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WORD LIST HOME - DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
THE MYSTICAL AND MAGICAL
DIRECTORY OF MYSTIC WORD LISTS
Mystical and Magical - Home
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
Mystical and Magical - Home
- Mysterious Magic of the Mystical
- Supernatural Spirituality of the Occult
- Practicing the Art of Divination
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
Sorcery & Witchcraft PRACTITIONERS
OF MAGIC
PRACTICING MAGIC
COMMON SUFFIXES AND PREFIXES
Arch- From arkhi, Greek for ‘chief’. Applied to various noble and magical titles (Archbishop, Archpriest, Archmage, Archduke) to signify greater importance.
Hedge- Usually means an inferior or amateur practitioner. For example hedge-witch, hedge-priest, hedge-mage and hedge-rider.
-Mancer – Pyromancer, Technomancer, Cryomancer, etc. A mage who uses elemental powers. From manteia, “divination”. Now often applied to any elemental word to indicate use of it in magic.
-Kinesis – From κίνησις, “movement”. To use the mind or magic to move something. For example Pyrokinesis and Telekinesis.
-Path – From Pathos, “Suffering”. Generally indicates a psychic ability to connect to something. Used in Telepath, Empath, Technopath, Cyberpath, etc.
WITCHES
Bokor – A voodoo witch for hire who deals with both good and bad spirits. Often summoners of zombies.
Enchantress - An Enchantress is often a fairy tail witch.
Hexer/Hexe – German, Male and female witch respectively.
Tofra – Icelandic, One who beguiles or bewitches.
Warlock – Oathbreaker, from Scots language; usage to mean an evil magic user/mage. From roughly the 20th century, Warlock was adopted and popularized by romanticism literature.
Witch – From Old English Wicce and Wicca (male and female) meaning an individual who does magic by the power of spirits. Middle English Wicche was gender neutral. Came to mean specifically a female magic user during 18th/19th century.
Wizard – From Middle English ‘wys’, or wise. Philosopher or Sage. Not often used to mean a scholarly magician, similar to a sorcerer.
MAGICIANS and MAGES
Conjurer – Either a synonym of Summoner, or an entertainer or minor prestidigitator. Sometimes just a mage (one who conjures magic).
Magician (Magitian) – A general magic practitioner, or an entertainer. Archaic form Magitian.
Galdra – Icelandic person who does magic
Prestidigitator – A magician or entertaining who uses sleight-of-hand and minor tricks.
Scinlæce – Anglo-Saxon, Female mage.
Sorcerer/Sorceress – From latin Sors, lot or fate. Originally a diviner. Now often a learned or scholarly magician. May be used as a more powerful or respected version of Wizard in some media.
PRACTITIONERS OF MAGIC
Alchemist – From Arabic al-kīmiyā, itself from a Greek name for Egypt. Originally a scientific and philosophical view, early alchemists were scientists and philosophers who sought to learn about the makeup of the world. It developed into a mystical system and has been popularized by modern fantasy literature to mean one who creates potions.
Arcanist - A practitioner of magic, often a craftsman of magical objects. Originally defined as someone who knew a secret of a manufacturing process.
Elementalist – A spellcaster who specializes in or is limited to manipulating the elements (classical or otherwise).
Enchanter – An Enchanter may be the male form of Enchantress, or someone (gender neutral) who creates enchanted objects.
Gealdricge – Anglo-Saxon, User of magic through ‘incantations’
Mystic – One who practices the mystic, the occult or ancient religions. From French Mistique.
Necromancer – Popularized by modern fantasy as someone who raises zombies. Originally meant a diviner who would speak to the spirits of the dead to learn about the past or future. From necromantia, Latin “divination from an exhumed corpse”, from Greek Nekros (dead) + manteia (oracle).
Runesmith – One who writes in or deciphers runes, sometimes magical.
Summoner – A magic practitioner who specializes in summoning spirits or familiar.
Vølve/Völva – A female ritual practitioner from pre-Christian Scandinavia who practiced a form of magic and divination known as Sejd.
Witchdoctor – Pre-19th century England, originally a person who healed damage done by witchcraft. Applied since the 19th century to traditional healers of African cultures.
witches around a cauldron,
PRIESTS and HEALERS
Druid – A priest of the pre-Roman celtic religion. Druids were priests, lawmakers, historians and medicine men in Celtic culture.
Mage/Magi – From Latin Magus, originally a term for a priest of Zoroastrianism. A wise man or scholar.
Sangoma – Zulu, A traditional healer, especially one who uses divination to heal.
Shaman – A traditional wiseman or elder who can influence spirits, and often performs magic in a trance. Possibly from the Evenki language.
PROPHETS, ORACLES AND DIVINER
Astrologer – From Greek to mean study of the stars. Divination through the positions of stars and planets.
Augur – Roman priest who foresaw the future by studying the patterns of bird migrations.
Chiromancer – From greek for Hand + Divination. Synonym for a palmist.
Clairvoyant – A person gifted with the ability to see the future or ghosts. From French for ‘quickness of understanding’.
Crystal-gazer – A fortune teller who uses a crystal ball.
Diviner – One who tells the future or discovers something, and practices divination. Archaic forms devynour and divinour. Used in Water Diviner.
Fortuneteller – One who sees into the future, usually with a connotation of fairground magic, and methods such as tarot, astrology, and crystal balls.
Galdre – Anglo-Saxon, Used to translate Latin necromantia.
Haruspex/Aruspex – A Roman prophet who studied the entrails of animals to foresee the future in a practice called Haruspicy
Oracle – From Latin orare, ‘to speak’. An ancient prophet, often Greek.
Palmist – A prophet who foresees the future through palm reading, a practice called Chiromancy.
Prophet – A religious fortune teller. From ancient greek to mean ‘speak’. Often used in reference to Christianity.
Pythia/Pythian – The title of the Oracle of Delphi. Later term for the Sibyl of Delphi. From the original name of Delphi, Pytho.
Seer – From ‘see’, one who sees. Usually some form of prophet.
Sibyl – Ancient oracles of Greece and the mediterranean, who gave divine prophecies. Famous Sibyl’s include the Pythia of Delphi, and the Libyan Sibyl.
Soothsayer – From sooth + say, and related to sothseggere. ‘One who speaks the truth’.
DIVINE MAGES AND CLERICS
Cleric – A clergyman, later popularised by Dungeons and Dragons to mean a divine magician.
Exorcist – From Greek exorkismos, 15th century word for one who drives out spirits
Paladin – A religious warrior, term derived from the 12 greatest knights of Charlemagne. Usually possess religious magic since Dungeons and Dragons.
Thaumaturgist – From Greek Thauma (marvel) and ergon (work). Person who works miracles, often used in middle ages to refer to a saint; sometimes used to mean a magician.
Theurgist – Theurgy is the practice of rituals performed to invoking the protection or evoking the presence of gods. A theurgist is a performer of these rituals.
MAGICAL WARRIORS
Berserker – The English word is derived from Old Norse words ber and serkr meaning a “bear-shirt”. They are bear warriors of the Viking age and believed to transform into a werebear.
Skinfylking – Boar warriors of the Viking age believed to transform into a wereboar.
Úlfédnar – Wolf warriors of the Viking age believed to transform into a werewolf.
Bogatyr/vityaz – Slavic or Russian heroic warriors who sometimes used magic, and often went on great quests in myth.
Arch- From arkhi, Greek for ‘chief’. Applied to various noble and magical titles (Archbishop, Archpriest, Archmage, Archduke) to signify greater importance.
Hedge- Usually means an inferior or amateur practitioner. For example hedge-witch, hedge-priest, hedge-mage and hedge-rider.
-Mancer – Pyromancer, Technomancer, Cryomancer, etc. A mage who uses elemental powers. From manteia, “divination”. Now often applied to any elemental word to indicate use of it in magic.
-Kinesis – From κίνησις, “movement”. To use the mind or magic to move something. For example Pyrokinesis and Telekinesis.
-Path – From Pathos, “Suffering”. Generally indicates a psychic ability to connect to something. Used in Telepath, Empath, Technopath, Cyberpath, etc.
WITCHES
Bokor – A voodoo witch for hire who deals with both good and bad spirits. Often summoners of zombies.
Enchantress - An Enchantress is often a fairy tail witch.
Hexer/Hexe – German, Male and female witch respectively.
Tofra – Icelandic, One who beguiles or bewitches.
Warlock – Oathbreaker, from Scots language; usage to mean an evil magic user/mage. From roughly the 20th century, Warlock was adopted and popularized by romanticism literature.
Witch – From Old English Wicce and Wicca (male and female) meaning an individual who does magic by the power of spirits. Middle English Wicche was gender neutral. Came to mean specifically a female magic user during 18th/19th century.
Wizard – From Middle English ‘wys’, or wise. Philosopher or Sage. Not often used to mean a scholarly magician, similar to a sorcerer.
MAGICIANS and MAGES
Conjurer – Either a synonym of Summoner, or an entertainer or minor prestidigitator. Sometimes just a mage (one who conjures magic).
Magician (Magitian) – A general magic practitioner, or an entertainer. Archaic form Magitian.
Galdra – Icelandic person who does magic
Prestidigitator – A magician or entertaining who uses sleight-of-hand and minor tricks.
Scinlæce – Anglo-Saxon, Female mage.
Sorcerer/Sorceress – From latin Sors, lot or fate. Originally a diviner. Now often a learned or scholarly magician. May be used as a more powerful or respected version of Wizard in some media.
PRACTITIONERS OF MAGIC
Alchemist – From Arabic al-kīmiyā, itself from a Greek name for Egypt. Originally a scientific and philosophical view, early alchemists were scientists and philosophers who sought to learn about the makeup of the world. It developed into a mystical system and has been popularized by modern fantasy literature to mean one who creates potions.
Arcanist - A practitioner of magic, often a craftsman of magical objects. Originally defined as someone who knew a secret of a manufacturing process.
Elementalist – A spellcaster who specializes in or is limited to manipulating the elements (classical or otherwise).
Enchanter – An Enchanter may be the male form of Enchantress, or someone (gender neutral) who creates enchanted objects.
Gealdricge – Anglo-Saxon, User of magic through ‘incantations’
Mystic – One who practices the mystic, the occult or ancient religions. From French Mistique.
Necromancer – Popularized by modern fantasy as someone who raises zombies. Originally meant a diviner who would speak to the spirits of the dead to learn about the past or future. From necromantia, Latin “divination from an exhumed corpse”, from Greek Nekros (dead) + manteia (oracle).
Runesmith – One who writes in or deciphers runes, sometimes magical.
Summoner – A magic practitioner who specializes in summoning spirits or familiar.
Vølve/Völva – A female ritual practitioner from pre-Christian Scandinavia who practiced a form of magic and divination known as Sejd.
Witchdoctor – Pre-19th century England, originally a person who healed damage done by witchcraft. Applied since the 19th century to traditional healers of African cultures.
witches around a cauldron,
PRIESTS and HEALERS
Druid – A priest of the pre-Roman celtic religion. Druids were priests, lawmakers, historians and medicine men in Celtic culture.
Mage/Magi – From Latin Magus, originally a term for a priest of Zoroastrianism. A wise man or scholar.
Sangoma – Zulu, A traditional healer, especially one who uses divination to heal.
Shaman – A traditional wiseman or elder who can influence spirits, and often performs magic in a trance. Possibly from the Evenki language.
PROPHETS, ORACLES AND DIVINER
Astrologer – From Greek to mean study of the stars. Divination through the positions of stars and planets.
Augur – Roman priest who foresaw the future by studying the patterns of bird migrations.
Chiromancer – From greek for Hand + Divination. Synonym for a palmist.
Clairvoyant – A person gifted with the ability to see the future or ghosts. From French for ‘quickness of understanding’.
Crystal-gazer – A fortune teller who uses a crystal ball.
Diviner – One who tells the future or discovers something, and practices divination. Archaic forms devynour and divinour. Used in Water Diviner.
Fortuneteller – One who sees into the future, usually with a connotation of fairground magic, and methods such as tarot, astrology, and crystal balls.
Galdre – Anglo-Saxon, Used to translate Latin necromantia.
Haruspex/Aruspex – A Roman prophet who studied the entrails of animals to foresee the future in a practice called Haruspicy
Oracle – From Latin orare, ‘to speak’. An ancient prophet, often Greek.
Palmist – A prophet who foresees the future through palm reading, a practice called Chiromancy.
Prophet – A religious fortune teller. From ancient greek to mean ‘speak’. Often used in reference to Christianity.
Pythia/Pythian – The title of the Oracle of Delphi. Later term for the Sibyl of Delphi. From the original name of Delphi, Pytho.
Seer – From ‘see’, one who sees. Usually some form of prophet.
Sibyl – Ancient oracles of Greece and the mediterranean, who gave divine prophecies. Famous Sibyl’s include the Pythia of Delphi, and the Libyan Sibyl.
Soothsayer – From sooth + say, and related to sothseggere. ‘One who speaks the truth’.
DIVINE MAGES AND CLERICS
Cleric – A clergyman, later popularised by Dungeons and Dragons to mean a divine magician.
Exorcist – From Greek exorkismos, 15th century word for one who drives out spirits
Paladin – A religious warrior, term derived from the 12 greatest knights of Charlemagne. Usually possess religious magic since Dungeons and Dragons.
Thaumaturgist – From Greek Thauma (marvel) and ergon (work). Person who works miracles, often used in middle ages to refer to a saint; sometimes used to mean a magician.
Theurgist – Theurgy is the practice of rituals performed to invoking the protection or evoking the presence of gods. A theurgist is a performer of these rituals.
MAGICAL WARRIORS
Berserker – The English word is derived from Old Norse words ber and serkr meaning a “bear-shirt”. They are bear warriors of the Viking age and believed to transform into a werebear.
Skinfylking – Boar warriors of the Viking age believed to transform into a wereboar.
Úlfédnar – Wolf warriors of the Viking age believed to transform into a werewolf.
Bogatyr/vityaz – Slavic or Russian heroic warriors who sometimes used magic, and often went on great quests in myth.
DIRECTORY OF MYSTIC WORD LISTS
Mystical and Magical - Home
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
Mystical and Magical - Home
- Mysterious Magic of the Mystical
- Wonders of Wicca
- Practitioners of Sorcery & Magic
- Spellbound by the Witch’s Gaze
- Paranormal Playground of the Psyche
- Spectacular Show of Superpowers
- Mythology and a Duality of Darkness
- Beware the Mythical Beasts
- Navigating the Underworld
- Supernatural Spirituality of the Occult
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
A BEAUTIFUL WORD ... a vocabulary site for logophiles, writers and word lovers that is part of
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Collection of Vocabulary Books, Sites and Resources
Series Homepage | View Sites | Download Books
Words are also posted on twitter under the hashtags #beautifulwords and #wordoftheday and shared visually on pinterest bulletin boards
ABOUT SITE | SITEMAPS | SEARCH | FEEDBACK
Content by Kairos ~ @kairosoflife
Homepage | Portfolio | Contact
Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Collection of Vocabulary Books, Sites and Resources
Series Homepage | View Sites | Download Books
Words are also posted on twitter under the hashtags #beautifulwords and #wordoftheday and shared visually on pinterest bulletin boards
ABOUT SITE | SITEMAPS | SEARCH | FEEDBACK
Content by Kairos ~ @kairosoflife
Homepage | Portfolio | Contact
Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
