Both Uses of
mystic
in
A Great and Terrible Beauty
- They would have been mystics and healers, women who worked with herbs and delivered babies.†
Chpt 12mystics = people said to comprehend reality using supernatural means
- Supposedly they had access to a mystical world beyond this one, a place of many realms where they could work their magic.†
Chpt 12 *mystical = relating to realities beyond scientific understanding OR inspiring a sense of wonder or mystery; or beyond human comprehension
Definition:
a person who seeks or claims to have direct spiritual insight beyond ordinary understanding; or an experience that feels deeply spiritual, mysterious, or otherworldly
In common usage, mystic is more likely to be used in reference to a practitioner of a less mainstream religion than a more mainstream religion -- possibly because the former is more mysterious to the writer.