Folk Beliefs.

Most colonists had little understanding or control over their natural environment and so looked for all of the supernatural help they could muster. Some employed magical techniques to solve particular problems that were too mundane for the notice of God. To Native Americans, Africans, and some Europeans, magic and religion were cut from the same cloth and often coexisted, shading into each other. Their religions included both benevolent and malevolent spirits, intermediaries between these spirits and humans, and manipulation of supernatural forces through prayer and ritual. What seemed to work for one belief system was often appropriated by another, so magical practices were quite similar.

Predicting the Future.

Astrology was the most popular means of prediction among Europeans, and it was practiced widely. This entailed the belief that the Earth was a microcosm of the heavens, so that the motions...