Flint, Valerie I.J. (1990). The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe (1sted.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp.4, 12, 406. ISBN 978-0691031651. Connotations have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history, [3] Within Western culture, magic has been linked to ideas of the Other, [4] foreignness, [5] and primitivism; [6] indicating that it is "a powerful marker of cultural difference" [7] and likewise, a non-modern phenomenon. [8] During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Western intellectuals perceived the practice of magic to be a sign of a primitive mentality and also commonly attributed it to marginalised groups of people. [7] Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja (1991). Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality (Reprinted.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521376310. Economic incentives can encourage individuals to identify as magicians. [143] In the cases of various forms of traditional healer, as well as the later stage magicians or illusionists, the label of magician could become a job description. [253] Others claim such an identity out of a genuinely held belief that they have specific unusual powers or talents. [254] Different societies have different social regulations regarding who can take on such a role; for instance, it may be a question of familial heredity, or there may be gender restrictions on who is allowed to engage in such practices. [255] These modern Western concepts of magic rely on a belief in correspondences connected to an unknown occult force that permeates the universe. [155] As noted by Hanegraaff, this operated according to "a new meaning of magic, which could not possibly have existed in earlier periods, precisely because it is elaborated in reaction to the "disenchantment of the world"." [155]

Despite the attempt to reclaim the term magia for use in a positive sense, it did not supplant traditional attitudes toward magic in the West, which remained largely negative. [129] At the same time as magia naturalis was attracting interest and was largely tolerated, Europe saw an active persecution of accused witches believed to be guilty of maleficia. [125] Reflecting the term's continued negative associations, Protestants often sought to denigrate Roman Catholic sacramental and devotional practices as being magical rather than religious. [130] Many Roman Catholics were concerned by this allegation and for several centuries various Roman Catholic writers devoted attention to arguing that their practices were religious rather than magical. [131] At the same time, Protestants often used the accusation of magic against other Protestant groups which they were in contest with. [132] In this way, the concept of magic was used to prescribe what was appropriate as religious belief and practice. [131] Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006b). "Magic V: 18th-20th Century". In Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Brill. pp.738–744. ISBN 978-9004152311.El-Zein, Amira (2009). Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p.77. ISBN 9780815650706. Lewy, Hans (1978). Oracles and Theurgy: Mysticism, Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire. Paris: Études Augustiniennes. p.439. ISBN 9782851210258. Throughout recorded history, magicians have often faced skepticism regarding their purported powers and abilities. [265] For instance, in sixteenth-century England, the writer Reginald Scot wrote The Discoverie of Witchcraft, in which he argued that many of those accused of witchcraft or otherwise claiming magical capabilities were fooling people using illusionism. [266] See also [ edit ] Russell, Jeffrey Burton (1972). Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp.6–7. ISBN 0801492890.

In the first century BCE, the Greek concept of the magos was adopted into Latin and used by a number of ancient Roman writers as magus and magia. [15] The earliest known Latin use of the term was in Virgil's Eclogue, written around 40 BCE, which makes reference to magicis... sacris (magic rites). [84] The Romans already had other terms for the negative use of supernatural powers, such as veneficus and saga. [84] The Roman use of the term was similar to that of the Greeks, but placed greater emphasis on the judicial application of it. [15] Within the Roman Empire, laws would be introduced criminalising things regarded as magic. [85] Josephy, Marcia Reines (1975). Magic & Superstition in the Jewish Tradition: An Exhibition Organized by the Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica. Spertus College of Judaica Press. p.18 . Retrieved 15 May 2020. A variety of personal traits may be credited with giving magical power, and frequently they are associated with an unusual birth into the world. [256] For instance, in Hungary it was believed that a táltos would be born with teeth or an additional finger. [257] In various parts of Europe, it was believed that being born with a caul would associate the child with supernatural abilities. [257] In some cases, a ritual initiation is required before taking on a role as a specialist in such practices, and in others it is expected that an individual will receive a mentorship from another specialist. [258]

van Schaik, S. (2020). Buddhist Magic: Divination, Healing, and Enchantment Through the Age. Shambhala. ISBN 978-1611808254. Betz, Hans (1996). The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.34. ISBN 978-0226044477.

