Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Magic is complex and difficult to define. Generally, it refers to ritual activity – usually without institutional supports – the execution of which, through words and actions considered powerful, intends to automatically induce changes of various types. There are good (white magic) or bad (black magic) aims relating to various human and natural events (health, sex life, reproductive activity, climatic events, knowledge of the future, social relationships, etc.) according to the desires of those who use it (magicians or their clients) and those who believe (magic also presupposes a system of beliefs, apart from rituals), so that the practitioner is able to bend to his or her will the powers on which the various aspects of reality depend. The concept of magic arose and developed in western civilization and has served to define, polemically, internal mythical-ritual expressions (as do most marginalized practices) considered in opposition to religion, science, and reason. This concept was then extended and applied to people other than those of the West, assuming the value of a category which both defines and devalues cultural alterity (religions of higher ancient civilizations – Egypt, Vedic India, etc. – of primitive or colonized peoples). The expression mageía , from which “magic” derives, has its origin in the name of Persian priests, mágoi , who belonged to the Zoroastrian priesthood ... log in or subscribe to read full text