Illness and misfortune: practices that mark them

What people do when someone falls ill or luck turns: consult, cleanse, ward.

Illness and misfortune are the moments when people most often turn to magic. When someone falls ill, a business fails, a child is lost or luck turns, families ask why, and consult a healer, diviner, priest or mediums. Examples include the Mexican limpia, the African consultation of a diviner, the Islamic ruqyah, the Hindu or Buddhist temple rites, the Korean gut and the Catholic blessing of the sick. This page covers the pattern and its risks. It is not medical advice, and illness needs real medical care.

Why and who

Many traditions ask two questions: how did this happen, and why to me? A medical account answers the first. Traditional systems often address the second, linking misfortune to relationships, envy, taboo or spirits. A consultation then names a cause and a remedy, which may involve cleansing, offerings, protective objects or a ceremony. A diviner may be consulted, a healer called, a priest asked to pray or a shrine visited, and in many households several of these happen at once.

Help and hope

Rites of crisis bring people together, give a role to the family and offer hope when treatment is limited. Researchers have documented comfort and reduced distress after ritual. Many people use medicine and ritual together, and many healers support that. The pattern becomes dangerous only when ritual displaces treatment. Many practitioners also give practical advice about rest, diet and family conflict, and some of this advice is sound and some is not.

Blame and exploitation

Crisis also creates a market for fear. Fraudulent healers tell clients they are cursed and sell expensive cleansing. Accusations of witchcraft often follow illness, with violence against the accused. Exorcism of people with mental illness has caused injuries and deaths, including documented cases in churches in several countries. In some societies, a bad event is the signal for a ritual of the whole community, with confession, reconciliation and shared offerings.

Care and context

Public health programmes now involve community healers in work on issues such as HIV, maternal health and mental health, since many people consult them first. Scholars of medical anthropology call this a plural system of care. The sensible approach is to seek qualified medical help promptly and treat other support as company. Public health bodies urge anyone with a serious illness or injury to seek a clinician at once, and to treat traditional help as complementary to that care and never as a replacement for it.

Illness and misfortune on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

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

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇪🇬 EgyptCurse A spoken wish for misfortune to befall a person or placeBelief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇯🇵 JapanKitsunetsuki狐憑き A Japanese folk belief in which a fox spirit enters and controls a human host.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaPanchagavya A fermented mixture of five cow products used in Hindu rituals and Ayurvedic traditions.Substance · Cleansing and purification · Healing Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomBarghest A mythical black dog from Northern England that foretells death and haunts the countryside.Being · Seeing and foretelling · Cursing and harm Legendary 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the CongoKindoki A belief in spirit possession that leads to abuse and abandonment in the Congo regionBelief · Cursing and harm Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreOmen A sign believed to foretell the future and signal coming changeBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreSanta MuerteNuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte A female skeletal folk saint in Mexico and the Americas, worshipped for protection, healing, and safe passage.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇨🇫 Central African Republic and 5 moreWitchcraft in Africa Beliefs about supernatural harm and the social responses to accusations across the continentBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇲🇲 MyanmarBurmese folk religionNat Worship Animistic worship of nature spirits and ancestors in Myanmar, often practiced alongside Buddhism.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living

🇵🇬 Papua New GuineaWitch-hunts in Papua New Guinea Violent attacks on people accused of sorcery, mainly women and girlsBelief · Cursing and harm Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomSpectral evidence Court testimony based on visions of spirits during historical witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇯🇵 JapanYutaユタ Okinawan folk shamans who guide families through spirits and fortune-tellingTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇬🇷 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

🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreFortune-telling A practice of predicting future events or personal details through various methods and tools.Rite · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Living

🇸🇪 Sweden and 2 moreGermanic seeressvǫlva Diviners and sorceresses of early Germanic and Norse societyTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Revived

🇸🇸 South Sudan and 1 moreAzande witchcraft A Zande belief that certain people harm others by an inherited power, judged by oraclesBelief · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇿🇦 South Africa and 4 moreWitch doctor A traditional healer who identifies supernatural causes of illness and performs rituals to restore balance.Tradition · Healing · Protection Living

🇳🇬 Nigeria and 4 moreJuju A West African spiritual belief system involving charms and ritualsTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living

