{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.magic","code":"thing-magic","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/magic/","name":"magic","alternateNames":["juju","thaumaturgy","mojo","conjuring","conjuration","conjury","invocation","evocation","summoning","sorcery","black magic","black art"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Information and virtual systems","entryKind":"noun.cognition","plane":"INF","domain":["INF.KNW"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{"substance":"information","origin":"conceptual","agency":"inert","mobility":"not-applicable","scale":"not-applicable","affordances":["readable"]}},"whatItIs":"Magic is a culturally situated category of practices intended to produce effects through the invocation or manipulation of supernatural powers, beings, or correspondences, whose boundaries with religion and other forms of knowledge vary historically and socially.","purpose":"Enable an agent to recognise, describe and assess practices registered as magic by recording their attributed supernatural powers, operative methods, cultural context and limits on interpretation or use.","scope":{"in":["Criteria used to identify a practice as magic and who applies that designation","Supernatural powers, beings or agencies invoked within a practice's own account","Ritual prescriptions, symbolic correspondences and conditions of performance","Intended effects, reported outcomes and grounds for judging efficacy","Transmission, interpretive authority and restrictions on magical knowledge"],"out":["Stage illusion and conjuring understood as entertainment through ordinary techniques","Religion as a whole, including its institutions and general doctrines","Practitioners as people, occupations or social groups","Physical properties and custody of ritual objects, substances and places","Individual ritual performances as events","Fictional magic systems presented solely as features of creative works"],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Identify an attributed supernatural power and an art that invokes it; an unexplained occurrence alone does not satisfy the registry definition.","Separate claims of supernatural operation from performances explicitly framed as illusion, even when both use the word magic.","Record whether magic is a participant's designation, an observer's category or an accusation; the label alone does not establish agreement.","Do not classify a practice as magic solely because it includes prayer, ritual or symbolism; record the boundary convention used.","Distinguish descriptions of an asserted practice from fictional depictions and metaphorical uses such as a magical experience."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"designation-and-boundaries","name":"Designation and boundaries","description":"Records why an art falls under magic and how that classification relates to participants' terms.","layers":[{"id":"grounds-for-inclusion","name":"Grounds for inclusion","description":"Identifies the practice and attributed power that support inclusion.","findings":[{"id":"art-and-power-attribution","name":"Art and power attribution","description":"Record the deliberate practice and the supernatural power it is described as invoking, preserving whose description this is.","questions":[{"text":"What art or prescribed practice invokes which attributed supernatural power?","id":"art-and-power-attribution-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Who supplies this account, and where can it be checked?","id":"art-and-power-attribution-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"contested-classification","name":"Contested classification","description":"Preserves differences between self-description, analytical terminology and imposed labels.","findings":[{"id":"magic-label-and-neighbours","name":"Magic label and neighbours","description":"Record the convention distinguishing this practice from religion, illusion, fiction or metaphor, including disagreement.","questions":[{"text":"Do participants call this magic, use another term or reject the designation?","id":"magic-label-and-neighbours-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Under the stated convention, what separates or connects this practice and religious ritual, stage illusion or fictional magic?","id":"magic-label-and-neighbours-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"accounts-of-supernatural-operation","name":"Accounts of supernatural operation","description":"Represents how a practice explains the powers it invokes and the effects it seeks.","layers":[{"id":"powers-and-engagement","name":"Powers and engagement","description":"Records attributed agency and the practitioner's proposed relationship to it.","findings":[{"id":"invoked-agency","name":"Invoked agency","description":"Describe whether the account involves petitioning, commanding, channelling or otherwise engaging a named power, using source terminology.","questions":[{"text":"What beings, forces or powers are invoked, and how is engagement with them described?","id":"invoked-agency-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which source supports this operative account, and does another account disagree?","id":"invoked-agency-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"targets-and-correspondences","name":"Targets and correspondences","description":"Records intended effects and any asserted links between symbols, materials and targets.","findings":[{"id":"claimed-path-to-effect","name":"Claimed path to effect","description":"Document what the art seeks to affect and why its words, objects or actions are considered relevant