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 1 moreMundane astrology
A branch of astrology that reads the horoscopes of nations and governments instead of individuals.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇨🇳 China and 4 moreFuji扶乩
Chinese planchette writing: gods and ancestors reply through a stylus on sandRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇳 IndiaAstrometeorology
A historical belief that celestial positions forecast weather and climateBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaVedic astrologyJyotiṣa
A traditional Hindu system of astrology rooted in Vedic study and timekeepingTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 IrelandEarly Irish astrology
The study of celestial cycles in early Ireland, blending native observation with Christian and continental learning.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceGreek divination
Ancient methods of consulting deities for prophecy and omens in Greek cultureOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNeopagan witchcraft
Modern pagan traditions that practice magic and draw on historical witch beliefs.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇱 IsraelJewish astrologyמַזָּלוֹת (mazzālôt)
A belief system within Judaism that celestial bodies influence earthly affairs and human destiny.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇷 IranʿIlm al-Ḥurūfعِلْم الْحُرُوف
A system of Arabic numerology that assigns numerical values to letters to reveal hidden meanings in the Quran.Belief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaSynoptical astrology
An astrological system that overlays tropical, sidereal and constellational zodiacsText · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesMothman
A humanoid cryptid from West Virginia folklore, linked to large birds and a bridge collapse.Being · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTeraphimתרפים
Ancient Hebrew household figures linked to ancestry, property rights and divinationBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇱🇹 Lithuania and 2 moreLaumaLaumė
A Baltic fairy-like spirit of the sky, weather, and newborn children.Being · Protection · Healing Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce
An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyScrofa semilanuta
A legendary sow seen in a dream that became the ancient emblem of Milan.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇸🇩 SudanWitchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande
A foundational anthropological study of Azande witchcraft, oracles, and magic in southern Sudan.Text · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreDream questionShe'elat Halom
A Jewish divination practice seeking prophetic answers through dreamsOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing 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 States and 1 moreRemote viewing
A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living
🇸🇾 Syria and 1 moreLots of the ApostlesSortes Apostolorum
A Christian divination text based on casting lots to seek guidance from the apostles.Text · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇪🇸 SpainGuañameñe
A Guanche prophet and the highest priestly rank in pre-conquest TenerifeFigure · Seeing and foretelling · 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
🇮🇱 Israel and 5 moreJewish views on astrologyחָכְמַת הַמַּזָּלוֹת
A long-standing debate within Jewish thought about the influence of stars and planetsBelief · Seeing and foretelling · 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.
- Greek divination: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Astrometeorology: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Jewish astrology: Talmoryair, Public domain, source
- Synoptical astrology: Constellarius, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mothman: Tim Bertelink, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fuji: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Lauma: Raki_Man, CC BY 3.0, source
- Mundane astrology: Andreas Cellarius, Public domain, source
- Teraphim: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Vedic astrology: Freedomji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source