How Magic Works
New Zealand Feminist Witches' Theories of Ritual Action
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2464784 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathryn Rountree (Massey University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 42-59 |
| Publication date | 2002-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology of Consciousness (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1053-4202 • E-ISSN: 1556-3537 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1525/ac.2002.13.1.42 |
| OpenAlex | W2096377802 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 23 |
The paper draws on three years' fieldwork and twelve years' familiarity withfeminist witches in New Zealand. These women are thoughtful and articulate about their magical practice, and it is their theories about how magic works and the function of ritual-making which are the paper's central concern. Scholarly theories and debates about magic and ritual have frequently been dichotomously constructed: science versus magic, the symbolists versus the intellectualists, causality versus participation, ritual as action versus belief as thought, and so on. The witches who are the focus of this study do not explain their ritual practice in such dichotomized terms. Their spells, forexample, incorporate expressive, dramaticand aesthetic components and values, along with an explicit instrumental purpose. For these witches, magic is not anti-science or pseudoscience: it sits alongside science as another wayofaddressingaproblem. The paper discusses feminist witches' theories and practices in the light of anthropological theories about ritual and magic, explores the role of symbols and energy in magic, and demonstrates how these witchesuse ritual for empowerment and healing
Action (physics · Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Literature · MAGIC (telescope · Pseudoscience · Sociology · Anthropology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Symbol and theory
A celebration of demons
Shamanism
The Interpretation of Cultures
A Celebration of Demons
Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
Ritual, Play, and Performance
The Past is a Foreigners' Country
A Community of Witches
The New Witch of the West
Symbol and Theory. A Philosophical Study of Theories of Religion in Social Anthropology
The Hands Feel It
Beyond New Age
Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors
The Ritual Process
Culture, Thought, and Social Action
Daughters of the Goddess
Ritual
The Hands Feel It
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,31 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2026 (17) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |