Types of Magic
Anthropologists distinguish three types of magical practice:
(a)homeopathic magic, or the use of small portions of a thing to represent and affect the whole;
(b)sympathetic magic, in which a symbolic action (for example, sticking pins into a doll) affects an object with which the symbol is in "sympathy" or harmony;
(c)contagious magic, the influencing of one thing through contact with another that is believed to be magically charged.
The theoretical foundation for most magical practices is a belief in correspondences, or hidden relationships among entities within the universe-especially between human beings and the external world. According to this view, the application of the right colors, objects, sounds, or gestures in a given context can bring about the desired result.
The theory of correspondences affirms the power of thought to confer reality on products of the imagination, particularly when these thoughts are expressed through significant symbols.
Magic is widely practiced in primal and traditional societies. In such contexts magic is not simply a prescientific way of attaining practical ends-it may also involve at least a partial symbolic recognition of the society's spiritual world view and of its gods and myths. In this respect magic often merges with religion, and indeed the line between the two is frequently blurred. Religion, however, is usually regarded as the public acknowledgment of spirituality, while magic tends to be private and oriented toward power and gain by supernatural means rather than toward worship.
A distinction can also be drawn between white and black magic: White magic is employed for benign ends, and black magic is used to harm others. Black magic is sometimes referred to as witchcraft or sorcery, even though many people who practice witchcraft do not seek to cause harm. Magic in the supernatural sense is different from stage magic, in which apparent magical effects are produced for entertainment through such means as sleight of hand.
A distinction is also made between magic and divination, which is the art of foretelling the future course of events: Magic attempts to affect the future, not merely to predict it. By this definition, occult practices such as astrology, card-reading, and palmistry are not magical (see Occultism), whereas concocting love potions and casting spells are magical practices, as is the art of invoking spirits by means of chants and gestures (see Spiritualism). Many practitioners of magic also believe that these techniques must be combined with concentration of thought upon the desired objective