Thinking about Magic

Notes from:

• Thinking about Magic by Michael F. Brown
• Psychological theories of magic (Wikipedia)
• The Sorcerer and His Magic by Claude Lévi-Strauss

Performativity in Magic

Magic is an “expressive” act where saying or doing something constitutes a new reality (like a marriage vow), rather than being a literal “technical” mistake of cause-and-effect.

• Stanley J. Tambiah: Asserts that magic utilizes abstract analogies (metaphor and metonymy) to express a desired state, as opposed to the direct “mimetic” thinking described by earlier anthropologists like Frazer.

The Triangle of Belief

For magic to be “real” and effective in a social context, it requires a consensus between three parties:

1. The Sorcerer: Who believes in their own techniques or feels a specific “call.”
2. The Patient: Who believes in the sorcerer’s power to heal or harm.
3. The Public (Collective): The community whose faith and expectations provide the “field” in which the magic operates.

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Shamanism vs. Psychoanalysis

Claude Lévi-Strauss draws a direct parallel between the tribal shaman and the modern psychoanalyst through the concept of Symbolic Efficiency.

Feature	The Healer’s Role (Shaman or Analyst)
The Problem	The patient has “incoherent” pains they don’t understand.
The Solution	The healer provides a myth or a language to explain that pain.
The Result	Once named and placed in a story, the patient can “live through” it.

Abreaction

This process is called abreaction—a release of emotional tension reaching back to an initial conflict, similar to the concept of catharsis.

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See also: Art is Magic