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.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreKey of SolomonClavicula Salomonis
A Renaissance grimoire attributed to King Solomon, detailing ritual preparations and invocations.Text · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 5 moreGrimoire
A textbook containing instructions for spells, rituals, and the creation of magical objects.Text · Protection · Healing 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
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSamuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
British occultist and co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnFigure Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreEmanuel Swedenborg
An 18th-century Swedish scientist who became a mystic and claimed to visit the afterlife.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreThe Fool
A tarot card of unique status, depicting a wanderer or madman outside the numbered sequence.Text · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇫🇷 FranceEtteilla
The first professional tarot occultist who created a system for card divination.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 7 moreSlavic Native FaithРодноверие
A modern polytheistic movement drawing on Slavic folklore, romanticism, and global spiritual traditions.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreNostradamus
A French astrologer and physician known for a book of poetic propheciesText · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyThe MagicianLe Bateleur
A tarot trump symbolizing power and the link between spirit and matterText · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreRunic magic
The use of ancient Germanic letters for spells, divination, and protectionTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇹 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
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreThe Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
A 1982 book proposing Jesus had a bloodline protected by a secret societyText · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreJohn Dee
An English scholar and advisor to Elizabeth I who pursued angelic communication through scrying.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomHermetic Order of the Golden DawnOrdo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae
A late-19th-century British magical order that shaped modern Western occultismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreAleister Crowley
English occultist and founder of the religion of ThelemaText · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇫🇷 FranceThree Books of Occult PhilosophyDe occulta philosophia libri III
A Renaissance treatise on elemental, celestial and divine magicText · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaLeft-Hand and Right-Hand Paths
Two distinct orientations in occult magic, dividing taboo-breaking from orthodoxy.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreNumerology
The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyChymical Wedding of Christian RosenkreutzChymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459
An allegorical romance and Rosicrucian manifesto detailing a seven-day alchemical initiation.Text · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyBasil ValentineBasilius Valentinus
A pseudonymous alchemist whose chemical writings shaped early modern chemistry and hermetic tradition.Text · Power and authority Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreAnthroposophy
A spiritual movement founded by Rudolf Steiner to explore the intellectual side of the unseen worldTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomGrimoire (sample)
A handbook of rites and names.Text · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreOccultism in Nazism
The study of alleged magical links to the Nazi regime and the myths that surround themBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandPsychological astrology
A system that maps horoscopes to psychological theories and archetypesTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreThelema
A Western esoteric philosophy centered on discovering and following one's True WillTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreLocational astrology
A branch of astrology that maps planetary influences to specific places on Earth.Tradition · Power and authority Living
🇮🇹 ItalyArcheosofica
A school of esoteric Christianity founded in Rome that teaches ascetic disciplines and magical theory.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNeopagan witchcraft
Modern pagan traditions that practice magic and draw on historical witch beliefs.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 2 moreOrder of the Solar TempleOrdre du Temple solaire
A neo-Templar new religious movement responsible for mass deaths in the 1990s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 JapanAllocer
A duke of demons in grimoires who teaches sciences and commands legionsBeing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyUR Group
An Italian esoteric circle studying magic and traditional philosophy in the late 1920s.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreOrder of Nine Angles
A British Satanic network linked to neo-Nazism and violent extremismTradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreFraternitas Saturni
A German esoteric order focused on Saturn magic and astrological teachingsTradition · Power and authority Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreAlpha et Omega
An occult order formed from the Golden Dawn schism, active in London and Paris before World War IITradition · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreOsirian Egyptian OrderOrdine Osirideo Egizio
An Italian esoteric society tracing its roots to 18th-century Naples and ancient Hermetic traditions.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomThe Book of Thoth
A guide to a tarot deck designed by an occultist and his collaboratorText · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreGiants (esotericism)
Spiritual beings linked to lost continents and root races in occult literatureBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyAlchemical DoorPorta Alchemica
A Roman gate covered in alchemical symbols and legends of transmutationCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyGli ExperimentiGli Experimenti de la Ex.ma S.r Caterina da Furlj Matre de lo inllux.mo S.r Giouanni de Medici
A 16th-century manuscript of alchemical, medicinal, and cosmetic recipes by Caterina SforzaText · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceSacred mysteriesμυστήριον
Secret ceremonies and divine doctrines held to exceed human reasonBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomTyphonian Order
A British Thelemic esoteric body working with dark occultism, kalas, and cosmic mythTradition · Change and initiation · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇫🇷 France and 4 moreEctoplasm
A substance said to be excreted by mediums during séances, later exposed as common household materials.Substance · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreOuroborosοὐροβόρος
An ancient image of a serpent eating its own tail, symbolizing cycles and wholenessFigure · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptEnochian chess
A four-player chess variant used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for divination and playTradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi
A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreFourth Way
A spiritual path for inner development that does not require leaving ordinary lifeTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreIlluminates of Thanateros
An international group dedicated to practical chaos magic and experimental ritual workTradition · Power and authority · 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.
- Occultism in Nazism: Peretz Kaminsky, Public domain, source
- Grimoire: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
- Anthroposophy: Wladyslaw, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
- Sex magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Order of the Solar Temple: George Stock derivative work: thumperward ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Éliphas Lévi: Eliphas Lévi [1810-1875], Public domain, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mediumship: Harvey Metcalfe, Public domain, source
- Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Emanuel Swedenborg: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain, source
- The Fool: Johann Georg Rauch, Public domain, source
- Baphomet: Eliphas Levi, Public domain, source
- Slavic Native Faith: Union of Slavic Rodnover Communities (Союз Славянских Общин Славянской, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nostradamus: After César de Notre-Dame, Public domain, source
- The Magician: Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain, source
- Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Fourth Way: Londonlinks, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Allocer: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- John Dee: Unidentified painter, Public domain, source
- UR Group: Gruppo di Ur, Public domain, source
- Order of Nine Angles: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Giants (esotericism): Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Alchemical Door: Sailko, CC BY 2.5, source
- Gli Experimenti: Mattman723, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sacred mysteries: Johannes Hopffe, Public domain, source
- Key of Solomon: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Aleister Crowley: Aleister Crowley, Public domain, source
- Three Books of Occult Philosophy: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Public domain, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ouroboros: Djehouty, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Basil Valentine: TomKidd, CC BY-SA 3.0, source