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.
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that reads human fate through the positions of celestial bodies.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreMagi
Priests of Zoroastrianism and the figures who inspired the word for magicTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 5 moreTetragrammaton讬讛讜讛
The four-letter name of God in the Hebrew Bible, written as YHWH.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚨馃嚫 Palestine and 1 moreRachel's TombQever Ra岣l; Qabr R膩岣ツ玪
A shared holy site near Bethlehem revered by Jews, Christians, and MuslimsTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚥馃嚞 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy
A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 3 moreGematria讙讬诪讟专讬讛
A numeric writing system that assigns numerical values to words and phrases for interpretation.Text 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 4 moreIsaac Luria讬执爪职讞指拽 讘谉 砖诇诪讛 讗砖讻谞讝讬 诇讜旨专职讬指讗
A sixteenth-century rabbi who founded modern Kabbalah through oral teachings in Safed.Text 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚜馃嚫 Spain and 5 moreIbn Arabi賲丨賷賷 丕賱丿賷賳 兀亘賵 毓亘丿 丕賱賱賴 賲丨賲丿 亘賳 毓賱賷 亘賳 毓乇亘賷 丕賱丨丕鬲賲賷 丕賱胤丕卅賷
A medieval Andalusian mystic and philosopher whose teachings shaped Sufi metaphysics across the Islamic world.Text 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 2 moreLag BaOmer诇址状讙 讘指旨注讜止诪侄专
A Jewish holiday marking the end of a mourning period with bonfires and outdoor playTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 2 morePlanets in astrology
Seven celestial bodies used to map human character and destinyBelief 路 Power and authority 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 2 moreMezuzah诪职讝讜旨讝指讛
A scroll of Torah verses placed in a case on Jewish doorpostsCharm 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreQareen賯乇賷賳
A spiritual companion or double assigned to every human in Islamic beliefBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 4 moreAngel诪诇讗讱
A supernatural messenger or intermediary spirit found in many religious traditions.Being 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreTerritorial spirit
A belief that demons or angels rule over specific lands and nations.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelSeder hishtalshelus住讚专 讛砖转诇砖诇讜转
A Kabbalistic cosmology mapping the descent of divine light through spiritual realms to the physical world.Belief 路 Power and authority 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreAna BeKoach讗谞讗 讘讻讞
A medieval Jewish liturgical poem linked to the 42-letter name of GodText 路 Power and authority 路 Protection Living
馃嚠馃嚪 IranPersian mysticism
A spiritual tradition in Iran blending ancient beliefs with Sufi practice and poetic thought.Tradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreYom Hillula讬讜诐 讛讬诇讜诇讗
A joyous death anniversary for a saint in Jewish traditionRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 5 moreKhidr丕賱禺囟乇
A Qur'anic guide and saint believed to hold hidden wisdom and aid those in need.Being 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelShekhinah砖职讈讻执讬谞指讛
The divine presence of God dwelling among people in Jewish and Islamic thoughtBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚲馃嚜 Yemen and 1 moreSimthud Durar爻賲胤 丕賱丿賾乇乇
A poem praising the Prophet Muhammad, recited in ritual gatherings across the Indian Ocean.Text 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Qareen: 毓丕賲乇 卮丕蹃蹖賳, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magi: Colijn de Coter, CC0, source
- Tetragrammaton: Lakisletter.gif : derivative work: Filii Henoch ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Yom Hillula: Jonathan Stein, Public domain, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Isaac Luria: Louski1, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ibn Arabi: Omar.Hafez, CC0, source
- Lag BaOmer: Yoninah, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Planets in astrology: Jan van Loon, Public domain, source
- Angel: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Seder hishtalshelus: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Mezuzah: Adrian Grycuk, CC BY-SA 3.0 pl, source
- Ana BeKoach: Baruch Zvi Ring (c. 1872 - 1927) Details on Google Art Project, Public domain, source
- Gematria: Bethsheba Ashe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Khidr: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Rachel's Tomb: Lane-Poole, Stanley, Public domain, source