Ancient Greek scholarship of the 20th century, almost certainly influenced by Christianising preconceptions of the meanings of magic and religion, and the wish to establish Greek culture as the foundation of Western rationality, developed a theory of ancient Greek magic as primitive and insignificant, and thereby essentially separate from Homeric, communal ( polis) religion. Since the last decade of the century, however, recognising the ubiquity and respectability of acts such as katadesmoi ( binding spells), described as magic by modern and ancient observers alike, scholars have been compelled to abandon this viewpoint. [87] :90–95 The Greek word mageuo (practice magic) itself derives from the word Magos, originally simply the Greek name for a Persian tribe known for practicing religion. [88] Non-civic mystery cults have been similarly re-evaluated: [87] :97–98 If drawing clear boundaries and establishing hierarchies with respect to magic may be difficult, how does contemporary, fieldwork-based anthropology go about understanding it? Especially after anthropology’s methodological revolution in the 1920s that established ethnographic fieldwork as the paramount avenue to investigate social and cultural life, anthropologists have become particularly interested in understanding magic in and through practice – in other words, in figuring out what people do exactly, when they do magic. Hutton, Ronald, (2017), The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present, p. x, ISBN 978-0300229042.

Some commentators say that in the first century CE, early Christian authors absorbed the Greco-Roman concept of magic and incorporated it into their developing Christian theology, [85]and that these Christians retained the already implied Greco-Roman negative stereotypes of the term and extented them by incorporating conceptual patterns borrowed from Jewish thought, in particular the opposition of magic and miracle. [85] Some early Christian authors followed the Greek-Roman thinking by ascribing the origin of magic to the human realm, mainly to Zoroaster and Osthanes. The Christian view was that magic was a product of the Babylonians, Persians, or Egyptians. [99] The Christians shared with earlier classical culture the idea that magic was something distinct from proper religion, although drew their distinction between the two in different ways. [100] A 17th-century depiction of the medieval writer Isidore of Seville, who provided a list of activities he regarded as magical In ancient Egypt ( Kemet in the Egyptian language), Magic (personified as the god heka) was an integral part of religion and culture which is known to us through a substantial corpus of texts which are products of the Egyptian tradition. [53] One societal force in the Middle Ages more powerful than the singular commoner, the Christian Church, rejected magic as a whole because it was viewed as a means of tampering with the natural world in a supernatural manner associated with the biblical verses of Deuteronomy 18:9–12. [ further explanation needed] Despite the many negative connotations which surround the term magic, there exist many elements that are seen in a divine or holy light. [115] Freud, Sigmund; Strachey, James (1950). Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics (Repinted.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393001433.

Hasidism: Between Ecstasy and Magic, Moshe Idel, SUNY Press 1995, pp. 72–74. The term magic, used here to denote divine theurgy affecting material blessing, rather than directly talismanic practical Kabbalah magic Hutton, Ronald (2003). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. London and New York: Hambledon and London. ISBN 9781852853976. Scholars have criticized the idea that magic and religion can be differentiated into two distinct, separate categories. [213] The social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown suggested that "a simple dichotomy between magic and religion" was unhelpful and thus both should be subsumed under the broader category of ritual. [214] Many later anthropologists followed his example. [214] Davies, Owen (2012). Magic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199588022.The model of the magician in Christian thought was provided by Simon Magus, (Simon the Magician), a figure who opposed Saint Peter in both the Acts of the Apostles and the apocryphal yet influential Acts of Peter. [103] The historian Michael D. Bailey stated that in medieval Europe, magic was a "relatively broad and encompassing category". [104] Christian theologians believed that there were multiple different forms of magic, the majority of which were types of divination, for instance, Isidore of Seville produced a catalogue of things he regarded as magic in which he listed divination by the four elements i.e. geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, and pyromancy, as well as by observation of natural phenomena e.g. the flight of birds and astrology. He also mentioned enchantment and ligatures (the medical use of magical objects bound to the patient) as being magical. [105] Medieval Europe also saw magic come to be associated with the Old Testament figure of Solomon; various grimoires, or books outlining magical practices, were written that claimed to have been written by Solomon, most notably the Key of Solomon. [106]