An artist who performs magic is called a magician. Magicians (or magi) are also referred to by names reflecting the type of magical effects they typically perform, such as prestidigitators, conjurors, illusionists, mentalists, ventriloquists, and escape artists, etc.
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History
The term "Magic" is etymologically
derived from the Old Persian word Magi. Performances we would now recognize as
conjuring have probably been practiced throughout history. The same level of ingenuity
that was used to produce famous ancient deceptions such as the Trojan Horse would
also have been used for entertainment, or at least for cheating in gambling games,
since time immemorial. However, the profession of the illusionist gained strength
only in eighteenth century, and has enjoyed several popular vogues. Successful
magicians have become some of the most famous celebrities in popular entertainment.
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, the first modern magician.From 1756 to 1781,
Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific
exhibitions, throughout Europe and in Russia. Modern entertainment magic owes
much of its origins to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), originally
a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His speciality
was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as
if they were alive. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke
established their own theatre, the Egyptian Hall in London's Piccadilly, in 1873.
They presented stage magic, exploiting the potential of the stage for hidden mechanisms
and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view. The
greatest celebrity magician of the nineteenth century (or possibly of all time),
Harry Houdini (real name Ehrich Weiss, 1874 - 1926), took his stage name from
Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based
on escapology (though that word was not used until after Houdini's death). The
son of a Hungarian rabbi, Houdini was genuinely highly skilled in techniques such
as lockpicking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of the whole
range of conjuring techniques, including fake equipment and collusion with individuals
in the audience. Houdini's showbusiness savvy was as great as his performing skill.
There is a Houdini Museum dedicated to him in Scranton, PA. In addition to expanding
the range of magic hardware, showmanship and deceptive technique, these performers
established the modern relationship between the performer and the audience.
In this relationship, there is an unspoken agreement between the performer and the audience about what is going on. Unlike in the past, almost no performers today actually claim to possess supernatural powers (although there are exceptions to this, they are regarded as charlatans). It is understood by everyone that the effects in the performance are accomplished through sleight of hand (also called prestidigitation or léger de main), misdirection, deception, collusion with a member of the audience, apparatus with secret mechanisms, mirrors, and other trickery (hence the illusions are commonly referred to as "tricks"). The performer seeks to present an effect so clever and skillful that the audience cannot believe their eyes, and cannot think of the explanation. The sense of bafflement is part of the entertainment. In turn, the audience play a role in which they agree to be entertained by something they know to be a deception. Houdini also gained the trust of his audiences by using his knowledge of illusions to debunk charlatans, a tradition continued by magicians such as James Randi, P. C. Sorcar, and Penn and Teller.
Magic has come and gone in fashion. For instance, the magic show for much of the 20th Century was marginalized in North America as largely children's entertainment. A revival started with Doug Henning, who reestablished the magic show as a form of mass entertainment with his distinctive look that rejected the old stereotypes and his exuberant sense of showmanship that became popular on both stage and numerous television specials.
Today, the art is enjoying a vogue, driven by a number of highly successful performers such as David Copperfield, Lance Burton, Penn and Teller, Derren Brown, Barry and Stuart, Criss Angel, Dorothy Dietrich and many other stage and TV performers. David Blaine is sometimes included in this category, though his major performances have been more a combination of Houdini-style escape tricks and physical endurance displays than the illusion magic performed by others. The mid-twentieth century saw magic transform in many different aspects: some performers preferred to renovate the craft on stage --- such as The Mentalizer Show in Times Square which dared to mix themes of spirituality and kabbalah with the art of magic --- others successfully made the transition to TV, which opens up new opportunities for deceptions, and brings the performer to huge audiences. A widely accepted code has developed, in which TV magicians can use all the traditional forms of deception, but should not resort to camera tricks, editing the videotape, or other TV special effects --- this makes deception too "easy", in the popular mind. Most TV magicians are shown performing before a live audience, who provide the remote viewer with a (sometimes misleading) reassurance that the effects are not obtained with the help of camera tricks.
Many of the basic principles of magic are comparatively old. There is an expression, "it's all done with smoke and mirrors", used to explain something baffling, but contrary to popular belief, effects are seldom achieved using mirrors today, due to the amount of work needed to install it and difficulties in transport. For example, the famous Pepper's Ghost, a stage illusion first used in 19th century London, required a specially built theatre. Harry Houdini led the field of vanishing large objects, by making an elephant disappear on stage, although not using mirrors, and modern performers have vanished objects as big as the Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, and the Space Shuttle, using other kinds of optical deceptions.
Categories of effects
There is much
discussion among magicians as to how a given effect is to be categorized, and
disagreement as to what categories actually exist -- for instance, some magicians
consider "penetrations" to be a separate category, while others consider
penetrations a form of restoration or teleportation. It is generally agreed that
there are very few different types of effect. While many authors such as Fitzkee,
Tarbell, S.H. Sharpe and others have disagreed, it has often been said that there
are only seven types of illusion (perhaps because it is considered a magic number).
Production
The magician produces something from nothing—a rabbit from an empty hat,
a fan of cards from thin air, a shower of coins from an empty bucket, or the magician
themselves, appearing in a puff of smoke on an empty stage -- all of these effects
are productions.
Vanishing The magician makes something disappear—a coin,
a cage of doves, milk from a newspaper, an assistant from a cabinet, or even the
Statue of Liberty. A vanish, being the reverse of a production, may use a similar
technique, in reverse.
Transformation The magician transforms something from
one state into another—a silk handkerchief changes colour, a lady turns into
a tiger, an indifferent card changes to the spectator's chosen card. A transformation
can be seen as a combination of a vanish and a production.
Restoration The
magician destroys an object, then restores it back to its original state—a
rope is cut, a newspaper is torn, a woman is sawn in half, a borrowed watch is
smashed to pieces—then they are all restored to their original state.
Teleportation
The magician causes something to move from one place to another—a borrowed
ring is found inside a ball of wool, a canary inside a light bulb, an assistant
from a cabinet to the back of the theatre. When two objects exchange places, it
is called a transposition: a simultaneous, double teleportation.
An edge
of a coin appearing to defy the laws of gravity.Levitation The magician defies
gravity, either by making something float in the air, or with the aid of another
object (suspension)—a silver ball floats around a cloth, an assistant floats
in mid-air, another is suspended from a broom, a scarf dances in a sealed bottle,
the magician hovers a few inches off the floor. There are many popular ways to
create this illusion of the magician himself being levitated, such as the Balducci
levitation, the King Rising, Criss Angel's stool levitations, the Andruzzi levitations,
and the eight gravity.
Penetration The magician makes a solid object pass
through another—a set of steel rings link and unlink, a candle penetrates
an arm, swords pass through an assistant in a basket, a saltshaker penetrates
the table-top, a man walks through a mirror. Sometimes referred to as 'solid-through-solid'.
Prediction The magician predicts the choice of a spectator, or the outcome
of an event under seemingly impossible circumstances—a newspaper headline
is predicted, the total amount of loose change in the spectator's pocket, a picture
drawn on a slate. Prediction forms the basis for most 'pick-a-card' tricks, where
a random card is chosen, then revealed to be known by the performer.
Many
magical routines use combinations of effects. For example, in the famous 'cups
and balls' a magician may use vanishes, productions, penetrations, teleportations
and transformations all as part of the one presentation.
In the 19th Cnetury the Wizard of the North a Mr Anderson invented the trick of pulling a rabit out of a hat, in Scotland.
Secrecy
The purpose of a magic trick is to amuse
and create a feeling of wonder; the audience is generally aware that the magic
is performed using trickery, and derives enjoyment from the magician's skill and
cunning. Traditionally, magicians refuse to reveal the secrets to the audience.
The reasons include:
Exposure is claimed to "kill" magic as an
artform and transforms it into mere intellectual puzzles and riddles. It is argued
that once the secret of a trick is revealed to a person, that one can no longer
fully enjoy subsequent performances of that magic, as the amazement is missing.
Sometimes the secret is so simple that the audience feels let down, and feels
disappointed it was taken in so easily.
Keeping the secrets preserves the
professional mystery of magicians who perform for money.
Membership in professional
magicians' organizations often requires a solemn commitment to the "Magician's
Oath" never to reveal the secrets of magic to non-magicians.
The Magician's
Oath (though it may vary, 'The Oath' takes the following, or similar form):
"As
a magician I promise never to reveal the secret of any illusion to a non-magician,
unless that one swears to uphold the Magician's Oath in turn. I promise never
to perform any illusion for any non-magician without first practicing the effect
until I can perform it well enough to maintain the illusion of magic."
Once
sworn to The Oath, one is considered a magician, and is expected to live up to
this promise. A magician who reveals a secret, either purposely or through insufficient
practice, may typically find oneself without any magicians willing to teach one
any more secrets.
However, it is considered permissible to reveal secrets to individuals who are determined to learn magic and become magicians. It is typically a sequential process of increasingly valuable and lesser known secrets. The secrets of almost all magical effects are available to the public through numerous books and magazines devoted to magic, available from the specialised magic trade. There are also web sites which offer videos, DVDs and instructional materials. In this sense, there are very few classical illusions left unrevealed, however this does not appear to have diminished the appeal of performances. In addition, magic is a living art, and new illusions are devised with surprising regularity. Sometimes a 'new' illusion will be built on an illusion that is old enough to have become unfamiliar.
Some magicians have taken the controversial position that revealing the methods used in certain works of magic can enhance the appreciation of the audience for cleverness of magic. Penn and Teller frequently perform tricks using transparent props to reveal how it is done, for example, although they almost always include additional unexplained effects at the end that are made even more astonishing by the revealing props being used.
Often what seems to be a revelation of a magical secret is merely another form of misdirection. For instance, a magician may explain to an audience member that the linking rings "have a hole in them" and hand the volunteer two unlinked rings, which the volunteer finds to have become linked as soon as he handles them. At this point the magician may shove his arm through the ring ('the hole in the ring'), proclaiming: "See? Once you know that every ring has a hole, it's easy!
Intellectual rights to magic methods
Learning magic
The teaching of performance magic was
once a secretive art. Professional magicians were unwilling to share knowledge
with anyone outside the profession to prevent the laity from learning their secrets.
