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Magic and DivinationChapter 7

+Baseball Magic

Remember the article “Baseball Magic”?

Why is magic used in baseball?

What are taboos and fetishes?

+Baseball Magic

Remember the article “Baseball Magic”?

Why is magic used in baseball? Because it relies mostly on chance People want to feel in control

What are taboos and fetishes? Taboos are strictly forbidden actions or items Fetishes are obsessions with ‘lucky’ objects

+Introduction

What do you think of when you hear the term magic?

Our idea of magic is illusion, because it alters perceptions

Magic consists of activities and rituals that alter or control the supernatural

+Introduction

Early anthropologists thought that magic was separate from religion because it did not involve spirits

Many thought it was a pseudoscience, used to make sense of their world

Many thought that magic would ‘evolve’ into religion

+Introduction

Science is empirical:It is observable, repeatable, testableInvolves hypotheses and theoriesDoes magic? No

But magic helps people make sense of their world; it involves trying to directly control aspects of their environment for a specific outcome

It is part of religion

+The World of Magic

Magic: methods that allow a person to interact with supernatural and bring out specific outcomes

Sorcery: usually seen as evil

+Sorcery and Witchcraft

Sorcery is performance of rites and spells intended to cause harm to others

Uses objects

Frazer’s 2 principles:

Imitative: Represent a person Voodoo doll, effigy

Contagious: Use items that were in contact with person

+Witchcraft

Witchcraft: use of psychic power to cause harm to others

Uses mind

Accusations are patterned because idea that sorcerers and witches only harm those they don’t like

Salem Witch Trials

+Rules of Magic

James Frazer

Law of SympathyMagic depends on association between 2 things

It has 2 parts:

Law of Similarity and

Law of Contagion

+Rules of Magic

Law of SimilarityThings that are alike are the sameHomeopathic or Imitative magic

Law of ContagionThings that were once in contact continue to be connected

Contagious magic

+Homeopathic Magic

This assumes that there is a causal relationship between similar things

Image Magic: making an image that represents someone and then injuring or killing the image to really harm the person

Voodoo dolls

+Homeopathic Magic Example is doctrine of signatures In homeopathic or traditional medicine, people believe that there are natural signals in the plants showing people how to use them

Some think these were left by God

+Homeopathic Magic Example: plants used to treat problems with blood are red; those for stomach are yellow (bile).

+Contagious Magic

Based on idea that things that were once in contact stay connected (hair, nails, clothing…) Example: rabbit’s foot for luck

People also believe that an illness can be transferred onto an object in order to heal people Tying a caterpillar on a child’s neck to cure whooping cough

New Guinea: put salve on arrow wound and on arrow so the injury transfers onto the arrow However, enemy can counter this by repeatedly plucking bow to make injury worse

+Function of Magic

Magic can be used in times of danger or in times of uncertainty

Connected to rituals, including those for good luck

Example: professional baseball players

+Why Magic Works

Most things are not cause-and-effect, but actually coincidence

However, humans like to feel that they can control outcomes Ideas of good and bad luck

+Why Magic Works

Tyler looked at why it seems magic never fails Magic attempts to bring about things that would have happened naturally Rain rituals (eventually it will rain!)

People are very stubborn in changing their beliefs, even with evidence that they do not work

People do not ask for impossible things from magic

+Why Magic Works

If the magic doesn’t work, people say that the ritual was not performed correctly Or someone was doing counter-magic

People also have selective memory We forget a lot that happens to us Successes are remembered and failures forgotten more often

+Why Magic Works

Self-fulfilling People make things happen because they believe they will happen Example: death magic

Person is so convinced of and worried about dying that it can lead to death

+Magic in Society (Examples)Azande Magic involves using objects, mostly plant materials called medicines

The object houses power and the ritual will release the power

Use doctrine of signatures

Example: plants with milky sap used to help a mother nurse her baby

Other uses: hunting, against sorcery, find love, cure diseases, avenge a murder

Rituals can often be personal and done in private

+Magic in Society (Examples)Fore Believe the disease kuru is caused by sorcery (we now know it is caused by eating brains at funerals)

Sorcerer would take remnants of someone (hair, nails, excrement) and bury it in cold ground. They he would beat it and recite a spell that would cause kuru Example of contagious magic

To prevent this, people hide all their possible remnants

+Magic in Society (Examples)Wicca Neo-Pagan: revival of a pre-Christian practice

See their magical knowledge as a continuation of practices that were pushed underground by Christianity for many centuries.

