All entries
2,158 entries so far, best known first. 3,227 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
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreZi Wei Dou Shu绱井鏂楁暩
A Chinese natal astrology system mapping stars across twelve life palacesTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreTang-ki绔ヤ供 (t贸ngj墨); 涔╃ (j墨t贸ng)
A Chinese folk-religion medium whose body a deity is held to take overTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚥馃嚞 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy
A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 2 moreOnomancy
Divination based on the letters, numbers, or written strokes of a person's nameOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 4 moreFuji鎵朵供
Chinese planchette writing: gods and ancestors reply through a stylus on sandRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreTang-ki绔ヤ供 (t贸ngj墨); 涔╃ (j墨t贸ng)
A Chinese folk-religion medium whose body a deity is held to take overTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚥馃嚞 Madagascar and 4 moreGeomancy
A cross-cultural system of divination using earth, sand, and landforms to read the future or align spaces.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 2 moreOnomancy
Divination based on the letters, numbers, or written strokes of a person's nameOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 4 moreFuji鎵朵供
Chinese planchette writing: gods and ancestors reply through a stylus on sandRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tang-ki: Bunkichi Chang, CC BY 2.0, source
- Fuji: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Geomancy: Jacopo188, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Onomancy: Unknown author, Public domain, source