Sorceries

Sorcery refers to the use of believed supernatural powers to influence events, people, or natural forces. Practices commonly associated with sorcery include spells, charms, incantations, rites, talismans, and the manipulation of spirits, ancestors, or deities. The meaning and boundaries of sorcery vary across cultures and historical periods; in some traditions it is part of a religious system, in others it is treated as taboo or criminal. The term is often intertwined with related concepts such as magic, witchcraft, and divination, with different communities drawing sharp lines or overlapping meanings.

Across the world, sorcery has appeared in diverse forms. In parts of West Africa and the Pacific, practitioners are reputed to channel spiritual forces to heal, protect, or harm. In many Indigenous and folk traditions, sorcery is embedded in social rules and disputes and may be invoked to explain misfortune. European medieval and early modern contexts linked sorcery to witchcraft and heresy, often leading to persecution. Ethnographers emphasize that sorcery is not merely individual power but a culturally structured practice with meanings rooted in community life, kinship, and concepts of causation.

Today, sorcery is studied as a facet of historical religion, anthropology, and folklore, and appears in contemporary religious movements and popular culture. Scholars stress careful, culturally situated interpretation to avoid essentializing or exoticizing. The term remains contested and fluid, reflecting the diversity of beliefs about how unseen forces operate in the world and how human actions might influence them.