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This article will place the rituals of the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) for the acquisition of a supernatural assistant (paredros) into conversation with broader late antique debates surrounding the place of daimones within the celestial hierarchy. In considering the writings of Plotinus, Plutarch, Porphyry, and Iamblichus, it will survey points of contention surrounding questions of appropriate and inappropriate displays of ritual power, as facilitated by intermediary spirits who act as intercessors between humanity and the divine. Through analyzing the metaphysical underpinnings of the nature of the paredros, as variously articulated within the rituals for their conjuration within the Greek Magical Papyri, it will contextualize the aims of the ritualist against the backdrop of Iamblichus' theurgy in pursuit of mastery of—and intimate, transcendent communion with—the fundamental numinous nature of the world. In doing so, this article argues that Iamblichus' theurgy and the paredros rituals of the PGM ultimately grasp towards similar soteriological goals using different ritual methodologies; both seeking to elevate the incarnated body of the ritualist into a higher level of spiritual attainment through direct confrontation with the powers of nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Padlocks are often recovered archaeologically from enslaved African contexts in the Western Hemisphere, and prior research has suggested mundane interpretations for these utilitarian objects. However, padlocks are routinely used in many religiosities and belief systems throughout the African continent as supernatural objects, and a key metaphor in "locking down" evil, bodily functions, or individuals' lives. An exploration of padlocks as potential supernatural objects is conducted within enslaved plantation contexts in the American South and Mid Atlantic, and compared to key African cultures of the eighteenth through the twenty-first centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores kapori, an Indigenous form of storytelling to investigate and report experiences, motivations, responses, and challenges of sorcery accusation–related violence (SARV) by the Yuri people, a tribal group from the Papua New Guinea highlands. SARV is attributed to the belief that some people use supernatural powers to cause illness, deaths, or misfortunes to a community and, therefore, become targets of violent accusations. We outline the rationale for incorporating kapori into SARV research and discuss the findings from a storytelling workshop with 14 participants representing 13 clans of Yuri. The findings suggest that key strategies for curbing SARV include building community capacity to respond to the challenges of SARV, addressing the physical and emotional scars of SARV, and valuing collective interventions to prevent SARV. The use of kapori in this research helped to diversify, expand, and circulate Yuri narratives about SARV to support prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supernatural has, for some times, conquered the pen of African authors. In their impetus to promote the values of black Africa, these authors magnify aspects of their culture and beliefs in the works. This article deals with the manifestation of anything related to the supernatural order in « Hearts of stone, children of despair » by Boubacar Dao. How is the supernatural expressed in the work ? By what literary devices does the author do it ? What are its functions ? This article is aim to to bring out the author’s conception of the supernatural in his book and also the functions assigned to the phenomenon. The analysis is based on the sociocriticism of Edmond Cros (2003) and the work related to the supernatural by Henry Leenhardt (1932) and Xavier Garnier (1999). Thus, we will analyze the various points which will reveal the importance of the supernatural in the society of the book, which is nothing but a reflection of the society it refers to.

Sympathetic magic features strongly in virtually all religious traditions and in folk customs generally. Scholars agree that It is based on the association of ideas perceived as external, mind-independent causal realities, as connections mediating causal influence. Moreover, religious folk believe that this mediation involves forms of supernatural agency. From a psychological perspective, the key question revolves around the principles by which the cognitive system deems some of its content to reference the external world and other content to constitute internal mental forms of activity like thoughts, feelings and attitudes. The paper proposes that the critical factor has to do with the balance between two distinctly different kinds of cognitive content: representations of things (mentation arising in the form of something other than itself), as distinct from registrations referencing the intrinsic phenomenal properties of the mental state itself. The balance between these two determines whether content is perceived as external worldly event or a form of internal mental content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains 38 reconstructed common Afrasian (Afro-Asiatic) terms related to the magic, supernatural, spiritual and mythic rather conditionally combined into 10 groups (Soul, essence of life; Spirits, gods, ghosts and other supernatural creatures; God, spirit as an ancestor; Wonder, miracle, fortunetelling; Evil magic; Healing magic; Sorcery as knowledge; Spell, omen, magic speech or sign; Offering, sacrifice; Mythical and fantastic animals and their origin). Each Proto-Afrasian term is reconstructed from a set of cognate words with compatible meanings in various branches and groups of the AA superfamily based on established regular consonant correspondences. The PAA language was supposedly spoken by the human community in the Near East at the turn of the Mesolithic and Neolithic--according to my glottochronological calculations, in the last third of the 11 millennium BCE--and their original homeland, according to the author, was the southern Levant. The reconstruction can provide valuable evidence for anthropologists, archaeologists, mythologists, prehistorians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bitig Journal of Turkology Research is the property of Bitig Journal of Turkology Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Catherine MacCoun's book On Becoming an Alchemist offers practical guidance to