Journal for the Academic Study of Magic

The term "Journal" derives from the Old French "jornal," meaning "daily," itself from Latin "diurnalis," meaning "daily." "Academic" stems from "academia," referring to the Lyceum of Athens, founded by Aristotle. "Study" originates from Old English "studian," meaning "to learn." "Magic" comes from Latin "magia," ultimately from Greek "mageia," referring to the practices of the Magi.

The Journal for the Academic Study of Magic (JSM) was the journal of the Society for the Academic Study of Magic (SASM), a multidisciplinary group formed in 2002 by Alison Butler and Dave Evans of the University of Bristol. The group was composed of scholars studying all aspects of magic and esotericism. Published annually by Mandrake of Oxford, JSM ran for five issues, from 2003 to 2008. It contained topical articles, news, and book reviews, and is indexed and/or abstracted in several scholarly...

In an era often characterized by the fragmentation of knowledge and the erosion of shared meaning, the emergence of a journal dedicated to the academic study of magic is a curious and vital phenomenon. It suggests a collective, perhaps unconscious, yearning to re-enchant the world, not through uncritical embrace, but through intellectual dissection and contextualization. Mircea Eliade, in his seminal work "The Myth of the Eternal Return," explored how archaic societies structured their understanding of time and reality through cyclical patterns and sacred narratives. The academic study of magic, in its own way, attempts to map these patterns, to understand the underlying grammar of belief systems that have shaped human consciousness for millennia.

The journal's existence acknowledges that magic, in its myriad forms, is not merely superstition but a complex cultural practice, a form of symbolic technology, and a repository of profound psychological and philosophical insights. It invites scholars from diverse disciplines—anthropology, history, religious studies, psychology, literature—to bring their tools to bear on phenomena that have often been relegated to the fringes of respectable thought. This is not about validating magical claims, but about understanding the human impulse to believe, to seek control over the uncontrollable, and to construct meaning in the face of existential uncertainty. As Carl Jung observed, the archetypes that manifest in dreams and myths also find expression in the rituals and cosmologies of magic. The journal, therefore, becomes a space where these deep currents of the human psyche can be explored with scholarly rigor, much like the alchemists sought to understand the hidden properties of matter, these scholars seek to understand the hidden properties of the human spirit as expressed through magical traditions. It is an act of intellectual archaeology, unearthing the foundations of human imagination.

RELATED_TERMS: Esotericism, Occultism, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, Alchemy, Symbolism, Mythology, Religious Studies