This made it difficult for an interested apprentice to learn magic beyond the
basics. Some organizations of magicians had strict rules against members discussing
magic secrets with anyone but established magicians.
From the 1584 publication of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft until the end of the 19th century, only a few books were available for budding magicians to learn the craft. Books remain extremely useful today, and are still considered the best way for a student to learn magic. Videos and DVDs are a newer medium of tuition, which many inexperienced magicians rely on as a primary source of information; in reality, many of the methods found in this format are readily found in previously published books. However, they can serve useful as a visual demonstration.
The next step up is joining a magic club or workshop. Here magicians, both seasoned and novitiate, can work together and help one another for mutual improvement, to learn new techniques, to discuss all aspects of magic, to perform for each other — sharing advice, encouragement and criticism.
The world's largest magic organization is the International Brotherhood of Magicians. It publishes a monthly journal, The Linking Ring. The oldest organization is the Society of American Magicians, of which Houdini was a member; and in London, England, there is the Magic Circle which boasts the largest magic library in Europe. The Magic Castle in Hollywood is home to the Academy of Magical Arts.
Types of magic performance
Magic performances
tend to fall into a few specialities or genres.
Stage illusions are performed
for large audiences, typically within an auditorium. This type of magic is distinguished
by large-scale props, the use of assistants and often, exotic animals such as
elephants and tigers. Some famous stage illusionists, past and present, include
Howard Thurston, Chung Ling Soo, David Copperfield, and Siegfried & Roy.
Cabaret
magic, Platform magic or Stand-up magic are terms used to describe magic performed
for a medium to large audience. Night club magic and comedy club magic are also
examples of this form. The term parlor magic is sometimes used but is considered
pejorative. This genre includes the skilled manipulation of props such as billiard
balls, card fans, doves, rabbits, silks, and rope. Examples of such magicians
include Jeff McBride, Penn and Teller, David Abbott, Channing Pollock, Black Herman,
and Fred Kaps.
Close-up magic is performed with the audience close to the
magician, sometimes even one-on-one. It usually makes use of everyday items as
props, such as cards and coins and seemingly 'impromptu' effects. This is also
called "table magic" particularly when performed as dinner entertainment.
Ricky Jay and Lee Asher, following in the traditions of Dai Vernon, Slydini and
Max Malini, are considered among the foremost practitioners of close-up magic.
Mentalism creates the impression in the minds of the audience that the performer
possesses special powers to read thoughts, predict events, control other minds,
and similar feats. It can be presented on a stage, in a cabaret setting, before
small close-up groups, or even for one spectator. Magicians in this field include
Alexander, Max Maven, Kreskin, Luke Jermay, Derren Brown, The Zancigs, and Banachek.
Children's magic is performed for an audience primarily composed of children.
It is typically performed at a birthday party, daycare or preschool, elementary
school, Sunday School, or library. This type of magic is usually comedic in nature
and involves audience interaction as well as volunteer assistants.
Corporate
Magic or Trade Show Magic uses magic as a communication and sales tool, as opposed
to just straightforward entertainment. Corporate magicians may come from a business
background and typically present at meetings, conferences and product launches.
They run workshops and can sometimes be found at trade shows, where their patter
and illusions enhance an entertaining presentation of the products offered by
their corporate sponsors. The pioneer performer in this arena is Eddie Tullock.
Street magic is a form of street performing or busking that employs a hybrid
of stage magic, platform and close-up magic, usually performed 'in the round'
or surrounded. Notable modern street magic performers include Jeff Sheridan and
Gazzo. The term "street magic" has recently (since the first David Blaine
TV special "Street Magic" aired in 1997) come to be used to describe
a style of "guerilla" performance where magicians approach and perform
for unsuspecting members of the public on the street. Unlike traditional street
magic, this style is almost purely designed for TV and gains its impact from the
wild reactions of the public. Magicians of this type include David Blaine, Criss
Angel and Cyril Takayama.
Bizarre magic uses mystical, horror, fantasy and
other similar themes in performance. Bizarre magic is typically performed in a
close-up venue, although some performers have effectively presented it in a stage
setting. Charles Cameron has generally been credited as the "godfather of
bizarre magic." Others, such as Tony Andruzzi, contributed significantly
to its development.
Shock magic[citation needed] is a genre of magic that
shocks the audience, hence the name. Sometimes referred to as "geek magic,"
it takes its roots from circus sideshows, in which "freakish" performances
were shown to audiences. Common shock magic or geek magic effects include eating
razor blades, needle-through-arm, string through neck and pen-through-tongue.
Magicians known for performing shock magic include Criss Angel, Andrew Mayne,
Sean Fields and Brian Brushwood.
Misuse of magic
In modern conjuring,
it is not considered ethical to give a performance which claims to be anything
other than a clever and skillful deception.
