All entries

2,161 entries so far, best known first. 3,219 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 KingdomCharmer English folk healers who used gifts or verses to treat natural ailments without chargeTradition · Healing Historical

🇵🇭 PhilippinesBabaylan Spiritual leaders of pre-colonial Philippines who mediated with the unseen world.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical

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

🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreLouisiana Voodoo An African diasporic religion practiced in Louisiana from the 18th to early 20th centuriesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇿🇦 South AfricaSympathetic magic A magical principle based on imitation and contact to influence the worldTradition · Protection · Healing Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNicholas Culpeper An English herbalist and astrologer who translated medical texts into English for the poor.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaChinese alchemy煉丹術 A Taoist pursuit of longevity through elixirs and internal cultivationTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreMedieval European magic A broad category of ritual and natural practices in the Middle Ages, blending healing, divination, and religious belief.Tradition · Healing · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇪🇬 EgyptHekaḥkꜣw The ancient Egyptian deification of magic, medicine, and primordial creative powerBeing · Healing · Protection Historical

🇮🇹 Italy and 3 moreRenaissance magic A 15th and 16th century revival of magical arts blending philosophy, astrology, and hidden knowledge.Tradition · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition · Protection · Healing Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreGe Hong葛洪 A Jin dynasty scholar and alchemist who wrote key texts on Taoist immortality and early medicine.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreFranz Anton Mesmer A German physician who proposed a universal fluid of natural energy and founded mesmerism.Tradition · Healing Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMedical astrology An ancient practice linking planetary movements to the human body and diseaseTradition · Healing Historical 🇮🇹 ItalyIatromathematics A seventeenth-century Italian school that applied mechanics and astrology to medicineTradition · Healing Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreShamanism in the Qing dynasty State-managed rituals of the Manchu rulers and their shamansTradition · Protection · Healing Historical 🇨🇳 ChinaMien shiang面相 A Chinese practice of reading character and fate through facial featuresBelief · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical

🇲🇽 MexicoEntheogenics and the Maya Hallucinogenic substances used by the Maya for spiritual rituals and healingTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreAlaska Native religion Traditional spiritual practices of the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut peoples of AlaskaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇵🇭 PhilippinesTagalog religion The pre-colonial spiritual system of the Tagalog people in the Philippines.Tradition · Protection · Healing Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Medical astrology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Bald's Leechbook: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
Tagalog religion: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Sympathetic magic: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source
Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
Medieval European magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Renaissance magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Shamanism in the Qing dynasty: A nineteenth-century team of editors., Public domain, source
Franz Anton Mesmer: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Ge Hong: Hannah, Public domain, source
Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Chinese alchemy: 尹真人, Public domain, source
Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source
Babaylan: Hptina24, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

All entries

Photo credits on this page

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