within the account.","questions":[{"text":"What change or knowledge is sought, and who or what is its target?","id":"claimed-path-to-effect-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"What source explains any claimed connection between the ritual elements and the intended effect?","id":"claimed-path-to-effect-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"ritual-prescriptions-and-variants","name":"Ritual prescriptions and variants","description":"Describes the operative form of magical arts and the differences among documented versions.","layers":[{"id":"operative-sequence","name":"Operative sequence","description":"Records prescribed ritual components and their ordering.","findings":[{"id":"required-ritual-elements","name":"Required ritual elements","description":"Identify formulas, gestures, inscriptions, objects or preparations treated as required, optional or substitutable.","questions":[{"text":"Which words, actions, materials and sequence define the prescription in this version?","id":"required-ritual-elements-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which omissions or substitutions are said to alter or invalidate it?","id":"required-ritual-elements-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"qualifications-and-conditions","name":"Qualifications and conditions","description":"Records conditions attributed to successful or authorised performance.","findings":[{"id":"performance-eligibility","name":"Performance eligibility","description":"Preserve stated requirements concerning initiation, preparation, timing, location and prohibitions without assuming they apply across traditions.","questions":[{"text":"What practitioner qualifications, preparations, times or places are prescribed?","id":"performance-eligibility-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which source or recognised authority establishes these conditions for this version?","id":"performance-eligibility-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"transmission-and-authority","name":"Transmission and authority","description":"Tracks how magical knowledge is transmitted, attributed and made accessible.","layers":[{"id":"lineages-texts-and-versions","name":"Lineages, texts and versions","description":"Separates documented transmission from asserted origins or authenticity.","findings":[{"id":"traceable-prescription-history","name":"Traceable prescription history","description":"Link a prescription to identifiable attestations and record claimed lineage separately from supported transmission.","questions":[{"text":"What identifiable text, teacher, testimony or observation supplies this version?","id":"traceable-prescription-history-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which claims about antiquity, lineage or authenticity remain unsupported by the available record?","id":"traceable-prescription-history-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"restricted-knowledge","name":"Restricted knowledge","description":"Records conditions governing disclosure and instruction.","findings":[{"id":"disclosure-and-teaching-conditions","name":"Disclosure and teaching conditions","description":"Identify any initiation, permission or custodial conditions attached to sharing magical formulas and instructions.","questions":[{"text":"Who asserts authority to permit disclosure or teaching, and what is the basis of that authority?","id":"disclosure-and-teaching-conditions-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"What may an agent quote, summarise or teach under the documented access conditions?","id":"disclosure-and-teaching-conditions-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"efficacy-interpretation-and-action","name":"Efficacy, interpretation and action","description":"Separates desired effects from evidence and identifies consequences relevant to agent action.","layers":[{"id":"outcomes-and-causal-claims","name":"Outcomes and causal claims","description":"Records how success is defined and what evidence supports each reported result.","findings":[{"id":"efficacy-assessment","name":"Efficacy assessment","description":"Distinguish intended results, participant interpretations, observations and causal conclusions, including how failures are handled.","questions":[{"text":"What counts as success or failure, over what period, and according to whom?","id":"efficacy-assessment-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What observations or comparisons support the claimed result, and do they distinguish supernatural causation from other explanations?","id":"efficacy-assessment-q02","kind":"measurement"}]}]},{"id":"consequences-of-use","name":"Consequences of use","description":"Identifies practical consequences of performing, recommending or labelling a practice.","findings":[{"id":"prescription-and-attribution-risks","name":"Prescription and attribution risks","description":"Assess concrete concerns arising from the particular prescription or attribution, such as hazardous materials, non-consenting targets or accusations against people.","questions":[{"text":"Does the documented prescription involve hazardous substances, bodily intervention, non-consenting targets or replacement of necessary care?","id":"prescription-and-attribution-risks-q01","kind":"action"},{"text":"Could presenting this attribution as fact expose a person or group to harm, and how should the agent preserve its source and uncertainty?","id":"prescription-and-attribution-risks-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-confidence-notes","name":"Check these first","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these check these first hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-confidence-notes-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of magic this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Describe magical practices as the communities that hold them describe them, with sources.","Explain scholarly debates about where magic, religion and science are drawn apart."],"mustNot":["Present magical practice as an effective substitute for medical or psychiatric care.","Offer paid readings, spells or curses, or exploit people in fear or grief.","Support accusations of witchcraft against any person.","Describe a living tradition as primitive, fraudulent or satanic."],"requiresHuman":["Publishing material about a community's closed or initiatory practices."