1.The Principles of Magic



There do not exist important differences between white magic and black magic, between, for instance, meteorological and healing magic. The spells belonging to all categories of magic act respecting a certain pattern. Magic is not a chaotic field; two principles or laws govern it:
The law of similitude says that the similar produces the similar or the effect resembles its cause.
The law of contagion is based on the idea that objects continue to influence each other long after physical contact is over.

These two principles often take joint actions. They are called the sympathetic magic as they both assume that objects interact through a secret sympathy, the impulse being transmitted through something we could imagine an ether similar to that postulated by modern science.


2. Forms of Magic


White magic, or the right- hand magic, developed from healing witchcraft and is meant to have positive effects. Initially, it was used by the whole community; later only by certain persons such as the medicine man, the sorcerer or the shaman.
Black magic, or the left-hand magic, derives from the negative witchcraft, and its effects are calamitous - death, illness, madness - and only the witch has always practiced it.
According to the way it is produced, magic can be natural or ceremonial (the invocation of spirits is very important). From the point of view of the technique resorted to, we can speak of mimetic magic (imitation based on gestures, dance, words, that are songs, incantations, curses), contagious, destructive, divination, love, war, fecundity, meteorological, illicit, for instance cannibalism.
The most frequent example to illustrate the similarity principle consists in the attempts of different communities to hurt or kill their enemies by destroying an image, believing that people will suffer as the image does and they will die when the image completely vanishes. In England, the image of the victim is replaced with chicken bones as in the following curse:


Gather bones of chickens and dry them in the sun for a few days. The work into frenzy of anger and hatred will add potency to the curse.“With these bones I now do crush" take a hammer or use your feet to stomp and crush these bones as if they were your enemy before you! When you are done sweep them up and place them in a bag. Sprinkle the dust and remains of bones around the enemy’s house. If you have a bell, ring it 3 times and say...
Bones of anger, bones to dust
full of fury, revenge is just
I scatter these bones, these bones of rage
take thine enemy, bring him pain
I see thine enemy before me now
I bind him, crush him, bring him down
With these bones I now do crush
Make thine enemy turn to dust
torment, fire, out of control
With this hex I curse your soul
So mote it be! (C. Puzuzu 2001).
This black magic spell is based on the imitative principle. The performer hopes that his or her enemy would die as bones change to dust.
The imitative principle appears in white magic, too. When a woman from Sumatra wants to have a child, she’ll make a wood doll and she’ll carry her into her arms. This habit is similar to a Romanian one. A piece of wood is enswathed and put into a cradle; lullabies are then sung to it as to a child. It is believed that the piece of wood will transform into a real child with magical powers.
The contagious magic is represented by the sympathy between a person and any organic element belonging to her/him (nails, clothes, arms, etc).
Magic can be positive (the use of all spells, no matter if belong to white or black magic) and negative (the taboos).
The persons respecting a taboo are separated from the rest of the society because it is believed that they can transmit the spiritual danger. In the ancestors’ beliefs, objects as well as words can be filled with or electrified by the mysterious virtue of taboos.
There are a lot of taboos and superstitions about weddings. In English, the word “bride” comes from St. Bridget, the Christian version of the Irish Goddess of Fertility called Brid.
In old times, weddings followed a certain pattern. It was considered that the moment of wedding was the beginning of a new life not only for the bride and groom but also for the entire community. That’s why each step was extremely important and mistakes were not allowed. It was a sacred moment with deep implications for everybody’s life and therefore certain rituals had to be respected during ceremony.
In many societies women were considered impure and even malefic. They could bring about all kinds of misfortunes and in order to avoid that they had to respect different taboos and prohibitions. Even their wedding dress had to be part of a pattern. In fact, each item of their clothes had its own significance. In England and United States, a well-known popular wedding verse says quoted by Alec Gill in his article on the Internet, “A Superstitious Journey through an old-fashioned House”:

Something old
Something new,
Something borrowed
Something blue.

The association of these nouns is very interesting. Old could be the shoes, a handkerchief or grandmother’s ring, and it has means continuity of life and tradition. New is the dress, meaning purity and innocence. The sign of a bird on the dress is a taboo in England. The woman belonged to the man, she hadn’t freedom; on the other hand, it is known the fact that birds are free to go wherever they wants. This sign, by the power of sympathetic magic, could determine the bride to leave her groom and family. Something could be borrowed from an older woman in the family with a happy marriage. It was believed that using a thing belonging to a woman with a happy marriage, the bride would have a happy marriage, too. Blue is, in this context, the colour of truth and happiness.
The dress could not be any colour. There is an English popular poem describing the colours and establishing some indirect taboos.

Married in white, you have chosen right.
Married in green, ashamed to be seen.
Married in grey, you'll go far away.
Married in blue, your love will be true.
Married in yellow, You're ashamed of your fellow.
Married in black, you'll wish yourself back.
Married in pink, your spirits will sink.
Married in brown, you'll live out of town.
Married in pearl and you'll live in a whirl.
( qtd. in Alec Gill).

Each colour has its own significance in magic, and can attract fortune or bad luck. White is the most widely used colour for wedding dresses. It symbolises light, purity and spirituality. It is also protective and auspicious. Green it is not a lucky colour for brides, symbolising the shame of doing a thing that cannot be accepted by herself or society. Grey will put a distance between the bride and her family, on one hand, and community, on the other hand. Red can be life but also death. It attracts great forces which are sometimes hard to control. Yellow attracts the malefic, brakes the confidence and is also the colour of jealousy. Black is used to remove or to end something; it is also the symbol of death. Brown is used in connection with “out of town”, where the bond with the earth is very strong. The nacreous brings the image of waters and whirls. Marriage means stability but the association of a wedding dress with whirls is not the best option.
There are not many taboos related to the groom. He is not allowed to see the bride before her coming to the church and he must not look back over his shoulder to watch her coming up to the aisle.
The wedding cannot take place without the presence of the bridesmaid. Her role is to protect the bride from the evil forces. The same role has the bride’s veil.
The role of taboos was to protect the entire community against malefic forces. A part of them disappeared, others transformed into superstitions. Both taboos and superstitions represent an unconscientised magic.