anyone wanting to learn and apply alchemical principles. She enlightens and surprises us by sharing how alchemy isn't something left to the past but is, instead, a treasure-trove of knowledge that can help in our daily struggles. Her book brings Jung's alchemical work into the everyday world. Readable, engaging, and enlightening, MacCoun's text reveals how alchemical operations can be used to transform such "inferior states" as desire into devotion, vulnerability into compassion, and territoriality into integrity. The downside of her book is a lack of differentiation between magic and alchemy, with the two words used at times interchangeably. Whereas magic has to do with control of supernatural forces through the agency of will, alchemy works through love; one seeks to command change, the other to facilitate the natural flow of life. Because the book conflates alchemy and magic, it does not discern the difference between cause and effect. The magic of alchemy is a felt experience, not a causal agent. Despite this lack of distinction, wisdom shines through in MacCoun's deftly worded description of the Great Work. I think Jung would have appreciated MacCoun's book because it gives practical application of his profound insights into the alchemical process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how observing the ritualisation of objects can influence children's encoding and defence of supernatural beliefs. Specifically, we investigated if ritualising objects leads children to believe those objects might be magical, buffering against favouring contrary evidence. Seventy-nine children, aged between 3 and 6 years, were presented with two identical objects (e.g., two colour-changing stress balls) and tasked with identifying which was magical after being informed that one had special properties (e.g., could make wishes come true). In a Ritual condition, an adult acted on one of the objects using causally irrelevant actions and on the other using functional actions. In an Instrumental condition, both objects were acted on with functional actions. The children were given a normative rule relating to the use of the objects and an opportunity to imitate the actions performed on them. A second adult then challenged their magical belief. Ritualistic actions increased the likelihood of children attributing magical powers to the associated object but did not affect resistance to change or adherence to normative rules. However, children who engaged in ritual actions protested more when the magical belief was challenged. Our findings suggest that rituals can play an important role in shaping children's perception and defence of supernatural beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While multiple studies have applied cultural evolutionary perspectives to the study of religion, few studies have examined the cultural evolutionary dynamics of a more secretive but equally ubiquitous form of supernatural belief: magic. We conducted two studies, an American nationally representative survey and a comparative phylogenetic analysis of religious traditions, to test three hypothesized cultural evolutionary drivers for beliefs in magic. We find the greatest support for the hypothesis that magic is employed when it provides its users benefits that are distinct from those provided by either science or religion, some support for secularization (broadly conceived) trends applying to magic, and no evidence that innate and unavoidable features of human cognition are primary drivers of the cultural evolution of magical beliefs. We conclude by suggesting specific hypothesized benefits for magic that may account for the evolution of humanity's facultative (i.e., context‐dependent) use of magical beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on birth ceremonies of the Koches of Assam in their socio-cultural context. The birth ceremony is a crucial life cycle ritual that serves as a personal emblem for their folk religiosity while also carrying their collective identity. By analysing Koch's birth ritual, the author tries to provide an anthropological explanation of supernatural creatures' engagement in their socio-religious existence. Their folk spirituality is reflected in their ceremonies and activities. In addition, a theoretical aspect relating to Koch birth ritual (in particular) is presented. The Koch birth ritual's various ritual phases are viewed and analysed from the perspective of the community. Koch's birth ritual is studied to understand how much a person's life cycle ritual has carried the religiosity of their community's folk life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores works of Spanish Golden Age literature to gauge their potential as antecedents of horror literature, paying particular attention to the magic-terror juncture. Reference is made to six texts (mainly short novels) that include macabre and supernatural episodes where sorcery, necromancy, and witchcraft play a fundamental role. The objective of this essay is to identify common, unifying features in order to determine if horror stories did, in fact, exist in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how observing the ritualisation of objects can influence children’s encoding and defence of supernatural beliefs. Specifically, we investigated if ritualising objects leads children to believe those objects might be magical, buffering against favouring contrary evidence. Seventy-nine children, aged between 3 and 6 years, were presented with two identical objects (e.g., two colour-changing stress balls) and tasked with identifying which was magical after being informed that one had special properties (e.g., could make wishes come true). In a Ritual condition, an adult acted on one of the objects using causally irrelevant actions and on the other using functional actions. In an Instrumental condition, both objects were acted on with functional actions. The children were given a normative rule relating to the use of the objects and an opportunity to imitate the actions performed on them. A second adult then challenged their magical belief. Ritualistic actions increased the likelihood of children attributing magical powers to the associated object but did not affect resistance to change or adherence to normative rules. However, children who engaged in ritual actions protested more when the magical belief was challenged. Our findings suggest that rituals can play an important role in shaping children’s perception and defence of supernatural beliefs.

