In ancient cultures, there was no particular distinction between religion and magic. People sincerely believed that light and dark spirits or deities rule everything in the world. To appease the gods, knowledgeable specialists (magicians) performed many different magical actions.
Magicians
Magic was supposed to be divided into three main types: black, white, and gray. Black magic was capable of causing harm to people and was considered the lot of evil sorcerers. On the contrary, white magic protected a person from evil forces and was practiced by good sorceresses. And finally, gray - was a cross between white and black magic.
The staff sorcerer in the primitive tribe was a highly respected and influential person. He healed diseases, caused rain in drought, drove the beast with a spell into the hands of hunters, punished guilty tribesmen, etc. The sorcerer usually passed on his knowledge of magic by inheritance, the chosen student.
When Christianity arose, magic lost its ubiquitous influence and was ranked as a "devilish" teaching because it interfered with the essence of nature, violating the will of divine forces. It was believed that the one who resorts to magical action calls upon the servants of Satan as his helpers. So the famous "witch hunt" of the Middle Ages began.
Witches
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In our time, the concept of "witch" has a completely different meaning than it was given in antiquity. A witch is one who knows, knows the essence of things. This is a whole layer of a lost cultural tradition.
The infamous treatise The Hammer of the Witches, written in 1486 by the Inquisitors Jacob Sprenter and Heinrich Institoris, served as a practical guide to recognizing witches for years to come.
It describes in detail the regularity with which witches gather for the Sabbath. There were so-called monthly sabbaths held by small groups of witches. Large Sabbaths were held, as they would say now - every quarter (February 2, June 23, August 21, December 21).
The most significant sabbaths were held twice a year: on April 30 (Walpurgis Night) and on the night of October 31 to November 1 (the eve of All Saints Day).
It was also believed that every witch knew how to fly, preparing a special herbal ointment and smearing it on the body. Therefore, witches flocked to the Sabbath without fail in the nude. However, in the 16th century, the doctor Johann Weier made the assumption that this ointment had only a narcotic effect on the witches, and it only seemed to them that they were flying, but in fact the witches received only strong hallucinations.
The Middle Ages were marked by the mass burning of witches and sorcerers at the stake of the Inquisition. At best, a person accused of witchcraft would be hanged or drowned.
The most famous and horrific story took place in Salem, Massachusetts, the "city of witches" in 1692. Here more than forty women were accused of witchcraft and then killed.
Shamans
Magic includes any activity related to divination, witchcraft, and sorcery. True magic specialists of a high level were able not only to perform ordinary miracles, but were also able to penetrate into other dimensions, easily manipulating their reality. Shamans are among such unique specialists.
The word "shaman" is translated from Even as "expert", "wizard". In Altai, such a person is called "kam", and in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - it is "bakshi". In Mongolia and Buryatia - "bee". Shamans are capable of talking to spirits.
Shamans, in order to influence reality in one way or another with the help of special magic rituals, use bioenergetic forces. They were able not only to heal from any disease, but also to send terrible misfortunes to people they did not like, including fatal ailments. At will, the shaman could separate the soul from his own body and send it to the other world, thereby maintaining a connection between living people and their deceased ancestors.
To perform a magical ceremony, the shaman dresses up in special clothes. For backgammon of Siberia, it was usually a long shirt made of reindeer or seal skins, which was worn over trousers. The shaman attaches various magical attributes to his clothes: figurines of animals and people, bells, sticks, ribbons, strips of leather, etc.
To introduce himself into a trance, the shaman uses a tambourine or drum. Some peoples, for example, the Eskimos and South American Indians, use rattles to enter a trance.
Sixth Sense
Researchers believe that the use of magic by individuals is associated with their innate ability to perceive, feel the bioenergy information field, other people, physical objects and the environment. The modern designation for such a person is psychic, which means "supersensitive." These are people with a pronounced "sixth sense", which is often associated with clairvoyance (the ability to obtain information about the future and the past).
The ability for extrasensory perception can be developed with special exercises and trainings. In fact, we can all become magicians if we focus our attention on the inner world and reject the harmful effects of external factors from ourselves.
