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.
🇬🇹 Guatemala and 1 moreMaya mythology
The reconstructed tales of the Maya people about gods, heroes, and the creation of the world.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptOpening of the mouth ceremonywpt-r (Egyptian)
An ancient Egyptian rite to restore a deceased person's senses for the afterlifeRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreAnkh
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for life and the amulet that carries its meaningCharm · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptWadjetwꜢḏyt
The green cobra goddess who protected Lower Egypt and the pharaohs.Being · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇯🇵 JapanEn no Gyōja役小角
A legendary Japanese ascetic and founder of Shugendō mountain practiceFigure · Power and authority · Protection Historical
🇫🇷 FranceEtteilla
The first professional tarot occultist who created a system for card divination.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇦🇺 AustraliaKurdaitchakwertatye
A ritual executioner and feathered shoes of the Arrernte people in Central Australia.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇭🇹 HaitiBois Caïman
The sacred site where enslaved Africans planned the Haitian Revolution through a Vodou ceremony.Rite · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceAncient Greek folklore
The oral stories, music and rituals of the ancient GreeksTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreGreco-Roman mysteriesμυστήρια
Secret religious schools of the ancient Mediterranean for initiates onlyTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreRunesᚱᚢᚾᛟ
An ancient Germanic script used for writing and magical signs.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreCernunnos
An antlered Celtic deity associated with nature and fertilityBeing · Power and authority · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy
A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreMagic and religion
A study of how ritual power and sacred belief overlap or separate across culturesBelief · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreNumerology
The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaAtharvavedaअथर्ववेद
The fourth Veda of Hinduism, containing spells, healing rites, and domestic rituals.Text · Protection · Healing Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreSuryaसूर्य
The sun as a Hindu deity and the source of light and knowledgeBeing · Power and authority · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaOracle bone甲骨
Divination using heated ox bones and turtle shells in ancient ChinaRite · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptHekaḥkꜣw
The ancient Egyptian deification of magic, medicine, and primordial creative powerBeing · Healing · Protection Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreNostradamus
A French astrologer and physician known for a book of poetic propheciesText · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 3 moreIfritعفريت
A class of powerful chthonic spirits in Islamic tradition and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaKapalikaकापालिक
A medieval Indian Shaivite ascetic order known for wearing skulls and transgressive ritualsTradition · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptDjedḏd
An ancient Egyptian pillar symbol representing stability and resurrectionCharm · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTilopa
A tenth-century Buddhist tantric master who transmitted Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa.Figure · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreAugury
A Roman rite of reading bird behavior to learn the will of the godsRite · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇪🇹 EthiopiaPlanetary hours
A system assigning celestial rulers to each hour of the day and weekTradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreRenaissance magic
A 15th and 16th century revival of magical arts blending philosophy, astrology, and hidden knowledge.Tradition · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇶 IraqBabylonian astrology
The first organized system of celestial divination in the ancient Near EastTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreIsisꜣst (Egyptian)
Egyptian goddess of magic, mourning and kingship, mother of HorusBeing · Protection · Healing Historical
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKūkai空海
Founder of Shingon Buddhism who brought Vajrayana esoteric practices from China to Japan.Text · Power and authority · Protection Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaChen Tuan陳摶
A Chinese Taoist sage known for internal arts and sleep cultivation methodsFigure · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreTyrTýr
A Germanic deity of war and oaths, known for sacrificing his hand to a wolfBeing · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇸 Spain and 2 morePicatrixغاية الحكيم
A medieval Arabic handbook of talismanic magic and astrologyText · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreFeng Shan封禪
An imperial rite performed at Mount Tai to honor heaven and earth and confirm the mandate of rule.Rite · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceOmphalosὀμφαλός
A sacred stone marking the center of the world in Greek myth and oracle practiceCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreAmunjmn (Old/Middle Egyptian); Amoun (Coptic)
The hidden creator god of ancient Egypt, later fused with the sun deity Ra.Being · Power and authority · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomGeoffrey of MonmouthGruffudd ap Arthur
A medieval cleric whose writings shaped the King Arthur legend and British myth.Text · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandGaldergaldr
A Germanic incantation and the written charms derived from itText · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 SwedenTemple at Uppsala
A Norse religious centre described in medieval texts and debated by modern scholarsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇸 SpainMaslama al-Majritiأبو القاسم مسلمة بن أحمد المجريطي
A tenth-century scholar of alchemy and astronomy in Islamic Spain.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandic magical stavesgaldrastafir
Sigils from Icelandic grimoires believed to hold magical powerCharm · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreBuilders' rites
Ceremonies performed during construction to ensure stability and mark progress.Rite · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomHob
A small household spirit of Northern England and the Anglo-Scottish border.Being · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 2 moreMjölnirMjǫllnir
The hammer of the Norse thunder god Thor, used as a weapon and for blessingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreDakiniḍākinī
A goddess figure in Hinduism and Buddhism, ranging from flesh-eating demoness to enlightened energy.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇦🇫 Afghanistan and 2 moreAbu Ma'shar al-Balkhiابومَعْشَر جعفر بن محمد بن عمر بلخی
A Persian astrologer whose manuals shaped medieval European and Islamic celestial studiesText · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreHecateἙκάτη
A Greek goddess of magic, crossroads, and the moon, often shown in three forms.Being · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreÉliphas Lévi
A French writer who shaped modern occult thought and ceremonial magic.Text · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Augur: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Kaula: Joshua Jonathan, CC0, source
- Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
- Éliphas Lévi: Eliphas Lévi [1810-1875], Public domain, source
- Cernunnos: Nationalmuseet, Roberto Fortuna og Kira Ursem, Public domain, source
- Hob: Jo Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Dakini: Didier Descouens, Public domain, source
- Hecate: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Opening of the mouth ceremony: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Wadjet: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, source
- Ankh: Soutekh67, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- En no Gyōja: Wmpearl, CC0, source
- Kurdaitcha: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Greco-Roman mysteries: Varrese Painter, Public domain, source
- Runes: Bengt Olof ÅRADSSON, CC BY 1.0, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Atharvaveda: William Dwight Whitney / Charles Rockwell Lanman, Public domain, source
- Surya: Ravi Varma Press, Public domain, source
- Oracle bone: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Nostradamus: After César de Notre-Dame, Public domain, source
- Ifrit: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Djed: Anonymous ( Egypt ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Tilopa: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Isis: Ägyptischer Maler um 1360 v. Chr., Public domain, source
- Kūkai: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Tyr: Gunnar Creutz, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Picatrix: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Feng Shan: Rolf Müller ( User:Rolfmueller ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Omphalos: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Amun: MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Geoffrey of Monmouth: Colin Cheesman, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Galder: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Temple at Uppsala: Olaus Magnus, Public domain, source
- Mjölnir: Mårten Eskil Winge, Public domain, source
- Builders' rites: U.S. Government, Public domain, source
- Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi: User:Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Icelandic magical staves: Unknown author, Public domain, source