What is your favorite representation of an user of magic in folklore?

[Taudefindi]

For years now I've always liked to learn and read about the Solomonari, the Romanian wizards that were known to control the weather and ride dragons(or dragon-like creatures).
I don't know why I like them so much when I am not even Romanian myself.

Aside them I would say that it would be the one called "Pajé", a native spiritual worker said to possess occult powers.
Their knowledge of herbs, able to cure and do amazing things, and also their connection with nature that allowed them to even become(or "become") the very animals of the forest they lived in can be seen in many stories.

 

[zerosum]

Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Mad Eye Moody, even Voldemort are some of my favorite representation of magic users. I grew up with Harry Potter, read the whole series at least a dozen and a half times, and those 4 I listed are some pretty bad ass examples of different wizard archetypes. I especially enjoy Mad Eye Moody cuz he's literally a dark wizard catcher who's so paranoid from his job he enchanted his dust bins to attack any intruders and refused to drink from anything but his flask. i can totally vibe with a schizo wizard going crazy from his work.

Fullmetal Alchemist is also has great representations of magick. Absolutely in love with the transmutation circle designs and the magic system they developed for the show. I'd kill to live in a world like that where you can study alchemy that can be used to such a powerful degree. Like Roy Mustang being able to snap his fingers and cause an explosion by using the spark generated from friction gloves as the catalyst. Very science oriented, which I'm all about. Peter Carroll is one of my favorites, for example.

 

[Taudefindi]

Dumbledore, Grindelwald, Mad Eye Moody, even Voldemort are some of my favorite representation of magic users. I grew up with Harry Potter, read the whole series at least a dozen and a half times, and those 4 I listed are some pretty bad ass examples of different wizard archetypes. I especially enjoy Mad Eye Moody cuz he's literally a dark wizard catcher who's so paranoid from his job he enchanted his dust bins to attack any intruders and refused to drink from anything but his flask. i can totally vibe with a schizo wizard going crazy from his work.

Fullmetal Alchemist is also has great representations of magick. Absolutely in love with the transmutation circle designs and the magic system they developed for the show. I'd kill to live in a world like that where you can study alchemy that can be used to such a powerful degree. Like Roy Mustang being able to snap his fingers and cause an explosion by using the spark generated from friction gloves as the catalyst. Very science oriented, which I'm all about. Peter Carroll is one of my favorites, for example.

I should've been more specific.

I meant actual magic users from different cultures around the world, not fictional ones.
While indeed there are many interesting representations, if we talk about fictional ones we'll have too many to talk about since there are many magic systems in fiction.

The reason why I said "in folklore" was because I want to learn about magic users of other cultures aside from the ones I already know of.

 

[Xenophon]

I find figures like Zhu Geliang （181-234 EV*） here in China fascinating. An historical figure and general in the civil wars at the end of the Han dynasty he was credited with magical powers as a Daoist adept, especially the ability to raise storms and divine the future. Indeed such abilities seem to have been part of the desired skill set of military figures in those times. Some accounts claim he was a "celestial being" sojourning in human form.

(*era vulgaris)

 

[Taudefindi]

Some accounts claim he was a "celestial being" sojourning in human form.

Interesting, I may search more about this.Usually you would hear of immortals when there is daoism in the middle.

 

[Xingtian]

I like a lot of the tales of immortals and fangshi from the Soushenji （搜神记）and similar wonder records in Chinese literature.

example:

Qin Gao was a person of Zhao. He could play the zither. He was a retainer of King Kang of Song. He could travel through streams using the method of Peng, and this way he swam and drifted into Ji province, staying in the region of Zhuo for two hundred years. Later he departed into the Zhuo river to catch dragons. To his assembled disciples, he said, "Tomorrow, you must purify yourselves, fasting and waiting." A shrine was erected at the riverside. Indeed he rode a red carp out of the water, and came to sit inside the shrine. More than a myriad of people witnessed this. He stayed there for a month and then returned to the water and vanished.

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Another one:

Early in the Zhou there lived Ge You, a Qiang person who lived in Shu. In the time of King Cheng of Zhou, he was skilled in carving wooden goats to sell. One day he rode a wooden goat to the middle of Shu, and the royalty and nobles of Shu pursued him up Mount Tuo. On Mount Tuo are many peaches, and it is southwest of Mount Emei, tall and boundless. Then they did not return, all of them attaining the transcendent way. A local proverb says, "To gain a peach of Mount Tuo would suffice to make you a hero, if not a transcendent." Below the mountain tens of shrines have been erected.

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I like the sense of freedom and joy these figures have, going where they want on the water or wind, riding strange beasts, etc

 

[Rowena]

From Arthurian myth: Rowena, daughter of Hengist, Nimuë, and Morgaine/Morgan le Fey.

 

[theil]

Real or not, my favorite hands down is Mother Shipton, a rockstar in folklore.

Sidenote: just looked her up on wikipedia because of the etching of her with a possible familiar. Didn't realize her name was Ursula Sontheil...

 

[Xenophon]

Interesting, I may search more about this.Usually you would hear of immortals when there is daoism in the middle.

