A person who practices or is an expert in arcane magic and sorcery at the highest level.
From 'arch-' (chief, principal) + 'magir' or 'magus' (magician) + '-ist' (one who practices). The root 'magus' comes from Old Persian, referring to Zoroastrian priests, and entered European languages via Latin.
The prefix 'arch-' originally meant a leader or chief (like in 'archery' or 'architect'), but in fantasy and technical terms, it became a way to intensify the meaning—the 'arch' enemy is the ultimate enemy, the archmagirist is the ultimate magic user. This shows how language lets us invent superlatives before we need them!
Magic scholarship has gendered 'magi' practice as masculine; Margaret Murray's anthropological work on witchcraft was dismissed partly because women as ritual authorities threatened male-centered religious scholarship.
Use 'scholar of magic' or 'magic researcher' to avoid gendered historical connotations; credit female anthropologists and occult historians by name.
["magic scholar","ritual theorist"]
Margaret Murray, Adrienne Maree Brown, and others have recentered women's authority in spiritual and magical practice; acknowledge their scholarship.
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