Folk healers
Curanderos, sangomas, hakims and the village healer, who mix remedy and ritual.
Folk healers are the people communities turn to when someone is ill: the curandero and curandera of Mexico and the Andes, the sangoma and inyanga of southern Africa, the hakim of the Islamic world, the vaidya of India, the bone-setter, the village midwife and the Siberian shaman. They combine remedies, ritual and counsel. This page describes them as tradition, not as medical advice, and illness needs real medical care. They are found in every society and are usually the nearest source of help.
What healers do
A healer listens to a person's story, names the trouble, and prescribes a course that may involve plants, diet, prayer, cleansing, a gathering of kin, or a sacrifice. The framing often covers the family and the spirit as well as the body. Healers are frequently the first and sometimes the only help available in places far from clinics. Treatments often involve plants, massage, steam, prayer, fasting and dietary rules, and the healer's own reputation counts for a great deal.
Who becomes one
Some healers inherit the role, some are called by ancestors, and some train as apprentices. Women are prominent as midwives, herbalists and spirit healers, though status and income often go to male specialists and licensed practitioners. In Latin America, curanderos draw on Catholic saints, Indigenous plant knowledge and Spanish folk medicine. In Ethiopia, the debtera works with scrolls and church learning. Some healers are called through illness themselves, which is described as a mark that they can heal others.
States and doctors
Law treats healers in different ways. India's AYUSH ministry supports Ayurveda, Unani and others. South Africa passed a Traditional Health Practitioners Act in 2007. Elsewhere, healers face police action under witchcraft or quackery laws, and in colonial times many were banned outright. Doctors sometimes work with healers, for instance in HIV outreach in Africa. Healers in some regions are also asked to settle family quarrels, since illness is held to follow from tension in the household.
Harm and caution
Harm can come from delay, from unsafe substances, from sexual or financial abuse of patients, and from fraud. Exorcism of mental illness has led to deaths. Anthropologists add that healing rites can bring comfort and social support that clinics sometimes lack. Anyone with a serious symptom should see a qualified clinician, whatever other help they seek. In places where clinics are far away, a healer may deliver babies, set bones and treat fever, and the quality of that care varies widely.
Folk healers on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known 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
🇺🇸 United StatesRing shout
A sacred circle dance of African American origin using rhythmic movement and call-and-response singingRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreRainmaking rites
Ceremonies performed to call rain through prayer, dance, or symbolic actsRite · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇺🇸 United StatesDeliverance ministry
A Christian practice to remove evil spirits believed to cause personal afflictionRite · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Living
🇰🇷 South Korea and 1 moreKorean shamanismKorean shamanism (Korean: Korean shamanism)
A traditional practice of ritual specialists who mediate between the human and spirit worlds.Tradition · Healing · Protection Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreZārزار
A spirit possession tradition and healing ritual in the Horn of Africa and Middle EastTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇿🇦 South Africa and 5 moreTraditional healers of Southern Africa
Practitioners who blend herbal medicine with ancestral divination in Southern AfricaTradition · Healing · Protection Living
🇿🇦 South AfricaUkuthwasa
A spiritual calling and initiation process for traditional healers in Southern Africa.Rite · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandMagic circle
A ritual boundary drawn or visualised to create sacred space and protectionTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreSandpainting
A ritual art of pouring colored sand to create temporary images for healing or spiritual teachingTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreLaying on of handsסמיכה
A physical gesture used across religions to convey authority, healing, or spiritual presence.Rite · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and 1 moreDhikrذِكْر
Islamic remembrance of God through repeated recitation and prayerRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 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
🇨🇱 Chile and 1 moreMachi
Mapuche spiritual authorities and healers who bridge herbal knowledge and spirit realmsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇺🇸 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah
A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreKuji-in九字印
A system of nine syllables and hand gestures used for protection and spiritual alignment in Japanese esoteric traditionsRite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇲🇳 Mongolia and 2 moreMongolian shamanismBöö mörgöl
The animistic and shamanic ethnic religion of the Mongol peoples, centered on sky worship and ancestral spirits.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreBoriBòòríí
A traditional Hausa spirit possession system and healing practice in West AfricaTradition · Healing · Luck and prosperity Living
🇹🇳 TunisiaStambeli
A Tunisian music and possession rite practiced by Black communities of slave descentTradition · Healing · Protection Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft
Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Magic in Anglo-Saxon England: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
- Curse: Katsushika Hokusai, Public domain, source
- Korean shamanism: Hyewon Shin Yun-bok (申潤福: 1758-early 19th century) (혜원 신윤복 (申潤福: 1758-, Public domain, source
- Zār: Emad Nemati, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Traditional healers of Southern Africa: Wizzy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ukuthwasa: Mycelium101, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magic circle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Sandpainting: Mnolf, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Laying on of hands: User:Lipsio, CC BY 3.0, source
- Dhikr: Eugène Baugnies, Public domain, source
- Stambeli: Youssefbensaad, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fortune-telling: Taras Shevchenko, Public domain, source
- Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Mongolian shamanism: Enrique Bendicho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bori: Tremearne, A. J. N. (Arthur John Newman), 1877-1915, Public domain, source
- Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ring shout: Attributed to John Rose, Public domain, source