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.
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreEye of Horuswḏꜣt
A stylized eye symbol in ancient Egypt representing healing and cosmic orderCharm · Protection · Healing Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaAtharvavedaअथर्ववेद
The fourth Veda of Hinduism, containing spells, healing rites, and domestic rituals.Text · Protection · Healing Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreSuryaसूर्य
The sun as a Hindu deity and the source of light and knowledgeBeing · Power and authority · Healing Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptHekaḥkꜣw
The ancient Egyptian deification of magic, medicine, and primordial creative powerBeing · Healing · Protection Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLodestone
A naturally magnetized mineral used for early navigation and divinationSubstance · Healing Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreSator Square
A five-word Latin palindrome found in Roman ruins and medieval churchesCharm · Protection · Healing Historical
🇮🇹 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
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreEbers Papyrus
An ancient Egyptian medical scroll detailing herbal remedies and bodily theories from around 1550 BCE.Text · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreGe Hong葛洪
A Jin dynasty scholar and alchemist who wrote key texts on Taoist immortality and early medicine.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 morePietro d'Abano
A medieval physician and astrologer accused of heresy and magic.Text · Healing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaChinese alchemy煉丹術
A Taoist pursuit of longevity through elixirs and internal cultivationTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇫🇷 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
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreTalisman
An object believed to channel specific forces for protection, healing, or influence.Charm · Protection · Healing Historical
🇪🇪 Estonia and 5 moreSoul dualism
A belief that a person contains two or more distinct kinds of soulsBelief · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 5 moreGrimoire
A textbook containing instructions for spells, rituals, and the creation of magical objects.Text · Protection · Healing Historical
🇿🇦 South AfricaSympathetic magic
A magical principle based on imitation and contact to influence the worldTradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaChen Tuan陳摶
A Chinese Taoist sage known for internal arts and sleep cultivation methodsFigure · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNicholas Culpeper
An English herbalist and astrologer who translated medical texts into English for the poor.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyMarsilio Ficino
A Renaissance priest and philosopher who revived Plato and blended astrology with Christian theology.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptImhotepỉỉ-m-ḥtp
An ancient Egyptian architect deified as a god of healing and wisdomBeing · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 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 · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandGaldrabók
An Icelandic grimoire of spells and staves from around 1600Text · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMedical astrology
An ancient practice linking planetary movements to the human body and diseaseTradition · Healing Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son
A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 FranceChamalières tabletPlomb de Chamalières
A Gaulish lead tablet from a French spa, read as either a curse or a healing prayer.Text · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyIatromathematics
A seventeenth-century Italian school that applied mechanics and astrology to medicineTradition · Healing Historical
🇸🇾 SyriaLilulilû (Akkadian), lilu (Sumerian)
A class of Mesopotamian spirits linked to unfulfilled lives and illnessBeing · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical
🇱🇹 Lithuania and 2 moreLaumaLaumė
A Baltic fairy-like spirit of the sky, weather, and newborn children.Being · Protection · Healing 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
🇬🇧 United KingdomNine sorceressesnaw chwaer
A group of nine magical women in Welsh and Arthurian legendFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomBook of Magical Charms
A seventeenth-century English manuscript of spells and medical remedies held in Chicago.Text · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇸🇾 Syria and 1 moreShatiqatu𐎌𐎓𐎚𐎖𐎚 (šʿtqt)
A Ugaritic healing figure created from clay to cure the king KirtaBeing · Healing Historical
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreCintāmaṇiचिन्तामणि
A wish-fulfilling jewel from Hindu and Buddhist traditionsSubstance · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreDream questionShe'elat Halom
A Jewish divination practice seeking prophetic answers through dreamsOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical
🇪🇷 Eritrea and 1 moreBeher
A pre-Christian Aksumite deity of the sea and agricultural fertilityBeing · Luck and prosperity · Healing Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Grimoire: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Medical astrology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Book of Magical Charms: Robert Ashley, died 1641, Public domain, source
- Shatiqatu: Rama, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, source
- Sympathetic magic: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source
- Chamalières tablet: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
- Marsilio Ficino: Marsilio Ficino, Public domain, source
- Imhotep: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, source
- Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Atharvaveda: William Dwight Whitney / Charles Rockwell Lanman, Public domain, source
- Surya: Ravi Varma Press, Public domain, source
- Lodestone: Ryan Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sator Square: M Disdero, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Cintāmaṇi: sailko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ebers Papyrus: PEbers_c41.jpg : Einsamer Schütze derivative work: Photohound ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ge Hong: Hannah, Public domain, source
- Gli Experimenti: Mattman723, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pietro d'Abano: Marco Chemello (Wikimedia Italia), CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Chinese alchemy: 尹真人, Public domain, source
- Lauma: Raki_Man, CC BY 3.0, source
- Three Books of Occult Philosophy: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Public domain, source
- Talisman: Sasha India, CC BY 2.0, source
- Soul dualism: 尹真人, Public domain, source
- Eye of Horus: Tangopaso, Public domain, source