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Witch-huntsWitching Hour in Salem and Beyond—The 12 Scariest Things to Do on Halloween Night MuseumsThis Week in Moab: Magic for Seekhaven and a New Museum Show, October 19–25 DivinationThe Secret Romani History of Tarot Living traditionsMalou Beauvoir Introduces OUR VODOU Book 2, Celebrating Haiti's Heritage Through Children's Storytelling DivinationInside Seattle's witchy side: Tarot, crystals and a little local magic FestivalsMoreno family’s Day of the Dead celebration returns to the Village Green Nov. 1 Stage magicThe Houdini Séance, once a Petaluma tradition, rises from the grave HistoryThe more archaeologists examine this temple find, the less it looks like ritual gear: inside the Thracian bronze puzzle CharmsA Man Took a Hidden Prayer to Jesus to His Grave—It Could Rewrite Christianity’s Origin Story Witch-huntsFive Places Worth Visiting In Salem This Halloween Season Witch-huntsWitching Hour in Salem and Beyond—The 12 Scariest Things to Do on Halloween Night MuseumsThis Week in Moab: Magic for Seekhaven and a New Museum Show, October 19–25 DivinationThe Secret Romani History of Tarot Living traditionsMalou Beauvoir Introduces OUR VODOU Book 2, Celebrating Haiti's Heritage Through Children's Storytelling DivinationInside Seattle's witchy side: Tarot, crystals and a little local magic FestivalsMoreno family’s Day of the Dead celebration returns to the Village Green Nov. 1 Stage magicThe Houdini Séance, once a Petaluma tradition, rises from the grave HistoryThe more archaeologists examine this temple find, the less it looks like ritual gear: inside the Thracian bronze puzzle CharmsA Man Took a Hidden Prayer to Jesus to His Grave—It Could Rewrite Christianity’s Origin Story Witch-huntsFive Places Worth Visiting In Salem This Halloween Season

EveryJaadu

All entries

2,660 entries so far, best known first. 2,250 more are on the list to be written. Narrow by region, kind, purpose, practitioner, belief world, occasion or how alive it is.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

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

🇬🇧 United KingdomSamlesbury witches Three Lancashire women acquitted in a 1612 trial linked to anti-Catholic propagandaBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreWitch trials in Latvia and Estonia Early modern persecutions of sorcery and paganism by Baltic German authoritiesBelief · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Historical 🇫🇷 France and 3 moreChristian Kabbalah A Renaissance effort to read Christian theology into Jewish mysticismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWitch's mark A bodily mark believed to prove a pact with the Devil during early modern witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreWitch trials in the Holy Roman Empire A historical period of intense witchcraft persecution across Central Europe from the 15th to the 18th centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 GermanyWürzburg witch trials A mass execution of hundreds in a German Catholic principality during the Thirty Years WarBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇸 Spain and 6 moreBurning of Judas An Easter rite where an effigy of the betrayer is destroyed by fire or other meansRite · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Living

