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Stage magicFox Nation Docuseries Uses AI-Generated Imagery to Reanimate Harry HoudiniFestivalsNovember 1, 2026 – FFRF Co-Sponsors Secular Day of the Dead Celebration (virtual)Stage magicHarry Houdini Returns 100 Years Later as an AI Recreation in Fox Nation's New SeriesStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathLiving traditionsMexican principal questions progressive and shamanic content in public school materialsStage magicMaster illusionist Leon Etienne is bringing his Magic Rocks! show to The Grand at UW-OshkoshFestivalsElgin's Day of the Dead walk is more than just a 5KMuseumsHans Baldung GrienStage magicFox Nation Docuseries Uses AI-Generated Imagery to Reanimate Harry HoudiniFestivalsNovember 1, 2026 – FFRF Co-Sponsors Secular Day of the Dead Celebration (virtual)Stage magicHarry Houdini Returns 100 Years Later as an AI Recreation in Fox Nation's New SeriesStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathStage magicFox Nation to Debut AI-Generated ‘Houdini’ Series Tied to 100th Anniversary of Harry Houdini’s DeathLiving traditionsMexican principal questions progressive and shamanic content in public school materialsStage magicMaster illusionist Leon Etienne is bringing his Magic Rocks! show to The Grand at UW-OshkoshFestivalsElgin's Day of the Dead walk is more than just a 5KMuseumsHans Baldung Grien
EveryJaadu

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.

RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
KindTraditionRiteCharmOracleSubstanceBeingFigureTextIllusionBelief
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
StandingLivingRevivedFadingHistoricalLegendaryPerformed
OrderBest knownA to ZNewestLiving first
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreShakta pithasशाक्त पीठ (Śākta Pīṭha) Sacred shrines in Shaktism marking where parts of the goddess Sati fell to earth.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇬🇹 GuatemalaMaximónRi Laj Mam A Maya folk saint and trickster deity venerated in the Guatemalan HighlandsBeing · Protection · Healing Living 🇺🇸 United StatesHopi mythology The creation stories and spirit traditions of the Hopi people of the American SouthwestTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living 🇬🇷 GreeceAncient Greek folklore The oral stories, music and rituals of the ancient GreeksTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇳 India and 2 moreSuryaसूर्य The sun as a Hindu deity and the source of light and knowledgeBeing · Power and authority · Healing Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreBulla A round Roman amulet given to freeborn boys as a mark of status and protectionCharm · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesFeri Tradition An American ecstatic witchcraft tradition founded on the West Coast in the mid-twentieth century.Tradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living 🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstrology A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity 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 🇧🇴 Bolivia and 1 moreAnchanchu A shapeshifting vampire of the Andes that drains blood and demands offerings from miners.Being · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Legendary 🇹🇷 Turkey and 2 moreHadraحضرة A collective Sufi ritual of remembrance and chanting to experience Divine PresenceRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreWorship of heavenly bodies Veneration of stars, planets, and the sky as divine forces or deitiesTradition · Protection · Power and authority Historical 🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreHoly ChaliceSanto Cáliz A cup believed to have held the blood of Jesus at the Last SupperCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreBay'ahبيعة An oath of loyalty and obedience given to a political or spiritual leader in Islamic traditionRite · Binding and oaths · Power and authority Living 🇮🇳 IndiaShamanism in Ayyavazhi A divination practice within the Hindu denomination of Ayyavazhi in South India.Rite · Seeing and foretelling · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇮🇩 IndonesiaMarapu Ancestral religion of Sumba and Flores in IndonesiaTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDianism A 19th-century American practice of sexual contact without ejaculationTradition · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaChillaچله A forty-day solitary retreat of fasting and meditation in Sufi traditionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreKṣitigarbhaक्षितिगर्भ A bodhisattva vowed to empty the hells and guard children, shown with a staff and jewel.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreChurch of Satan An atheistic religious body founded in 1966 that practices ritual magicTradition · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living 🇯🇵 JapanMagatama勾玉 A curved Japanese bead used as jewelry, status symbol, and sacred object in Shinto.Charm · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇺🇸 United StatesLaw of attraction A New Thought belief that focused thoughts draw matching experiences into lifeBelief · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living 🇮🇳 India and 1 moreVarahiवाराही (Vārāhī) A Hindu mother goddess with a sow face, worshipped in Tantric rites for protection and powerBeing · Protection · Power and authority Living 🇮🇶 Iraq and 3 moreUmayyad tradition of cursing Ali A state policy to denounce Ali during communal prayers under the Umayyad CaliphateRite · Cursing and harm · Binding and oaths Historical 🇮🇳 IndiaTawajjuh A Sufi practice of transmitting spiritual energy from a master to a studentTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇺🇸 United States and 3 more11:11 A clock time believed to signal spiritual alignment or synchronicity in numerology and New Age thoughtBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Living 🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreImitation of sounds in shamanism Shamanic vocal and musical mimicry of nature to invoke spirits or transform identityRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇮🇱 Israel and 1 moreAna BeKoachאנא בכח A medieval Jewish liturgical poem linked to the 42-letter name of GodText · Power and authority · Protection Living 🇨🇦 CanadaMistapewmistâpêw (ᒥᐢᑖᐤ) A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being · Protection · Healing Living 🇯🇵 JapanSuzu鈴 A hollow Japanese bell with inner pellets, used in Shinto rites and shrines.Charm · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living 🇫🇷 FrancePetit AlbertSecrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit Albert An 18th-century French grimoire of natural and cabalistic magic sold to rural householdsText · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇮🇱 IsraelShekhinahשְׁכִינָה The divine presence of God dwelling among people in Jewish and Islamic thoughtBelief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living 🇮🇳 India and 3 moreAstral projection An intentional out-of-body experience where consciousness travels through the astral planeTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living 🇹🇷 TurkeyHittite sun disk An ancient Anatolian bronze symbol used in Hattian and Hittite religious ceremoniesCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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