Magician from Magus

Over the course of my research, my topic has gained more of a direction from its initial start as magic in western culture. I realize now, after in-depth exploration, that there are so many aspects of magic in the western world that can be focused on, and that even different time periods have a wealth of information on the topic. There seems to be a steady progression of intolerance as new cultures arose, beginning with Egyptian sorcerers who used magic, just like their gods, to Greeks, who feared magic as a people but held it in high esteem in their culture and myth, to Romans who met magic with rejection and disapproval. The advent of Christianity officially demonizes magic and Christians began hunting down magic users. Christianity's views on and actions against magic may very well be the final pairing down of my paper, because it itself is such an in-depth topic. The Bible has reference after reference to magic, including stories that present the almighty power of God over human magicians. These particular examples are not found only in the Bible, but throughout history. The thing that links these actions together is how the magicians in question are presented: they are presented as having little power or significance. However, these practitioners were often priests in their own cultures, worshipers of different gods. Therefore, dominant religions have been known to label lesser religions who place power in arcane symbols and rituals as magic: a power that can only bow to the might of religions like Christianity. The habit of using religion to justify persecution is not a new idea either, and actions like the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials. I plan to read two books on witchcraft, science, and occult to gain more information. I feel as though I could narrow down the topic a lot if I had more time to do so, but I think connecting magic to Christianity helps to narrow the time frame and subject matter enough so as to make it more manageable.