Magic and the Supernatural - Lancaster University

viii
Preface
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determine precisely what that difference is. Is the difference that an expert is
required in the case of magic but not in prayer? That can’t be it, as many religions,
from Catholicism to Wicca, give a special place to experts and expertise. Perhaps
the best answer that can be given is that provided by another anthropologist,
Stanley J. Tambiah, who argues that magic involves a command, an attempt to
impose a change on the world, while prayer involves a request submitted to a
higher power in hopes that the external agent will then bring about the desired
change. 1 Perhaps that’s it, but then again the invocations of ancient Greeks to their
gods and goddesses as well as the spells wrought by modern Wiccans certainly
seem to blur the realm between ‘magic’ and ‘prayer.’
In the end, it may be impossible to provide a comprehensive definition of what
differentiates prayer from magic, just as it is equally impossible to establish a fully
satisfactory answer for what constitutes superstition. After all, one person’s
superstition is another person’s deeply held and important religious belief – or even
natural philosophical principle.
For that reason it might be best to focus on the implications and philosophical
meanings of magical modes of thinking. This was Brian Feltham’s approach in his
chapter on ‘Magic and Practical Agency.’ A philosopher at the University of
Reading, he argues that magical practices provide the tools not only to allow us to
make sense of the world as it is, but also for transforming our subjective
experiences of the world. Juan Pablo Maggioti considered the philosophical
implications of magic as well, though from a more historical angle than Feltham’s
contribution. His chapter on ‘Art, love and magic in Marsilio Ficino’s De amore’
considers the way in which the Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-
1499) saw art and magic to be intricately intertwined in their abilities to transform
the world.
A historical approach makes sense here, because for most of human history
what has been considered magical or superstitious was simply part of the accepted
intellectual landscape. Or at least that’s what Scott E. Hendrix argues in his study
of ‘Rational Astrology and Empiricism, From Pico to Galileo.’ Furthermore, while
modern people have largely marginalized belief in magical practices,
understanding magic and those who controlled it was once seen as vitally
important by religious authorities in the West, as we see in Vrajabhūmi
Vanderheyden’s study, ‘Between Religion and Magic: Clerics and Common
People in the Lier Witch Trials of 1589 and 1603.’
However, what many would consider to be a superstitious belief still holds
great importance to a large number of people today, as shown by Orchida Ismail
and Lamya Ramadan’s study, ‘The Jinn: An Equivalent to evil in 20 th Century
Arabian Nights and Days.’ These authors show that the Western perceptions of
Jinn as comic caricatures and fantastic mythic beings represent a gross
misunderstanding of important Islamic religious conceptions.