Fraudulent psychics or mediums have long capitalised on the popular belief in ESP and other paranormal phenomena for financial gain. Controversy still surrounds the hugely successful 1970s illusionist Uri Geller and his ability to bend spoons, for instance. During the height of the vogue for spiritualism and the wave of popularity for séances from the 1840s to the 1920s, many fraudulent mediums used conjuring methods to perform illusions such as table-knocking, slate-writing, and telekinetic effects. The great escapologist and illusionist Harry Houdini devoted much of his time to exposing such fraudulent operators. Magicians James Randi, and Penn and Teller are involved in similar debunking today. Randi has, for example, shown how people have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous faith healers who, using simple sleight-of-hand, remove chicken-giblet "tumors" from the patient's abdomen. More recently, British magicians Barry and Stuart showed audiences that they were able to replicate the miracles performed by Moses and Jesus in the Bible using sleight of hand, illusion, and other magician's techniques.
Con men and grifters often use
techniques of conjuring for fraudulent goals. Cheating at card games is an obvious
example. Other scams continue to defraud the innocent, despite having been exposed
and debunked. The card trick known as "Find the Lady" or "Three-card
Monte" is an old favourite of street hustlers, who sucker the victim into
betting on what seems like an easy and obvious win. Another example is the shell
game, in which a pea is hidden under one of three walnut shells, then shuffled
around the table (or sidewalk) so slowly as to make the pea's position seemingly
obvious. Although these are well-known as frauds, people are still fooled enough
to lose money on them.
Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this influence, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. In many cultures, magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems.
Magic in the Greco-Roman world
Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess of magic.The
prototypical "magicians" were a class of priests, the Magi of Zoroastrianism,
and their reputation together with that of Ancient Egypt shaped the hermeticism
of Hellenistic religion.[citation needed] The Greek mystery religions had strongly
magical components, and in Egypt, a large number of magical papyri, in Greek,
Coptic, and Demotic, have been recovered. These sources contain early instances
of much of the magical lore that later became part of Western cultural expectations
about the practice of magic, especially ceremonial magic. They contain early instances
of:
the use of "magic words" said to have the power to command
spirits;
the use of wands and other ritual tools;
the use of a magic circle
to defend the magician against the spirits he is invoking or evoking; and
the
use of mysterious symbols or sigils thought useful to invoke or evoke spirits.
The use of spirit mediums is also documented in these texts; many of the spells
call for a child to be brought to the magic circle to act as a conduit for messages
from the spirits. The time of the Emperor Julian of Rome, marked by a reaction
against the influence of Christianity, saw a revival of magical practices associated
with neo-Platonism under the guise of theurgy.
Middle Ages
Several
medieval scholars were credited as magicians in popular legend, notably Gerbert
d'Aurillac and Albertus Magnus: both men were active in scientific research of
their day as well as in ecclesiastical matters, which was enough to attach to
them a nimbus of the occult.
Magic practice was actively discouraged by the church, but remained widespread in folk religion throughout the medieval period. Magical thinking became syncretized with Christian dogma, expressing itself in practices like the judicial duel and relic veneration. The relics had become amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. As in any other economic endeavour, demand gave rise to supply.[4][clarify] Tales of the miracle-working relics of the saints were compiled later into quite popular collections like the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine or the Dialogus miraculorum of Caesar of Heisterbach.
From the 13th century, the Jewish Kabbalah exerts influence on Christian occultism, giving rise to the first grimoires and the scholarly occultism that would develop into Renaissance magic. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest grimoires assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments, so that by using the holy names of God in the sacred languages, he could use divine power to coërce demons into appearing and serving his usually lustful or avaricious magical goals.[5]
13th century astrologers include Johannes de Sacrobosco and Guido Bonatti.
Renaissance
magic
Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic
varieties of ceremonial magic. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution,
on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution
of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of the universe
assumed by astrology, the development of the germ theory of disease, that restricted
the scope of applied magic and threatened the belief systems it relied on.[6]
The seven artes magicae or artes prohibitae, arts prohibited by canon law, as
expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 1456, their sevenfold partition reflecting that
of the artes liberales and artes mechanicae, were:
nigromancy ("black
magic", "demonology", linked by popular etymology with necromancy)
geomancy
hydromancy
aeromancy
pyromancy
chiromancy
spatulamancy
Both bourgeoisie and nobility in the 15th and 16th century showed great fascination
with these arts, which exerted an exotic charm by their ascription to Arabic,
Jewish, Gypsy and Egyptian sources. There was great uncertainty in distinguishing
practices of vain superstition, blasphemous occultism, and perfectly sound scholarly
knowledge or pious ritual. The intellectual and spiritual tensions erupted in
the Early Modern witch craze, further re-inforced by the turmoils of the Protestant
Reformation, especially in Germany, England, and Scotland.
Baroque
Study of the occult arts remained intellectually respectable well into the
17th century, and only gradually divides into the modern categories of natural
science vs. occultism or superstition. The 17th century sees the gradual rise
of the "age of reason", while belief in witchcraft and sorcery, and
consequently the irrational surge of Early Modern witch trials, receded, a process
only completed at the end of the Baroque period or in ca. the 1730s. Christian
Thomasius still met opposition as he argued in his 1701 Dissertatio de crimine
magiae that it was meaningless to make dealing with the devil a criminal offence,
since it was impossible to really commit the crime in the first place. In Britain,
the Witchcraft Act of 1735 established that people could not be punished for consorting
with spirits, while would-be magicians pretending to be able to invoke spirits
could still be fined as con artists.
