Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Goetia (goh-eh-TEE-ah [1]) is a type of European sorcery, often referred to as witchcraft, that has been transmitted through grimoires—books containing instructions for performing magical practices. The term "goetia" finds its origins in the Greek word "goes", which originally denoted diviners, magicians, healers, and seers. [2]
The history of magic extends from the earliest literate cultures, who relied on charms, divination and spells to interpret and influence the forces of nature. Even societies without written language left crafted artifacts, cave art and monuments that have been interpreted as having magical purpose.
Sorcery commonly refers to: Magic (supernatural) , the application of beliefs, rituals or actions employed to manipulate natural or supernatural beings and forces Sorcery ( goetia ) , magic involving the evocation of spirits
Pompeian wall painting depicting a hermaphrodite sitting, left hand raised towards an old satyr approaching from behind; a maenad or bacchant brings a love potion.. Magic in the Greco-Roman world – that is, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the other cultures with which they interacted, especially ancient Egypt – comprises supernatural practices undertaken by individuals, often privately ...
The word is over a thousand years old: Old English formed the compound wiccecræft from wicce ('witch') and cræft ('craft'). [32] The masculine form was wicca ('male sorcerer'). [33] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, wicce and wicca were probably derived from the Old English verb wiccian, meaning 'to practice witchcraft'. [34]
The English words magic, mage and magician come from the Latin term magus, through the Greek μάγος, which is from the Old Persian maguš. (𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁|𐎶𐎦𐎢𐏁, magician). [11] The Old Persian magu-is derived from the Proto-Indo-European megʰ-*magh (be able). The Persian term may have led to the Old Sinitic *M γ ag (mage or ...
Pervasive throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia until late antiquity and beyond, mágos (μάγος) was influenced by (and eventually displaced) Greek goēs (γόης), the older word for a practitioner of magic, with a meaning expanded to include astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and other forms of esoteric knowledge.
The later Middle Ages saw words for these practitioners of harmful magical acts appear in various European languages: sorcière in French, Hexe in German, strega in Italian, and bruja in Spanish. [16] The English term for malevolent practitioners of magic, witch, derived from the earlier Old English term wicce. [16]