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 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that reads human fate through the positions of celestial bodies.Belief 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚠馃嚩 IraqBabylonian astrology
The first organized system of celestial divination in the ancient Near EastTradition 路 Protection 路 Seeing and foretelling Historical
馃嚫馃嚘 Saudi Arabia and 1 moreDhikr匕賽賰賿乇
Islamic remembrance of God through repeated recitation and prayerRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚩 Iraq and 3 moreAncient Mesopotamian religion
The polytheistic beliefs and practices of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia from 6000 BC to 500 ADTradition 路 Power and authority 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 3 moreAstrology
A divinatory practice that links celestial positions to human affairs and earthly eventsTradition 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚠馃嚤 Israel and 1 moreAna BeKoach讗谞讗 讘讻讞
A medieval Jewish liturgical poem linked to the 42-letter name of GodText 路 Power and authority 路 Protection Living
馃嚬馃嚪 Turkey and 2 moreHadra丨囟乇丞
A collective Sufi ritual of remembrance and chanting to experience Divine PresenceRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚤 IsraelShekhinah砖职讈讻执讬谞指讛
The divine presence of God dwelling among people in Jewish and Islamic thoughtBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreMawlid賲賵賱丿
An annual festival commemorating the birth of the Prophet MuhammadTradition 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚫馃嚘 Saudi Arabia and 2 moreBay'ah亘賷毓丞
An oath of loyalty and obedience given to a political or spiritual leader in Islamic traditionRite 路 Binding and oaths 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚠馃嚩 Iraq and 3 moreUmayyad tradition of cursing Ali
A state policy to denounce Ali during communal prayers under the Umayyad CaliphateRite 路 Cursing and harm 路 Binding and oaths 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
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rabisu: editor Austen Henry Layard , drawing by L. Gruner, Public domain, source
- Astrology: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Umayyad tradition of cursing Ali: Anwar Rizvi, CC BY 2.0, source
- Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Worship of heavenly bodies: Jean-Pierre Dalb茅ra, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ana BeKoach: Baruch Zvi Ring (c. 1872 - 1927) Details on Google Art Project, Public domain, source
- Dhikr: Eug猫ne Baugnies, Public domain, source
- Hadra: Zeinebtakouti, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mawlid: Firdaus Latif, CC BY-SA 2.0, source