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

🇪🇬 EgyptCurse A spoken wish for misfortune to befall a person or placeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇨🇬 Republic of the CongoNkisi Spirit containers and power figures from the Congo Basin used for justice and healingCharm · Protection · Healing Living 🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreMurder for body parts The killing of people to harvest body parts for traditional medicine or the illegal organ trade.Belief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living

🇨🇺 Cuba and 4 moreSanteríaRegla de Ocha An Afro-Cuban religion blending Yoruba spirits with Catholic saintsTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇬🇷 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

🇺🇸 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living

🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreKorean shamanismKorean shamanism (Korean: Korean shamanism) A traditional practice of ritual specialists who mediate between the human and spirit worlds.Tradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreWitchcraft in Latin AmericaBrujería A syncretic blend of Indigenous, African, and European magical practices across Latin AmericaTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreRainmaking rites Ceremonies performed to call rain through prayer, dance, or symbolic actsRite · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreTraditional healers of Southern Africa Practitioners who blend herbal medicine with ancestral divination in Southern AfricaTradition · Healing · Protection Living

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

🇺🇸 United StatesNavajo medicine Traditional healing practices of the Navajo people focused on restoring harmonyTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇯🇲 Jamaica and 5 moreObeah A Caribbean tradition of ritual healing and spell-casting with African rootsTradition · Protection · Healing Living 🇯🇲 Jamaica and 1 moreMyal An Afro-Jamaican healing tradition rooted in Arawak and Akan spiritualityTradition · Healing · Protection Living

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

🇧🇴 Bolivia and 5 moreKallawaya An itinerant group of traditional Andean healers known for their medicinal plant knowledge and ritual practicesTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇨🇱 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

🇵🇭 PhilippinesWitchcraft in the Philippinespangkukulam Indigenous beliefs about sorcery and malevolent magic in the PhilippinesTradition · Cursing and harm · Healing Living

🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 4 moreBudaቡዳ An Ethiopian and Eritrean belief in the evil eye and hyena transformationBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreMongolian shamanismBöö mörgöl The animistic and shamanic ethnic religion of the Mongol peoples, centered on sky worship and ancestral spirits.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreBoriBòòríí A traditional Hausa spirit possession system and healing practice in West AfricaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the CongoKindoki A belief in spirit possession that leads to abuse and abandonment in the Congo regionBelief · Cursing and harm Living

🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreCultrunkultrung A ceremonial drum central to Mapuche spiritual practice and identity in Chile and ArgentinaTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇨🇫 Central African Republic and 5 moreWitchcraft in Africa Beliefs about supernatural harm and the social responses to accusations across the continentBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo and 4 moreNganga A spiritual healer and ritual specialist in Kongo religion and its diaspora traditionsTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇲🇲 MyanmarBurmese folk religionNat Worship Animistic worship of nature spirits and ancestors in Myanmar, often practiced alongside Buddhism.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreZārزار A spirit possession tradition and healing ritual in the Horn of Africa and Middle EastTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreHoodoo A spiritual tradition of the African diaspora in the American South using herbs and charms for protection and justice.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreLaying on of handsסמיכה A physical gesture used across religions to convey authority, healing, or spiritual presence.Rite · Healing · Power and authority Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 4 moreWitch doctor A traditional healer who identifies supernatural causes of illness and performs rituals to restore balance.Tradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreAmulet A portable object worn or carried to ward off harm and invite protection.Charm · Protection · Healing Living

🇨🇳 China and 5 moreRegional forms of shamanism A global overview of indigenous spirit-interaction practices across Asia and the Americas.Tradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreShamanism in the Qing dynasty State-managed rituals of the Manchu rulers and their shamansTradition · Protection · Healing Historical

🇲🇾 MalaysiaBobohizan A high priestess and spirit medium in the traditional rituals of the Kadazan-Dusun people of Sabah.Tradition · Healing · Protection Fading 🇬🇭 Ghana and 4 moreSpirit children A Ghanaian belief that disabled children are harmful spirits requiring ritual treatment or deathBelief · Cursing and harm Fading

🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstral projection An intentional out-of-body experience where consciousness travels through the astral planeTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living 🇳🇬 Nigeria and 5 moreWitchcraft accusations against children in Africa Violent persecution of children blamed for misfortune across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyondBelief · Cursing and harm Living

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
Astral projection: Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon., Public domain, source
Tagalog religion: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
Amulet: Anonymous ( Egypt ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
Nkisi: MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
Navajo medicine: Edward S. Curtis, Public domain, source
Obeah: Various, published by David Nutt, Public domain, source
Kahuna: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Kallawaya: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Buda: Aberdeen Bestiary, Public domain, source
Mongolian shamanism: Enrique Bendicho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Bori: Tremearne, A. J. N. (Arthur John Newman), 1877-1915, Public domain, source
Cultrun: Universidad Nacional de La Plata, CC BY 3.0, source
Burmese folk religion: Wagaung ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Shamanism in the Qing dynasty: A nineteenth-century team of editors., Public domain, source
Bobohizan: Ricardo Unto, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Zār: Emad Nemati, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Hoodoo: Hoodoowoman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Laying on of hands: User:Lipsio, CC BY 3.0, source
Regional forms of shamanism: Man Sing, Public domain, source
Witch doctor: Lucjan Wędrychowski, Public domain, source
Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Korean shamanism: Hyewon Shin Yun-bok (申潤福: 1758-early 19th century) (혜원 신윤복 (申潤福: 1758-, Public domain, source
Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Traditional healers of Southern Africa: Wizzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Santería: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source