ABSTRACT
In great measure, ‘magic’, mysterious, vague and ambiguous, owes its power and permanence precisely to the fact that it cannot be de ned. If de ned, it ceases to be what we wish to investigate. In other words, it is an indeterminate and marginal subject which has the protean ability to adjust to contingencies and to change form, always preserving, however, its fundamental characteristic: its marginality. Despite its marginal nature, which was always its xed point, ‘magic’ was and continues to be part of our life, both literally and as a metaphor. In spite of its marginal position in society, indeed perhaps because of it, ‘magic’, both as a way of thinking and as practical behaviour, was and remains a subject which cuts across various elds of everyday speech. rough it various social behaviours are also expressed, individually or in groups; from the most mysterious rituals to the more mundane constancies, habits and practices connected with prayers and curses, prejudices and superstitions, horoscopes and predictions, cups and cards.
