68 Science Religion and Reality 



imitates its end. Thus, in the black magic of the Melanesians 

 recorded by myself, a characteristic ritual way of winding-up the 

 spell is for the scorerer to weaken the voice, utter a death-rattle, 

 and fall down in imitation of the rigor of death. It is, however, 

 not necessary to adduce any other examples, for this aspect of 

 magic and the allied one of contagious magic has been brilliantly 

 described and exhaustively documented by Frazer. Sir James has 

 also shown that there exists a special lore of magical substances 

 based on affinities, relations, on ideas of similarity and contagion, 

 developed with a magical pseudo-science. 



But there are also ritual proceedings in which there is neither 

 imitation nor forecasting nor the expression of any special idea or 

 emotion. There are rites so simple that they can be described 

 only as an immediate application of magical virtue, as when the 

 performer stands up and, directly invoking the wind, causes it to 

 rise. Or again, as when a man conveys the spell to some material 

 substance which afterwards will be applied to the thing or person 

 to be charmed. The material objects used in such ritual are also 

 of a strictly appropriate character — substances best fitted to receive, 

 retain, and transmit magical virtue, coverings designed to imprison 

 and preserve it until it is applied to its object. 



But what is the magical virtue which figures not only in the 

 last-mentioned type of act but in every magical rite .? For whether 

 it be an act expressing certain emotions or a rite of imitation and 

 foreshadowing or an act of simple casting, one feature they have 

 always in common : the force of magic, its virtue, must always be 

 conveyed to the charmed object. What is it ? Briefly, it is always 

 the power contained in the spell, for, and this is never sufficiently 

 emphasised, the most important element in magic is the spell. The 

 spell is that part of magic which is occult, handed over in magical 

 filiation, known only to the practitioner. To the natives know- 

 ledge of magic means knowledge of spell, and in an analysis of any 

 act of witchcraft it will always be found that the ritual centres 

 round the utterance of the spell. The formula is always the core 

 of the magical performance. 



The study of the texts and formulas of primitive magic reveals 

 that there are three typical elements associated with the belief 

 in magical efficiency. There are, first, the phonetic effects, 

 imitations of natural sounds, such as the whistling of the wind, the 

 growling of thunder, the roar of the sea, the voices of various 



