If you’ve got problem neighbours, or your house and garden seem to suffer from bad luck, perhaps it’s time to try a magical solution.
Articles on Magic
Displaying 1 - 20 of 48 articles
Some critics have bemoaned the flattening of a complex character. But Nolan’s film echoes a literary tradition of reimagining Circe as a survivor, a truth-teller and a figure of female empowerment.
Sociologists who measured supernatural beliefs in the US found that higher education and higher income are associated with lower levels.
We love to believe we’re rational thinkers, but we’re often guided by invisible hands.
The handful animal ghosts in the ancient world are often depicted not as friendly visitors but as mere tools for humans – and are often used to do evil.
Compendium of the Occult is handsomely bound, pleasingly laid out and beautifully illustrated.
In early modern Britons consulted diviners to find stolen goods, learn about the next harvest, or scrutinise their marriage fortunes.
Phenomena like the Northern Lights and rainbows can seem magical – even to physicists like Partha Chowdhury who study them.
Broken mirrors can be associated with bad luck, but for the ancient Maya, a cracked mirror was often desirable.
Only five witches were executed in Wales, while thousands were sentenced to death in Scotland and England.
Research suggests magicians lack magical thinking.
Critics of superstition have often painted openness to magical interpretations as weakness or moral failing.
Native Americans are struggling to find sage for their spiritual practices as the plant is being overharvested for sale to the wider public.
Research shows that religious people who actively participate in religious gatherings tend to have a more positive experience of Christmas, with expectations largely fulfilled.
As Christmas approaches, Nativity scenes showing three wise men visiting the newborn Jesus are put up around the world. A scholar of Christian literature offers an explanation on their identity.
The idea of a ‘witch’ was usually female in Western Europe, but not so in Orthodox Russia – partly because of the period’s rigid social hierarchies.
By casting spells and creating online persona to fool their victims, the Ivorian figure of the “brouteur” reveals the connections between the occult and virtual dimensions.
People don’t just go on retreat to discover themselves. They also go hoping to find magical connections with others.
Two Christmas traditions – those around the birth of Jesus and Santa who brings gifts to all – contain strong elements of magic.
From devil to potion to miracle drug, chocolate’s arrival in Europe was a wild ride.
Top contributors
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Research Associate, University of Cambridge; University of Warwick
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Affliated Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
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Associate professor, University of Plymouth
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PhD Candidate in Classical Studies, The Open University
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Professor of Human Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London
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Lecturer in Popular Music, Goldsmiths, University of London
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Professor of Political Science, University of Nottingham
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Professor of Early Modern European History, University of Cambridge
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PhD Candidate in Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
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Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Cognitive and Parapsychology, Manchester Metropolitan University
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Teaching Fellow in Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
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Associate Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan
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Senior Lecturer in Media Arts, UNSW
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Research Associate in Sociology of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester
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Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland