Indigenous and shamanic: magic in this belief world

Ceremony, healing and spirit knowledge of Indigenous peoples; some of it closed to outsiders and described here only as far as its people share it.

Indigenous and shamanic traditions are the ceremony, healing and spirit knowledge of peoples from the Arctic to the Amazon, Australia, the Pacific and Africa. They are not one religion, and each community has its own names, laws and stories. Some knowledge is closed to outsiders by the community's own rule, and this guide describes it only as far as the people concerned share it. Terms such as Indigenous and shamanic can hide great variety, so the guide gives each people its own entry wherever it can.

Many peoples, many practices

Examples include the Sami noaidi, Mongolian and Siberian shamans, the Navajo and Lakota ceremonial systems, Amazonian plant healers, Andean offerings to Pachamama, Maori tohunga, Hawaiian kahuna and Aboriginal Dreaming law. Each is rooted in land, kinship and responsibility. Many peoples hold that knowledge belongs to the people and place it came from, and cannot be taken or sold. Elders say that these practices were given to a community and cannot be separated from its language, land and obligations, so that they function differently in the hands of outsiders.

Closed and open knowledge

A great deal is restricted by gender, age, initiation or clan. Some Aboriginal ceremonies, parts of Pueblo and Hopi religion, and many African initiation societies are not for outsiders, and describing them in detail would break the community's law. Visitors should ask before attending, photographing or recording, and accept a refusal. Where this guide is silent on a detail, that is deliberate. In many communities, healers and ceremonial leaders are chosen by calling, family and long training, and they do not advertise.

Suppression and recovery

Colonisers banned ceremonies, as in the United States, where the Plains Sun Dance and the Pacific Northwest potlatch were outlawed. Canada banned the potlatch from 1885 to 1951. Missionaries called practice devil worship and removed children to boarding schools. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 recognised rights in US law, and revival and language movements continue. Colonial law in Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Brazil and elsewhere sought to end such practice, and some communities lost part of their ceremonial knowledge as a result.

Appropriation and respect

Sweat lodges run by outsiders have caused deaths, notably in Arizona in 2009. Sacred plants are sold as products, and costume and names are taken for branding. Indigenous leaders ask for consent, credit and benefit-sharing. Some Indigenous writers prefer to speak of religion, law or medicine, not magic, and this guide follows their lead where it can. Ask first and give back: those are the rules most communities state, and the guide asks readers to follow them.

Indigenous and shamanic on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇵🇭 PhilippinesBabaylan Spiritual leaders of pre-colonial Philippines who mediated with the unseen world.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇪 Georgia and 2 moreGeorgian mythologyქართული მითოლოგია The pre-Christian beliefs of the Kartvelian peoples in the South CaucasusTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreMachi Mapuche spiritual authorities and healers who bridge herbal knowledge and spirit realmsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇬🇷 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 🇸🇪 Sweden and 3 moreRunic magic The use of ancient Germanic letters for spells, divination, and protectionTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇳🇴 Norway and 2 moreSámi drumgoavddis A ceremonial instrument used by Sámi noaidi for trance and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇳🇿 New ZealandTohunga A Māori expert practitioner of sacred or secular arts, from priests to carvers.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇮🇹 ItalyLiver of Piacenza A bronze sheep's liver inscribed with Etruscan deity names, used for divination.Substance · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreSoul flight A trance practice where the spirit leaves the body to visit other realmsRite · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇲🇬 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living

🇮🇩 Indonesia and 2 moreDukun A traditional healer and spirit medium in Indonesian folk practiceTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇺🇸 United StatesKahuna A Hawaiian expert or priest, keeper of hidden knowledge in craft and spiritTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreScapulimancy Divination using animal shoulder blades, practiced across Asia and the Americas.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Living 🇬🇷 GreeceIamidai An ancient Greek family of seers at Olympia who interpreted burnt offeringsTradition · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreAfrican divination Methods used across the continent to understand present realities and predict future events.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan and 2 moreKumalakқұмалақ A Central Asian shamanic divination using stones or dung sorted on a gridOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ) A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living 🇲🇱 MaliBoli A charged fetish object of the Bambara people of MaliCharm · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇲🇽 MexicoEntheogenics and the Maya Hallucinogenic substances used by the Maya for spiritual rituals and healingTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Historical

🇵🇭 PhilippinesTigmamanukan A pre-colonial Tagalog omen bird believed to guide journeys and aid creationBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesShamanism among Alaska Natives Traditional spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples in AlaskaTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Fading

🇪🇸 SpainHuman sacrifice in the ancient Iberian Peninsula Ancient ritual killings by Lusitanian and Vetton peoples for divination and warRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreNekyiaνέκυια An ancient Greek rite for summoning and questioning the deadRite · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇪🇸 SpainGuañameñe A Guanche prophet and the highest priestly rank in pre-conquest TenerifeFigure · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Dukun: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Human sacrifice in the ancient Iberian Peninsula: Manuel Parada López de Corselas User:Manuel de Corselas ARS SUMMUM, Ce, Public domain, source
Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
Kahuna: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Scapulimancy: Albert Peter Low, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Georgian mythology: Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Sámi drum: Zouavman Le Zouave, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Tohunga: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source
African divination: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Tigmamanukan: Illustrator and uploader Dragonbite ., CC BY-SA 1.0, source
Liver of Piacenza: Piacenza_Bronzeleber.jpg : Lokilech, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Soul flight: Published by James Wasserman; facsimile made by E. A. Wallis Budge; or, Public domain, source
Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Shamanism among Alaska Natives: Balkanian`s word, Public domain, source
Nekyia: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Babaylan: Hptina24, CC BY-SA 4.0, source