contagious magic

American  

noun

1. magic that attempts to affect a person through something once connected with them, such as a shirt once worn by the person or a footprint left in the sand; a branch of sympathetic magic based on the belief that things once in contact are in some way permanently so, however separated physically they may subsequently become.

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Example Sentences

This belief in contagious magic may sound illogical, but it makes a certain evolutionary sense, Dr. Lastovicka said.

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2011

The lore of such persons when examined by folk-lore students is found generally to come under one or other of the two classes known as sympathetic and mimetic magic, or homœopathic and contagious magic.

From An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion by Jevons, F. B. (Frank Byron)

A mistaken association of similar ideas produces homoeopathic or imitative magic: a mistaken association of contiguous ideas produces contagious magic.

From The Golden Bough by Frazer, James George, Sir

Instantly, as she did so, the whole assembly seemed to change its mind again as if by contagious magic.

From The Great Taboo by Allen, Grant

Imitative magic follows the law of association by similarity, while contagious magic is based on the law of contiguity.

From The Next Step in Religion An Essay toward the Coming Renaissance by Sellars, Roy Wood