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.
🇨🇳 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
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNatal astrology
A chart built from birth details to map personality traits and life pathsTradition · Power and authority Living
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreSoucouyant
A shape-shifting vampire spirit of Caribbean folklore that sheds its skin to fly as a fireballBeing · Cursing and harm 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
🇮🇳 IndiaVedic astrologyJyotiṣa
A traditional Hindu system of astrology rooted in Vedic study and timekeepingTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇳 China and 2 moreCoin-sword辟邪劍 (bì xié jiàn)
A Chinese numismatic talisman made of cash coins strung on a rod to ward off evil spiritsCharm · Protection Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNeopagan witchcraft
Modern pagan traditions that practice magic and draw on historical witch beliefs.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreAngelמלאך
A supernatural messenger or intermediary spirit found in many religious traditions.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇱🇰 Sri LankaMara
A Buddhist figure representing the forces that block spiritual awakening and keep beings trapped in rebirth.Being · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Living
🇺🇸 United StatesMothman
A humanoid cryptid from West Virginia folklore, linked to large birds and a bridge collapse.Being · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreTutelary deity
A guardian spirit or god assigned to protect a specific place, person, or group.Being · Protection Living
🇮🇳 IndiaVahanaवाहन
The animal or mythical creature that carries a Hindu deityTradition · Power and authority Living
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreMoon rabbit月兔 (yuètù)
A mythical figure seen in lunar markings, pounding elixirs or rice cakes across Asia and the Americas.Being · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreNew Thought
A spiritual philosophy linking mental states to physical health and prosperityTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living
🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreAMORCAntiquus Mysticusque Ordo Rosae Crucis
A US-based Rosicrucian order with global lodges and a focus on correspondence study.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesFive-Percent Nation
A New York movement teaching that Black people are the original gods and earth of civilizationTradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 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
🇯🇲 Jamaica and 3 moreDuppy
A Caribbean term for a ghost or malevolent spirit, rooted in West African folklore.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreDaejongism대종교
A Korean faith system centred on the ancestral king Dangun and national identity.Tradition · Power and authority Living
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTerritorial spirit
A belief that demons or angels rule over specific lands and nations.Belief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 IndiaSamatonꯁꯃꯗꯣꯟ ꯑꯌꯥꯡꯕ (Shamadon Ayangba)
A winged divine horse from Meitei mythology and ancestor of the Manipuri ponyBeing · Power and authority Living
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan and 2 moreAyaz AtaАяз Ата
A Turkic winter spirit who brings snow and gifts during the cold seasonBeing · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living
🇲🇲 MyanmarMythical creatures in Burmese folklore
A collection of spirits, beasts and hybrids from Myanmar's stories and playsBeing · Wonder and entertainment 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
🇺🇸 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 1 moreYom Hillulaיום הילולא
A joyous death anniversary for a saint in Jewish traditionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreDeity yoga
A Vajrayana meditation on embodying a chosen Buddha figure to realize emptinessTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesPlastic shaman
A label for imposters who sell fake Indigenous spiritual practices for profitBelief · Cursing and harm Living
🇪🇬 EgyptMagical alphabet
Letter systems used in occult rituals and talismanic magicText · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇮🇱 IsraelShekhinahשְׁכִינָה
The divine presence of God dwelling among people in Jewish and Islamic thoughtBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇾🇪 Yemen and 1 moreSimthud Durarسمط الدّرر
A poem praising the Prophet Muhammad, recited in ritual gatherings across the Indian Ocean.Text · 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
🇮🇱 IsraelSeder hishtalshelusסדר השתלשלות
A Kabbalistic cosmology mapping the descent of divine light through spiritual realms to the physical world.Belief · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇮🇱 IsraelBabalon
A Thelemic goddess of fertility, ecstasy, and spiritual transformation.Being · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇯🇵 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
🇲🇲 MyanmarYadayaယတြာ
Rituals in Myanmar to avert misfortune using astrology and numerologyTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇺🇸 United StatesChurch of Light
An esoteric organization teaching astrology, alchemy, and magic as a way of life.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇧🇹 BhutanVajravarahiརྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ། (Dorje Pakmo)
A wrathful female buddha in Tibetan Buddhism, depicted with a sow head and dancing posture.Being · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 IndiaCausal plane
A high spiritual realm in Theosophy and New Age cosmologyBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 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
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreAna BeKoachאנא בכח
A medieval Jewish liturgical poem linked to the 42-letter name of GodText · Power and authority · Protection 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
🇻🇺 Vanuatu and 3 moreMana
A spiritual force of power and authority in Oceanic culturesBelief · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesChristian views on magic
A spectrum of Christian beliefs about magical practices, ranging from strict condemnation to esoteric integration.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sex magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Yom Hillula: Jonathan Stein, Public domain, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Brownie: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Christian views on magic: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Moon rabbit: An artist, Public domain, source
- Vahana: Unknown Nepali, Public domain, source
- Mothman: Tim Bertelink, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Angel: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Daejongism: Berghendorf, CC0, source
- Samaton: Isabelm-h, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mythical creatures in Burmese folklore: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Deity yoga: Anonymous Unknown author, CC0, source
- Mẫu Thượng Ngàn: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Seder hishtalshelus: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Magatama: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Yadaya: Thai Government, CC BY 2.0, source
- Vajravarahi: Foto: Andreas Praefcke, Public domain, source
- Order of Nine Angles: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mara: Under the Bo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Coin-sword: Etnografiska museet, CC BY 2.5, source
- Fuji: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Magical alphabet: Francis Barrett, Public domain, source
- Ana BeKoach: Baruch Zvi Ring (c. 1872 - 1927) Details on Google Art Project, Public domain, source
- Mana: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Vedic astrology: Freedomji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Babalon: William Blake, Public domain, source
- New Thought: Nyttend, Public domain, source