All entries

2,636 entries so far, best known first. 2,296 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

🇬🇭 Ghana and 1 moreAkan religionAkom Traditional beliefs of the Akan people, centered on a distant creator and nature spirits.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 4 moreWitch doctor A traditional healer who identifies supernatural causes of illness and performs rituals to restore balance.Tradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreBoriBòòríí A traditional Hausa spirit possession system and healing practice in West AfricaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreTraditional healers of Southern Africa Practitioners who blend herbal medicine with ancestral divination in Southern AfricaTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇸🇳 Senegal and 1 moreSerer religionA ƭat Roog The traditional faith of the Serer people, centred on the supreme deity Roog and ancestral veneration.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 4 moreJuju A West African spiritual belief system involving charms and ritualsTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo and 4 moreNganga A spiritual healer and ritual specialist in Kongo religion and its diaspora traditionsTradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreZārزار A spirit possession tradition and healing ritual in the Horn of Africa and Middle EastTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇿🇦 South AfricaUkuthwasa A spiritual calling and initiation process for traditional healers in Southern Africa.Rite · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇸🇸 South Sudan and 1 moreDinka religion The traditional animist and creator-based faith of the Dinka people of South SudanTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSnake worship Veneration of serpents as divine or ancestral beings across global culturesTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreObatalaỌbatalá The Yoruba king of white cloth who is believed to have created humanity and presides over purity.Being · Protection · Healing Living

🇰🇪 Kenya and 1 moreMaasai religion The spiritual beliefs of the semi-nomadic Maasai people of East AfricaTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreMutiumuthi Traditional medicine practice in Southern Africa using plants, animals and mineralsTradition · Healing · Protection Living 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe and 2 moreMwari The supreme creator deity of Shona and Venda traditional religionBeing · Protection · Healing Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 4 moreOrishaÒrìṣà Divine spirits of the Yoruba religion and their diasporic descendants in the Americas.Being · Protection · Healing Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 3 moreOshunỌ̀ṣun A Yoruba water spirit linked to love, wealth, and the Osun River in Nigeria.Being · Love and attraction · Luck and prosperity Living

🇨🇬 Republic of the CongoNkisi A Kongo spirit, and the object a spirit is held to live inBeing · Protection · Healing Living 🇳🇬 NigeriaIfa divination (sample)Ifá A system of verses and divining chains.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreAfrican divination Methods used across the continent to understand present realities and predict future events.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living 🇳🇬 NigeriaAfa A divining art of the Igbo, cast by a dibia to name the cause of troubleOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇲🇱 Mali and 1 moreSandobele A Senufo woman diviner who mediates between the village and bush spirits.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living

🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreSacred caves of the Basotho Cave networks in South Africa and Lesotho used by the Basotho for ancestral rituals and healingTradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇳🇬 NigeriaOsanyinỌsanyin The Yoruba orisha of herbal knowledge, healing magic and wild plantsBeing · Healing · Power and authority Living 🇪🇷 Eritrea and 1 moreBeher A pre-Christian Aksumite deity of the sea and agricultural fertilityBeing · Luck and prosperity · Healing Historical 🇨🇲 CameroonJengu Water spirits of Cameroon's coastal peoples, linked to healing and fateBeing · Protection · Healing Living

Photo credits on this page

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

African divination: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Snake worship: Alexandermcnabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Obatala: Isha, CC BY 3.0, source
Maasai religion: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel), CC BY 4.0, source
Osanyin: TiagoLubiana, CC0, source
Espiritismo: MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Muti: Nicholas Roux, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Orisha: Turismo Bahia, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Oshun: Wikipedia Loves Art participant " Department_of_Trife ", CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Witch doctor: Lucjan Wędrychowski, Public domain, source
Bori: Tremearne, A. J. N. (Arthur John Newman), 1877-1915, Public domain, source
Sacred caves of the Basotho: JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Traditional healers of Southern Africa: Wizzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Serer religion: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Juju: ILN Staff, after special artist correspondent Mr Harries F.R.G.S., Public domain, source
Zār: Emad Nemati, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Ukuthwasa: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

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Photo credits on this page

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