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.
🇮🇷 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
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreVäinämöinen
An ancient Finnish demigod and master singer from the Kalevala epicBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreWeiße Frauen
Elven spirits of sunlight and water in Germanic folkloreBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreStalloStállu
A large, clumsy creature from Sámi folklore that eats people and is often outwitted by humans.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇻🇺 Vanuatu and 3 moreMana
A spiritual force of power and authority in Oceanic culturesBelief · Power and authority Living
🇪🇬 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
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSwastika (Germanic Iron Age)
A four-armed symbol found on Germanic artefacts from the Migration to Viking periods.Belief · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇾 Syria and 1 moreShatiqatu𐎌𐎓𐎚𐎖𐎚 (šʿtqt)
A Ugaritic healing figure created from clay to cure the king KirtaBeing · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese creation myths
A collection of ancient Chinese stories explaining how the universe and humanity beganBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living
🇨🇳 ChinaKing Wen sequence文王卦序
The oldest arrangement of the sixty-four hexagrams in the I ChingText · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomNine sorceressesnaw chwaer
A group of nine magical women in Welsh and Arthurian legendFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 3 moreMandaic lead rolls
Lead sheets inscribed with Mandaic incantations, rolled and worn as protective talismans by Mandaeans.Charm · Protection Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptHermanubisἙρμανοῦβις
A Graeco-Egyptian god who guides the souls of the dead to the underworld.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇱 GreenlandAnguta
A Greenlandic Inuit figure who guides the dead and fathered the sea goddess SednaBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreVelesВелес
A Slavic chthonic deity of cattle, the underworld, and oathsBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇪🇸 SpainGuañameñe
A Guanche prophet and the highest priestly rank in pre-conquest TenerifeFigure · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaEpic cycles of incarnations in MoirangMoirang Shayon
A Meitei mythic cycle tracing the repeated lives and deaths of divine lovers across generations.Figure · Love and attraction Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLegend of the White Snake白蛇傳
A Chinese folktale about a snake spirit who becomes human to love a mortal manFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm 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
🇻🇳 VietnamMẫu Thượng Ngàn林宮聖母
A forest goddess in Vietnamese indigenous religion, ruler of the Forest PalaceBeing · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesPlastic shaman
A label for imposters who sell fake Indigenous spiritual practices for profitBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreToltecayotl
A Nahuatl concept of the art of living and wisdom derived from Toltec traditionBelief · Power and authority Revived
🇬🇭 GhanaAmokye
Guardian of the entrance to Asamando in Akan and Ashanti beliefBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇷 GreeceDaimonδαίμων
A Greek spirit or divine force that mediates between gods and humansBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptAkhty
A rarely attested ancient Egyptian deity linked to the ibis and the evening horizon.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇦🇷 ArgentinaLegendary creatures of the Argentine Northwest region
Myths and spirits from the Andean highlands of ArgentinaBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇰🇷 South KoreaSeolmundae Halmang설문대할망
A giant creator figure from Jeju Island who shaped the land and its volcanoes.Figure · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandTailteann GamesÁenach Tailteann
Ancient Irish funeral games and assemblies held in County Meath to honor the dead.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreLock of hair
A piece of human hair kept for symbolic, sentimental, or superstitious reasons.Substance · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇸🇪 SwedenSaleby Runestone
A Swedish memorial stone raised by a husband for his wife, featuring an ancient curse.Text · Protection Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreHephaestusἭφαιστος
The Greek smith god who forged divine weapons and crafted automata for the gods.Being · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreVanishing hitchhiker
An urban legend where a motorist picks up a passenger who vanishes, often leaving behind proof of their death.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Wonder and entertainment Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Shatiqatu: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, source
- Stallo: John Bauer, Public domain, source
- Väinämöinen: Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Public domain, source
- Mẫu Thượng Ngàn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Magatama: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Daimon: François-André Vincent, Public domain, source
- Akhty: Rémih, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tailteann Games: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lock of hair: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Saleby Runestone: Berig, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hephaestus: Foundry Painter (name vase), Public domain, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Weiße Frauen: Wojciech Gerson, Public domain, source
- Mana: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ouroboros: Djehouty, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Swastika (Germanic Iron Age): No machine-readable author provided. Bloodofox~commonswiki assumed (ba, Public domain, source
- Hermanubis: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Veles: Andrey Shishkin, CC BY 3.0, source
- Epic cycles of incarnations in Moirang: Bhudro Singh (AKA. Ningthoujam Bhadra), Public domain, source
- Legend of the White Snake: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source