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

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreAradia A figure of Italian folklore and modern pagan witchcraft, seen as a teacher of magic and liberation.Figure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Revived

🇮🇹 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandBodach A Gaelic trickster figure used to frighten children and warn of deathFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreJack A trickster hero from English folklore who outwits giants and oppressorsFigure · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomCeridwenCerridwen A Welsh enchantress and modern goddess of poetic inspiration and transformation.Being · Change and initiation Revived

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 morePersonifications of death Figures from many cultures that embody the end of life and guide soulsFigure · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreSampo A magical mill or world pillar in Finnish and Estonian mythology that produces wealth.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Historical

🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 morePig-faced women A European legend of a woman with the face of a pig, and the charms used to break her curseFigure · Change and initiation Historical 🇧🇷 Brazil and 1 moreSaciSaci-pererê A one-legged prankster of Brazilian folklore who hides in dust devils and wears a magic red cap.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Living

🇧🇷 BrazilThe Hairy LegPerna cabeluda A Brazilian urban legend of a detached leg that attacks people at nightFigure · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreFairy Queen A female ruler of fairies found in folklore, literature, and witchcraft trials across Europe.Figure · Power and authority Historical

🇯🇵 JapanAosaginohi青鷺火 A Japanese will-o'-the-wisp attributed to the glowing flight of herons at nightBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇷🇺 RussiaTriple-headed eagle A heraldic and mythological bird with three heads, appearing in Russian symbolism and European manuscripts.Being · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyScrofa semilanuta A legendary sow seen in a dream that became the ancient emblem of Milan.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇹🇭 Thailand and 2 moreSang Thongสังข์ทอง A Southeast Asian folktale about a prince born in a shell who gains golden skin and magical powers.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Historical

🇩🇿 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomMadgy Figgy's Chair A granite rock in Cornwall linked to a legendary witch and her storm conjuringFigure · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreBožićБожић A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomTam Lin A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇸 IcelandYule catJólakötturinn A giant feline from Icelandic folklore that threatens those without new Christmas clothesFigure · Cursing and harm Living

🇻🇳 VietnamNghêNghê (猊) A mythical guardian creature in Vietnamese architecture and art, blending lion and dog traitsFigure · Protection Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandJack O'The Lantern An Irish folktale about a deceitful man condemned to wander with a carved lanternFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Sampo: Väinö Blomstedt, Public domain, source
Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
Aosaginohi: Koikawa Harumachi ja:恋川春町 (1744-1789), Public domain, source
Triple-headed eagle: Неизвестный автор. (фото обложки сборника: Александр Храмов), Public domain, source
Nghê: Phương Huy, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
Ceridwen: Chris Denny, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Jack: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, source
The Hairy Leg: Diógenes Montenegro, Public domain, source
Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source
Personifications of death: No machine-readable author provided. Kirtap assumed (based on copyrigh, CC BY 2.5, source
Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
Madgy Figgy's Chair: Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Polák, CC BY 4.0, source
Tam Lin: Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Yule cat: Christine Rondeau, CC BY 2.0, source
Jack O'The Lantern: Bodrugan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source