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.
🇪🇬 EgyptCurse
A spoken wish for misfortune to befall a person or placeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇷🇺 RussiaOssetian mythologyИрон мифологи
The beliefs and supernatural beings of the Ossetian people in the Caucasus.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇪 Georgia and 2 moreGeorgian mythologyქართული მითოლოგია
The pre-Christian beliefs of the Kartvelian peoples in the South CaucasusTradition · Protection · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇦🇺 AustraliaKurdaitchakwertatye
A ritual executioner and feathered shoes of the Arrernte people in Central Australia.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyLiver of Piacenza
A bronze sheep's liver inscribed with Etruscan deity names, used for divination.Substance · Seeing and foretelling 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
🇸🇪 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
🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreNoaidi
A Sámi spiritual leader who mediated between the living and the spirit world using a drum.Being · Healing · Protection Historical
🇳🇴 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
🇪🇪 Estonia and 5 moreSoul dualism
A belief that a person contains two or more distinct kinds of soulsBelief · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇭🇹 HaitiBois Caïman
The sacred site where enslaved Africans planned the Haitian Revolution through a Vodou ceremony.Rite · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇳🇴 NorwaySami religion
The animist and polytheistic beliefs of the Sámi people across northern ScandinaviaTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇪🇸 SpainSorginak
Mythical beings and historical figures associated with Basque witchcraft and the goddess Mari.Figure · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKuji-in九字印
A system of nine syllables and hand gestures used for protection and spiritual alignment in Japanese esoteric traditionsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇵🇭 PhilippinesBabaylan
Spiritual leaders of pre-colonial Philippines who mediated with the unseen world.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceIamidai
An ancient Greek family of seers at Olympia who interpreted burnt offeringsTradition · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇫🇮 FinlandVäki
A supernatural power in Finnish mythology found in nature and objectsBelief · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreShamanism in the Qing dynasty
State-managed rituals of the Manchu rulers and their shamansTradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇰🇷 South KoreaDongti동티
Divine punishment in Korean mythology, often manifesting as sudden illness or death.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇸 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
🇵🇭 PhilippinesTagalog religion
The pre-colonial spiritual system of the Tagalog people in the Philippines.Tradition · Protection · Healing Historical
🇰🇿 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
🇨🇦 CanadaPinga
An Inuit goddess of the hunt and medicine who oversees caribou herds and souls.Being · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇲🇳 Mongolia and 1 moreYellow shamanismШар бөө
A Mongolian and Siberian shamanic tradition blended with Buddhist ritualsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesChepi
A spirit of the dead in Narragansett belief, called upon for vengeance.Being · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 4 moreFeather cloak
A garment of feathers worn by royalty and gods across cultures to signal rank or enable flightCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandTailteann GamesÁenach Tailteann
Ancient Irish funeral games and assemblies held in County Meath to honor the dead.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic and 5 moreZemi
A Taíno deity or ancestral spirit housed in a carved object used for worship and protectionBeing · Protection · Healing Historical
🇦🇺 AustraliaTjurunga
Sacred objects of the Arrernte people, embodying ancestral power and clan identity.Charm · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇵🇭 PhilippinesTigmamanukan
A pre-colonial Tagalog omen bird believed to guide journeys and aid creationBeing · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇨🇳 ChinaReligion of the Shang dynasty
The spiritual system of ancient China's second dynasty, centred on ancestor worship and oracle bone divination.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇲🇽 MexicoEntheogenics and the Maya
Hallucinogenic substances used by the Maya for spiritual rituals and healingTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreNekyiaνέκυια
An ancient Greek rite for summoning and questioning the deadRite · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇮🇩 IndonesiaTunggal panaluan
A carved magic staff of the Batak shamans in North SumatraCharm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇨🇱 Chile and 3 moreGualichu
An evil spirit feared in Mapuche and Tehuelche traditions, and a word for bad luckBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreAlaska Native religion
Traditional spiritual practices of the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples of AlaskaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity 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.
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Tagalog religion: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
- Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
- Georgian mythology: Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kurdaitcha: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Noaidi: O. H. von Lode, Public domain, source
- Shamanism in the Qing dynasty: A nineteenth-century team of editors., Public domain, source
- Sorginak: Errazking, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Feather cloak: Lusanaherandraton, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sámi drum: Zouavman Le Zouave, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tailteann Games: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Zemi: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Tjurunga: No machine-readable author provided. Sepu~commonswiki assumed (based o, CC BY-SA 2.5, 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
- Religion of the Shang dynasty: Unknown author, CC0, 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
- Nekyia: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Tunggal panaluan: Tropenmuseum, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Soul dualism: 尹真人, Public domain, source
- Babaylan: Hptina24, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Human sacrifice in the ancient Iberian Peninsula: Manuel Parada López de Corselas User:Manuel de Corselas ARS SUMMUM, Ce, Public domain, source