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.
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 morePower spotパワースポット
A Japanese term for places believed to hold strong earth energy and healing power.Belief · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United States and 3 more11:11
A clock time believed to signal spiritual alignment or synchronicity in numerology and New Age thoughtBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreMawlidمولد
An annual festival commemorating the birth of the Prophet MuhammadTradition · Power and authority Living
🇮🇩 IndonesiaMarapu
Ancestral religion of Sumba and Flores in IndonesiaTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDianism
A 19th-century American practice of sexual contact without ejaculationTradition · Power and authority Historical
🇹🇭 ThailandSihuhataแมงสี่หูห้าตา
A legendary creature from northern Thai folklore associated with wealth and divine testingBeing · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living
🇨🇳 ChinaDragon turtle龍龜 (Lóngguī)
A Chinese mythic creature with a dragon body and turtle shell, used as a Feng Shui charm.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreBay'ahبيعة
An oath of loyalty and obedience given to a political or spiritual leader in Islamic traditionRite · Binding and oaths · Power and authority Living
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 1 moreTrinidadian Vodunu
A West African Vodun tradition practiced in Trinidad and Tobago with Catholic elementsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 4 moreFeather cloak
A garment of feathers worn by royalty and gods across cultures to signal rank or enable flightCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇯🇵 JapanMagatama勾玉
A curved Japanese bead used as jewelry, status symbol, and sacred object in Shinto.Charm · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇪🇬 EgyptBarakahبركة
A spiritual blessing power in Islam and Arabic ChristianityBelief · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesLaw of attraction
A New Thought belief that focused thoughts draw matching experiences into lifeBelief · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreVarahiवाराही (Vārāhī)
A Hindu mother goddess with a sow face, worshipped in Tantric rites for protection and powerBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreKṣitigarbhaक्षितिगर्भ
A bodhisattva vowed to empty the hells and guard children, shown with a staff and jewel.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies
Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreOdinic Rite
A UK-based Heathen group that restricts membership to people of European ancestry.Tradition · Power and authority Living
🇬🇷 GreeceMinoan sealstones
Carved gemstones and amulets from Bronze Age Crete used for identification and ritualCharm · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 1 moreSandung
A house-shaped ossuary for the bones of the deceased among Dayak peoples in Borneo.Charm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇪🇸 Spain and 3 moreJewish heraldry
Heraldic achievements used by Jewish communities in Europe and abroadTradition · Power and authority Historical
🇵🇱 Poland and 4 moreMoranaМорена
A Slavic goddess of winter and death, whose effigy is drowned to welcome springFigure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreHoly ChaliceSanto Cáliz
A cup believed to have held the blood of Jesus at the Last SupperCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇩🇿 AlgeriaMawsimموسم
Annual Maghrebi festival blending Sufi veneration with social and economic gatheringTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇷🇺 RussiaAiyАйыы (Ayıı)
Benevolent spirits of the Upper World in Yakut mythologyBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇯🇵 JapanOkiagari-koboshi起き上がり小法師
A Japanese roly-poly doll that rights itself when knocked overCharm · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMoney tree搖錢樹
A mythical tree of fortune and a Chinese New Year custom for wealthFigure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sandung: Wibowo Djatmiko ( Wie146 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jewish heraldry: Consulta Araldica, 1868, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Vahana: Unknown Nepali, Public domain, source
- Marapu: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dianism: Guillaume Seignac, Public domain, source
- Sihuhata: Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Dragon turtle: Jonathan O'Donnell, CC BY 2.0, source
- Feather cloak: Lusanaherandraton, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Magatama: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Morana: Marta Malina Moraczewska, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mawsim: Beghdadi Walid, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Okiagari-koboshi: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Money tree: Pratyeka, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Minoan sealstones: Andree Stephan, CC BY 3.0, source
- Holy Chalice: Vitold Muratov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Power spot: ccfarmer, CC BY 3.0, source
- Kṣitigarbha: སངས་རྒྱས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།, Public domain, source
- Mawlid: Firdaus Latif, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Barakah: عامر شاہین, CC BY-SA 3.0, source