Magicians, witches and legendary figures

The wise woman, the sorcerer, the legendary mage: Merlin, Baba Yaga, Circe and their kin.

An open hand with an eye: the hamsa, or hand of Fatima, a protective sign in Jewish, Muslim and wider North African and Middle Eastern custom.

Magical figures are the people, real and legendary, who stand for magic: Merlin, Baba Yaga, Circe, Hermes Trismegistus, Dr John Dee, Madame Blavatsky, the sorcerer in a village story, the Bulgarian seer Baba Vanga, and the performers Houdini and Chung Ling Soo. Some lived, some are composite, and some are pure myth. This page looks at who becomes a magic figure, and why. They are described here as stories and as history, and kept apart.

Who becomes a figure

Figures often sit at the edge of society. In many stories the witch is an older woman living alone, the sorcerer a foreigner or a rival tribe, the wise man a hermit. Real figures include John Dee, adviser to Elizabeth I, and Agrippa, whose De occulta philosophia (1533) shaped European occultism. Others are legend: Merlin appears in Welsh and French tales, and Baba Yaga is a Slavic folk figure who both helps and threatens.

Gender and reputation

The witch figure has been mostly female in Europe, where trials in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries killed tens of thousands of people, most of them women. In other places accusation falls on men, on the old, on the poor or on the outsider. The learned magician, by contrast, was often male, literate and protected by rank, a division that shows how class shaped who was punished. Not every figure carries a stigma: Chinese immortals, Indian rishis and Irish saints are honoured, and the line between holy person and magician depends on who is telling the story.

Colonial and modern use

Missionary and colonial writers often cast African and Indigenous healers as the witch-doctor, a term most communities reject. The word covers healers, diviners and rulers who had very different roles. Today, figures are re-used in fantasy and branding. The Merlin of modern fantasy films is a long way from the Welsh Myrddin, and the name of a real tradition may be turned into a costume. Their stories have also been tools of politics: rulers have claimed legendary magicians as ancestors, and enemies have painted rivals as sorcerers to justify their removal.

Scholars and the real person

Historians separate documented people from legend and warn that many reports of magicians were written by their enemies. Evidence for some famous names, including Hermes Trismegistus, who was long thought to be an Egyptian sage, turned out to be later Greek-language writings. Treating a figure as legend rather than biography is no insult to those who revere them. A figure who may be a real person with a name, a date and a grave belongs in a different category from a legend, even when popular memory blends them, and the entries here try to keep them separate.

Figure 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

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

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

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

🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreVampire An undead creature from folklore that feeds on the blood or life force of the livingBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreKing ArthurBrenin Arthur A legendary British king and folk hero of medieval literature and Welsh mythologyFigure · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇫🇷 France and 5 moreWerewolf A mythical shapeshifter that turns into a wolf, central to European witch-hunts and Gothic horror.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreLilithלִילִית A feminine figure from Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, often depicted as a night demon or spirit.Being · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇫🇷 FranceHoly GrailSaint Graal A cup or stone from Arthurian tales that grants healing and eternal lifeFigure · Healing · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇳🇵 Nepal and 1 moreMatsyendranathMacchindranāth, Mīnanātha A yogi and rain deity revered across Hindu and Buddhist traditions in South Asia.Figure · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇺🇸 United StatesCotton Mather A Puritan minister and writer known for his role in the Salem witch trials and promotion of smallpox inoculationFigure Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyJohannes Junius Mayor of Bamberg executed in the witch trials, known for a letter to his daughterFigure Historical

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreYoginiयोगिनी A female master of yoga and tantra, or a fierce goddess aspect in Indian temples.Tradition · Power and authority · Protection Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyCumaean SibylSibylla Cumana The priestess of the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, famous in Roman legend for her prophetic books and underworld guidance.Figure · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomMatthew Hopkins The English witch-hunter who led the deadliest wave of executions in Britain.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 5 morePrester John A legendary Christian king and priest said to rule a lost kingdom in the East.Figure · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇩🇪 GermanyPied Piper of Hamelinder Rattenfänger von Hameln A medieval legend about a piper who leads children away from the town of HamelinFigure · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇮🇩 IndonesiaRangdaᬭᬗ᭄ᬤ A Balinese demon queen who leads witches in an eternal battle against good.Figure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreExcalibur The mythical sword of King Arthur, symbolizing rightful sovereignty and magical power.Figure · Power and authority Legendary

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreBaba YagaБаба Яга A Slavic witch who lives in a turning hut and flies in a mortarFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇨🇳 ChinaZhang Guolao张果老 A Taoist immortal known for his white donkey and fish drum, said to be a bat spirit.Figure · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇧🇷 Brazil and 5 moreWhite Lady A female ghost in white clothing linked to tragedy and omens across many culturesFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Legendary

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreLa Llorona A vengeful ghost in Hispanic American folklore who mourns drowned children near water.Figure · Cursing and harm Living 🇬🇷 GreeceBaba Yaga (sample)Баба-яга A witch of Slavic tales who lives in a hut on legs.Figure · Change and initiation Legendary

Photo credits on this page

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

King Arthur: William Morris, Public domain, source
Werewolf: Mont Sudbury, Public domain, source
Cumaean Sibyl: Elihu Vedder, Public domain, source
La Llorona: Melvin Callejas, Public domain, source
Matthew Hopkins: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Holy Grail: Photographed by the National Library of Wales, CC0, source
Lilith: Photographs by Ardon Bar Hama, author of original document is unknown., Public domain, source
Vampire: Edvard Munch, Public domain, source
Prester John: Diogo Homem, Public domain, source
Matsyendranath: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Pied Piper of Hamelin: Edmund Evans, Public domain, source
Rangda: Boy Lawson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Excalibur: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Baba Yaga: Ivan Bilibin, Public domain, source
Cotton Mather: Peter Pelham, Public domain, source
Zhang Guolao: Hong Zicheng, Public domain, source
White Lady: engraved by Ames of Bristol (according to Fincham, Artists and engrave, Public domain, source
Yogini: Soumendra Barik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source