Magic

Magic is the art of influencing the workings of nature through occult powers. It can be found in most societies throughout history. It is often defined by contrast with other subjects, such as science, rationality and religion. Practitioners of magic might fashion themselves as necromancers, magi or natural philosophers; and accused practitioners were often labelled as sorcerers, heretics or witches. Concentrated, though at times incoherent, expositions of what we might call the epistemology of magic reached their height in European philosophy in late antiquity in the writings of Plotinus, Porphyry and Proclus; this interest was rekindled in the Renaissance in the writings of Agrippa, Pico, Ficino and others in what is often described as the Hermetic or Occultist tradition. Whether magic worked according to natural, demonic or divine forces was debated, and during the Renaissance demonology shifted from a theological to a natural philosophical pursuit. In the Middle Ages explaining how magic worked was a concern of theologians; in the Renaissance it was a concern of natural philosophers and physicians; and in the modern period it is a concern of anthropologists and historians. Magic has always been associated with trickery and danger, and with knowledge and power.