Further information: Isaac Newton's
occult studies
"Newton was not the first of the age of reason, he was
the last of the magicians." — John Maynard Keynes
Romanticism
From
1756 to 1781, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the
guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and Russia. Baron Carl Reichenbach's
experiments with his Odic force appeared to be an attempt to bridge the gap between
magic and science. More recent periods of renewed interest in magic occurred around
the end of the nineteenth century, where Symbolism and other offshoots of Romanticism
cultivated a renewed interest in exotic spiritualities. European colonialism,
which put Westerners in contact with India and Egypt, re-introduced exotic beliefs
to Europeans at this time. Hindu and Egyptian mythology frequently feature in
nineteenth century magical texts. The late 19th century spawned a large number
of magical organizations, including the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the
Theosophical Society, and specifically magical variants on Freemasonry. The Golden
Dawn represented perhaps the peak of this wave of magic, attracting cultural celebrities
like William Butler Yeats, Algernon Blackwood, and Arthur Machen to its banner.
20th century
A further revival of interest in magic was heralded by
the repeal, in England, of the last Witchcraft Act in 1951. This was the cue for
Gerald Gardner to publish his first non-fiction book Witchcraft Today, in which
he claimed to reveal the existence of a witch-cult that dated back to pre-Christian
Europe. Gardner combined magic and religion in a way that was later to cause people
to question the Enlightenment's boundaries between the two subjects.
Gardner's newly publicized religion, and many others, took off in the atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s, when the counterculture of the hippies also spawned another period of renewed interest in magic, divination, and other occult practices. The various branches of Neopaganism and other Earth religions that have been publicized since Gardner's publication tend to follow a pattern in combining the practice of magic and religion. Following the trend of magic associated with counterculture, some feminists launched an independent revival of goddess worship. This brought them into contact with the Gardnerian tradition of magical religion, and deeply influenced that tradition in return.
The pentagram is a symbol of Wicca, a neo-pagan religion that incorporates magical practices. It is also used in other branches of magic.Some people in the West believe in or practice various forms of magic. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and their followers are most often credited with the resurgence of magical tradition in the English speaking world of the 20th century. Other, similar movements took place at roughly the same time, centered in France and Germany. Most Western traditions acknowledging the natural elements, the seasons, and the practitioner's relationship with the Earth, Gaia, or the Goddess have derived at least in part from these magical groups, and are considered Neopagan. Long-standing indigenous traditions of magic are regarded as Pagan.
Aleister Crowley preferred the spelling magick, defining it as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the will." By this, he included "mundane" acts of will as well as ritual magic. In Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter XIV, Crowley says:
What
is a Magical Operation? It may be defined as any event in nature which is brought
to pass by Will. We must not exclude potato-growing or banking from our definition.
Let us take a very simple example of a Magical Act: that of a man blowing his
nose.
Western magical traditions include ceremonial magic, as well as Wicca
and some other Neopagan religions. Definitions and uses of magic tend to vary
even within magical traditions.
Wicca is one of the more famous traditions within Neopaganism, a magical religion of witchcraft with influences including the Golden Dawn and Crowley. Ruickbie (2004:193-209) shows that Wiccans and Witches define magic in many different ways and use it for a number of different purposes. Despite that diversity of opinion, he concludes that the general result upon the practitioner is a positive one.
The belief in Magic is often considered superstitious, although some magical practices rely on widely accepted psychological principles and are only intended to promote internal personal changes within the practitioner themselves. Visualization techniques, for instance, widely used by magicians, are also used in fields such as clinical psychology and sports training.
Theories of magic
Myth and ritual
The belief that one can influence
supernatural powers, by prayer, sacrifice or invocation goes back to prehistoric
religion, and is consequently present from the earliest records of a cultic nature,
including the Egyptian pyramid texts and the Indian Vedas, among which the Atharvaveda
in particularly addresses magic in the classical sense, and the position of the
Vedic Brahmins, like that of any ancient priesthood, can be compared to that of
magicians.
James George Frazer believed that magic was a fallacious system and asserted that magical observations are the result of an internal dysfunction: "Men mistook the order of their ideas for the order of nature, and hence imagined that the control which they have, or seem to have, over their thoughts, permitted them to exercise a corresponding control over things."
Others, such as N. W. Thomas and Sigmund Freud have rejected this explanation. Freud explains that "the associated theory of magic merely explains the paths along which magic proceeds; it does not explain its true essence, namely the misunderstanding which leads it to replace the laws of nature by psychological ones" Freud emphasizes that what led primitive men to come up with magic is the power of wishes: "His wishes are accompanied by a motor impulse, the will, which is later destined to alter the whole face of the earth in order to satisfy his wishes. This motor impulse is at first employed to give a representation of the satisfying situation in such a way that it becomes possible to experience the satisfaction by means of what might be described as motor hallucinations. This kind of representation of a satisfied wish is quite comparable to children's play, which succeeds their earlier purely sensory technique of satisfaction. [...] As time goes on, the psychological accent shifts from the motives for the magical act on to the measures by which it is carried out—that is, on to the act itself. [...] It thus comes to appear as though it is the magical act itself which, owing to its similarity with the desired result, alone determines the occurrence of that result."
