All entries
2,651 entries so far, best known first. 2,265 more are on the list to be written. Narrow by region, kind, purpose, practitioner, belief world, occasion or how alive it is.
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
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
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCalifornian white sage
A California shrub used by Indigenous peoples for food, healing, and ritual cleansingSubstance · Protection · Healing Living
🇺🇸 United StatesNavajo medicine
Traditional healing practices of the Navajo people focused on restoring harmonyTradition · Healing · Protection Living
🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living
🇺🇸 United StatesGhost sickness
A grief illness blamed on ghosts or witches, from North America to PolynesiaBelief · Healing · Cleansing and purification Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Medicine wheel: U.S. Forest Service Photo, Public domain, source
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Ainu religion: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Medicine man: Smallbones, Public domain, source
- Hopi mythology: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, source
- Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Totem: Jami430, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sandpainting: Mnolf, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
- Nanabozho: D. Gordon E. Robertson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hoodoo: Hoodoowoman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Californian white sage: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ojibwe religion: Ryan Hodnett, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tupilaq: Louis Chemnitz, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Navajo medicine: Edward S. Curtis, Public domain, source
- Quviasukvik: Jodie Wilson, CC BY 2.0, source