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Witchcraft accusations still lead to violence and killing in several regions.","Vulnerable and grieving people are exploited by paid magical services."],"affectedParties":["People accused of witchcraft","Practitioners of traditional religions","Bereaved and desperate clients"]},"owners":{"steward":"The communities and practitioners who hold each tradition; scholars curate the historical record.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"oewn-05961357-n","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.magic","Open English WordNet: oewn-05976844-n"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Basis of designation: self-designation | scholarly classification | external attribution | accusation | disputed | unspecified; multiple values allowed","Attributed supernatural agency: Links to named powers, beings or forces, with attribution and uncertainty","Intended effect: Record source terms; optional groupings include protection, healing, harm, divination, attraction, transformation and other","Mode of invocation: Record source terms; possible forms include spoken formula, inscription, gesture, offering, material preparation and combined performance","Conditions of operation: Links to prescribed timing, place, materials, practitioner qualifications, sequence and prohibitions","Tradition and transmission: Links to attributed traditions, teachers, texts and transmission accounts, each with provenance","Outcome evidence status: unassessed | testimony only | documented observation | comparative assessment | conflicting evidence; assigned per claim","Knowledge access conditions: public | permission required | restricted | contested | unknown"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Classify a candidate practice against the registry definition while preserving disputed designations.","Compare accounts of magical operation without merging distinct traditions or asserting supernatural efficacy.","Trace a prescription or interpretation to its textual, oral or observational source.","Distinguish intended effects, reported experiences, observed outcomes and causal explanations.","Identify missing knowledge, access restrictions and practical risks before reproducing or acting on a prescription."]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Relying on magical remedies delays effective medical treatment.","Accusations of witchcraft lead to persecution and violence."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Magic is encountered in culturally situated rituals, traditions and accounts that attribute effects to supernatural agency or correspondences.","Practitioners may intend these practices to provide protection, healing, divination or influence over events.","Historical and anthropological study examines those intentions and meanings without treating attributed supernatural effects as established facts."]}},"sources":[{"title":"Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-05976844-n","url":"https://en-word.net/id/oewn-05976844-n","note":"sense and gloss of the concept"},{"title":"Wiktionary: magic","url":"https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/magic","note":"word senses and usage"}],"openQuestions":["Which documented scholarly and participant conventions best delimit magic for this registry without imposing a universal boundary with religion?","How should arts described through impersonal occult properties be classified when their sources do not explicitly call those properties supernatural?","Which existing Vercy world models already cover this concept or its operative components and should be linked to avoid duplicate ownership?","Which sources and custodians can establish transmission, variant relationships and disclosure conditions for the traditions eventually represented?","What evidence is available for particular efficacy claims, and which claims remain untestable, insufficiently specified or unresolved?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-magic/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-magic/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-12T11:06:47Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"not-applicable","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"not-applicable","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T12:16:27+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: WordNet gloss; 2 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane INF: no invented physical properties.","interaction.interfaces":"No universal technical standard or official classification governs magic as this broad cultural category independently of a specific practice or jurisdiction.","interaction.recognition":"Magic is a culturally interpreted category of practices whose attributed supernatural basis cannot be established from visual appearance."},"score":1.0}}