All entries

2,261 entries so far, best known first. 3,022 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

🇪🇬 EgyptScatomancy A divination method that reads fortunes by examining bodily excrement or animal waste.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical

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

🇮🇳 IndiaJvarasuraज्वारासुर A fever demon in Hindu lore who serves the pox goddess Shitala.Being · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomNine sorceressesnaw chwaer A group of nine magical women in Welsh and Arthurian legendFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇷🇴 RomaniaTanacu exorcism A 2005 Romanian Orthodox ritual that ended in a nun's death and a murder convictionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 EgyptUnlucky Mummy A painted wooden coffin lid from ancient Egypt that became famous for myths of misfortune.Charm · Cursing and harm Historical 🇨🇱 Chile and 3 moreGualichu An evil spirit feared in Mapuche and Tehuelche traditions, and a word for bad luckBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇱🇹 LithuaniaLazdeika the CrabKrabas Lazdeika A rainbow crab used as an oracle to predict basketball match outcomes in Lithuania.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreSun cross A cross inside a circle found in prehistoric art and modern political symbolsBelief · Power and authority Historical 🇯🇵 JapanNoderabō野寺坊 A Japanese yōkai of abandoned temples and broken vowsBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇳 ChinaShi尸 A living descendant who sat in place of a dead ancestor during ancient Chinese ritualsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇸🇪 SwedenSigtuna rib A runic bone amulet from medieval Sweden bearing a spell against diseaseCharm · Healing Historical 🇯🇵 JapanShiranui不知火 Atmospheric ghost lights of the Yatsushiro and Ariake Seas in JapanBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanJanjanbiじゃんじゃん火 Atmospheric ghost lights from Nara Prefecture, said to be the spirits of lovers or a wronged commander.Belief Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBook of Magical Charms A seventeenth-century English manuscript of spells and medical remedies held in Chicago.Text · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇮🇸 Iceland and 3 moreRune poem Proverbial verses used to memorize the names and order of runic lettersText · Power and authority Historical 🇫🇷 FranceTempestarii Medieval figures accused of controlling storms and the beliefs surrounding them.Belief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAiwass A voice that dictated a foundational occult text to Aleister Crowley in 1904Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaQutbقطب A Sufi spiritual leader who acts as the unseen axis of a cosmic hierarchy.Figure · Power and authority Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomSaducismus Triumphatus A 1681 English book defending witchcraft beliefs and attacking skepticsText · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceAstrology and astronomy Two disciplines that shared a history before splitting into science and divinationTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreReligious aspects of Nazism The study of how Nazi ideology borrowed religious forms and esoteric beliefs to build a political movement.Tradition · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical 🇿🇦 South AfricaTagati A South African English term for a harmful wizard or poisoner, from Zulu roots.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesThe Occult: A History A 1971 survey of occult figures and latent human powers by Colin WilsonText · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreDioneΔιώνη An ancient Greek oracular goddess and Titaness, mother of Aphrodite.Being · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaNaeviology A divination method that reads the future from moles and scarsOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreScyphomancy Divination by reading signs in a cup of water or listening for voices within the glass.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandSegen A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇸🇪 SwedenÅrsgång An archaic Swedish divination ritual performed on Christmas Eve to glimpse the coming year.Rite · Seeing and foretelling 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 🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreFavomancy Divination by throwing beans and reading the patterns they form on the groundOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇸🇾 SyriaMoleosophy Divination by reading the shape and place of moles on the bodyOracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesOpen Source Order of the Golden Dawn A modern magical order using open-source principles to adapt ceremonial ritualsTradition · Change and initiation Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomQueen of Elphame The elfin queen of Faerie from Lowland Scotland and Northern England folkloreFigure · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomTam Lin A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇳 IndiaEpic cycles of incarnations in MoirangMoirang Shayon A Meitei mythic cycle tracing the repeated lives and deaths of divine lovers across generations.Figure · Love and attraction Historical

🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLegend of the White Snake白蛇傳 A Chinese folktale about a snake spirit who becomes human to love a mortal manFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreAlpha et Omega An occult order formed from the Golden Dawn schism, active in London and Paris before World War IITradition · Power and authority Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Love and attraction Historical 🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreMahalathמָחֲלַת A queen of demons in Jewish mysticism and the mother of AgratBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreOrdeal of the bitter waterמֵי הַמָּרִים (mei ha-marim) A biblical test for a wife accused of adultery when no witnesses are present.Rite · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical 🇪🇸 SpainGuañameñe A Guanche prophet and the highest priestly rank in pre-conquest TenerifeFigure · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreYellow badgeJudenstern A marked garment worn by Jews under laws of distinction and humiliation across centuries.Charm · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreSe'irimשעירים Demons of Hebrew tradition linked to wild goats and ruined placesBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇦 CanadaOak Island mystery A centuries-old legend of buried treasure and unexplained engineering on a Canadian island.Belief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇩🇪 GermanyThule SocietyThule-Gesellschaft A German occult group that sponsored the early Nazi party and promoted racial mysticism.Tradition · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇧🇷 BrazilCarranca A carved figurehead for river boats, believed to ward off evil spiritsCharm · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Ordeal of the bitter water: Charadron, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Saducismus Triumphatus: unknown engraver of the 17th century, Public domain, source
Book of Magical Charms: Robert Ashley, died 1641, Public domain, source
Jvarasura: Suraj Belbase, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Tagalog religion: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
Unlucky Mummy: amanderson2, CC BY 2.0, source
Sun cross: National Museum of Denmark, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Shi: Jason Zou, Public domain, source
Sigtuna rib: Swedish National Heritage Board, CC BY 4.0, source
Rune poem: Tollef Salemann, CC0, source
Astrology and astronomy: anonymous, Public domain, source
Religious aspects of Nazism: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
Dione: Phidias, CC BY 2.5, source
Moleosophy: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Tam Lin: Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Epic cycles of incarnations in Moirang: Bhudro Singh (AKA. Ningthoujam Bhadra), Public domain, source
Legend of the White Snake: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Yellow badge: Edited version of original photo by Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Oak Island mystery: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
Carranca: Glauco Umbelino, CC BY 2.0, source

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Photo credits on this page

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