Ceremonial Magic: A Guide to the Mechanisms of Ritual

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Modern scholarship has produced various definitions and theories of magic. [177] According to Bailey, "these have typically framed magic in relation to, or more

By 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 "an aberrational mode of thought antithetical to the dominant cultural logic – a sign of psychological impairment and marker of racial or cultural inferiority". [142] Cannibal cult members arrested in PNG". New Zealand Herald. 2012-07-05. ISSN 1170-0777 . Retrieved 2015-11-28.Smoley, R. & Kinney, J. (2006) Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions'. Quest Books. p. 121. Belser, Julia Watts. "Book Review: Gideon Bohak, Ancient Jewish Magic". Academia . Retrieved 9 July 2021. The adoption of the term magic by modern occultists can in some instances be a deliberate attempt to champion those areas of Western society which have traditionally been marginalised as a means of subverting dominant systems of power. [157] The influential American Wiccan and author Starhawk for instance stated that "Magic is another word that makes people uneasy, so I use it deliberately, because the words we are comfortable with, the words that sound acceptable, rational, scientific, and intellectually correct, are comfortable precisely because they are the language of estrangement." [158] In the present day, "among some countercultural subgroups the label is considered 'cool'" [159] Katadesmoi (Latin: defixiones), curses inscribed on wax or lead tablets and buried underground, were frequently executed by all strata of Greek society, sometimes to protect the entire polis. [87] :95–96 Communal curses carried out in public declined after the Greek classical period, but private curses remained common throughout antiquity. [90] They were distinguished as magical by their individualistic, instrumental and sinister qualities. [87] :96 These qualities, and their perceived deviation from inherently mutable cultural constructs of normality, most clearly delineate ancient magic from the religious rituals of which they form a part. [87] :102–103 Person, Hara E. The Mitzvah of Healing: An Anthology of Jewish Texts, Meditations, Essays, Personal Stories, and Rituals, pp. 4–6. Union for Reform Judaism, 2003. ISBN 0-8074-0856-5

Gosden, Chris (2020). Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The ancient Mesopotamians made no distinction between rational science and magic. [34] [35] [36] When a person became ill, doctors would prescribe both magical formulas to be recited as well as medicinal treatments. [35] [36] [37] Most magical rituals were intended to be performed by an āšipu, an expert in the magical arts. [35] [36] [37] [38] The profession was generally passed down from generation to generation [37] and was held in extremely high regard and often served as advisors to kings and great leaders. [39] An āšipu probably served not only as a magician, but also as a physician, a priest, a scribe, and a scholar. [39] During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, the Persian maguš was Graecicized and introduced into the ancient Greek language as μάγος and μαγεία. [15] In doing so it transformed meaning, gaining negative connotations, with the magos being regarded as a charlatan whose ritual practices were fraudulent, strange, unconventional, and dangerous. [15] As noted by Davies, for the ancient Greeks—and subsequently for the ancient Romans—"magic was not distinct from religion but rather an unwelcome, improper expression of it—the religion of the other". [81] The historian Richard Gordon suggested that for the ancient Greeks, being accused of practicing magic was "a form of insult". [82] Coleman, Simon (2008). "The Magic of Anthropology". Anthropology News. 45 (8): 8–11. doi: 10.1111/an.2004.45.8.8.Bogdan, Henrik (2012). "Introduction: Modern Western Magic". Aries. 12 (1): 1–16. doi: 10.1163/147783512X614812. Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006b). "Magic V: 18th-20th Century". In Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Brill. pp.738–744. ISBN 978-9004152311. See also: Mesopotamian divination, Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Maqlû, and Zisurrû Bronze protection plaque from the Neo-Assyrian era showing the demon Lamashtu Hum, Lynne L.; Drury, Nevill (2013). The Varieties of Magical Experience: Indigenous, Medieval, and Modern Magic. ABC-CLIO. p.9. ISBN 978-1-4408-0419-9 . Retrieved 14 May 2020. For many, and perhaps most, modern Western magicians, the goal of magic is deemed to be personal spiritual development. [156]

