User:OnBeyondZebrax/sandbox/Magic (paranormal)

Magical rituals are the precisely defined actions (including speech) used to work magic. Magic often utilizes symbols that are thought to be intrinsically efficacious. The performance of magic almost always involves the use of language. Another potential source of the power of words is their secrecy and exclusivity. The possession of magical knowledge alone may be insufficient to grant magical power; often a person must also possess certain magical objects, traits or life experiences in order to be a magician.In non-scientific societies, perceived magical attack is an idea sometimes employed to explain personal or societal misfortune.

The foremost perspectives on magic in anthropology are functionalist, symbolist and intellectualist. The term "magical thinking" in anthropology, psychology, and cognitive science refers to causal reasoning often involving associative thinking, such as the perceived ability of the mind to affect the physical world (see the philosophical problem of mental causation) or correlation mistaken for materialist causation. Psychological theories treat magic as a personal phenomenon intended to meet individual needs, as opposed to a social phenomenon serving a collective purpose.

The belief that one can influence supernatural powers, by prayer, sacrifice or invocation goes back to prehistoric religion and is present in early records such as the Egyptian pyramid texts and the Indian Vedas. Magic and religion are categories of beliefs and systems of knowledge used within societies. Appearing in various tribal peoples from Aboriginal Australia and Māori New Zealand to the Amazon, African savannah, and pagan Europe, some form of shamanic contact with the spirit world seems to be nearly universal in the early development of human communities. Much of the Babylonian and Egyptian pictorial writing characters appear derived from the same sources. In general, the 20th century has seen a sharp rise in public interest in various forms of magical practice, and the foundation of a number of traditions and organisations, ranging from the distinctly religious to the philosophical.