Shamanism
Theories of adherents
Adherents to magic believe that it
may work by one or more of the following basic principles:
Natural forces
that cannot be detected by science at present, and in fact may not be detectable
at all. These magical forces are said to exist in addition to and alongside the
four fundamental forces of nature: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force
and the weak force.
Intervention of spirits similar to these hypothetical
natural forces, but with their own consciousness and intelligence. Believers in
spirits will often describe a whole cosmos of beings of many different kinds,
sometimes organized into a hierarchy.
A mystical power, such as mana or numen,
that exists in all things. Sometimes this power is contained in a magical object,
such as a ring, a stone, charm, or dehk, which the magician can manipulate.
Manipulation
of the Elements by using the will of the magician and/or with symbols or objects
representative of the element(s). Western practitioners typically use the Classical
elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.
Manipulation of Energy. Also believed
to be the manipulation of energy from the human body. Most commonly referred to
by the usage of the hands while the mouth uses a command of power.
Manipulation
of symbols. Adherents of magical thinking believe that symbols can be used for
more than representation: they can magically take on a physical quality of the
phenomenon or object that they represent. By manipulating symbols (as well as
sigils), one is said to be able to manipulate the reality that this symbol represents.
The principles of sympathetic magic of Sir James George Frazer, explicated
in his The Golden Bough (third edition, 1911-1915). These principles include the
"law of similarity" and the "law of contact" or "contagion."
These are systematized versions of the manipulation of symbols. Frazer defined
them this way:
If we analyse the principles of thought on which magic is based,
they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces
like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have
once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance
after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called
the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first
of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he
can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers
that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with
whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not.
Concentration or meditation. A certain amount of focusing or restricting the
mind to some imagined object (or will), according to Aleister Crowley, produces
mystical attainment or "an occurrence in the brain characterized essentially
by the uniting of subject and object." (Book Four, Part 1: Mysticism) Magic,
as defined previously, seeks to aid concentration by constantly recalling the
attention to the chosen object (or Will), thereby producing said attainment. For
example, if one wishes to concentrate on a God, one might memorize a system of
correspondences (perhaps chosen arbitrarily, as this would not affect its usefulness
for mystical purposes) and then make every object that one sees "correspond"
to said God.
Aleister Crowley wrote that ". . . the exaltation of the
mind by means of magickal practices leads (as one may say, in spite of itself)
to the same results as occur in straightforward Yoga." Crowley's magick thus
becomes a form of mental, mystical, or spiritual discipline, designed to train
the mind to achieve greater concentration. Crowley also made claims for the paranormal
effects of magick, suggesting a connection with the first principle in this list.
However, he defined any attempt to use this power for a purpose other than aiding
mental or mystical attainment as "black magick".
The magical power
of the subconscious mind. To believers who think they need to convince their subconscious
mind to make the changes they want, all spirits and energies are projections and
symbols that make sense to the subconscious. A variant of this belief is that
the subconscious is capable of contacting spirits, who in turn can work magic.
A mysterious interconnection in the cosmos that connects and binds all things,
above and beyond the natural forces, or in some cases thought to be an as-yet
undiscovered or unquantifiable natural force.
"The Oneness in All";
based on the fundamental concepts of monism and Non-duality, this philosophy holds
that Magic is little more than the application of one's own inherent unity with
the Universe. The central idea is that on realizing that the Self is limitless,
one may live as such, seeking to preserve the Balance of Nature and live as a
servant/extension thereof.
Many more theories exist. Practitioners will often
mix these concepts, and sometimes even invent some themselves. In the contemporary
current of chaos magic in particular, it is not unusual to believe that any concept
of magic works.
Key principles of utilizing Magic are often said to be Concentration and Visualization. Many of those who cast spells attain a mental state called the "Trance State" to enable the spell. The Trance State is often described as an emptying of the mind, akin to meditation.
Magic, ritual and religion
Viewed from a non-theistic perspective, many religious rituals and beliefs seem similar to, or identical to, magical thinking.
Related to both magic and prayer is religious supplication. This involves a prayer, or even a sacrifice to a supernatural being or god. This god or being is then asked to intervene on behalf of the person offering the prayer.
The difference, in theory, is that prayer requires the assent of a deity with an independent will, who can deny the request. Magic, by contrast is thought to be effective:
by virtue of the operation itself;
or by the strength of the magician's will;
or because the magician believes
he can command the spiritual beings addressed by his spells.
In practice,
when prayer doesn't work, it means that the god has chosen not to hear nor grant
it; when magic fails, it is because of some defect in the casting of the spell
itself. It is no wonder that magic tends to be more formulaic and less extempore
than prayer. Ritual is the magician's failsafe, the key to any hope for success,
and the explanation for failure.
A possible exception is the practice of word of faith, where it is often held that it is the exercise of faith in itself that brings about a desired result.
Varieties of magical practice
The best-known type of magical practice is the spell, a ritualistic formula intended to bring about a specific effect. Spells are often spoken or written or physically constructed using a particular set of ingredients. The failure of a spell to work may be attributed to many causes, such as failure to follow the exact formula, general circumstances being unconducive, lack of magical ability or downright fraud.
