What’s behind Gen Z’s appetite for tarot and spells? 16th century debates about witchcraft help explain why the occult has become viral on TikTok.
Articles on Magic
Displaying 21 - 40 of 48 articles
Scent and magic have been entwined in our imaginations for centuries – right up to today’s witch-inspired perfumes.
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction when it comes to the magicians of the Victorian era.
Interest in Wicca and witchcraft appears to be increasing, but what exactly is Wicca in the first place?
If it rains on St Swithin’s day it is believed that it will rain for the rest of summer.
Because of their appearance, people with albinism in Tanzania are often socially excluded and frequently (and sometimes violently) discriminated against.
Although many modern people tend to see ‘magic’ and ‘religion’ as separate, magic was actually integral to the development of Christianity.
As the U.S. election approaches, various groups have mobilized to vote. But witches have taken it a little further, organizing online spellcasting meet-ups to engage in magical resistance.
Is magic all about spells and hocus pocus, or is it simply another way of looking at how the universe works?
The idea of organized satanic witchcraft was invented in 15th-century Europe by church and state authorities, who at first had a hard time convincing regular folks it was real.
Across the Graeco-Roman Empire, the romantically challenged turned to magic to improve their chances
Leila Waddell entered the world stage as an acclaimed violinist - and left it having influenced magical practice into the 21st century.
Voodoo is often seen as a practice involving magic. In Haiti, Voodoo is a religion born out of the struggle of slaves. And today, it is used as a form of healing and protection.
Hidden forces are always at work in the world, and people always want to control them, a cognitive anthropologist explains. Enter the human universal of shamanism.
Reports of demonic possession are once again on the rise. But during the devil’s last apogee in early modern Europe, demonic afflictions were taken seriously by both priests and physicians.
Tapping into ancient knowledge can help us feel connected to our ancestors – but that doesn’t mean we should take their advice.
This is the real reason you believe in superstitions.
Erotic spells were a popular form of magic in ancient Greece and Rome. Ancient spells were often violent, brutal and without any sense of caution or remorse.
If an alien landed on Earth, how would you decide if it had free will like us, or was a sophisticated automaton?
A scholar of medieval magic discusses the hope in magical techniques for finding love.
Top contributors
-
Research Associate, University of Cambridge; University of Warwick
-
Affliated Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
-
Associate professor, University of Plymouth
-
PhD Candidate in Classical Studies, The Open University
-
Professor of Human Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London
-
Lecturer in Popular Music, Goldsmiths, University of London
-
Professor of Political Science, University of Nottingham
-
Professor of Early Modern European History, University of Cambridge
-
PhD Candidate in Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
-
Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Cognitive and Parapsychology, Manchester Metropolitan University
-
Teaching Fellow in Medieval Studies, University of Leeds
-
Associate Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan
-
Senior Lecturer in Media Arts, UNSW
-
Research Associate in Sociology of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester
-
Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland