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.
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreAzazel注讝讗讝诇
A desert place and fallen angel linked to the Yom Kippur scapegoat ritualFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Cleansing and purification Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreMagic and religion
A study of how ritual power and sacred belief overlap or separate across culturesBelief 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 2 moreBelial讘职旨诇执讬址旨注址诇
A Hebrew term for worthlessness that evolved into a demon of darkness in Jewish and Christian texts.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptLucifer
A Latin name for the planet Venus that became an epithet for the Devil in Christian traditionFigure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic
A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreSibylline Oracles
A mixed collection of ancient prophecies attributed to pagan prophetesses but shaped by Jewish and Christian writers.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreJannes and Jambres讬谞讬住 讜讬诪讘专讬住
Named Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in biblical traditionFigure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 2 moreLeviathan诇执讜职讬指转指谉 (Livya峁乶)
A primordial sea monster from ancient Near Eastern myth and biblical textBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 5 moreVampire folklore
Global legends of blood-drinking spirits and undead revenantsBelief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreShimon bar Yochai砖诪注讜谉 讘专 讬讜讞讗讬
A second-century sage of the Land of Israel and a central figure in Kabbalistic tradition.Figure 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptDemon
A supernatural entity believed to cause harm or possess humansBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelJewish astrology诪址讝指旨诇讜止转 (mazz膩l么t)
A belief system within Judaism that celestial bodies influence earthly affairs and human destiny.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelAgrat bat Mahlat讗讙专转 讘转 诪讞诇转
A demon in Jewish tradition who rules over destructive spirits and night hours.Being 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreSe'irim砖注讬专讬诐
Demons of Hebrew tradition linked to wild goats and ruined placesBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 5 moreJewish views on astrology讞指讻职诪址转 讛址诪址旨讝指旨诇讜止转
A long-standing debate within Jewish thought about the influence of stars and planetsBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreMahalath诪指讞植诇址转
A queen of demons in Jewish mysticism and the mother of AgratBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreRighteous Priest
A messianic priestly figure in Jewish eschatology, identified with Shem and Melchizedek.Figure 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreDream questionShe'elat Halom
A Jewish divination practice seeking prophetic answers through dreamsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelQlippoth拽职诇执讬驻旨讜止转
Impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism, opposites of the holy sefirotBeing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelMelchom
A demon of hell and former Ammonite idol described in the Dictionnaire InfernalBeing 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelEisheth Zenunim讗值砖侄讈转 讝职谞讜旨谞执讬诐
A demonic epithet for Lilith in Kabbalah and Western esotericismFigure 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelMessiah ben Joseph诪指砖执讈讬讞址 讘侄旨谉志讬讜止住值祝
A Jewish eschatological figure who wages war and dies before the final age of peaceFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 morePardes驻专讚状住
A four-level method for interpreting Jewish scriptureText 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelPulsa diNura驻讜诇住讗 讚谞讜专讗
A Kabbalistic curse invoking destroying angels to block forgiveness and cause deathRite 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreCurse of Ham
A biblical story used to justify slavery and racial discriminationBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi
A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreDivine retribution
Supernatural punishment by a deity in response to anger or wrongdoingBelief 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚲馃嚜 Yemen and 1 moreDor Daim讚讜专 讚注讛
A Yemenite Jewish movement promoting rational theology and opposing Kabbalistic mysticismTradition Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Jiangshi: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Lucifer: Gustave Dor茅, Public domain, source
- Jewish astrology: Talmoryair, Public domain, source
- Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Demon: Martin Schongauer, Public domain, source
- Melchom: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Pardes: Anonymous (photo by Adrian Pingstone), Public domain, source
- Azazel: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Curse of Ham: 袣褋械薪芯褎芯薪褌芯胁 袠胁邪薪 小褌械锌邪薪芯胁懈褔. Ksenof贸ntov Iv谩n Step谩novich (1817-1875), Public domain, source
- Sibylline Oracles: Domenichino, Public domain, source
- Jannes and Jambres: Gerard Hoet, Public domain, source
- Leviathan: Gustave Dor茅, Public domain, source
- Shimon bar Yochai: 讗讬转讬 驻专抓, Attribution, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Divine retribution: John Martin, Public domain, source