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FestivalsCelebrate Day of the Dead at Alebrijes in Downtown Las Vegas FestivalsDay of the Dead Festival FestivalsDay Of The Dead Festival Hispanic Heritage Divination"Divining with the Elements: A Conversation about Astrology" with KL Mays and Alice Sparkly Kat Stage magicWhat Was Halloween Like 100 Years Ago?DivinationThe GPT Oracle: 1 in 10 Americans are reviving the pagan practice of prophecy Living traditionsVoodoo and the School System in Haiti FestivalsFour Delightful Children’s Books About Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead FestivalsCasa de México in Madrid unveils 2026 Day of the Dead altar inspired by Michoacán and Agustín Lara FestivalsDay of the Dead in Chicago: a celebration of (after) life FestivalsCelebrate Day of the Dead at Alebrijes in Downtown Las Vegas FestivalsDay of the Dead Festival FestivalsDay Of The Dead Festival Hispanic Heritage Divination"Divining with the Elements: A Conversation about Astrology" with KL Mays and Alice Sparkly Kat Stage magicWhat Was Halloween Like 100 Years Ago?DivinationThe GPT Oracle: 1 in 10 Americans are reviving the pagan practice of prophecy Living traditionsVoodoo and the School System in Haiti FestivalsFour Delightful Children’s Books About Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead FestivalsCasa de México in Madrid unveils 2026 Day of the Dead altar inspired by Michoacán and Agustín Lara FestivalsDay of the Dead in Chicago: a celebration of (after) life

EveryJaadu

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.

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

PeopleEnglish (remove)

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

🇫🇷 France and 5 moreYule log A large wooden log burned in the hearth during winter festivals across Europe and North America.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomGiles Corey An English-born farmer pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trialsFigure Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomGreen Children of Woolpit A medieval English legend about two green-skinned siblings who appeared in a Suffolk village.Figure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreWell dressing A rural English custom of decorating water sources with natural designsTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreBugbear A medieval English creature used to frighten children into obedienceFigure · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomSamlesbury witches Three Lancashire women acquitted in a 1612 trial linked to anti-Catholic propagandaBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomMatthew Hopkins The English witch-hunter who led the deadliest wave of executions in Britain.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBideford witch trial The final English hangings for witchcraft in 1682.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch trials in England A historical period of legal persecution for alleged sorcery in England from the 15th to the 18th centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreTelling the bees A Western European custom of informing bees about major household eventsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomBlack Shuck A ghostly black dog from East Anglia folklore, often seen as a death omen or a terrifying apparition.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandFetch A spectral double of a living person, seen as an omen of death or long life.Being · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomSpectral evidence Court testimony based on visions of spirits during historical witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomIsaac Fawkes An English conjurer who moved magic from the fairground to fashionable London society.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomJohn Nevil Maskelyne A Victorian magician who exposed fraud and invented the pay toiletIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomWilliam Lilly A seventeenth-century English astrologer and author who shaped Western tradition.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority 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

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreWitch bottle A container filled with personal items and sharp objects to trap harmful magicCharm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreEdward Kelley An English occultist and scryer who worked with John Dee to contact angels and practice alchemy.Figure · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment 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

🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreHellhound A mythological canine that guards the underworld or serves demonic forces across global folkloreBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇬🇧 United KingdomBlack dog A spectral hound from English folklore that signals death or guards the living.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreChurch grim A guardian spirit of Christian churchyards, often appearing as a black dog or lamb.Being · Protection Historical

🇮🇪 IrelandPúca A shape-shifting spirit of Celtic folklore that brings fortune or mischiefBeing · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United KingdomHob A small household spirit of Northern England and the Anglo-Scottish border.Being · Power and authority Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBoggart A malevolent household spirit from northern English folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBrowniebrùnaidh A nocturnal household spirit from Scottish folklore that performs chores in exchange for offerings.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWitch's mark A bodily mark believed to prove a pact with the Devil during early modern witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomJack in the Green A foliate figure worn in English May Day processions to celebrate summerIllusion · Wonder and entertainment Revived

🇬🇧 United KingdomEnglish folklore The myths, legends, and customs of England passed down through generations.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch ball A glass sphere hung in windows to trap spirits and ward off evilCharm · Protection Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreSoul cake A spiced cake given to soulers during Allhallowtide to remember the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreHobby horse A costumed character made from wood or cloth used in seasonal folk customs and processions.Illusion · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomWassail A hot spiced drink and the twelfth-night customs of singing to trees or visiting homes for giftsTradition · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreJack A trickster hero from English folklore who outwits giants and oppressorsFigure · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomEnochian magic A Renaissance system of ceremonial magic based on angelic revelations recorded by John Dee and Edward Kelley.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living

🇬🇧 United KingdomDeath knell A church bell rung to announce a person's death and mark the funeral.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead Fading 🇬🇧 United KingdomSt Mark's Eve An English folk custom to witness omens of death and future marriage on the eve of a saint's feast dayRite · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomMother Shipton An English prophetess and herbalist from folklore, known for predictions printed long after her death.Figure · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomPendle witches A 1612 series of English witch trials that resulted in ten executions near Pendle Hill.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreFaust A German legend of a scholar who trades his soul for knowledge and pleasureFigure · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Legendary

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreJohn Dee An English scholar and advisor to Elizabeth I who pursued angelic communication through scrying.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch bottle (sample) A stoppered bottle set out against curses.Charm · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomPuck A mischievous domestic sprite of English folklore known for practical jokes and household choresBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇳🇱 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

🇬🇧 United KingdomBrown Lady of Raynham Hall A famous English ghost story and photograph from a Norfolk country houseBeing Historical 🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
Well dressing: User:WhaleyTim, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Puck: Joseph Noel Paton, Public domain, source
Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
Samlesbury witches: Tom Oates, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Brown Lady of Raynham Hall: Hubert C. Provand e Indre Shira, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Matthew Hopkins: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Bideford witch trial: Totnesmartin, Public domain, source
Occult: The .:X, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Isaac Fawkes: William Hogarth, Public domain, source
John Nevil Maskelyne: Unknown author, Public domain, source
William Lilly: Simon Harriyott, CC BY 2.0, source
Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
Witch bottle: British Museum, Daniel Pett, 2004-10-25 15:27:22, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Edward Kelley: Thomas Pennant, Public domain, source
Cunning folk: Midnightblueowl at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Hellhound: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
Church grim: Inès Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Púca: Wirt Sikes, Public domain, source
Hob: Jo Turner, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Boggart: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Brownie: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source
Jack in the Green: SiGarb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
English folklore: J. R. Skelton, Public domain, source
Witch ball: John W. Schulze, CC BY 2.0, source
Soul cake: Samantha, CC BY 2.0, source
Natural magic: Unidentified painter, Public domain, source
Hobby horse: Timkevan at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
Wassail: Joss Smithson, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Jack: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, source
Death knell: Dougsim, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mother Shipton: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Pendle witches: Dr Greg, CC BY 3.0, source
Faust: Earthsphere, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven entries you may not know, what is on the calendar this week, and one rite drawn step by step.