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EveryJaadu

Power and authority

Magic as kingship, priesthood and status: the sorcerer-king, the court astrologer, the rainmaker.

Magic as power and authority is the use of ritual to make or hold rank: kings with sacred duties, court astrologers, rainmakers, chiefs who are said to hold spiritual force, and priests who keep a state religion. It includes the Egyptian pharaoh, the Mongol shamans at the court of the khan, the Chinese Taoist masters, the Zulu and Shona spirit mediums, and the astrologers who advised Mughal and European rulers. This page asks how magic and politics feed each other. Where this happens, magic is less about individual wishes and more about who is allowed to speak for the unseen.

Sacred rulers

In many kingdoms the ruler was believed to hold a power linked to harvest, rain or victory. Pharaohs performed rites to keep order, and the Divine Right of kings in Europe included the royal touch, a rite by which French and English monarchs touched people with scrofula. Chinese emperors held the Mandate of Heaven, which natural omens could confirm or withdraw. The Mongol khans consulted shamans and diviners. Kings also commissioned astrologers to choose coronation dates.

Advisers and rivals

Courts employed diviners, astrologers and mages. John Dee advised Elizabeth I, and Indian and Persian kings kept court astrologers. Such advisers also faced risk: in Rome, astrologers were expelled several times, and accusations of sorcery were used to remove rivals at courts from Byzantium to Ming China. Magic offered influence to people with little formal rank. Sorcery charges were used against queens and ministers in several courts, and the fall of a favourite was often explained by a spell.

Resistance and the state

Spirit mediums have led resistance. In Zimbabwe, the spirit mediums Nehanda and Kaguvi were central to the 1896 uprising against British rule, and Nehanda was hanged in 1898. In Kenya and Tanzania, the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905 drew on a water said to protect against bullets. Colonial states responded with witchcraft ordinances, which often banned healers and protected nobody. In Africa, chiefs are often described as guardians of a land and its rain, and ruling families have held rites for the whole community.

Modern politics

Some leaders consult astrologers or healers, and political use of the occult is reported from India to Latin America. Accusations of witchcraft are used against opponents and in land disputes. Scholars read these links as part of how power is made visible and legitimate. Citizens may wish to ask who benefits when magic is used in public life. Many states now regulate healers and diviners, or use them for public health messages, which shows how much influence they still have.

Power and authority on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindTraditionRiteCharmOracleSubstanceBeingFigureTextIllusionBelief
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
OccasionWeddings and betrothalFestivalsBirth and childhoodDeath and remembranceHarvest, farming and weatherNew yearInitiation and coming of ageIllness and misfortuneJourneys and voyagesEveryday use
StandingLivingRevivedFadingHistoricalLegendaryPerformed
OrderBest knownA to ZNewestLiving first
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreAstrology A divinatory practice that reads human fate through the positions of celestial bodies.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreSpirit possession A global belief that spirits or demons can take control of a person's body and mindBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚨馃嚟 PhilippinesPhilippine mythology The indigenous myths and spirits of the Philippines, shaped by centuries of trade and colonial contact.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚤馃嚮 Latvia and 1 moreLatvian mythology A collection of myths about gods, spirits, and the afterlife from the Baltic region.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚫馃嚦 Senegal and 5 morePentagram蟺蔚谓蟿维纬蟻伪渭渭慰谓 A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm 路 Protection 路 Binding and oaths Living 馃嚥馃嚱 MexicoNagualn膩hualli A Mesoamerican belief in humans who shapeshift into animal counterparts.Belief 路 Power and authority 路 Cursing and harm Living 馃嚚馃嚘 Canada and 1 moreTotemdoodem A spirit or symbol linking a group to nature, from Ojibwe clan systems to Australian kinshipBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreMedicine wheel Circular stone formations built by Indigenous peoples of North America for ceremony and astronomy.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚳馃嚘 South Africa and 5 moreMurder for body parts The killing of people to harvest body parts for traditional medicine or the illegal organ trade.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreSnake worship Veneration of serpents as divine or ancestral beings across global culturesTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living 馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living 馃嚥馃嚦 Mongolia and 2 moreWind Horse嘟⑧境嘟脆絼嗉嬥舰嗑熰紜 An East and Central Asian symbol of the soul, luck, and vital energyBeing 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Protection Living 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 3 moreSpirit An invisible force or soul found in many cultures, linked to gods, humans, and nature.Being 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚮馃嚭 Vanuatu and 3 moreMana A spiritual force of power and authority in Oceanic culturesBelief 路 Power and authority Living 馃嚠馃嚦 India and 3 moreAstral projection An intentional out-of-body experience where consciousness travels through the astral planeTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.