Alternative medicine as modern magic: a study of spiritual manual techniques

King, Karlie (2006) Alternative medicine as modern magic: a study of spiritual manual techniques. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Spiritual manual techniques are a type of Alternative Medicine. This thesis demonstrates that these techniques are comparable to magic (even though eight practitioners who administer these techniques do not consider them to be magic) for four main reasons. One, in both, the sacred is spoken of in the same regard. Further, it is approached in the same manner. Three, both magic and spiritual manual techniques necessitate a similar frame of mind. Four, a magical rite and a spiritual manual technique treatment are carried out in a similar fashion, and for the same purposes. This demonstration-that spiritual manual techniques are a contemporary form of magic – counters academic claims that magic is a thing of the past. In contrast to this claim, this thesis demonstrates that magic is well-suited for modernity, for the reason that magic mitigates the divide between science and religion, a divide which is constantly being reified in the present age.

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