Who started magic?

Answer 1

Paganism, Witchcraft & magic are as old as mankind. Anything, beyond your understanding or comprehension can be considered magic. A cell phone to a primitive is magic.

When mankind first started being self aware, we looked beyond ourselves and needed answers to things like, where does the sun go at night? How do we insure it will come back? How do we heal wounds and illnesses? How do we find food?

Eventually members of the group who discovered things, like which plants helped an upset stomach, where to find water, what the migration patterns of the local animals were and other things, became the ones others turned to for answers. These were the Wise Ones...

The cycles of the seasons where in our blood and instincts, as they governed our survival. The wise ones were the ones who kept track of the right time to plant, and harvest, ensuring the continuance of the people.

As we became more evolved the amount of knowledge expanded, and those with the answers learned a few tricks of their own.

If someone tells you a certain herb will cure your cut, you may or may not believe them, if they are well respected and do a little spell/prayer over the cut at the same time as using the herb, you tend to believe... Particularly if it works... you then tell others of the "power" of the Wise One... Eventually a name gets made, and expectation are raised...

It is a commonly accepted fact that your mind has a strong influence on your body... If you believe in something it has a better chance of working. the Wise Ones figured this out early on, so a little "showmanship" helped their reputation...

As spell/prayers/magic/ became standardized and passed on from generation to generation, the words became of equal importance to the practical application...

Magic became accepted as something that worked...

Science is today what magic once was, a practical, evolving set of standard results from repeated experimentation...

Even modern medicine can't tell us everything the mind is capable of, so some of us still believe in and practice Magic...

Gerald Gardner originally started Wicca, but it is unknown who actually started magic. Some say that it was created by the Gods, and was descended upon the mortals for being faithful to the Gods. It is also said that on the seventh day that God was resting, that Satan created a witch and put him on Earth to wreak havoc.

But in other words, it is really unknown who originally started it.

Answer 2

The first recorded conjuring performance was by the magician Dedi in ancient Egypt. That was around 2700 BC. His most famous trick was removing the head from a duck, then re-attaching it. That same trick is still occasionally performed by magicians today.

Jean Eugene Robert Houdin (the namesake of Harry Houdini) was called the "Father of Modern Magic" in the 1800s. He was the first to present magic in the now classic image of the full suit with tails.

Answer 3

Gandalf the grey, or Gandalf Greyham, in the first age. (After the pruge of the ring, he was known as "Gandalf the White")