Magic, Religion, and Anthropology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards based on the provided lecture notes covering magical practices, anthropological frameworks, historical terminology, and social theories.

Intercessory prayer

The act of chanting or praying to a god, gods, or saints on behalf of someone else, which is associated with a "step study".

Taboo

Something a person avoids doing, such as walking under a ladder.

Ritual

A routine that is performed in the exact same order and way every time.

Fetish

An amulet or object kept for luck, such as a rabbit's foot.

"Primitive mentality"

An abandoned concept popularized by intellectualist anthropologists Frazer and Tylor describing a progression of magic to religion, then to science. It viewed magic as "false science" and "false connections," contrasting with today's idea that society increasingly approaches rational explanations.

Functionalist approach

The perspective that magic serves a psychological role, helping people minimize risks, maximize success, and gain control during times of fear and uncertainty.

Magical thinking

A term used by modern psychiatrists and psychologists to describe beliefs in causal relationships without an empirical basis. It is often used by people under stress, children, pseudoscientists, and the mentally ill.

Sorcery v. witchcraft

A distinction not made by modern anthropologists or in antiquity. Anthropologist E.E. Evans Pritchard associated women with witchcraft and unintentional harm (mangu), and men with sorcery and intentional harm. Reo Fortune associated women with sleeping witches.

Mangu

A substance typically inherited from a same-sex parent that lives inside a witch's belly. It has a life of its own and can unintentionally afflict harm on individuals the witch disagrees with.

Clyde Kluckhohn (1905–1960)

A structural functionalist who studied Navajo witchcraft and argued magic can be a positive community force. He believed the fear of witchcraft accusations builds community through scapegoating, promotes generosity, enforces conformity to social norms, and encourages economic equity.

Limited good theory

A theory by Fiona Bowie describing the belief that there is a finite amount of good. Someone who takes too much deprives the rest of the community, turning that individual into an object of envy and resentment.

Magos (μάγος)

A religious practitioner. Herodotus viewed them neutrally as priests, dream interpreters, and members of a Median tribe. Sophocles and Euripides viewed them negatively as wizards, jugglers, or enchanters. The word is the root for the Greek magos/mageia/magikos, Latin magus/magia/magicus, and English mage/magic/magical.

Katadesmos (Κατάδεσμος)

Binding spells typically made from lead, derived from "katadien" (to bind). The goal is to bind a spell to an individual.

Defixio

Nailing spells typically made from lead, derived from "defigre" (to bind). The goal is to nail a spell to an individual, often driving a physical lead nail through it.

Ostrakon / Ostraka

A piece or shard of pottery used as a medium for a curse.

Magical papyri

Egyptian or Greek magical handbooks and individual spells written on papyrus. They face preservation issues compared to lead objects.

Opisthograph

A scroll with writing on both sides that reads front to back, such as a 2-meter long, 3rd-century Homeric oracle.

Amulet

An object (Greek: phylakterion; Latin: amuletum) carried or worn for apotropaic powers to protect against diseases and evil people.

Nazar / Mati

Beads or charms of an eye used for protection against the evil eye. Nazar is Mesopotamian; Mati is Greek.

Hamsa

An apotropaic symbol of a hand with an eye used against the evil eye. It is known as the hand of Miriam to Jews and the hand of Fatima to Muslims.

Bulla

A locket-like amulet, occasionally phallus-shaped, that was worn by Roman boys. They could contain papyri with a curse rolled inside.

Fica (fica manus)

The "fig hand" apotropaic symbol or gesture made by placing the thumb between the middle and index fingers.

Phthonos (Φθόνος)

A critical green symbol representing jealousy or envy in the agonistic world of magic. It is heavily tied to resentment toward others for their wealth, beauty, success, and good fortune, and is closely connected to the evil eye ("invidia", against looking).

Evil eye

A curse transmitted by a malicious glare that is inspired by envy. It usually stems from resentment of someone's wealth, beauty, or good fortune.

Kolossos, -oi

Voodoo dolls or figurines made from wax, wood, or lead. They can have the target's name on them and be nailed, twisted, or bound, working through sympathetic magic where the intended target experiences whatever happens to the figurine.

Agonistic

Competitive situations, stemming from "agōn" (competition), where binding spells are cast to give the spell's agent an advantage. Examples include politics, legal cases, and sports like chariot racing.

Emic

An "insider" perspective used to define a culture's practices through their own ideas, worldview, and terminology.

Etic

An "outsider" perspective that uses the researcher's analytical frameworks and scholarly ideas to describe a studied culture.

Heuristic

A conceptual category or framework that aids investigation rather than providing a rigid definition, such as Stratton's use of the terms "magic" and "witchcraft" to compare cultural practices.

Polythetic

A group whose members share multiple overlapping characteristics without needing one universal defining trait to belong.

Discourse

A way of discussing and organizing ideas through language that is shared by social and historical contexts.

Michel Foucault

A 20th-century social thinker and philosopher who studied the relationship between knowledge, power, and discourse. He viewed competing discourses as agonistic strategies of domination.

Alterity

The act of being outside the social norm or being "other". Stratton views magic as a discourse of alterity that marginalizes outsiders, specifically foreigners and women, thereby reinforcing xenophobia and misogyny.

Misogyny

The prejudice, distrust, or fear of women. It is historically linked back to antiquity with women through magic functioning as a discourse of alterity.

Xenophobia

The prejudice, distrust, or fear of foreigners, which functions as a marginalizing force.

Agamoi

Dead before marriage

Aoroi

Dead before their time

Attaphoi

Dead without burial rights

Biaiothanatoi

Dead by violence

Lemuria

3 day fesitval in may exercising hoistile spirits in homes

Lares

Benevolent protector of descent, honored in the household

Lemurs

Ghosts that frighten good people and are dangerous to bad ones

Seth

God of stroms

Liminal

Threshold

Maschalismos

Disablign the restless before they can act

Goes

Sorcery/witch who helps you control the dead