In the famed classic novel The Three Kingdoms (三国演义）at least a few of the generals serving alongside Zhu Geliang have names suggesting membership in Daoist secret societies (proscribed by the Han Dynasty.) One of these, Guan Yu, attains apotheosis after death as martial Buddha. Eclecticism at its intricatest.

 

[Xingtian]

Many popular historical figures end up getting deified in Chinese religion. In fact Zhuge Liang also has his cult. Not nearly as big as Guan Yu but it’s around.

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(Note that Zhuge is one of the rare Chinese family names with two syllables)

 

[Xenophon]

Many popular historical figures end up getting deified in Chinese religion. In fact Zhuge Liang also has his cult. Not nearly as big as Guan Yu but it’s around.

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(Note that Zhuge is one of the rare Chinese family names with two syllables)

In a small town in Hebei, about an hour south of Beijing, there's a temple to Gun Yu's comrade general, Zhang Fei. Sorry. I forget the town's name at the moment. My wife just suggested a visit now that I mentioned it. "Fei"飞 was one of the names favored by Daoist secret societies. (I imagine they did not publicize this.)

Funny note: I went to type 诸葛亮 yesterday. Bing.cn gave me 猪哥 for the last name, which even I recognize at laughable silly. Insofar at it means anything, it translates as “Brother Pig.”

 

[Flavius]

I would not say that he is a favorite representation but King Nezaualpilli of Texcoco commanded a magical operation to deal with the flood (caused by the murder of a wizard) in which some high officials were sacrificed and their hearts were thrown into the spring. Kings traditionally engaged in magic (“the hands of the king are the hands of the healer” is what Ioreth says in the Houses of Healing in LotR and this was true in the real world). Sacred power (imperium = command; and auctoritas = might, power, authority), a higher version of the coarser types people look to today, was wielded by the kings which meant that they could accomplish action directly among the causes of phenomena.

 

[Xenophon]

I would not say that he is a favorite representation but King Nezaualpilli of Texcoco commanded a magical operation to deal with the flood (caused by the murder of a wizard) in which some high officials were sacrificed and their hearts were thrown into the spring. Kings traditionally engaged in magic (“the hands of the king are the hands of the healer” is what Ioreth says in the Houses of Healing in LotR and this was true in the real world). Sacred power (imperium = command; and auctoritas = might, power, authority), a higher version of the coarser types people look to today, was wielded by the kings which meant that they could accomplish action directly among the causes of phenomena.

I like the king's thinking: sacrifice high officials. Did his expedient work?

And thanks for the imperium, auctoritas blurb. A needful reminder in these times that authority need not be simple bellowing & bullying. The book "Imperium" is well worth a read, secular though it be.

 

[Bluesoft]

I like Merlin.

 

[Xenophon]

I like Merlin.

In the old flick "Excalibur" he was pretty cool; in C.S. Lewis' "That Hideous Strength" he came off biker-dude gonzo. ('Course I was living in South Austin and sipping Jose Cuervo when I read the Lewis book. Ambience might've played an influence there.)

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Doctor Dee. He was pretty much everything it was possible to be with learning in old Elizabethan times. Having read his Five Books, I can't help but imagine him and Kelley crouched over the magic mirror, trying not to crap themselves as Kelley talked to the angels.

 

[Xenophon]

Doctor Dee. He was pretty much everything it was possible to be with learning in old Elizabethan times. Having read his Five Books, I can't help but imagine him and Kelley crouched over the magic mirror, trying not to crap themselves as Kelley talked to the angels.

The same could be said for middle-school girls bent over the Ouijia board, no? What I always found interesting about Dee was that he (apparently) took the angels' warning not to use the system. Most of us would at least take a spin 'round the block with it.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

From what's in the Five Books, it's not so much "don't use it" as "don't fuck about with it; this is not a toy"

 

[Xingtian]

On the subject of Mesoamerican lore, probably my favorite story of trickster magic is that of the hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque as told in the Popol Vuh, where they come back from the dead, and disguise themselves as a traveling magic act specializing in resurrections. Here's the Wikipedia summary- the original text is much longer and also a lot funnier:

Unrecognized, the boys were allowed to remain among the Xibalbans. Tales of their transformation from catfish spread, as well as tales of their dances and the way they entertained the people of

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. They performed a number of miracles, setting fire to homes and then bringing them back whole from the ashes, sacrificing one another and rising from the dead. When the Lords of

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heard the tale, they summoned the pair to their court to entertain them, demanding to see such miracles for themselves.

The boys answered the summons and volunteered to entertain the Lords at no cost. Their identities remained secret for the moment, claiming to be orphans and vagabonds, and the Lords were none the wiser. They went through their gamut of miracles, slaying a dog and bringing it back from the dead, causing the Lords' house to burn around them while the inhabitants were unharmed, and then bringing the house back from the ashes. In a climactic performance, Xbalanque cut Hunahpu apart and offered him as a sacrifice, only to have the older brother rise once again from the dead.

Enthralled by the performance, One Death and Seven Death, the highest lords of

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, demanded that the miracle be performed upon them. The twins obliged by killing and offering the lords as a sacrifice, but did not bring them back from the dead.

 

[Wintruz]

Circe. Operate within a completely contained environment (Ææa) and, when Wyrd sends mortals your way, let them show you who they are by giving them what they want. Some will be men worthy of love, most will be pigs.