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.
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 moreSnake worship
Veneration of serpents as divine or ancestral beings across global culturesTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria and 1 moreObatala峄宐atal谩
The Yoruba king of white cloth who is believed to have created humanity and presides over purity.Being 路 Protection 路 Healing 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
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world
Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreEye of Horusw岣応湥t
A stylized eye symbol in ancient Egypt representing healing and cosmic orderCharm 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚞馃嚬 GuatemalaMaxim贸nRi Laj Mam
A Maya folk saint and trickster deity venerated in the Guatemalan HighlandsBeing 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesHopi mythology
The creation stories and spirit traditions of the Hopi people of the American SouthwestTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 5 moreFeng shui棰ㄦ按
A Chinese geomantic practice for aligning structures with cosmic energyTradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚩 IraqBabylonian astrology
The first organized system of celestial divination in the ancient Near EastTradition 路 Protection 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚙馃嚡 Benin and 5 moreVodun art
Religious sculpture and temple painting from West African Vodun traditionsTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚟馃嚬 Haiti and 2 moreHaitian VodouVodou
An Afro-Haitian religion blending West African traditions with Catholicism and FreemasonryTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreCowrie
A sea snail shell used as currency, divination tool, and charm across many culturesSubstance 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚩 Iraq and 3 moreAncient Mesopotamian religion
The polytheistic beliefs and practices of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia from 6000 BC to 500 ADTradition 路 Power and authority 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚦馃嚳 New ZealandTohunga
A M膩ori expert practitioner of sacred or secular arts, from priests to carvers.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria and 5 moreOgun脪g煤n
A West African deity of iron, war and metalworking found in Yoruba and diaspora traditionsBeing 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFinnic mythologies
The traditional beliefs and spiritual practices of the Finnic-speaking peoples of northern Eurasia.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 3 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚛 IndonesiaMarapu
Ancestral religion of Sumba and Flores in IndonesiaTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚚馃嚘 CanadaMistapewmist芒p锚w (釖メ悽釕栣悿)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being 路 Protection 路 Healing 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
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanMagatama鍕剧帀
A curved Japanese bead used as jewelry, status symbol, and sacred object in Shinto.Charm 路 Power and authority 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 1 moreImitation of sounds in shamanism
Shamanic vocal and musical mimicry of nature to invoke spirits or transform identityRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚬馃嚪 TurkeyHittite sun disk
An ancient Anatolian bronze symbol used in Hattian and Hittite religious ceremoniesCharm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies
Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition 路 Protection 路 Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Astral projection: Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon., Public domain, source
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Haitian Vodou: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Ogun: Chado07, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Obatala: Isha, CC BY 3.0, source
- Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
- Maxim贸n: Sapfan (Jan Pesula), Public domain, source
- Hopi mythology: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, source
- Feng shui: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Vodun art: Fraipont, Gustave (1849-1923), Public domain, source
- Marapu: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magatama: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tohunga: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source
- Cowrie: NOAA (Photo Collection of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program), Public domain, source
- Snake worship: Alexandermcnabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalb茅ra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Eye of Horus: Tangopaso, Public domain, source