One of the central tenets of The Golden Bough is that, over time, the principles governing societies evolved from magic to religion to science. This is important because, while it shows that humanity has acquired new knowledge to help it effectively interact with the natural world, it also means that ancient mythological practices still form the foundation of modern beliefs. This has both positive and negative ramifications, especially considering the role of Christianity in modern Western culture.

According to Frazer, ancient societies were governed by a belief in sympathetic magic, i.e., by the principle that one thing or event can affect and be used to control another due to the existence connection between them. This connection is  based on similarity, which applies to imitative or homeopathic magic, or prior contact, which applies to contagious magic. It was believed that sorcerers could directly influence external events, such as the weather and the harvest, without recourse to any form of divine intervention. The text terms this era the Age of Magic, when people worshipped elements of the natural world, such as fire and the sun, and created totems to contain the human spirit.