RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Magic
erass belief in witches and the devil. With his adoption of the later view Thomas Aquinas prepared the way for the bull issued against witches by Innocent VIII. in 1484 and for the Omnipotentis of Gregory XV. in 1623, which condemned magic resulting in death to punishment by the secular arm and requited minor magic injuries with imprisonment for life. The freedom of thought and doctrine prevailing from the time of the Reformation gradually destroyed belief in devils and demons, while it developed medicine and surgery from the magic art of healing and the doctrines of Paracelsus, and evolved astronomy from astrology, and chemistry and physics from alchemy and the hermetic art.
The term " black magic " has been applied, especially by the humanists and during the period of the Reformation, to the practise of those occult sciences which profess to invoke the aid of evil spirits or to make a compact with the devil. The Reformers, Luther, Melanchthon, Ca-
13. Black merarius, and Bullinger, all expressed Magic. their belief in the black art, while at
the same period many asserted that they had formed compacts with the devil and had thus acquired supernatural power. With the decay of the belief in witches after the eighteenth century, however, the idea that superhuman power might thus be gained gradually disappeared, although certain Roman Catholic theologians, such as Oswald and Heinrich, still adhere to the older view.
The name " white magic," on the other hand, was given to the occult arts practised, especially in the sixteenth century, by various scholars, by which they professed to produce supernatural results either by the aid of good spirits or by peculiar gifts and powers of the human soul. The acme of this form of magic was reached by the De occulta philosophia of Agrippa von Nettesheim (Cologne, 1510), which distinguished between " natu-
14. White ral magic," " celestial magic " (astrol- Magic. ogy and the casting of nativities), and
" religious magic " (meditation and purification of the heart). Through " natural magic," which is based on a knowledge of the " quintessence," or all-pervading cosmic spirit, the human soul may gain the " hidden powers " by which it can often control nature, and rule the souls of the departed. Proceeding from the same theory of the " quintessence " or " macrocosm," Paracelsus made the concept of the mystic sympathy of all things the basis of his art of healing. Increasing rationalism and the advance of science, however, has caused the meaning of the term " white magic " to degenerate until it now connotes little more than legerdemain.
The adherents of modern occultism protest strongly against the interpretation of all phenomena of magic by rationalism, although they do not wish to be considered representatives of common superstition, since they regard the secret doctrines which they profess and practise as equal in dignity to other sciences of the present day. In their judgment a large residue of mysterious facts and phenomena do not fall within the scope of ordinary
investigations of nature, but are to be reserved for the future science of the spirit. The endeavor to realize such a higher magic or occultism must be admitted to be legitimate, 15. Magic but as yet there is no uniformity reand Modern garding principles or method, and even Occultism, the name is not decided. Two tendencies may be distinguished, one extending into the obscure realm of the future life and the world of spirits (see Psychical Research and Immortality), and the other restricted to the sphere of the human soul. Leaving out of consideration the former class, there remains a long list of names and methods for the purely anthropological system of occultism, which has variously been termed " animal magnetism," " mesmerism," " electrobiology," " somnambulism," " psychic power," " psychism," " transcendental physics," " practical magic," " occultism," " cryptic science," " frontier science," and even " cryptology," " aerology," " adelology," and " horology." Among the various subdivisions of natural magic mention may also be made of hypnotism and mindreading. (O. ZoCKLERf.) Bibliography: For primitive magic special attention is called to the literature given under Comparative Religion, particularly to the works of Chantepie de la Saussaye, Tylor, Brinton, Frazer, Jevons, Mannhardt, Borchart, Haddon, Lenormant, King, Davies, Budge, Skeat, and Lang, which together comprise a literature on the subject. Most of the works on the religions of Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt (see bibliographies under those articles), and India (see bibliography under Brahmanism; Hinduism) deal adequately with magic in those countries. Note also the works named under Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism. Much material will also be found in the Hibbert Lectures (q.v.), and especially in the Annual Reports of the American Bureau of Ethnology. Consult further: P. Scholz, Die Gotzendienst und Zauberwesen bei , den alten Hebraern und deren Nachbarvblkern, Regensburg, 1877; J. Lippert, Die Religionen der europaischen Kulturvblker in ihrem geschichtlichen Ursprung, Berlin, 1881; J. Reville, Die Religion in Rom unler den Severern, Leipsic, 1888; V. von Strauss, Der altagyplische Gvtterglaube, 2 vols., Heidelberg, 1889; K. du Prel, Studien uber Geheimwissenschaften, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1890; idem, Die Magie als Naturwissenschaft, Jena, 1899; J. Sepp, Die Religion der alten Deutschen und ihr Fortbestand bis zur Gegenwart, Munich, 1890; R. Smend, Alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte, Freiburg, 1893; F. T. Elworthy, The Evil Eye, an Account of this Ancient and Widespread Superstition, London, 1895; E. Reclus, Le Magisme, Paris, 1895; H. Zimmern, Beitr'age zur Kenntnis der babylonischassyrischen Religion, Leipsic, 1896-1901; W. Kroll, Antiker Aberglaube, Hamburg, 1897; Uriarte, Die Magie des 19. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1897; W. J. Flagg, Yoga; or Transformation: comparative Statement of the various religious Dogmas concerning the Soul . . . and of Magic, New York, 1898; W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual, Amsterdam, 1900; C. Gruneisen, Der Ahnenkult und die Urreligion Israels, Halle, 1900; R. C. Thompson, Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon, 2 vols , London, 1900; idem, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, London, 1903; idem, Semitic Magic, Us Origin and Development, London, 1908; A. J. Evans. The Mycenean Tree and Pillar Cult, London, 1901; J. Opfert Sechshundert drei und fiinfzig. Eine babylonische magische Quadrattafel, Strasburg, 1902; J. Hunger, Becherwahrsagung bei den Babyloniern nach zwei Keilschnflen aus der Hammurabi-Zeit, Leipsic, 1903; F. I,. Griffith and H Thompson, The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden, 2 vols., London, 1904-05; V. Henry, La Magie dans Vlnde antique, Paris, 1904; A. Boissier, Choix de textes relatifs a la divination assyro-babylonienne, Geneva 1905- W. L. Hare, Babylonian Religion, Chaldean magic, London, 1905; K. L. Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, London, 1905; A- Wiedemann, Magie und Zauberei im
Magister Sacri Palatii Mahaffy, John Pentland