🇸🇪 SwedenWitch trials in Denmark A history of legal executions and local panics against sorcery in early modern Denmark.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇱 NetherlandsCornelius Loos A Catholic priest who publicly opposed the European witch trials of the late 1500s.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreFairy A European spirit with magical powers and human form found in folklore and artBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇮🇹 ItalyWitches of Benevento A medieval Italian legend of witches gathering under a walnut treeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayWitch trials in Norway A wave of executions and legal persecution for sorcery in early modern Norway.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyPhilipp Adolf von Ehrenberg A German prince-bishop who directed a massive witch-hunt in the 1620sFigure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇸🇪 SwedenTorsåker witch trials The largest mass execution of witches in Swedish history, carried out in a single day.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 GermanyMalleus Maleficarum A 15th-century manual on witchcraft written by Heinrich KramerText · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreKrampus A horned Alpine figure who punishes misbehaving children on KrampusnachtFigure · Cursing and harm Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomSpectral evidence Court testimony based on visions of spirits during historical witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomPendle witches A 1612 series of English witch trials that resulted in ten executions near Pendle Hill.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreBamberg witch trials A mass execution campaign in a German prince-bishopric that killed around one thousand people between 1623 and 1632.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇳🇴 NorwayVardø witch trials A major Scandinavian persecution of women accused of sorcery in 17th-century NorwayBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇷 France and 4 moreWitch trials in the early modern period A wave of prosecutions across Europe and British America from the 1400s to the late 1700s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇭 SwitzerlandValais witch trials The first systematic European witch-hunt, beginning in the Valais region of Switzerland in 1428.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇷 FranceWitch trials in France A fragmented history of legal persecution for sorcery across French regions and centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreSixth and Seventh Books of Moses A grimoire claiming to reveal the hidden spells of Moses for controlling spirits and natureText · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇪🇸 SpainDirectorium Inquisitorum A 14th-century manual for inquisitors on heresy, magic, and trial procedureText · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreFaust A German legend of a scholar who trades his soul for knowledge and pleasureFigure · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇪🇸 SpainBasque witch trials A seventeenth-century Inquisition campaign against alleged witches in the Basque Country.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 GermanyTrier witch trials A series of mass executions in the Holy Roman Empire between 1581 and 1593.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 ItalyWitch trials in Italy Historic legal proceedings against alleged witches across Italian states from the 14th to 18th centuries.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇵🇱 PolandWitch trials in Poland A historical record of sorcery prosecutions and executions in Poland from the 15th to the 19th century.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇳🇱 NetherlandsWitch trials in the Netherlands A historical record of prosecutions and executions for sorcery in the Dutch Republic.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomEnglish folklore The myths, legends, and customs of England passed down through generations.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Living

🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇫🇷 FranceLouviers possessions A seventeenth-century French convent case of mass demonic possession and witchcraft accusationsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇫🇷 FranceTitivillus A medieval demon who collects scribal errors and liturgical mistakes in a sack.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceGelloΓελλώ A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreSaint Michael A Christian archangel who defends the faithful and weighs soulsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Living

🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandDevil Whale A giant sea creature mistaken for an island that drags sailors to the deepBeing · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreYellow badgeJudenstern A marked garment worn by Jews under laws of distinction and humiliation across centuries.Charm · Cursing and harm Historical

🇫🇷 FranceLoudun possessionsaffaire des possédées de Loudun A 17th-century witchcraft trial in France involving alleged demonic possession by Ursuline nuns.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreReligious aspects of Nazism The study of how Nazi ideology borrowed religious forms and esoteric beliefs to build a political movement.Tradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomWarlock A word for a male witch, rooted in an old term for oath-breaker and devil pactsFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreLutzelfrau A German Alpine witch who brings fruit or punishes childrenFigure · Protection · 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.

Faust: Earthsphere, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Warlock: John Faed RSA. 1855., Public domain, source
Witchcraft in Latin America: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Magic in Anglo-Saxon England: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
Witch trials in the Netherlands: Mathje1963, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
English folklore: J. R. Skelton, Public domain, source
Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source
Witch trials in the Holy Roman Empire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Würzburg witch trials: Sweet Chily, Public domain, source
Burning of Judas: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Witch trials in Denmark: Rigsarkivet - Danish National Archives, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Religious aspects of Nazism: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Witches of Benevento: Guglielmo della Porta, CC0, source
Torsåker witch trials: Y-näsmannen, CC0, source
Malleus Maleficarum: Johann Jakob Wick, Public domain, source
Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Krampus: Naturpuur, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
Bamberg witch trials: Berthold Werner, Public domain, source
Pendle witches: Dr Greg, CC BY 3.0, source
Witch trials in the early modern period: Johann Jakob Wick, Public domain, source
Valais witch trials: Dagalia2, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Witch trials in France: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Directorium Inquisitorum: Nicolás Eymerich, Public domain, source
Lutzelfrau: Karel Rozum, Public domain, source
Samlesbury witches: Tom Oates, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Saint Michael: Francesco Botticini, Public domain, source
Titivillus: Andrewrabbott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Devil Whale: Edmund Dulac, Public domain, source
Basque witch trials: Alberto-g-rovi, CC BY 3.0, source
Yellow badge: Edited version of original photo by Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Loudun possessions: Unknown author, Public domain, source

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.