Sympathetic magic

Type of magic based on imitation or correspondence Part of a series onMagic Concepts Incantation Magical formula Magical organization Mysticism Occult Witchcraft Background History of magic Magic and religion Christianity Islam Shinto Psychological theories of magic Forms Apotropaic magic Black magic Ceremonial magic Chaos magic Divination Evocation Gray magic Invocation Natural magic Necromancy Sex magic Shamanism Sigils Sympathetic magic Thaumaturgy Theurgy White magic Movements Thelema Neopagan Wicca Western esotericism Related topics Magical thinking Stage magic vte Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence. Similarity and contagion James George Frazer coined the term "sympathetic magic" in The Golden Bough (1889); Richard Andree, however, had anticipated Frazer, writing of sympathy-enchantment (German: Sympathie-Zauber) in his 1878 Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche. Frazer subcategorised sympathetic magic into two varieties: that relying on similarity, and that relying on contact or "contagion": If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselv