The characteristics of modern magic : students’ superstitions

Abstract

From old times people tried to attempt to control natural or chance events or to influence the behavior or emotions of others. Folk magic (special practices, rituals, spells) was oriented into the welfare of all society. Talking about modern magic, it seems that it should differ from traditional, folk magic according to its function and utilization in different spheres/activities of life that are common to nowadays urban society. But still the question stays, if traditional or folk magic could be completely distinguished from modern magic and, finally, how do we understand the word ‘modern’. This author asserts that modernity cannot be understood as something completely new. There is something behind that. Modern cultural magic elements can be created according to the model of folk magic or those cultural elements can be understood as a continuity of one or several modified different traditions. The object of this chapter is the characteristics of modern magic. The purpose of this chapter is to discover the characteristics of modern magic on the basis of students’ superstitions based on research carried out in Lithuania.