Another well-known magical practice is divination, which seeks to reveal information about the past, present or future. Varieties of divination include: Astrology, Augury, Cartomancy, Chiromancy, Dowsing, Fortune telling, Geomancy, I Ching, Omens, Scrying and Tarot.
Necromancy is another practice involving the summoning of and conversation with spirits of the dead (necros). This is sometimes done simply to commune with deceased loved ones; it can also be done to gain information from the spirits, as a type of divination; or to command the aid of those spirits in accomplishing some goal, as part of casting a spell.
Varieties of magic can also be categorised by the techniques involved in their operation. One common means of categorisation distinguishes between contagious magic and sympathetic magic, one or both of which may be employed in any magical work. Contagious magic involves the use of physical ingredients which were once in contact with the person or thing the practitioner intends to influence. Sympathetic magic involves the use of images or physical objects which in some way resemble the person or thing one hopes to influence; voodoo dolls are an example.
Other common categories given to magic include High and Low Magic (the appeal to divine powers or spirits respectively, with goals lofty or personal as accords the type of magic). Manifest and Subtle magic typically refers to magic of legend rather than what many individuals who practise the Occult claim to use as magic, where Manifest magic is magic that immediately appears with a result, and Subtle magic being magic that gradually and intangibly alters the world.
Academic historian Richard Kieckhefer divides the category of spells into psychological magic, which seeks to influence other people's minds to do the magician's will, such as with a love spell, and illusionary magic, which seeks to conjure the manifestation of various wonders. A spell that conjured up a banquet, or that conferred invisibility on the magician, would be examples of illusionary magic. Magic that causes objective physical change, in the manner of a miracle, is not accommodated for in Kieckhefer's categories.
Magical traditions
Another method of classifying magic is
by "traditions," which in this context typically refer to complexes
of magical belief and practice associated with various cultural groups and lineages
of transmission. Some of these traditions are highly specific and culturally circumscribed.
Others are more eclectic and syncretistic. These traditions can compass both divination
and spells.
When dealing with magic in terms of "traditions," it is a common misconception for outsiders to treat any religion in which clergy members make amulets and talismans for their congregants as a "tradition of magic," even though what is being named is actually an organized religion with clergy, laity, and an order of liturgical service. This is most notably the case when Voodoo, Palo, Santeria, Taoism, Wicca, and other contemporary religions and folk religions are mischaracterized as forms of "magic" or even "sorcery."
Examples of magical, folk-magical, and religio-magical traditions include:
Alchemy
Animism
Bön
Ceremonial magic
Chaos magic
Druidry
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermeticism
Hoodoo
Huna
Kabbalah
Nagual
Obeah
Onmyodo
Palo
Pow-wow
Psychonautics
Quimbanda
Reiki
Santería
Satanism
Seid
Shamanism
Shinto
Taoism
Thelema
Vodou
Voodoo
Wicca
Zos Kia Cultus
Magic in animism and folk religion
Appearing from aboriginal tribes
in Australia and Maori tribes in New Zealand to rainforest tribes in South America,
bush tribes in Africa and ancient Pagan tribal groups in Europe and the British
Isles, 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.
Magic in Hinduism
It has been often stated
that India is a land of magic, both supernatural and mundane. Hinduism is one
of the few religions that has sacred texts like the Vedas that discuss both white
and black magic. The Atharva Veda is a veda that deals with mantras that can be
used for both good and bad. The word mantrik in India literally means "magician"
since the mantrik usually knows mantras, spells, and curses which can be used
for or against forms of magic. Many ascetics after long periods of penance and
meditation are alleged to attain a state where they may utilize supernatural powers.
However, many say that they choose not to use them and instead focus on transcending
beyond physical power into the realm of spirituality. Many siddhars are said to
have performed miracles that would ordinarily be impossible to perform.
Magic and monotheism
In Judaism and Christianity
Further information:
Kabbalah, Hermetic Qabalah, Christian views on witchcraft
Officially, Judaism
and Christianity characterize magic as forbidden witchcraft, and have often prosecuted
alleged practitioners of it with varying degrees of severity. Other trends in
monotheistic thought have dismissed all such manifestations as trickery and illusion,
nothing more than dishonest gimmicks: however, an interesting sidenote is the
appearance of the three Magi in the story of the birth of Christ, as the Magi
are believed by some to have been Zoroastrian prognosticators/sorcerers
When "witchcraft" is believed, its power may be blamed on the manipulation of demons or evil spirits to work the witch's will. European witch-hunter lore popularly stated that magic was only possible through a pact with Satan himself, or one of his agents. The incriminating signs of witchery, as seen in the Malleus Maleficarum, were many and varied; therefore, it is difficult to tell how many condemned "witches" actually practiced magic or paganism.
In
Islam
Any discussion of Muslim magic poses a double set of problems. On the
one hand, like its counterpart in predominantly Christian cultures, magic is not
officially approved of by orthodox leaders and legal opinions. However, this has
not prevented the practice of magic in Muslim cultures, nor staved its influence
on European magical traditions and the early stages of scientific thought. On
the other hand, translating various Arabic terms as ‘magic’ causes another
set of problems with no clear answers.
