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
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreGroundhog DayGrund'sau d氓k
A North American custom using a burrowing rodent to forecast the end of winterTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 7 moreSaint Andrew's Day
A Christian feast day marked by national holidays in Scotland and Romania, and folk divination across Europe.Rite 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 3 moreCleromancy
A divination method that uses random chance to reveal divine willOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 1 moreAncient Egyptian religion
Polytheistic worship, divine kingship, and funerary rites along the NileTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanOmikuji銇娿伩銇忋仒
Paper fortunes drawn at Japanese shrines and temples to reveal luck and life adviceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 5 moreKau chim姹傜堡
A divination practice using numbered bamboo sticks to seek answers from deitiesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚚馃嚭 Cuba and 2 moreSanter铆aRegla de Ocha
An Afro-Cuban religion blending Yoruba beliefs with Catholicism and SpiritismTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreSpodomancy
Divination by reading omens in ashes, soot, and cindersOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy
Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreCapnomancy
Divination by reading the shapes and movements of smoke from fires or incenseOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Protection Historical
馃嚠馃嚪 Iran and 3 moreIranian folklore賮賵賱讴賱賵乇 丕蹖乇丕賳蹖
The oral legends, heroes, and spirits of Greater IranTradition 路 Protection 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚞馃嚙 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 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Historical
馃嚞馃嚬 Guatemala and 1 moreMaya calendar
A system of timekeeping used by ancient and modern Maya communities to track days, years, and historical cycles.Tradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBloody Mary
A mirror ritual to summon a spirit that reveals the future or brings harmBelief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Living
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 1 moreJiaobei绛婃澂 (ji菐ob膿i)
Wooden crescent blocks thrown in pairs to ask temple deities yes or no questionsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 1 moreOomancy
Divination by eggs, reading shapes and signs to foresee events or diagnose spiritual statesOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesAshtar
A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Seeing and foretelling Living
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 7 moreOgnyena Maria袨谐薪械薪邪 袦邪褉懈褬邪
A Slavic fire goddess linked to lightning, rain, and seasonal fire bansFigure 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesKa-Bala
A 1967 talking board game that claims to tell the future with a spinning marble and tarot cards.Illusion 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies
Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition 路 Protection 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 IndiaSuperstition in India
Common beliefs and rituals across India that influence daily life and major eventsBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreDream questionShe'elat Halom
A Jewish divination practice seeking prophetic answers through dreamsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy
Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Love and attraction Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ognyena Maria: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Oomancy: Rollcloud, CC BY 3.0, source
- Omikuji: C121749n, Public domain, source
- Kau chim: No machine-readable author provided. 9old9 assumed (based on copyright, Public domain, source
- Spodomancy: Tim1965, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jiaobei: Jnzl's Public Domain Photos, CC BY 2.0, source
- Astragalomancy: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Capnomancy: Tigerzeng, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Iranian folklore: Hossein Mirkamali, CC BY 4.0, source
- Maya calendar: MBisanz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ashtar: Evedawn99, Public domain, source
- Superstition in India: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cleromancy: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Public domain, source
- Cowrie: NOAA (Photo Collection of Dr. James P. McVey, NOAA Sea Grant Program), Public domain, source
- Ancient Egyptian religion: Moh hakem, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Saint Andrew's Day: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalb茅ra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Groundhog Day: Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0, source
- Santer铆a: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source