Waldau, Paul; Patton, Kimberley, eds. (2009). A Communion of Subjects: Animals in Religion, Science, and Ethics. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13643-3. Cunningham, Graham (1999). Religion and Magic: Approaches and Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748610136. Halakha (Jewish religious law) forbids divination and other forms of soothsaying, and the Talmud lists many persistent yet condemned divining practices. [66] Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from Qliphoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy ( Q-D-Š) and pure (טומאה וטהרה, tvmh vthrh [67]). The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations. [68] These magical practices of Judaic folk religion which became part of practical Kabbalah date from Talmudic times. [68] The Talmud mentions the use of charms for healing, and a wide range of magical cures were sanctioned by rabbis. It was ruled that any practice actually producing a cure was not to be regarded superstitiously and there has been the widespread practice of medicinal amulets, and folk remedies (segullot) in Jewish societies across time and geography. [69] Intriguingly, this has originated the hypothesis that Renaissance magic is best understood not as a prefiguration of natural science, but rather of advertising, propaganda, and ‘mass psychology’ – the use of affective means to induce inter-psychic dynamics (Culianu 1984: 88). Indeed, the fact that there seems t Hutton, Ronald (2003). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. London and New York: Hambledon and London. ISBN 9781852853976.The case of ceremonial magic and especially Western esotericism is particularly helpful to appreciate magic’s ‘craft’. While all types of occult practices and knowledges are learned with varying degrees of mastery, Western ceremonial magic, being based on written bodies of tradition and often socialised through relatively organised communities, offers an ideal case study of magic as a set of techniques for the transformation of both the self and the world. According to Stanley Tambiah, magic, science, and religion all have their own "quality of rationality", and have been influenced by politics and ideology. [228] As opposed to religion, Tambiah suggests that mankind has a much more personal control over events. Science, according to Tambiah, is "a system of behavior by which man acquires mastery of the environment." [229] Ethnocentrism [ edit ]

Russell, Jeffrey Burton (1972). Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 4–10. ISBN 978-0801492891. witchcraft definition. The historian Ronald Hutton notes the presence of four distinct meanings of the term witchcraft in the English language. Historically, the term primarily referred to the practice of causing harm to others through supernatural or magical means. This remains, according to Hutton, "the most widespread and frequent" understanding of the term. [241] Moreover, Hutton also notes three other definitions in current usage; to refer to anyone who conducts magical acts, for benevolent or malevolent intent; for practitioners of the modern Pagan religion of Wicca; or as a symbol of women resisting male authority and asserting an independent female authority. [242] Belief in witchcraft is often present within societies and groups whose cultural framework includes a magical world view. [243] Libbrecht, Ulrich (2007). Within the Four Seas--: Introduction to Comparative Philosophy. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-1812-2. Furthermore, distinguishing between ‘unorthodox’ magical practices and ‘legitimate’ religious ones is particularly problematic in the case of religious traditions that are not based on highly codified doctrines and liturgies, and therefore do not encourage distinctions between prayer, incantation, or spell to the same extent as Christianity, in particular, as we shall see, in its Reformed versions. For instance, in certain Tibetan Buddhist contexts, religious specialists take part in propitiatory rituals to conjure or restore ‘fortune’ (Humphrey 2012) that in Western settings might easily be classified as magical spells and rituals. Magic, science, religion… and anthropology The term magic was used liberally by Freud. [220] He also saw magic as emerging from human emotion but interpreted it very differently to Marett. [221]Cicero, Chic& Cicero, Sandra Tabatha The Essential Golden Dawn: An Introduction to High Magic. Llewellyn Books. p. 87. Despite the attempt to reclaim the term magia for use in a positive sense, it did not supplant traditional attitudes toward magic in the West, which remained largely negative. [129] At the same time as magia naturalis was attracting interest and was largely tolerated, Europe saw an active persecution of accused witches believed to be guilty of maleficia. [125] Reflecting the term's continued negative associations, Protestants often sought to denigrate Roman Catholic sacramental and devotional practices as being magical rather than religious. [130] Many Roman Catholics were concerned by this allegation and for several centuries various Roman Catholic writers devoted attention to arguing that their practices were religious rather than magical. [131] At the same time, Protestants often used the accusation of magic against other Protestant groups which they were in contest with. [132] In this way, the concept of magic was used to prescribe what was appropriate as religious belief and practice. [131] The model of the magician in Christian thought was provided by Simon Magus, (Simon the Magician), a figure who opposed Saint Peter in both the Acts of the Apostles and the apocryphal yet influential Acts of Peter. [103] The historian Michael D. Bailey stated that in medieval Europe, magic was a "relatively broad and encompassing category". [104] Christian theologians believed that there were multiple different forms of magic, the majority of which were types of divination, for instance, Isidore of Seville produced a catalogue of things he regarded as magic in which he listed divination by the four elements i.e. geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and pyromancy, as well as by observation of natural phenomena e.g. the flight of birds and astrology. He also mentioned enchantment and ligatures (the medical use of magical objects bound to the patient) as being magical. [105] Medieval Europe also saw magic come to be associated with the Old Testament figure of Solomon; various grimoires, or books outlining magical practices, were written that claimed to have been written by Solomon, most notably the Key of Solomon. [106] a b c d e Kindt, Julia (2012). Rethinking Greek Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521110921.