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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.
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PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇯🇵 JapanNoro祝女
Ryukyuan village priestesses who tend sacred hearths and utaki shrinesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Fading
🇰🇷 South KoreaMengdu멩두
Brass ritual instruments central to Jeju Island shamanismCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Fading
🇰🇷 South KoreaDurin-gut두린굿
A Jeju Island ritual to cure mental illness by exorcising a possessing spirit through danceRite · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Fading
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mengdu: National Folk Museum of Korea, CC BY 4.0, source
- Durin-gut: Karaeng Matoaya, CC BY-SA 4.0, source