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
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 2 moreFranz Anton Mesmer
A German physician who proposed a universal fluid of natural energy and founded mesmerism.Tradition 路 Healing Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesFolk healer
An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau
A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 4 moreCunning folk
European practitioners of folk medicine and helpful magic from the Middle Ages to the twentieth centuryTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomCharmer
English folk healers who used gifts or verses to treat natural ailments without chargeTradition 路 Healing Historical
馃嚳馃嚘 South AfricaSympathetic magic
A magical principle based on imitation and contact to influence the worldTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreNicholas Culpeper
An English herbalist and astrologer who translated medical texts into English for the poor.Text 路 Healing 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 IndiaUnicorn horn
A legendary object believed to neutralize poison and cure disease, traded as narwhal teeth for centuries.Charm 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomMother Shipton
An English prophetess and herbalist from folklore, known for predictions printed long after her death.Figure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayCyprianus
A Scandinavian folk magic grimoire and the tradition of spells it containsText 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son
A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief 路 Healing 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcr忙ft
Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 1 moreShamanism in the Qing dynasty
State-managed rituals of the Manchu rulers and their shamansTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 2 moreTiet盲j盲
A traditional Finnic healer and sage whose power came from memorised spells and deep knowledge.Figure 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚥馃嚱 MexicoTeotlaqualli
A hallucinogenic paste used by Aztec priests and healers in the pre-Columbian era.Substance 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Healing Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFrog coffin
A Finnish folk magic burial of a frog in a tiny coffin to steal luck or reflect harmRite 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptScatomancy
A divination method that reads fortunes by examining bodily excrement or animal waste.Oracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bald's Leechbook: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
- Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Sympathetic magic: Marie-Lan Nguyen, CC BY 2.5, source
- Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
- Unicorn horn: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mother Shipton: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Shamanism in the Qing dynasty: A nineteenth-century team of editors., Public domain, source
- Tiet盲j盲: Robert Wilhelm Ekman, Public domain, source
- Franz Anton Mesmer: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source