic magic by imitating the desired result, it will
happen in reality. Harmful sympathetic magic usually requires some
personal effect of the victim, such as a lock of hair, a fingernail or
article of clothing; it is also important that the victim be aware of the
spell, which increases the likelihood of a successful result.
Magical acts may be
performed by individuals on their own behalf, or a magician with
specialized knowledge of the rites that may be consulted. In some
societies, associations of magical specialists exist. Magical
practitioners may be called witch doctors,
wizards, sorcerers, diviners,
witches,
warlocks, wise women, cunning women, and so on.
By the Middle Ages in
Europe magical arts had become divided between low magic, such as sorcery,
and high magic, which meant exploring the esoteric traditions of the
kabbalah and
hermetica, often through
elaborate ceremonial magic (see Freemasonry,
Order of the Knights Templar, Rosicrucians).
In ceremonial magic the aim of the ritual is to commune with God or a
deity to achieve a higher consciousness. The spiritual and mystical
elements of hermetic knowledge and the Jewish kabbalah were aimed at facilitating the
communication between human beings, spirits and the Divine at different
levels of spiritual consciousness.
Magic was discredited by the Scientific
Revolution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but interest
revived in the nineteenth century, and various occult societies and
magical fraternities were established (see
Crowley,
Aleister). Modern neo-pagan witchcraft (or
wicca),
includes both low sorcery (but not black magic or blood sacrifice) and
high ceremonial magic.
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