Magic Topic 1 Definitions

Magic (from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary)  1 a : the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces  b : magic rites or incantations  2 a : an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source  b : something that seems to cast a spell : ENCHANTMENT ENCHANTMENT  3 : the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand  1 a : the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces  b : magic rites or incantations  2 a : an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source  b : something that seems to cast a spell : ENCHANTMENT ENCHANTMENT  3 : the art of producing illusions by sleight of hand

"The Way of Wicca"

The Wicca, Druids, and Pagans of Jacksonville, NC

What is magic?  Frazer, The Golden Bough, 1900  Magic is a technique that aims to manipulate impersonal forces  Frazer, The Golden Bough, 1900  Magic is a technique that aims to manipulate impersonal forces

J. G. Frazer Magical thought belief that objects and individuals act on each other at a distance, through a secret ‘ fellow- feeling ’ ( ‘ sympathy ’ )

How does magic differ from religion? Tylor (1871), Primitive Culture: –Magic does not entail belief in spiritual beings Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious life (1951) –Religions involve communities, magic concerns individuals

How does magic differ from religion? Malinowski, Magic, Science, and Religion (1948) –Religions have intangible, long term goals, magic concrete and practical

Malinowski 1948  Studied Trobriand culture with its diverse aspects of magic, canoe magic, garden magic, language of magic with its special pronunciation

In the Trobriands, and

Back to Frazer Magic as technique with practical goals

LAW OF SYMPATHY (SYMPATHETIC MAGIC) Law of SimilarityLaw of Contact (Homeopathic Magic)(Contagious Magic)

Magic (acc. to Frazer)  TheoreticalPractical “ Science ”“ Art ”   Positive Magic Negative Magic SorceryTaboo

Magic and Greek thought The sources of knowledge

In Homer (8th BCE)… I know = I have seen/felt and now I possess a certain sentiment towards…’

Classical Greek Thought  “Classical Greek thought that was grounded in the natural sciences”  “Something unusual happened in Greece... Whereas the previous great cultures of the Mediterranean had used mythological stories … to explain the operations of the world and of the self, some of the Greeks … instead of reading their ideas into, or out of, ancient scriptures or poems, began to use reason, contemplation, and sensory observation to make sense of reality.”  “Classical Greek thought that was grounded in the natural sciences”  “Something unusual happened in Greece... Whereas the previous great cultures of the Mediterranean had used mythological stories … to explain the operations of the world and of the self, some of the Greeks … instead of reading their ideas into, or out of, ancient scriptures or poems, began to use reason, contemplation, and sensory observation to make sense of reality.”

 “In general, philosophy came into existence when the Greeks discovered their dissatisfaction with supernatural and mythical explanations of reality. Over time, Greek thinkers began to suspect that there was a rational or logical order to the universe.”

Knowledge is based on –Intuition — Sensory perception »BCE BCE Heraclitus (7 th -6 th ) Parmenides (5 th ) Philolaus (5 th BCE)Empedocles (5 th ) Plato (5 th - 4 th BCE)Aristotle (4 th )

Heraclitus (6 th -5 th BCE)  The underlying harmony of things, Logos, can be perceived intuitively

Parmenides (5 th BCE)  The only way towards knowledge is through religious revelation.

Philolaus the Pythagorean (5 th BCE)  “ Nature requires divine, not human, knowledge. ”

Plato (5 th - 4 th BCE)  True knowledge is inborn, and the world we perceive is a mere shadow of the true world of ideas.

Empedocles (5 th BCE)  An intelligent use of the sensory evidence available to mortals, is an aid to philosophical instruction.

Aristotle (4 th BCE)  Patterns of truth can be found in the perceivable world.

For Plotinus (3 rd CE):  Magical actions can be explained by “ sympathy, because there exists both harmony between similar things and repulsion between dissimilar ones …”

 many things are being attracted and enchanted, although no one sets them in motion: true magic then is the love there is in the cosmos, and its opposite, the hate. ” (Enneades ) ”