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 StatesFolk healer An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreMojo bag A flannel pouch holding charms for protection and luck in African American Hoodoo traditionCharm · 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

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreRainmaking Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇺🇸 United StatesHex sign Pennsylvania Dutch barn symbols that range from folk art to talismansCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreJack-o'-lantern A hollowed vegetable carved with a face and lit from within, worn as a Halloween symbolCharm · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Living 🇺🇸 United StatesBraucherei A Pennsylvania German folk healing tradition using prayers and gestures to cure illness and remove curses.Tradition · Healing · Protection Fading 🇺🇸 United StatesThe Long Lost FriendDer lange verborgene Freund A Pennsylvania German grimoire of folk remedies and magical charms published in 1820.Text · Healing · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesThe Gray Man A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing · Protection Living 🇦🇺 Australia and 2 moreTheatrical superstitions Beliefs and rituals among actors to avoid bad luck and ward off spiritsBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇺🇸 United StatesEtsy witches Online practitioners selling spells and charms through digital marketplacesTradition · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Living

🇺🇸 United StatesMoll Dyer A Maryland folktale about a woman accused of witchcraft and her cursed stoneFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesWoman in Black A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesHaint blue A pale blue-green paint kept on porches to turn ghosts and boo hags awayCharm · Protection Living

Photo credits on this page

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

Haint blue: Lake Lou, CC BY 2.0, source
Jack-o'-lantern: Toby Ord, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Etsy witches: Таролог Альбина, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
Hex sign: Smallbones, CC0, source
Moll Dyer: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Mojo bag: Liza Khomenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

All entries

Photo credits on this page

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