Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and inanimate objects. In anthropological discourse, mana as a generalized concept is often understood as a precursor to formal religion. It has commonly been interpreted as the stuff of which magic is formed, as well as the substance of which souls are made.

In Polynesian culture, it is a spiritual quality considered to have supernatural origin, and a sacred impersonal force existing in the universe. Therefore to have mana is to have influence and authority, and the power to perform in a given situation. This essential quality of mana is not limited to people. Government, places and inanimate objects can possess mana.

There are two ways to obtain mana: through birth and through warfare. People or objects that possess mana are accorded respect because their possession of mana gives them authority, power, and prestige. The word’s meaning is complex because mana is a basic foundation of the Polynesian worldview.

Mana is also referred to in the Huna religion as the vital life force which flows through the body. The kahuna believed that there are three different kinds of mana within the body.

Modern fantasy fiction and computer and role-playing games have adopted mana as a term for magic points, an expendable and often rechargable resource out of which magic users form their magical spells.

A magic circle is circle or sphere of space marked out by practitioners of many branches of ritual magic, either to contain energy and form a sacred space, or as a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marked physically, drawn in salt or chalk, for example, or merely visualised. Its spiritual significance is similar to that of mandala and yantra in some Eastern religions.

There are many published techniques for casting a circle, and many groups and individuals have their own unique methods. The common feature of these practices is that a boundary is traced around the working area. Some witchcraft traditions say that one must trace around the circle deosil three times. There is variation over which direction one should start in. In Wicca a circle is typically nine feet in diameter, though the size can vary depending on the purpose of the circle, and the preference of the caster.

Circles may or may not be physically marked out on the ground, and a variety of elaborate patterns for circle markings can be found in grimoires and magical manuals, often involving angelic and divine names. Such markings, or a simple unadorned circle, may be drawn in chalk or salt, or indicated by other means such as with a cord.

The four cardinal directions are often prominently marked, such as with four candles. In ceremonial magic traditions the four directions are commonly related to the four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel or the four classical elements, and also have four associated names of God. Some varieties of Wicca use the common ceremonial colour attributions: yellow for Air in the east, red for Fire in the south, blue for Water in the west and green for Earth in the north, though these attributions differ according to geographical location and individual philosophy.

Magical realism is an artistic genre in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or normal settings. It has been widely used in relation to literature, art, and film.

As used today, the term is broadly descriptive rather than critically rigorous. Matthew Strecher has defined magic realism as “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.” The term was initially used by the German art critic Franz Roh to refer to a painterly style also known as Neue Sachlichkeit (the New Objectivity). It was later used to describe the unusual realism by American painters and other artists during the 1940s and 1950s. However, in contrast to its use in literature, when used to describe visual art the term refers to paintings that do not include anything fantastic or magical, but are rather extremely realistic and often mundane.

One of the major critical and commercial successes of Magic Realism is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. It is widely considered the master work of the genre and perhaps the novel that has most shaped world literature over the past 25 years. The author confessed, “My most important problem was destroying the line of demarcation that separates what seems real from what seems fantastic.”

As recently as 2008, magical realism in literature has been defined as a kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a narrative that otherwise maintains the reliable tone of objective realistic report. Designating a tendency of the modern novel to reach beyond the confines of realism and draw upon the energies of fable, folk tale, and myth while maintaining a strong contemporary social relevance. The fantastic attributes given to characters in such novels such as levitation, flight, telepathy and telekinesis are among the means that magic realism adopts in order to encompass the often phantasmagoric political realities of the 20th century.