All entries
1,019 entries so far, best known first. 5,154 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
OccasionWeddings and betrothalFestivalsBirth and childhoodDeath and remembranceHarvest, farming and weatherNew yearInitiation and coming of ageIllness and misfortuneJourneys and voyagesEveryday use
PeopleGreeks (remove)
🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreVampire
An undead creature from folklore that feeds on the blood or life force of the livingBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreSphinx
A mythical hybrid with a human head and lion body, serving as guardian or riddler in Egyptian and Greek traditions.Being · Protection · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇹🇷 Turkey and 5 moreEvil eye
A curse believed to be cast by a jealous glare and the charms used to stop itBelief · Protection Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreCrossroads (folklore)
A junction between worlds where spirits are met and deals are madeBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇹 ItalyCumaean SibylSibylla Cumana
The priestess of the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, famous in Roman legend for her prophetic books and underworld guidance.Figure · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreLibation
The ritual pouring of liquid as an offering to spirits or the deadRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreMagi
Priests of Zoroastrianism and the figures who inspired the word for magicTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreFriday the 13th
A Western superstition marking a specific calendar date as unlucky.Belief · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreHeliotrope
A green and red mineral stone used as an amulet for health, invisibility, and courage.Charm · Protection · Healing Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreBay Laurelδάφνη
An aromatic Mediterranean plant used in cooking and as a symbol of victory and purification.Substance · Protection · Cleansing and purification Living
🇪🇬 EgyptImhotepỉỉ-m-ḥtp
An ancient Egyptian architect deified as a god of healing and wisdomBeing · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceOrpheusὈρφεύς
A Thracian bard whose music charms nature and who journeys to the underworldFigure · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreSpodomancy
Divination by reading omens in ashes, soot, and cindersOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living
🇷🇴 Romania and 5 moreVampire folklore
Global legends of blood-drinking spirits and undead revenantsBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreBuilders' rites
Ceremonies performed during construction to ensure stability and mark progress.Rite · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 morePentagramπεντάγραμμον
A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm · Protection · Binding and oaths Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreFig sign
A hand gesture used to ward off the evil eye or as an insult in many culturesBelief · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇬🇷 GreeceCoscinomancy
A divination method using a sieve and shears to reveal guilt or answer questions.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion
Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreGreco-Roman mysteriesμυστήρια
Secret religious schools of the ancient Mediterranean for initiates onlyTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceEleusinian MysteriesἘλευσίνια Μυστήρια
Ancient Greek secret initiation rites honouring Demeter and Persephone at EleusisTradition · Change and initiation · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world
Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreMagic and religion
A study of how ritual power and sacred belief overlap or separate across culturesBelief · Power and authority Historical
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreKukeriкукери
A costumed ritual in Bulgaria to chase away evil spirits and welcome springRite · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreSibylΣίβυλλα (Sibylla)
Ancient Greek prophetesses who spoke divine counsel at holy shrinesFigure · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Legendary
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLodestone
A naturally magnetized mineral used for early navigation and divinationSubstance · Healing Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreAugury
A Roman rite of reading bird behavior to learn the will of the godsRite · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreOmen
A sign believed to foretell the future and signal coming changeBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreCurse tabletκατάδεσμος
A lead sheet inscribed with a binding curse in the Greco-Roman worldCharm · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 2 moreIsisꜣst (Egyptian)
Egyptian goddess of magic, mourning and kingship, mother of HorusBeing · Protection · Healing Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 3 moreOracle
A person or site believed to channel divine insight and predict the future.Oracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreSpirit
An invisible force or soul found in many cultures, linked to gods, humans, and nature.Being · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇦🇱 Albania and 5 moreDodolaДодoла / Перперуна
A Balkan rainmaking rite performed by youths in greenery to invoke summer showersRite · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Dodola: Andrey Shishkin, CC BY 3.0, source
- Augur: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Crossroads (folklore): MiddleOfAfrica, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cumaean Sibyl: Elihu Vedder, Public domain, source
- Libation: Arkady Zarubin ( Аркадий Зарубин ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magi: Colijn de Coter, CC0, source
- Evil eye: FocalPoint, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vampire: Edvard Munch, Public domain, source
- Sphinx: Ipipipourax, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Friday the 13th: Leonardo da Vinci, Public domain, source
- Heliotrope: Ra'ike (see also: de:Benutzer:Ra'ike ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bay Laurel: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us, source
- Imhotep: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, source
- Orpheus: Franz Caucig, Public domain, source
- Spodomancy: Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vampire folklore: Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Builders' rites: U.S. Government, Public domain, source
- Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
- Fig sign: Harald the Bard, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Coscinomancy: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Public domain, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Greco-Roman mysteries: Varrese Painter, Public domain, source
- Eleusinian Mysteries: No machine-readable author provided. Marsyas assumed (based on copyrig, Public domain, source
- Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kukeri: Nenko Lazarov, CC BY 2.5, source
- Sibyl: Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), Public domain, source
- Lodestone: Ryan Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Omen: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Curse tablet: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Isis: Ägyptischer Maler um 1360 v. Chr., Public domain, source
- Oracle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Spirit: Jastrow, Public domain, source