Despite numerous research findings related to medieval Chinese Buddhism, the witchcraft role of bird totems in Buddhist history has not received sufficient attention. In order to fill this gap, this paper analyzes how Buddhist monks in medieval China developed a close relationship with bird-totem worship. This relationship has been documented in Buddhist scriptures, rituals, oral traditions, biographies, and mural art. Although bird-totem worship was practiced in many regions of medieval China, this paper specifically examines the visual culture of bird totems in Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism. Furthermore, some details of this culture were recorded in Buddhist texts and images. According to these works, various bird-totem patterns and symbols are believed to be effective ritual arts used by Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist monks to influence nature and the supernatural through ritual and magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the concept of causal stories to explore how death, sickness and misfortune lead to accusations of sorcery or witchcraft. Based on empirical research in Papua New Guinea, we propose a new analytical framework that shows how negative events may trigger particular narratives about the use of the supernatural by individuals and groups. These narratives then direct considerations about the cause of the misfortune, the agent who can heal it, and the appropriate response from those affected by the misfortune. We also categorise the factors that attract people towards magical causal narratives or towards competing non-magical causal narratives. We situate our analysis within a context of worldview pluralism, where individuals possess multiple worldviews, such as a magical worldview or a scientific worldview. We argue that causal stories operate to activate the dominance of one worldview or a combination of worldviews in given circumstances. Our theoretical contribution may be extended to discrimination and violence against those suffering from health-related stigma, as this too gives rise to competing causal stories that either take hold or are ignored depending upon diverse factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to present the link between the myths in the plots of modern entertainment products, such as science fiction novels, movies, comic books and video games, with the motifs of New Religiosity. The plots employed in these products are of a mythical nature. This re-emergence of myth is once more taking centre stage today. The social sciences and humanities concerned with this phenomenon call it "neomythology". Neomythology, in whatever form, as a comic book, video game, etc., shows gods and supernatural heroes or villains interacting with one another in certain ways. The ways these mythical elements are combined and displayed confirm that neomythology belongs to New Religiosity and repeats motifs of New Religions and New Age myths, such as the secularization of the absolute, that is to say, the placing of the transcendental element in the material and explainable world, the absolutisation not only of the acquisition of power but also those who bear it, the correlation of magic and technology, and the reuse and utilization of the mythology of the past and of traditional religious teachings, in order to produce a new myth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threshold between real and illusory space, the mirror is the favourite tool of those passionate about magic, a supernatural process that occupies many of the pages signed by Magda Isanos. The mirror becomes a recurring symbol in both universal literature and Romanian literature, appearing mainly in the texts of Mihai Eminescu and Lucian Blaga, literary personalities who represented models of the young Bessarabian poet. Around the mirror, the poetic self knows several hypostases, as can be seen in poems such as The morning, Many faces, Mirrors, Between mirrors, At the beginning, through open windows etc. The mirror changes into a thanatic area, which produces fear, into a place of superstitions, of fantastic figures, but also into a gateway to the sacred and to the origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Études Françaises is the property of Presses de l'Universite de Montreal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In spite of Modi's promise of good days (acche din) in 2014, many Indians still struggle with unemployment, low income, poor health and other difficulties. Though some problems eventually find solutions and middle-class metropolitans increasingly seek help from gurus and psychologists, long-term misfortune and disturbances are still frequently attributed to black magic or possession. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork in Kanpur and Bareilly, this article examines the unintended cosmopolitan effects of such practices, which occasionally unfold in ways that traverse and unsettle official religious boundaries, even in polarized times. Heuristically contrasting Modi to Alice in Wonderland, the article spells out the double bind of many low-income Hindus who seek supernatural assistance in times of crisis: should they follow the logic of inexpensive efficacy, even if necessitating engagement with unfamiliar ritual worlds in heterotopic spaces associated with the religious other? Or should they rather follow the emergent Hindu nationalist logic of Hindu exclusivism, according to which ritual remedies beyond a Hindu ritual repertoire would be inappropriate? The persisting prevalence of the former logic under Modi is illustrated with three cases, two of which are interrelated. Firstly, we meet a female professional seeking help against suspected black magic from a rustic Sufi-Muslim healer. Secondly, we meet a Kali devotee seeking help against spirits that disturbed his career and marriage in a renowned Sufi-Muslim dargah. The final case shows how familial neglect, economic hardship and an interreligious marriage conducted two generations earlier came together in a case of possession. The cosmopolitan effects of such instances, the article argues, lie in their tendency to form an anti-structural, heterotopic counterweight to aggressive Hindu nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anuario Lope de Vega. Texto, Literatura, Cultura is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Mythologica Slavica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores belief and identity as expressed through the material culture of dress. It focuses on supernatural engagements through material culture linked to human and animal bodies and offers a view of the means by which everyday ritual, habit and devotion were embodied and facilitated through dress and other amulets, including contextually re-purposed coins. The evidence is primarily archaeological and derives from medieval Perthshire, a place with wide connections, and so the discussion is presented in the context of Scottish and European practices. The key themes are status, magic and belief, all three of which speak to identity. The practices they elucidate are explored primarily through jewellery and dress fittings, pilgrimage souvenirs, coins and other amulets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that the conceptual fuzziness of the supernatural enabled individuals from the 19th- and early 20th-century Britain to construct their own distinct personal narratives of enchantment or disenchantment. Topics discussed include the reintroduction of the supernatural, the Christian supernatural, and people's diverging reasons and criteria for calling something extraordinary supernatural.

Magical realism and the notion of the habit in contemporary Arabic literature have a special place in the formation of the narrative text, and it is no exception that such writing is, in fact, the aspirations of a poet or to escape from everyday reality. In fact, realism is intertwined with magic, natural and supernatural issues have also formed human thought, which we will discover in the Diwan Head of the Traveler by Saif al Rahbi. Omani poet Seif al-Rahbi blended reality with the surreal, as well as magic with the imagination to create a magical atmosphere. This collection of poems has elements of magical realism in which the poet used magic, illusion, fantasy, myth, and mystery. This is an important issue for researchers, which we will address in this article. This research is based on the descriptive analytical approach to discover magical realism in it and analyze its secrets in this collection of poems. It can be said that Saif al-Rahbi has used a magical equivalent in addition to using the problems of realism, and this use has been successful because the reader accepts and believes in magical issues. Perhaps this is because the poet looked at issues impartially and used them to express political, social, and economic issues in Arab societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there such a thing as an "ordinary day"? Through the content analysis of four newspapers from the province of Quebec, Canada, for September 17, 2013, 2014 and 2015, we notice that religion and magic find a way to permeate not only news coverage, but also the less glamorous parts of newspapers such as obituaries and classified advertisements, making the content somewhat "extraordinary". Christianity is an important topic of discussion throughout all three years, both implicitly and explicitly, because of the Catholic history of Quebec. Islam is also very present in 2013–2015 because of major political debates about laïcité and religious symbols as well as international events involving Islamic extremism and the fear of terrorism. Finally, we find that magic is also on display, mainly through classifieds advertisements for supernatural services, which shows that conventional religion still tends to dominate the news, while magic slips through the crevasses of the less glamorous sections of the papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines the role and function of 'service' magic in premodern society, and suggests ways in which the study of magic can be used as a lens to investigate and understand broader historical questions. Magic studies is a marginalised field, and the supernatural generally is treated as an unusual aspect of the human experience. This article shows that there are major benefits to reintegrating magic into wider historical studies. The article begins by introducing the concept of service magic as a phenomenon in premodern societies, and argues for its fundamental importance particularly during the medieval and early modern periods. Having established this, I explore the ways that its reintegration can affect our interpretation of the past. This article suggests ways in which magic might be useful for exploring other fields of social, political and economic history. Its function as an illicit tool makes magic a unique window for exploring a number of topics, such as cultures of tolerance and persecution, black market and proto‐capitalist economics, and liminal or marginalised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In nearly every documented society, people believe that some misfortunes are caused by malicious group mates using magic or supernatural powers. Here I report cross-cultural patterns in these beliefs and propose a theory to explain them. Using the newly created Mystical Harm Survey, I show that several conceptions of malicious mystical practitioners, including sorcerers (who use learned spells), possessors of the evil eye (who transmit injury through their stares and words), and witches (who possess superpowers, pose existential threats, and engage in morally abhorrent acts), recur around the world. I argue that these beliefs develop from three cultural selective processes: a selection for intuitive magic, a selection for plausible explanations of impactful misfortune, and a