Christian: magic in this belief world
Blessings, saints' relics, exorcism, folk charms and the long Church argument about magic.
Christianity has had a long, tense relationship with magic. The Church blessed objects, honoured saints and relics, performed exorcisms, and also condemned sorcery and witchcraft. Folk Christianity around the world mixes prayer, charms, holy water, saints' medals and healing rites. This page covers how Christian churches have defined, absorbed and punished magic, and how the story differs across continents. Christianity includes Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal and independent African and Asian churches, each with its own view of magic.
Blessing and the sacramental world
Catholic and Orthodox Christianity have a rich set of blessings and sacramentals: holy water, candles, medals, icons, relics and the sign of the cross. Believers hold that these work through God and the Church, not by themselves. Protestants largely rejected this system as superstition, and Pentecostals have developed their own deliverance and healing practice. The Orthodox churches give the blessing of homes, boats and fields a central place, and Catholic practice includes pilgrimage, processions and prayer to saints for specific needs, such as St Jude for hard cases.
Exorcism, witch trials and the Church
The Church has a formal rite of exorcism, used rarely and by authorised priests. European witch trials, which involved both Catholic and Protestant courts, killed tens of thousands between about 1450 and 1750. Historians such as Brian Levack stress that most trials were run by secular authorities. Modern accusations by some churches against children in parts of Africa have led to abuse. Protestant reformers broke with this system, and from the sixteenth century the burning of witches was supported by many Protestant authorities and many Catholic ones, though other clergy and judges spoke against it.
Missions and renaming
Missionaries often labelled Indigenous religions as devil worship and fetishism, and suppressed rites. In Latin America and Africa, many practices went underground or fused with Christianity: Santeria with Catholic saints, Vodou with Catholic imagery, Andean offerings with saints' days. Independent African churches and the Brazilian Spiritists grew from these meetings. Pentecostal and charismatic churches, which have grown fast in Africa, Latin America and Asia, offer healing, prophecy and deliverance as part of their worship, and are criticised by some for demonising local traditions.
Folk practice and today
Folk Christianity includes St Anthony charms for lost items, the St Christopher medal for travel, the Orthodox Easter fire, and the Mexican cult of Santa Muerte, which the Church rejects. Prosperity preaching sells faith-linked results, and some pastors charge for miracles. Scholars note that the line between religion and magic was drawn largely by Christian writers. Historians, such as Eamon Duffy and Keith Thomas, have shown that medieval Christianity was shot through with practices that later reformers redefined as magic.
Christian on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreYule log
A large wooden log burned in the hearth during winter festivals across Europe and North America.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreAlfonso X of Castileel Sabio
A medieval king who sponsored astronomical tables and translated works on magic and astrology.Text · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandIrish folklorebéaloideas
The oral traditions, myths and customs of IrelandTradition · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇫🇷 France and 4 moreRéveillon
A long Christmas or New Year's Eve dinner held to stay awake until morningTradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreJohn Dee
An English scholar and advisor to Elizabeth I who pursued angelic communication through scrying.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomCharmer
English folk healers who used gifts or verses to treat natural ailments without chargeTradition · Healing Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk
European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreHoly well
A water source revered for healing and ritual across pagan and Christian traditionsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandValais witch trials
The first systematic European witch-hunt, beginning in the Valais region of Switzerland in 1428.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreMay Day
A European spring festival marking the start of summer with flowers, poles and fire.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreSerbian folkloreСрпски фолклор
The folk traditions and epic poetry of the Serbs, blending pre-Christian customs with Orthodox faith.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreÉliphas Lévi
A French writer who shaped modern occult thought and ceremonial magic.Text · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 5 moreMidsummerJāņi; Joninės; Jaanipäev; Enyovden; Litha; Juhannus
A summer solstice festival marked by bonfires, maypole dancing, and feasting across Europe.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreEmanuel Swedenborg
An 18th-century Swedish scientist who became a mystic and claimed to visit the afterlife.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomEnglish folklore
The myths, legends, and customs of England passed down through generations.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian folklore
The folk traditions of Ukraine and its ethnic communitiesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreScottish folkloreBeul-aithris na h-Alba
The myths, creatures and beliefs of the Scottish people, recorded from ancient times to the present.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreSoul cake
A spiced cake given to soulers during Allhallowtide to remember the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreTrick-or-treating
A Halloween custom where costumed visitors ask for treats from homesTradition · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇫🇷 France and 3 moreChristian Kabbalah
A Renaissance effort to read Christian theology into Jewish mysticismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy
A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic
A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked by rites of solar returnTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreRenaissance magic
A 15th and 16th century revival of magical arts blending philosophy, astrology, and hidden knowledge.Tradition · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇫🇷 France and 4 moreWitch trials in the early modern period
A wave of prosecutions across Europe and British America from the 1400s to the late 1700s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft
Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyArcheosofica
A school of esoteric Christianity founded in Rome that teaches ascetic disciplines and magical theory.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇪 IrelandEarly Irish astrology
The study of celestial cycles in early Ireland, blending native observation with Christian and continental learning.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft
Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreAetherius Society
A new religious movement blending theosophy, UFO claims, and spiritual healing to aid humanity.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreExorcist
A religious specialist who performs rites to remove alleged demonic possession from people or places.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Living
🇮🇹 ItalySegnature
An Italian folk healing rite using gestures and prayers to cure illness and remove cursesRite · Healing · Protection Living
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreReligious aspects of Nazism
The study of how Nazi ideology borrowed religious forms and esoteric beliefs to build a political movement.Tradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceSacred mysteriesμυστήριον
Secret ceremonies and divine doctrines held to exceed human reasonBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandSegen
A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
- Alfonso X of Castile: Otto Posse (1847-1921), Public domain, source
- Bald's Leechbook: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
- Éliphas Lévi: Eliphas Lévi [1810-1875], Public domain, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Midsummer: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Emanuel Swedenborg: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain, source
- English folklore: J. R. Skelton, Public domain, source
- Ukrainian folklore: U.S. Army Europe Images, CC BY 2.0, source
- Soul cake: Samantha, CC BY 2.0, source
- Trick-or-treating: Toyah Anette B, Public domain, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Witch trials in the early modern period: Johann Jakob Wick, Public domain, source
- Exorcism: Francisco Goya, Public domain, source
- Irish folklore: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Segnature: SeAnstapa, CC0, source
- Aetherius Society: Hjamesberglen, CC0, source
- John Dee: Unidentified painter, Public domain, source
- Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sacred mysteries: Johannes Hopffe, Public domain, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Valais witch trials: Dagalia2, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- May Day: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source
- Serbian folklore: Uroš Predić, Public domain, source
- Religious aspects of Nazism: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source