Magicians in History and Folklore

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Greetings, fellow story lovers. This is Casimir triumphantly returning to writing articles again after an unfortunate hiatus. I have a topic of interest brought on by stories that we will be recording soon, as well as a personal interest of my own. I’m going to be talking about magic, but more importantly, magicians and wizards in folklore. So, sit back and be prepared for a very limited history of magic. 

We’re going to go back rather far to begin. Specifically to Persia, which would have been around the area of modern-day Iran. We’re going to start by looking at an Old Persian word: “Magus”. The meaning of the world being magician, This word itself having its origin in proto-indo-european word “magh” which means “be able”. The Persian Magi really were the height of power for wizards in history as you’ll soon see. Magi not only served as “magicians” in their own right, this meaning soothsaying amongst other things, but they also served as advisors to kings. This was in addition to their function in religious practices as well, chiefly in performing sacrifices and interpreting dreams. This was recorded by Herodotus, “For the storm lasted for three days; and at last the Magians, by using victims [cut up in pieces and offered to the manes] and wizards’ spells on the wind, and by sacrificing also to Thetis and the Nereids, did make it to cease on the fourth day.” The Magi of ancient Persia were said to travel across the world spanning from India to Greece. However, as time went on the Magi would begin to lose their status. 

Magi traveled to Greece, and the Greeks Gaecicized the word to “Magos”. This word held a very different meaning from the Persian Magi, and unfortunately for the magicians, the connotations changed with it. For your see, “Magos” had begun to mean charlatan. You can see it in Sophocles’s play Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus refers to the seer Tiresias as “magus”, which in the context of the story is definitely given in a negative light. It’s believed that the change in the definition of Magus in Greece happened due to the military conflicts between Greece and Persia. No better way to spite your enemies than making them a laughing stock. 

The Romans, as they did with many things, continued the Greek idea of Magi for the most part. Magi were associated with the East, specifically with the Zoroastrians. Magic and Magicians were starkly separated from Religion. Religious rites, even those considered very non-Roman were considered sacred, the rites of magicians though were considered fraudulent, dangerous, and strange to the Romans. They took this to the point of criminalizing practices associated with Magic. This however only goes so far though, given the Roman practice of absorbing religions and deities. 

The medieval era is where we start getting some of the interesting stories. Some of my favorites, such as Pan Twardowski, as well as some absolutely amazing stories about wizards in the Baltic countries. Magicians and wizards in medieval stories are almost uniformly evil though. This is because in Medieval Europe they took the Roman view of magic and ran with it. Magicians were associated with evil people, and magic was condemned most harshly. A great example of the archetypical view of the magician in medieval Europe would be Simon Magus, the great foe of Saint Peter. Of course though, as we’ve discussed before, the people of Europe while they may have condemned magic and all of that, still had their practices that the Church didn’t approve of. 

In Early Modern Europe you run into a variety of different ways magic was accepted by the people, of course you have alchemy, and court magicians like Dr. John Dee who is the archetypical Early Modern magician. In the upper classes magic, meaning alchemy, astrology, and other such persuits straddled the line between magic and science. Alchemy would one day lead people into chemistry, and astrology would lead some people to astronomy. However, the upper classes weren’t the only ones who practiced magic. 

You see these people in a variety of different stories from the time, commonly they’re going to be an old woman or old man who lives in a hut in the village, or near the village. They’re almost always feared, but always respected. Baba Yaga is a great example of this, though there are a few sorcerous examples from Russian tales as well, not to mention the examples of wizards of the Baltic countries. These feared and respected people of the villages are the cunning men and women. They perform spells for people for a variety of different things, be it spells of protection or medicinal cures passed down through generations. These people were accepted in places due to the fact that in many places in Europe, even though the Church was strongly against it, magic was only illegal if used for wicked purposes. This is something that is talked about in great detail in Keith Thomas’s Religion and the Decline of Magic, this is a book that I cannot recommend highly enough to people who are interested in scholarly accounts on magic in Early Modern Europe. 

So, magicians went from being nobles, to jokes, to hunted criminals, to nobles again along with being respected members of villages. It’s interesting to see that change happen throughout time, and I think this is something that I’m going to go back and look into again. Next time I think I’ll pick a time and focus on that time. Everyone look forward to starting with Persian Magi sometime in the future!

This is all that I have for now on magic, though I would love to come back and talk about it again sometime. I hope you have enjoyed this article today, if you’d like to talk about it, please feel free to comment on our Facebook page, or send us an email. We always look forward to hearing from people. If you learned something new, give us a like, and let us know, we really appreciate being noticed… Also, if you have anything that you’d like me to research next month, please reach out to us. I always appreciate a little bit of help getting inspiration. Until then, I’ll be back next month with another subjectively fascinating topic. This is Casimir, signing off, and remember, always check your sources very very carefully, our culture, and our history depends on it.

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