As with any question regarding the behavior of Muslims in relation to authorized practices, theological decisions begin by consulting the Qur’an. The second chapter introduces an explanation for the introduction of magic into the world:
They followed what the evil
ones gave out (falsely) against the power of Solomon: the blasphemers were, not
Solomon, but the evil ones, teaching men magic, and such things as came down at
Babylon to the angels Harut and Marut. But neither of these taught anyone (such
things) without saying: “We are only for trial; so do not blaspheme.”
They learned from them the means to sow discord between man and wife. But they
could not thus harm anyone except by Allah’s permission. And they learned
what harmed them, not what profited them. And they knew that the buyers of (magic)
would have no share in the happiness of the Hereafter. And vile was the price
for which they did sell their souls, if they but knew! (Q 2:102).
Though it
presents a generally contemptuous attitude towards magic, it also develops a differentiation
between benevolent and malevolent forms. The first is that used by Solomon who,
being a prophet of Allah, is assumed to have used magic by Allah’s blessing
. The second form is the magic that was taught by the “evil ones,” or
al-shayatin. Al-shayatin has two meanings; the first is similar to the Christian
Satan. The second meaning, which is the one used here, refers to a djinn of superior
power The al-shayatin taught knowledge of evil and “pretended to force the
laws of nature and the will of Allah . . .” According to this belief, those
who follow this path turn themselves from Allah and cannot reach heaven. Thus,
present in this passage is what can very loosely be described as conceptions of
white and black magic. The Arabic word translated in this passage as “magic”
is sihr. The etymological meaning of sihr suggests that “it is the turning
. . . of a thing from its true nature . . . or form . . . to something else which
is unreal or a mere appearance . . .” However, the seriousness with which
the passage treats it reveals that sihr, in the context of the Qur’an, is
no mere illusion. Sowing discord between a married couple and harming others with
sihr are very real consequences. If one uses sihr for such malevolent purposes,
then its assault on marital harmony and social justice probably influenced the
contempt for which it is generally viewed in the Qur’an. By the first millennium
C.E., sihr became a fully developed system in Islamic society. Within this system,
all magicians “assert[ed] that magic is worked by the obedience of spirits
to the magician.” The efficacy of this system comes from the belief that
every Arabic letter, every word, verse, and chapter in the Qur’an, every
month, day, time and name were created by Allah a priori and each has an angel
and a djinn servant It is through the knowledge of the names of these servants
that an actor is able to control the angel and djinn for his/her purposes.
If magic is understood in terms of Frazer’s principle of contagion, then barakah is another term that can refer to magic. Barakah, variously defined as “blessing,” or “divine power,” is a quality one possesses rather than a category of activity. According to Muslim conception, the source of barakah is solely from Allah; it is Allah’s direct blessing and intervention conferred upon special, pious Muslims. Barakah has a heavily contagious quality in that one can transfer it by either inheritance or contact. Of all the humans who have ever lived, it is said that the Prophet Muhammad possessed the greatest amount of barakah and that he passed this to his male heirs through his daughter Fatima. Barakah is not just limited to Muhammad’s family line; any person who is considered holy may also possess it and transfer it to virtually anyone. In Morocco, barakah transfer can be accomplished by spitting into another’s mouth or by sharing a piece of bread from which the possessor has eaten because saliva is the vessel of barakah in the human body. However, the transference of barakah may also occur against the will of its possessor through other forms of physical contact such as hand shaking and kissing. The contagious element of barakah is not limited to humans as it can be found in rocks, trees, water, and even some animals, such as horses.
Just how the actor maintained obedience depended upon the benevolence or malevolence of his practice. Malevolent magicians operated by enslaving the spirits through offerings and deeds displeasing to Allah. Benevolent magicians, in contrast, obeyed and appeased Allah so that Allah bore his will upon the spirits. Al-Buni provides the process by which this practice occurs: First: the practitioner must be of utterly clean soul and garb. Second, when the proper angel is contacted, this angel will first get permission from God to go to the aid of the person who summoned him. Third: the practitioner “must not apply . . .[his power] except to that [i.e. to achieve goals] which would please God.
However, not all Islamic groups accept this explanation of benevolent magic. The Wahhabis particularly view this as shirk, denying the unity of Allah. Consequently, the Wahhabis renounce appellations to intermediaries such as saints, angels, and djinn, and renounce magic, fortune-telling, and divination. This particular brand of magic has also been condemned as forbidden by a fatwa issued by Al-Azhar University. Further, Egyptian folklorist Hasan El-Shamy, warns that scholars have often been uncritical in their application of the term sihr to both malevolent and benevolent forms of magic. He argues that in Egypt, sihr only applies to sorcery. A person who practices benevolent magic “is not called saahir or sahhaar (sorcerer, witch), but is normally referred to as shaikh (or shaikha for a female), a title which is normally used to refer to a clergyman or a community notable or elder, and is equal to the English title: ‘Reverend.’”
Etymology
Likewise,
sorcery was taken in ca. 1300 from Old French sorcerie, which is from Vulgar Latin
*sortiarius, from sors "fate", apparently meaning "one who influences
fate." Sorceress appears also in the late 14th century, while sorcerer is
attested only from 1526.
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