Core of the ritual is movement of energy Practitioner builds up energy in body and releases it at just the right time

Based on the worldview that there is power in all things Rituals awaken power and direct it toward a goal Use crystals, herbs, oils, images, etc. Closely connected to nature Supplements practical actions

+Divination

Attempts to find out the unknown and to manipulate supernatural to get future information

Sees the world as things that interconnect

Magic is manipulating these connections

+Forms of Divination

Inspirational: involves spiritual experience (ex. Possession) Also known as natural or emotive

Noninspirational/Artificial: magic, reading natural events, using oracles (a device for seeing future)

+Divination Forms

Inspirational divination involves an individual having direct contact with a supernatural being Usually through ASC Possession Prophesy Mediums

Ordeals involve a painful and dangerous test, usually to prove innocence Putting hand into burning oil Salem witch trials: trial by water (innocent drown, witches do not and are then burned)

+Divination Forms

Example of ordeal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iFsvhxsoGs (minutes 1-16 only)

+Forms of Divination

Fortuitous: happens without conscious effort

Deliberate: happens because someone sets out to do them

There are different combinations of these types

+Forms of Divination

Fortuitous Noninspirational: omens, ornithomancy (birds)

Fortuitous Inspirational: necromancy, possession, prophesy, mediums, oneiromancy

Deliberate Noninspirational: astrology, flipping a coin, magic 8 ball, Ouija board, palm reading, tarot cards

+Divination Example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdLa9yYt_jw

+Techniques of Divination

Oneriomancy: interpreting dreams Differ by culture Can be seen as spirit guiding you in dreams

+Techniques of Divination

Examples: To see apes in your dream represents dishonesty, maliciousness, and lies.

To dream of a seal represents your good humor and ability to entertain others.

A dream in which you are toothless indicates your failure to succeed.

To dream that you fall and are frightened represents that you do not have balance or power in your life.

To dream that you are flying with ease and enjoying the view indicates that you are dealing with circumstances well.

+Techniques of Divination

Necromancy: divination through contact with the dead (commonly ancestors) Omens are frequent

Ornithomancy: reading the flight of birds

Palmistry: reading lines of palm of hand

Phrenology: reading shape of head

Mechanical divination: manipulate objects Ouija board, tarot cards

+Divination Example

Azande oracles

Most common is iwa, or rubbing-board oracle Small wooden board with a ‘female’ and ‘male’ pieces

Only an oracle after rubbed with medicines and buried in ground

As lid is moved across surface, a smooth motion is ‘no’ and sticking is ‘yes’

Used to get fast answers to common questions

+Divination Example

+Divination Example

Azande oracles

Dakpa is termite oracle Used for more important questions and takes longer to answer

Two sticks are places in termite mound overnight More reliable (no human error)

Benge, the poison oracle, is most important oracle Used in legal matters and in times of crisis Feed poison to chickens and watch reaction to get answers

Poison is hard to find and chickens cannot be eaten

+Divination Example

Astrology

Foundation is that movement of planets and stars influences humans’ lives

Began in Babylonia for the good of the community

Spread to Greece, Rome, and Egypt

Led to the zodiac

+What’s Your Sign?

Read your sign description.

Is it accurate?

Do you think your sign governs your actions or events in your life?

+Assignment

1. Define and give examples of homeopathic magic and contagious magic.

2. Do we consider items like Ouija boards and Magic 8 balls as religious devices in the US? Why or why not? Do they work? Explain.

3. What is your opinion of your horoscope? Would you consider this a religious practice? Explain.

4. Is divination a harmless hobby (like astrology or fortune telling)? Or can it have negative consequences? Explain your answers.