Scholars and sceptics
Anthropologists, historians and investigators who study magic and test its claims.
Scholars and sceptics are the people who study magic from outside the practice: anthropologists, historians, folklorists, psychologists, scholars of religion and investigators who test claims. They have names such as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Marcel Mauss, Bronislaw Malinowski, Mary Douglas, Keith Thomas and Carlo Ginzburg, and also investigators such as James Randi. This page covers what they have found, how they disagree, and what their work has cost and changed. Their work has changed how the whole subject is understood.
Early theories
Nineteenth-century writers such as James Frazer treated magic as a mistaken early science, a view now widely rejected as arrogant and inaccurate. Later anthropologists, including Evans-Pritchard in his 1937 study of the Azande, showed that magical belief can be a consistent way of reasoning about misfortune. Mauss and Malinowski stressed its social role. Fieldwork, archives, laboratory studies and surveys are their main methods, and each field has its own debates and schools.
The history of witch trials
Historians have revised their view of the witch trials. Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane studied English village accusations, Carlo Ginzburg found the benandanti in Friuli, and Ronald Hutton has argued about the numbers and causes, and Silvia Federici links the persecution to the rise of capitalism, a thesis historians dispute. The older figure of nine million victims has been dropped, and estimates now run to tens of thousands of executions.
Testing claims
Sceptics test whether claims hold up. James Randi offered a prize for evidence of paranormal power that was never won, and organisations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry investigate fraud. Researchers study why people believe: pattern-seeking, uncertainty and the wish to control events. The best sceptics aim to understand people, not to mock them. Sceptics hold that claims should be tested, and they have a long record of exposing cases such as spirit photography and fake healers.
Ethics of study
Scholars were often colonial officials or missionaries, and their reports shaped how Indigenous religions were named. Contemporary researchers work with communities, ask consent and respect closed knowledge. Practitioners sometimes object to being explained, and sceptics sometimes to being called closed-minded. The conversation continues, and this guide aims to stay neutral on whether magic works. Their critics reply that science cannot measure everything that matters to a community, and that explaining a ritual away is not the same as understanding it.
Scholars and sceptics on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇳 IndiaChakraचक्र
Meditation points in the subtle body used in Hindu and Buddhist yogaTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAshtamangalaअष्टमङ्गल
A set of eight sacred symbols used in Indian religions to mark auspicious occasions and teach spiritual truths.Tradition · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreTantraतन्त्र
An esoteric yogic tradition from India focusing on ritual, mantra, and body-based spiritual practices.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇳🇵 Nepal and 1 moreMatsyendranathMacchindranāth, Mīnanātha
A yogi and rain deity revered across Hindu and Buddhist traditions in South Asia.Figure · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAmritaअमृत (Sanskrit)
A Sanskrit concept of immortality and the nectar that grants it across Indian religionsBelief · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSpirit possession
A global belief that spirits or demons can take control of a person's body and mindBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 IndiaSiddhiसिद्धि
Magical powers and spiritual attainments in Indian religionsBelief · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 IndiaNaropa
An Indian Buddhist master whose teachings shaped Tibetan Vajrayana practiceFigure · Change and initiation Historical
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreYakshaयक्ष (Sanskrit), ยักษ์ (Thai)
Nature spirits and guardian deities in South and Southeast Asian traditionsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNakshatraनक्षत्रम् (Nakṣatram)
A system of lunar mansions used in Hindu and Buddhist astrology to map the sky.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇳 India and 2 morePadmasambhavaཔདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས།
A tantric master credited with establishing Buddhism in Tibet and founding the Nyingma school.Figure · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 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
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreVajrayanaVajrayāna
A Buddhist path using rituals and mantras for rapid awakeningTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreYoginiयोगिनी
A female master of yoga and tantra, or a fierce goddess aspect in Indian temples.Tradition · Power and authority · Protection Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKalachakraདུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།
A Tibetan Buddhist tantric deity and system of yogic time cyclesTradition · Change and initiation · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMantraमन्त्रम्
A sacred sound or phrase repeated to focus the mind and invoke spiritual powerText · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇱🇰 Sri LankaMara
A Buddhist figure representing the forces that block spiritual awakening and keep beings trapped in rebirth.Being · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreMakaraमकर
A legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology and a symbol of water and thresholdsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaAbhijñāअभिज्ञा
A set of special insights and powers in Buddhist meditation.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreCintāmaṇiचिन्तामणि
A wish-fulfilling jewel from Hindu and Buddhist traditionsSubstance · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDeity yoga
A Vajrayana meditation on embodying a chosen Buddha figure to realize emptinessTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 IndiaEtheric body
A subtle energy layer said to sustain the physical form and connect it to higher states.Being · 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.
- Spirit possession: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mantra: Markrosenrosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chakra: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ashtamangala: Redtigerxyz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tantra: William Clark, Public domain, source
- Matsyendranath: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Amrita: http://picasaweb.google.com/injamaven, CC BY 3.0, source
- Naropa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yaksha: Gunkarta ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dakini: Didier Descouens, Public domain, source
- Nakshatra: Kishorekumar 62, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Padmasambhava: John Hill, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tilopa: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Cintāmaṇi: sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Deity yoga: Anonymous Unknown author, CC0, source
- Mara: Under the Bo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Abhijñā: Gryffindor, Public domain, source
- Yogini: Soumendra Barik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Makara: Subbhashinee S, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kalachakra: Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Vajrayana: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, source