🇬🇷 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

🇯🇵 JapanInugami犬神 A Japanese spirit of dog possession and folk sorceryBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreHoly well A water source revered for healing and ritual across pagan and Christian traditionsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇭🇹 HaitiBois Caïman The sacred site where enslaved Africans planned the Haitian Revolution through a Vodou ceremony.Rite · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreWitchcraft in Latin AmericaBrujería A syncretic blend of Indigenous, African, and European magical practices across Latin AmericaTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇮🇪 Ireland and 3 moreChangeling A substitute left by supernatural beings in place of a stolen human child or adultBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary

🇮🇳 India and 1 moreNavagrahaनवग्रह A group of nine celestial deities in Hinduism that govern fate and astrologyTradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living 🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreMurder for body parts The killing of people to harvest body parts for traditional medicine or the illegal organ trade.Belief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Living

🇺🇸 United States and 4 moreRainmaking Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇯🇲 Jamaica and 5 moreObeah A Caribbean tradition of ritual healing and spell-casting with African rootsTradition · Protection · Healing Living

🇩🇪 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

🇮🇳 IndiaWitch-hunts in India Violent persecution of people accused of witchcraft, mostly women, in rural IndiaBelief · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living

🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreNecromancy A form of divination that seeks to speak with the dead for hidden knowledge.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical

🇵🇭 PhilippinesWitchcraft in the Philippinespangkukulam Indigenous beliefs about sorcery and malevolent magic in the PhilippinesTradition · Cursing and harm · Healing Living

🇪🇹 Ethiopia and 4 moreBudaቡዳ An Ethiopian and Eritrean belief in the evil eye and hyena transformationBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇮🇳 India and 2 moreBhootभूत A restless spirit of the dead in South Asian belief and folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Protection Living

🇱🇦 Laos and 3 moreTai folk religionສາສະໜາຜີ Spirits, ancestor rites, and soul-calling ceremonies of the Tai peoplesTradition · Protection · Healing Living 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreKollyra curse tablet An ancient Greek tablet cursing a thief to suffocation until stolen goods are returned.Text · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceWitchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome Ancient beliefs and practices of magic, curses, and love charms in the Mediterranean worldTradition · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living 🇬🇭 Ghana and 4 moreSpirit children A Ghanaian belief that disabled children are harmful spirits requiring ritual treatment or deathBelief · Cursing and harm Fading 🇳🇴 NorwayTycho Brahe daysTycho Brahes-dage Scandinavian folklore dates believed to be unlucky for magic and businessBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreApocryphal prayer A folk prayer text blending church forms with apocrypha and incantations for protection and healingText · Protection · Healing Living

🇫🇷 France and 4 moreEctoplasm A substance said to be excreted by mediums during séances, later exposed as common household materials.Substance · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇲🇿 Mozambique and 1 moreNdau witchcraft and sorcery A system of spirit belief and traditional healing among the Ndau people of Mozambique and ZimbabweTradition · Healing · Protection Living 🇳🇬 Nigeria and 5 moreWitchcraft accusations against children in Africa Violent persecution of children blamed for misfortune across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyondBelief · Cursing and harm Living 🇨🇳 ChinaChinese sorcery scares A series of moral panics in Imperial China driven by fears of magical harm and hair cuttingBelief · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Bhoot: Anilbhardwajnoida, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Witchcraft in Latin America: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Tai folk religion: ( เทวประภาส มากคล้าย ), Tevaprapas, Public domain, source
Changeling: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Navagraha: Kiran891, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Mediumship: Harvey Metcalfe, Public domain, source
Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
Philippine mythology: The original uploader was Rodsan18 at English Wikipedia . ( Original t, CC BY 2.5, source
Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
Obeah: Various, published by David Nutt, Public domain, source
Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source
Witch-hunts in India: Granger, Public domain, source
Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Necromancy: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Buda: Aberdeen Bestiary, Public domain, source
Omen: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Santa Muerte: Not home, Public domain, source
Burmese folk religion: Wagaung ( talk ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ndau witchcraft and sorcery: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
Witch-hunts in Papua New Guinea: The original uploader was Dr. Blofeld at English Wikipedia ., Attribution, source
Witchcraft in ancient Greece and Rome: Wilhelm Tischbein, Public domain, source
Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source
Germanic seeress: Emil Doepler, Public domain, source
Azande witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Witch doctor: Lucjan Wędrychowski, Public domain, source
Juju: ILN Staff, after special artist correspondent Mr Harries F.R.G.S., Public domain, source
Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Inugami: Sawaki Suushi (佐脇嵩之, Japanese, *1707, †1772), Public domain, source
Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source