Types of magic

Many anthropologists classify magic as homeopathic or contagious, according to its basic principle. The Scottish anthropologist Sir James G. Frazer first described these two types of magic in his famous book The Golden Bough (1890). Some people divide magic into black magic and white magic. Black magic harms people, but white magic helps them. Early witches usually practiced black magic. But a saint may cure a sick person using white magic.

In the type of homeopathic magic, also called imitative magic, magicians act out or imitate what they want to happen. They often use a model or miniature of whatever they want to influence. For example, a fisherman may take a model of a fish and pretend he is netting it. He believes this ritual will assure him a good catch. In some European folk dances, the dancers leap high into the air to make their crops grow tall. People once believed that yellow flowers would cure jaundice, a yellowish discoloration of the body.

Many taboos come from homeopathic magic. People avoid certain harmless things because they resemble various harmful things. For example, Eskimo parents might warn their sons against playing a string game, such as cat's cradle, in which children loop string around their fingers. Playing such games might cause the children's fingers to become tangled in the harpoon lines they will use as adults.

Contagious magic comes from the belief that after a person has had contact with certain things, they will continue to influence that person. The most common examples of contagious magic involve parts of the body that have been removed, such as fingernails, hair and teeth. A person's nails and hair supposedly can affect the rest of that person's body long after they have been cut off. A person can injure an enemy by damage a lock of hair or a piece of clothing from the victim. A magician can even cripple an enemy by placing a sharp object in that person's footprint.

People who belive in contagious magic fear that an enemy can gain power over them by obtaining parts of their body. Therefore, they can carefully dispose of their nails, hair, teeth and even body wastes.

Witches and voodoo magicians often practice a type of homeopathic magic called envoûtement. The magician makes a doll or some other likeness of an enemy. The magician harms the enemy by sticking pins into the doll of injuring it in some other way. In some societies, the doll includes a lock of hair or a piece of clothing from the enemy. This type of envoûtement is a combination of homeopathic and contagious magic.

People turn to magic chiefly as a form of insurance - that is, they use it along with actions that actually bring results. For example, hunters may use a hunting charm. But they also use their hunting skills and knowledge of animals. The charm may give the hunters the extra confidence they need to hunt even more successfully than they would do without it. If they shoot a lot of game, they credit the charm for their success. Many events occur naturally without magic. Crops grow without it, and sick people get well without it. But if people use magic to bring a good harvest or to cure a patient, they may belive the magic was responsible.

People also tend to forget magic's failures and to be impressed by its apparent successes. They may consider magic successful if it appears to work only ten percent of the time. Even when magic fails, people often explains the failure without doubting the power of the magic. They may say that the magician cast a more powerful spell against the magician.