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Used in various forms throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. [105]
The occult is a category of supernatural beliefs and practices, encompassing such phenomena as those involving mysticism, spirituality, and magic in terms of any otherworldly agency. It can also refer to other non-religious supernatural ideas like extra-sensory perception and parapsychology.
While the word religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion used in religious studies courses defines it as [a] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations ...
The occult (from Latin: occultus, lit. ' hidden ' or ' secret ') is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysticism.
Magic, sometimes spelled magick, [1] is the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed in the belief that they can manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces. [2] It is a category into which have been placed various beliefs and practices sometimes considered separate from both religion and science.
Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious belief and praxis. Sacred mysteries may be either: Religious beliefs, rituals or practices which are kept secret from the uninitiated. Beliefs of the religion which are public knowledge but cannot be easily explained by normal rational or ...
Connotations of magic have varied from positive to negative at times throughout history, [20] Within Western culture, magic has been linked to ideas of the Other, [21] foreignness, [22] and primitivism; [23] indicating that it is "a powerful marker of cultural difference" [24] and likewise, a non-modern phenomenon. [25]
Belief in malevolent magic and the concept of witchcraft has lasted throughout recorded history and has been found in cultures worldwide, regardless of development. [3] [18] Most societies have feared an ability by some individuals to cause supernatural harm and misfortune to others.