selection for demonizing myths that justify mistreatment. Separately, these selective schemes produce traditions as diverse as shamanism, conspiracy theories, and campaigns against heretics—but around the world, they jointly give rise to the odious and feared witch. I use the tripartite theory to explain the forms of beliefs in mystical harm and outline 10 predictions for how shifting conditions should affect those conceptions. Societally corrosive beliefs can persist when they are intuitively appealing or they serve some believers' agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is a case study in the modern emergence of the "supernatural." I argue that pre-modern understandings of the evil eye were predominantly naturalistic, based on extramissionist, haptic concepts of vision. The need to believe in the evil eye first arises when sight becomes universally understood as the result of light entering rather than emerging from the eyes. In the Jewish context, rabbis then begin to develop alternative explanations for its existence and efficacy. These novel etiologies were, for the first time, supernatural. Furthermore, an under-appreciated consequence of the emergence of the modern category of the supernatural is here revealed: rather than signifying the opprobrium of rejected knowledge, for certain religious communities, its embrace has come to represent spiritual conviction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of modern secularization, Legendism can be defined as a cultural form adjacent to traditional religion, taking supernatural narratives seriously but not devoting faith or authority to them. Design teams in South Korea have been creating massively multiplayer online games inspired significantly by the folk religion of their country, but well-integrated into the cultural diversity of their worldwide audience. Extensive description of the first case provides a conceptual grounding for the others, based on both qualitative ethnography and quantitative collection of statistics. With that introduction, the diversity of games is demonstrated through brief consideration of five others. Deeper explorations of two currently very popular theocratic virtual worlds affirm the continuing significance of Korean integration into legendary global culture. Primary themes include the relationship between magic and religion, the personal characteristics attributed to avatars and deities, and the cultural dynamics of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an investigation into the presence of the fantastic in the novel Reeds in the Wind by the Nobel laureate, Grazia Deledda, a writer apparently far from that genre. The analysis will highlight how the novel balances itself between the real world and the fantastic element, creating an enchanted atmosphere that captivates the reader in its magical aura. Thus, it will reveal traces of enchantment and mystery thanks to which the realistic note expands, blurring the contours of the concrete data. Deledda's fantastic narrative wavers between the strange and the wonderful, creating a space where the character's spirit wanders and enjoys a freedom similar to that which we have in dreams. Imagination and surreality transfigure environments and characters: the Pintor ladies, their servant Efix and the people of Galte live side by side with fairies, ghosts of barons, vampires, evil spirits, spirits of unbaptised children, dwarves, giants creep. Along with them, we find some elements of the Sardinian tradition: the ammattadore, i.e. the elf with seven caps; the Janas, very rich fairies that on feast days mingle with the people dancing; the panas, women who died in childbirth. Efix, the best-characterised character in the novel, embodies both the real world and the supernatural one: in him, the symbiosis between the laws of mystery and those of natural forces, between rationality and the unconscious, between man's archaic and magical mentality, is fully expressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term magic has long been associated with both technology and art. Whether an illusion performed on stage or the search for the supernatural, magic is concerned with changing either reality itself or our perception of it. Each new technology takes on a magical role by increasing humans' power to manipulate the world around them. Similarly, magical practices are often labeled arts, and the manipulation of our perceptions by artists often creates quasi-magical experiences. Four approaches to magic in relation to digital art practice--illusionist, alchemist, necromancer and sorcerer--offer a mode of understanding the manipulation of perceptual reality by artists using digital technologies. The framework will then be applied to five such practitioners--Pascal Dombis, Anne-Sarah Le Meur, Antoine Schmitt, Dmitry Morozov and Zaven Paré--who demonstrate the quest for the unknown and the manipulation of knowledge to create a new reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this study is to analyze several fairy-tale motifs in the fantasy stories of Mary Poppins, especially to examine several attributes of the magic helper, one of the essential figures of fairy and fantasy stories, in Mary Poppins's character. Fantasy literature has adopted and altered the fairy-tale formulae. Accordingly, for example, (supernatural) characters (crones, fairies, goblins, dragons), the presence of magic (flying, spell) and magic objects (invisibility cloak or ring, wand), which are considered essential in fantasy literary works, are all derived from the world of fairy tales. The Mary Poppins books, as examples of this mode, reflect the fairy-tale pattern in many ways. In the same way, I argue that considering Mary Poppins's role in the Banks family, she can be decoded as the (universal) magic helper. However, Mary Poppins is an unconventional, subversive helper regarding her outward appearance, personality, magic aid and attitude toward her protégés, the Banks