Everyday use: practices that mark them
Small habits kept at home: the horseshoe, the salt over the shoulder, the evil-eye bead.
Everyday magic is the small habits kept at home: the horseshoe, salt over the shoulder, knocking on wood, the evil-eye bead, a lucky number, a morning prayer, the red thread, a bowl of water at the door, a charm in the car. People keep them without making much of them. This page looks at what these habits are, why they last and where they fit alongside religion and science. It is the commonest magic of all.
What it looks like
Daily practice is ordinary. In India, a lemon and chillies hang at shops, and a rangoli drawn at a doorstep welcomes luck. In Turkey, a nazar hangs near the door. In Britain, people say touch wood. In Japan, a lucky cat sits in the shop window, and in Mexico an egg may be rolled over a child. Many of these customs use cheap, available things. Many habits are older than the people who keep them, and nobody can say who started them.
Why people keep them
Researchers describe such habits as low-cost ways to cope with uncertainty. They give a feeling of control, mark boundaries and bring people together at little risk. Studies of lucky charms show they can raise confidence. Most people hold small customs with a light touch, half serious and half playful, and would not say they believe in them. Practices come in several types: some are protective, some bring luck, some help the household keep track of time and weather, and some are no more than a habit of speech.
Names, religion and class
Customs are shared across religions with different explanations. The evil eye is feared by Muslims, Christians, Jews and Hindus in the Mediterranean and beyond. Religious reformers often attack such customs, and educated people sometimes mock them as rural. Women do most of the work of keeping them going, within the home. The home is also where these customs meet money, since shops sell everything needed, and some of the items on sale are made far from their cultural homes.
Shops and screens
Ordinary habits are now a market of charms, apps, horoscopes and online readers. Small purchases are harmless, but large payments for luck or protection are a warning sign of fraud. The customs also spread online, where they can lose their origin. Whether or not they work, they remain a way people say that they care about each other. In the end, the most common magic in the world is neither dramatic nor secret, and it is practised by people who have no wish to be called magicians.
Everyday use on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚦馃嚨 Nepal and 1 morePrayer flagLung ta
Cloth banners printed with mantras, hung in high places to spread blessings on the windCharm 路 Protection 路 Cleansing and purification Living
馃嚫馃嚦 Senegal and 5 morePentagram蟺蔚谓蟿维纬蟻伪渭渭慰谓
A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm 路 Protection 路 Binding and oaths Living
馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria and 2 moreOpon If谩峄宲峄嵦乶 If谩
A carved wooden tray used by Yoruba diviners to read signs and consult spirits.Charm 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreCowrie
A sea snail shell used as currency, divination tool, and charm across many culturesSubstance 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreEye of Horusw岣応湥t
A stylized eye symbol in ancient Egypt representing healing and cosmic orderCharm 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreAmulet
A portable object worn or carried to ward off harm and invite protection.Charm 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 1 moreTaoist coin charm閬撴暀鍝佸鐢熼將
Chinese and Vietnamese numismatic charms used for protection and feng shuiCharm 路 Protection 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚛馃嚧 Dominican Republic and 5 moreZemi
A Ta铆no deity or ancestral spirit housed in a carved object used for worship and protectionBeing 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚬馃嚪 TurkeyHittite sun disk
An ancient Anatolian bronze symbol used in Hattian and Hittite religious ceremoniesCharm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanMagatama鍕剧帀
A curved Japanese bead used as jewelry, status symbol, and sacred object in Shinto.Charm 路 Power and authority 路 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.
- Prayer flag: Wotan, CC BY 2.5, source
- Amulet: Anonymous ( Egypt ) Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
- Opon If谩: Unknown author, CC BY 3.0, source
- Taoist coin charm: Etnografiska Museet, CC BY 2.5, source
- Magatama: Kakidai, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Zemi: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Cowrie: NOAA (Photo Collection of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program), Public domain, source
- Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Eye of Horus: Tangopaso, Public domain, source