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.
🇻🇳 Vietnam and 2 moreVietnamese numismatic charmsBùa Việt Nam
Coin-shaped charms used for protection, luck, and ritual in Vietnamese cultureCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreStrichaСтріча
A Slavic goddess who spins the golden thread of human destiny and good fortuneBeing · Luck and prosperity · Protection Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreHorse coin馬錢 (mǎ qián)
A Chinese numismatic charm depicting horses, used as game pieces or gambling tokensCharm · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWirry-cow
A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLei Ting curse charm符咒钱
A numismatic charm invoking the thunder god to banish evil spirits.Charm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 SwedenKvinneby amulet
An 11th-century Swedish copper plate with a long runic inscription seeking protectionCharm · Protection Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreTaoist coin charm道教品壓生錢
Chinese and Vietnamese numismatic charms used for protection and feng shuiCharm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptKitab al-Kanuzكتاب الكنوز
A lost Arabic treasure guide linked to Zerzura and the SphinxText · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940
A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomMadam Pigott
A White Lady ghost of Shropshire who haunts roads and rides on horsesBeing 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
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreVault protector coin鎮庫錢 (zhèn kù qián)
Large Chinese numismatic charms cast to guard mint treasuries and attract wealth.Charm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaSynoptical astrology
An astrological system that overlays tropical, sidereal and constellational zodiacsText · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 4 moreBelgian Tarot
A standard tarot deck printed in the Low Countries, mislabeled as Swiss.Tradition · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreShamanism in Europe
Scholarly theories on shamanic elements in European folk beliefs and witch trialsTradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇱 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
🇺🇦 UkraineGhost of KyivПривид Києва
A wartime legend of a mythical fighter pilot who rallied Ukrainian morale.Figure · Power and authority Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesMothman
A humanoid cryptid from West Virginia folklore, linked to large birds and a bridge collapse.Being · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreMakaraमकर
A legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology and a symbol of water and thresholdsBeing · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 morePalladiumΠαλλάδιον (Palladion)
A wooden statue of Athena said to protect cities, stolen from Troy and brought to Rome.Charm · Protection Historical
🇬🇷 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
🇮🇱 Israel and 5 moreAstaroth
An arch-demon in Western occultism, derived from the ancient goddess Astarte.Being · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇳 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
🇮🇷 Iran and 2 moreYazata𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀
A Zoroastrian term for divine beings worthy of worship and venerationBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso and 5 moreCosmic egg
A mythological motif where the universe or a creator emerges from a primordial egg.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇺🇸 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
🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreKalevaKalev
A primordial giant and ancestral figure in the mythologies of Estonia and FinlandBeing · Power and authority Historical
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 2 moreOrder of the Solar TempleOrdre du Temple solaire
A neo-Templar new religious movement responsible for mass deaths in the 1990s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreChortчёрт
A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇷 Iran and 1 moreDerafsh Kavianiدرفش کاویانی
A legendary royal standard of pre-Islamic Iran, later adopted as a symbol of national identity.Charm · Power and authority · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreHiisi
A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreHousehold deity
A spirit or minor god believed to guard a home and its family members.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreWolves in folklore, religion and mythology
A global survey of how cultures view the wolf as symbol, spirit or threatBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreDietrich von Bern
A legendary Germanic hero based on the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the GreatFigure · Power and authority Historical
🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrixστρίξ
A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇺🇸 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
🇮🇳 IndiaKirtimukhaकीर्तिमुख
A swallowing face motif in Hindu and Buddhist temple architecture across South and Southeast AsiaBeing · Protection · Cleansing and purification Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptAeonαἰών
Emanations of the divine source in Gnostic cosmologyBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇫🇷 FranceTitivillus
A medieval demon who collects scribal errors and liturgical mistakes in a sack.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreTeraphimתרפים
Ancient Hebrew household figures linked to ancestry, property rights and divinationBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomEnfield poltergeist
A disputed 1970s case of alleged supernatural activity in a London homeBelief Historical
🇯🇵 JapanAllocer
A duke of demons in grimoires who teaches sciences and commands legionsBeing · Power and authority Historical
🇱🇹 Lithuania and 2 moreLaumaLaumė
A Baltic fairy-like spirit of the sky, weather, and newborn children.Being · Protection · Healing Historical
🇹🇷 Turkey and 4 moreAl BastyAlbastı
A female spirit of guilt and childbirth found in Turkic and Caucasian folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Vault protector coin: 风之清扬, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Order of the Solar Temple: George Stock derivative work: thumperward ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Kvinneby amulet: Ulrik Skans SHMM, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Brownie: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Lei Ting curse charm: Donald_Trung, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Horse coin: Etnografiska museet, CC BY 2.5, source
- Taoist coin charm: Etnografiska Museet, CC BY 2.5, source
- Curse of 1940: Trophy: Unknown Photo: Alexey Chernyadyev Derivative work: J . delanoy, CC BY 3.0, source
- Synoptical astrology: Constellarius, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Belgian Tarot: PATLECOQ, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vietnamese numismatic charms: Jean-Michel Moullec, CC BY 2.0, 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
- Ghost of Kyiv: Андрій Данкович / Andriy Dankovych, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- New Thought: Nyttend, Public domain, source
- Astaroth: M. Jarrault, Public domain, source
- Derafsh Kaviani: CNG Coins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dietrich von Bern: Workshop of Diebolt Lauber, Hagenau 1444-1448, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Strix: Prosthetic Head, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kirtimukha: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, source
- Enfield poltergeist: Mx. Granger, CC0, source
- Titivillus: Andrewrabbott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Allocer: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Palladium: Marie-Lan Nguyen ( Jastrow ), Public domain, source
- Mara: Under the Bo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chort: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lauma: Raki_Man, CC BY 3.0, source
- Household deity: Claus Ableiter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Teraphim: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Cosmic egg: James Basire, 1730–1802 (engraver), Public domain, source
- Makara: Subbhashinee S, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Aeon: Jacques Matter, Public domain, source