The Sorcerer And His Magic Analysis

In his essay “The Sorcerer and His Magic”, Claude Lévi-Strauss discusses his concept of what he calls the “shamanistic complex” (Lévi-Strauss 179) which based on research by Cannon that suggests people who believe in magic can be physically affected if they are cursed, bewitched or otherwise subject to magic (Lévi-Strauss 167-168). Lévi-Strauss then offers a qualification to Cannon’s assertion by saying that there are three elements which must be present in order for a magical ritual to have the desired physical effect. “[…] first, the sorcerer’s belief in the effectiveness of his techniques; second, the patient’s or victim’s belief in the sorcerer’s power; and, finally the faith and expectations of the group, which constantly act as a sort …show more content…
One such example presented by Lévi-Strauss is the story of Quesalid, a shaman of the Kwakiutl Indians from Vancouver, Canada (Lévi-Strauss 175). Quesalid was always interested in the magic performed by the shamans and disbelieved their claims of power. This prompted him to seek to join them and discover their ways of showmanship that gave people the illusion of being healed. Quesalid became an apprentice of the shamans and eventually became widely known as a great shaman for his many successes healing people and showing up other previously respected shamans (Lévi-Strauss 175-177). In this particular situation, not all elements of the “shamanistic complex” are present. The crowds watching Quesalid and Quesalid’s patients believe in his power, which is why they called on him in the first place to heal their loved ones. However, the one part of the concept missing is the “sorcerer’s belief in the effectiveness of his techniques” (Lévi-Strauss 168). Before becoming confident with his ability to heal, Quesalid “did not believe in the power of the sorcerers […] and desire[d] to expose them” (Lévi-Strauss 175). Here, while there is a sorcerer present conducting the magic, the sorcerer doesn’t (at least initially) believe in his ability to heal or perform miracles like the rest of the society he belongs to does, and yet Quesalid’s …show more content…
Enoch wants his boss to invest some money in an investment idea of his, and to help convince him to do this, Enoch invites him to dinner. To help in the process of convincing his boss that his idea is a good one, Enoch decides to use some magic. He transforms the dinner into a ritual revolving around the god Jupiter, because “Jupiter is the god of business success” (Luhrmann 131). To do this they make everything blue or purple, and all the table settings and decoration at the dinner come in sets of four. These colors and the number four all have connections to Jupiter. At the dinner, Enoch never gets around to discussing his idea, and it initially appears as if the ceremony didn’t work. However, in a rather unexpected move, a couple of days later Enoch’s boss decides to join a church and give up business entirely. To Enoch, this shows that the ritual worked, but not in the intended way, because Jupiter is also connected with religion (Luhrmann 131-132). This situation is very similar to the one illustrated by François’s healing in the previous paragraph. Similarly, there is no group to speak of that is present at the time of the ritual, only the sorcerer and the victim are present. The one difference between the previous case and this one is the state that the victim is in. Here Enoch’s boss is completely unaware that a ritual is being performed on him, unlike in the story of François, where