These days, the term “magic” is often used in a fictional way--when
you mention magic, most people think of illusionists on the street
pulling cards out of your pockets, or imaginary wizards like Harry
Potter. But, for the majority of human history, magic has been seen
as a very real and important practice. Some of the earliest
magicians, the Shamans, were very high standing members of their
societies. Their advice and rituals would help to guide the
community, and were a crucial part of daily life. Over time, some of
these practices even evolved into modern day sciences and fields of
study. Other beliefs founded religions, and became so well
integrated into their specific practices that today the people who
perform the rituals don’t even know they’re magical. This may sound
impossible, that people can be magicians without even knowing it,
but really it just comes down to the lack of clear understanding of
magic.
Chapter 1: What is Magic?
So what is magic? The word “magic” itself is often used vaguely, and
in the academic sense it has rarely been given a solid definition.
In the academic world, there seems to be a lot of confusion as to
the true and concrete differences between science, magic, and
religion. This is because, even though in modern practice they are
very different fields, they all can be traced to similar origins.
Religion and magic have been intertwined since the dawn of
humankind, with some earliest magical practices being deeply
entwined philosophically with religious worship and practice
(Drury 12). This is easy to see as both deal with
supernatural power and entities. As mentioned earlier, there is also
a strong overlap between science and magic, which is understandable
when you think that both come from the desire to understand and
influence the world around us. It’s also clear because some magical
practitioners’ studies were the precursors to branches of science
such as chemistry, astronomy, and physics
(Ibid 74). But, there are a few key differences
to tell them all apart that can help to define what “magic” means
for us.
First important factor that differentiates magic as a practice is
that it deals with supernatural forces. This is different from
science in that magic works with unobservable phenomena, or things
that we cannot always measure or replicate. The difference between magic and religion is a little bit more
complicated because of the fact that they both deal with very
similar forces and entities, and are often practiced together. Many
scholars try to make the distinction by claiming that, in a
religion, the practitioner is dealing directly with Gods or
conscious supernatural beings for personal rewards, while magic is
where the practitioner utilizes impersonal supernatural forces for
their own gain (Stark 111). It’s a small
distinction, in my opinion, essentially being the difference between
asking someone for a glass of water and getting up to grab one
yourself. These definitions can be complicated in practice as well,
because many different magical rituals and ceremonies have religious
context. By making broad statements about the exclusion of gods from
magic, it can lead to complex rituals being simplified to just
religious exercise. Historically, this has meant that many
Afro-Cuban practices are left out of the discussion of magic, as
some claim their practices are too passive on the part of the
practitioner and rely too heavily on gods and spirits for their
reward (Drury 8).
So, magic is the practice of interacting with supernatural or
metaphysical forces in order to influence the natural world. But how
do you practice magic? There are far too many individual ways to
answer this question in a single lifetime. There are, however,
certain trends and types of practice that can be tracked and
compared globally. In this writing I will outline these practices,
some common knowledge and some lesser known, in hopes of creating a
new, true, globally inclusive image of a magical practitioner. For
my first attempt, I am splitting my search into four different
categories of magic to explore. First is Divination, the practice of
gaining supernatural insight through magic. The second is
Incantations, the practice of creating specialized magical objects,
spells, and potions. The third is Symbology, the study and use of
magical symbols for power. And the fourth is Tools, the different
specialized objects used for performing magic.
Divination
Incantations
Symbology
Tools
Chapter 2: Divination
Divination is one of the oldest forms of magic known to humanity, as
it’s generally employed to solve one of the most common fears a
human can face--the uncertainty of the future. Defined simply,
Divination is the practice of gaining insight into a particular
situation through practiced magic. Most often it is used in order to
tell the future, but it can sometimes be used to gain information
that would otherwise be unavailable to the practitioner
(Buckland 157).
For many of the earliest magicians we know of, commonly referred to
as the Shamans, Divination was a key skill to have. They were known
to provide many services to their societies, such as predicting (and
sometimes summoning) the weather, guiding lost souls, curing unknown
diseases, and helping people pass on to their realm of the dead
(Drury 10). In some regions, specifically in the
Central and Southern Americas, Shamans would implement the use of
hallucinogenic drugs to help transport them to the metaphysical
realm for gathering information (Ibid 23-25).
Whatever the methods, Divination was a very important yet relatively
common practice all over the globe.
Divination is such a ubiquitous practice that there is an almost
endless list of ways to practice it. Many include objects, but these
objects can be almost anything. There are recordings of humans using
beans, palms, tea, mirrors, pendulums, dreams, rocks, fire, symbols,
and many more (Buckland 182). One of the most
popular objects are decks of cards, and there is a wide range of
different decks that can be used. The use of cards in order to
Divine is called cartomancy. Though some claim that cartomancy dates
back to Egyptians, the earliest confirmed forms of card reading rose
to popularity in the late 14th century, as playing cards rose to
popularity across Europe (Caldwell 1). Due to the wide variation in methods, some magicians theorize that
Divination is an innate human skill that is just aided by focusing
on specific objects (Buckland 157).
