Elements of Magical – Medicinal Practice. The Position of the Witch and Wizard in Slovakia
Elements of Magical – Medicinal Practice. The Position of the Witch and Wizard in Slovakia

Author(s): Katarína Nádaská, Martina Sekulová
Subject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Middle Ages, Modern Age, Culture and social structure , Health and medicine and law, History of Religion
Published by: Historický ústav SAV
Keywords: Slovakia; magic; medicine; medicinal practice; witch; wizard;
Summary/Abstract: Magic is an independent phenomenon accompanying humanity in its development from the earliest times to the present, and it still has its special place in our present-day consumer society. In the earliest stages of human development, it was part of religious ceremonies, rituals and ideas, but also of the early foundations of science and knowledge of the surrounding world. However, we must sceptically state that the origin of magic is unclear. Various researchers associate magic with the oldest religious systems, in which faith in the existence of ambivalent forces changing various objects comes to the fore. Expert literature uses the Melanesian term mana for the higher transforming force. According to Vladimír Scheufler, magic is faith in an ambivalent power, which initiated individuals, that is magicians, can control with certain specific actions or words, either for good in the case of white magic or evil in the case of black magic. The actual basis of magic is faith in the possibility to influence the course of the world, but also people, animals and the spiritual world using supernatural forces. We can state that we find magic in essence to a larger or smaller extent in all the higher religious systems. For example, from the point of view of general religious studies, the celebration of Holy Mass and the Christian sacraments as well as prayer are magic acts. Magic often overlaps with psychotronic acts and there it is relatively frequent to change one into the other.

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