Magic and Its Evaluation – Reports and Views of Practitioners

Gerhard Mayer

Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP)

Freiburg, Germany

Magic and paranormal phenomena are inextricably linked. There is a scientific interest in magical practices and rituals as a research subject. The approaches are mainly historical or anthropological, or they come from religious studies or esoteric studies perspective (e.g., Otto & Stausberg, 2013). However, the basic assumption of these approaches is almost always that magic does not work, or else this question is ignored.

Parapsychologists have a reflexive and comprehensive approach to this topic, reaching from skeptical to experimentally driven inquiries. Although here, too, much in such fictional narratives is regarded as fantastic and not very realistic, phenomena that cannot be explained with conventional models of classical physics are not automatically excluded from the considerations. We find convincing evidence of the existence of telepathy, psychokinesis, and precognition from laboratory experiments (Cardeña, 2018) and from well-investigated case studies outside the laboratory (e.g., Mayer [Ed.], 2019). There are authors who explicitly seek to compare mythical and ethnographic accounts of magic and parapsychological findings (e.g. Radin, 2013, 2018).

In Western secularized societies, there is a more or less unbroken tradition of occult-magical practice (e.g. Hanegraaff, 2003). Contemporary magicians in such societies, who do not only practice magic for entertainment but turn to it in a committed way, then often called “magick,” seem to be well educated. While each of these committed magicians may have very different approaches to magic, most of them are probably aware of the apparent inconsistency of the magical worldview with the scientific models that govern society. At least, this is what the results of my study suggest (cf. Mayer, 2008, 2009). The goals of magical practice and rituals can be very different for each individual. This is already clear from the common distinction between high magic and low magic. Some use magic rituals to achieve pragmatic goals such as passing a good exam or finding a nice rental apartment. Others use it to promote the creative process in artistic work or to advance to new dimensions of consciousness. Yet others see magical practice as a means to progress on their spiritual path (Mayer, 2009).

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Gerhard Mayer studied psychology, sociology, and philosophy. Since 1996, he has been working as a researcher at the IGPP in Freiburg, Germany. His research interests concern questions of cultural studies relating to the frontier areas of psychology, anomalies, shamanism, magical practices, and beliefs. He is director of the Gesellschaft für Anomalistik (Society for Anomalistics) and chief editor of the bilingual Journal of Anomalistics / Zeitschrift für Anomalistik. Since 2022, he has been Vice President of the Parapsychological Association.

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Program chaired by Jacob W. Glazier. Download the Abstracts at

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Published on October 11, 2024