children (particularly, Jane and Michael). The subversive magic helper acquaints Jane and Michael Banks with the fairy world: she introduces to them characters (crones), magic (act of flying, talking animals) and so forth. Jane and Michael's physical (external) and psychological (internal) journeys fascinate, influence and teach them at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges a generally accepted view that witchcraft is always a matter of discourse, and the witch a fictitious person who is ascribed bewitchment but, in fact, performed none. It discusses the hints that point to bewitchments being, at least occasionally, a matter of practice and reality, and a “witch” indeed a practitioner of acts, perceived as harmful. It also challenges the etic difference between the “natural” and “supernatural” acts in the context of witchcraft accusations and argues that there is no clear difference between the former and the latter for people thinking within a witchcraft discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Concreta is the property of Editorial Concreta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article aims to analyze and systematize the movement and development of concepts integrated into the problematic situation Mirabilia: Miraculous a nd Magical. The analysis focuses on the ancient roots of the concept apparatus in various genreforms from Homer to the Middle Ages. Studies in the semantic field of "miracles" (mirabilia or miracula) and the "miraculous" whose context generates the "magic" and the "magical" presuppose several levels of investigation, among them being that of lexical analysis and conceptual precisions, defining the concepts of the "supernatural" a nd of "magic" and "magical", as well as their related concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For medieval audiences women occupied a specific, designated cultural area which, while they could freely form it according to their will and nature, was in fact imaginary and immaterial. Women in social, legal, and religious contexts were mostly counted among the receptive, inactive, and non-ruling groups. On both levels, there was a group of features universally defining all women: the strong, virtuous and independent model Aquinas lamented was replaced in real life by the sinful, carnal and weak stereotype, and the erotic, emotional, mysterious, and often wild type present predominantly in literature. Indeed, women were a source of scientific, theological, and cultural fascination because of their uncanny and complex nature, producing both fear and desire of the source and nature of the unattainable and inaccessible femininity. In social contexts, however, the enchantress seems to lose that veil of allure and, instead, is forced to re-define her identity by suppressing, denying, or losing her supernatural features. With the example of Saint Agnes from the South English Legendary LifeofSaintAgnes, and Melior from PartonopeofBlois (ca. 1450), the article will explore how medieval texts dealt with the complex and unruly female supernatural, and how its neutralization and subduing fitted into the moral, scientific, and cultural norms of medieval society.

Anthropologists have long attempted to come to grips with Indigenous Australian sorcery beliefs and especially with the idea that acts with no understandable efficacy bring about illness and death. In this ethnographic interpretation of sorcery beliefs in the remote community of Numbulwar, I follow those few who have attempted to find a link between these apparently harmless acts and real physiological consequences, arguing that the fear of sorcery that pervades Numbulwar contributes directly to the stress of daily life and indirectly to the premature morbidity and mortality of too many lives. Belief is posited as the mechanism whereby the human stress response is activated to a harmful extent, a process in which the projection of envious feelings may often be critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on Alexander the False Prophet and The Lover of Lies, two texts from the Greek poet-philosopher Lucian of Samosata (circa 120-200) of the Classical Roman era, this paper considers (a) charisma, magic, and spirituality as aspects of an interconnected, collectively achieved, developmental process associated with the emergence of a religious cult. Somewhat relatedly, this paper also acknowledges (b) people's broader, longstanding fascinations with matters that seem incredulous. Depicting a more sustained realm of prophetic activity and an account of people's intrigues with the supernatural, Lucian's texts offer some especially valuable transhistorical and transcultural reference points for the broader sociological study of human knowing and acting. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of these matters for the study of people's involvements in religion and spirituality as humanly-engaged realms of endeavor and interchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature and magic: how did these two entities coexist with each other during various periods of human history? What is magic? How was it ritually perceived in Europe? Which theoretical and scholarly approaches might assist us in devising its historical scope and literary ambiance? The introductory essay helps positioning a number of major conceptual issues regarding magic and its role in cultural and literary studies with special attention paid to Russian literature, spells, the supernatural and folklore. The essay offers a detailed historical overview of the main hermeneutical trends regarding magic, proceeding to Russian literature with special attention to Russian Symbolism (Aleksandr Blok and Valerii Briusov) and Russian Avant-Garde (Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchenykh). The introduction also positions the special volume’s papers within the broader context of magic and supernatural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]