Magic

Magic is a collective term for seemingly physically impossible acts perpetrated by a person or people. Magic differs from a miracle, which is a physically impossible act perpetrated by God (or, in the Catholic tradition, by a saint aided by God). Perpetrators of magic are called varyingly magicians, mages, sorcerers, witches, hexers, or wizards.

The term 'magic' derives from the name of the priestly caste of the Iranian religion, Magoi in Greek, which at the time of the Graeco-Persian wars in the fifth century BC were commonly beleived in Greece to have practiced religious rituals hostile to Greek Freedom and victory in the wars of that time. The Greek word μαγοι is the one used in the Gospel of Matthew to describe the three Wise Men who come to visit Jesus at his birth.

Use as a Pejorative Label

The word "magic" has become somewhat synonymous with sleights of hand, trickery, and deception. As a result, by using the label "magic", a person can negatively characterize ritual practices or beliefs that he wishes to condemn. For example, the last Roman Emperor to practice the traditional Roman religion, Julian, characterized the apostles Paul and Peter as the greatest magicans who ever lived, in an attempt to reduce the wonders of Christianity to mere wizardry.

Since magic characterizes those on the outside of a society's mainstream culture, it may also be apporpiated as a source of authority, so that a self-proclaimed magician can claim power or authority as a force in opposition to conventional authorities. For this reason, and despite its primairly rhetorical character, rituals and practices which may be legitimately termed 'magical' have traditionally existed in Western cultures, by the use of which individuals seek to satisfy desires which cannot fulfilled according to the prevailing standards of society. Common uses of magic have included spells to gain influence over government officials, to obtian sexual partners that were socially forbidden, to win legal cases, and to previl in cases of uncertainty, for example in horse-racing or other forms of gambling. Rituals which attempt in general to harm another person of a protected or superior social status have also been a common form of magic. Magic has also been frequently used by businessmen to divert trade and customers away from their rivals.

The term magic was commonly used to describe ritual practices practiced outside of the control of state authorities, so that, for example, practioners of healing and exorcism in Classical Greek culture who were not associated with the temples of a Greek city state were commonly, as by Plato, criticisized as magicians. Once Christian authorites were able to enforce their own concept of magic, rituals for any purpose that deviated from standard Christian practices, usually those of older folk religions, were commonly termed magic.