A General Theory of Magic (Routledge Classics)
Marcel Mauss
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0415253969
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
First written by Marcel Mauss and Henri Humbert in 1902, A General Theory of Magic gained a wide new readership when republished by Mauss in 1950. As a study of magic in 'primitive' societies and its survival today in our thoughts and social actions, it represents what Claude Lévi-Strauss called, in an introduction to that edition, the astonishing modernity of the mind of one of the century's greatest thinkers. The book offers a fascinating snapshot of magic throughout various cultures as well as deep sociological and religious insights still very much relevant today. At a period when art, magic and science appear to be crossing paths once again, A General Theory of Magic presents itself as a classic for our times.
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Have access to spells and charms used for capturing thieves, trapping vampires, etc. They are magicians. The exceptional status of those with positions of authority in society also makes a magician. Among the Australian Arunta, the chief of the local totemic group, its master of ceremonies, is at the same time a sorcerer. In New Guinea most influential members of society are magicians; there are grounds for believing that throughout Melanesia, the chief—an individual who possesses mana, that is,.
Categories of sorcerers. The Sutra of Patanjali mentioned previously (iv, I) says that ‘siddhi (magical powers) derive from birth, from plants, formulas, from ascetic fervour and ecstasy’. Revelation occurs whenever a man believes himself to be in contact with one or more spirits, who place themselves at his service and teach him doctrine. This kind of initiation provides the theme of many myths and tales which can be either very simple or very complex. The simple type includes variations on the.
One object we have to be content with a single symbol, or at most but a few. More surprisingly, there are only a few objects which can be expressed symbolically. The magical imagination has been uninventive to such an extent that the small number of symbols which have been thought up have been put to manifold uses: magical knots are required to represent love, rain, wind, curing, war, language and a thousand other things. The poverty of the symbolic system is not the creation of single.
159 160 a general theory of magic hallucinations, as well as acute, emotive and subconscious states of expectation, prepossession and excitability: all range from psychological automatism to hypnosis. We also agree with this writer that the expectations and illusions which are produced are the primary phenomena of magic. Even the most run-of-the-mill rites, which work automatically, are never devoid of emotions, apprehensions and, above all, hope. The magical power of merely desiring something.
Been able to produce a clear, complete and wholly satisfactory idea of magic which we could make use of. As a result we are reduced to providing one for ourselves. In order to succeed in this aim, we determined not to restrict our studies to one or two magical systems, but to consider the largest number possible. We do not believe that an analysis of a single system, however well chosen, would be sufficient to deduce laws, applicable to all magical phenomena, since our uncertainty about the actual.