All entries
1,216 entries so far, best known first. 4,906 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
🇮🇳 IndiaChakraचक्र
Meditation points in the subtle body used in Hindu and Buddhist yogaTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreKalachakraདུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།
A Tibetan Buddhist tantric deity and system of yogic time cyclesTradition · Change and initiation · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 5 moreFace tattoo
Marks inked on the face for spiritual protection, identity, rank, and rite of passageTradition · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreTilopa
A tenth-century Buddhist tantric master who transmitted Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa.Figure · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptTheurgyθεουργία
A Neoplatonic ritual path to unite the soul with the divine through sacred actsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreKabbalahקַבָּלָה
An esoteric school of thought within Judaism focused on the hidden meanings of scripture and the divine.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreVajrayanaVajrayāna
A Buddhist path using rituals and mantras for rapid awakeningTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 4 moreKejawènꦏꦗꦮꦺꦤ꧀ (Kajawèn)
A Javanese tradition blending animism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam into a path of inner harmony.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreAleister Crowley
English occultist and founder of the religion of ThelemaText · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreTantraतन्त्र
An esoteric yogic tradition from India focusing on ritual, mantra, and body-based spiritual practices.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreQi氣 / 气
A vital force in Chinese philosophy and medicine, believed to flow through all living things.Substance · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇮🇱 Israel and 4 moreIsaac Luriaיִצְחָק בן שלמה אשכנזי לוּרְיָא
A sixteenth-century rabbi who founded modern Kabbalah through oral teachings in Safed.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreHermetica
A collection of ancient texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, covering magic, alchemy and philosophy.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Change and initiation Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreCorpus Hermeticum
A collection of Greek writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus that shaped Western esoteric thoughtText · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyChymical Wedding of Christian RosenkreutzChymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459
An allegorical romance and Rosicrucian manifesto detailing a seven-day alchemical initiation.Text · Change and initiation · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreEmanuel Swedenborg
An 18th-century Swedish scientist who became a mystic and claimed to visit the afterlife.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇵🇱 Poland and 1 moreMichael SendivogiusMichał Sędziwój
A Polish alchemist who discovered oxygen and wrote on the 'food of life'Text · Power and authority · Change and initiation Historical
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreIbn Arabiمحيي الدين أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي
A medieval Andalusian mystic and philosopher whose teachings shaped Sufi metaphysics across the Islamic world.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 IndiaNaropa
An Indian Buddhist master whose teachings shaped Tibetan Vajrayana practiceFigure · Change and initiation Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomCeridwenCerridwen
A Welsh enchantress and modern goddess of poetic inspiration and transformation.Being · Change and initiation Revived
🇮🇳 IndiaLeft-Hand and Right-Hand Paths
Two distinct orientations in occult magic, dividing taboo-breaking from orthodoxy.Tradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomHermetic Order of the Golden DawnOrdo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae
A late-19th-century British magical order that shaped modern Western occultismTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreAnthroposophy
A spiritual movement founded by Rudolf Steiner to explore the intellectual side of the unseen worldTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNeotantraनवतन्त्र (navatantra)
A Western movement blending Tantra with modern views on sacred sexualityTradition · Love and attraction · Change and initiation Living
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 morePig-faced women
A European legend of a woman with the face of a pig, and the charms used to break her curseFigure · Change and initiation Historical
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandPsychological astrology
A system that maps horoscopes to psychological theories and archetypesTradition · Change and initiation Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreThelema
A Western esoteric philosophy centered on discovering and following one's True WillTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇮🇹 ItalyArcheosofica
A school of esoteric Christianity founded in Rome that teaches ascetic disciplines and magical theory.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kalachakra: Nabin K. Sapkota, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
- Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Jean-Louis Durant (1654-1718), Public domain, source
- Anthroposophy: Wladyslaw, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sex magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Chakra: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Aleister Crowley: Aleister Crowley, Public domain, source
- Tantra: William Clark, Public domain, source
- Isaac Luria: Louski1, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Corpus Hermeticum: Marsilio Ficino, Public domain, source
- Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Emanuel Swedenborg: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain, source
- Michael Sendivogius: Łuszczkiewicz, Public domain, source
- Ibn Arabi: Omar.Hafez, CC0, source
- Naropa: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ceridwen: Chris Denny, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Baphomet: Eliphas Levi, Public domain, source
- Face tattoo: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source
- Tilopa: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Kabbalah: Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, Paulus Riccius, Leonhard Beck, Public domain, source
- Vajrayana: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Kejawèn: Greenland4, Public domain, source