Priests and ritual specialists
Officiants of a religion who perform rites, blessings and exorcisms within it.
Priests and ritual specialists are the officiants of an organised religion who perform its blessings, protective rites and exorcisms. Many religions keep a place for what looks like magic inside the faith, such as the Hindu pandit's fire offering, the Catholic exorcist, the Tibetan lama's protection rites, the Shinto kannushi's purification, the Jewish ba'al shem and the Muslim imam reciting ruqyah. This page looks at how institutions handle power they regard as legitimate.
Rite and authority
Priestly rites are defined by tradition and lineage. A Hindu priest is born into or trained in a ritual line, a Catholic priest is ordained, a Shinto priest is trained at a recognised school. The authority comes from the institution and not from a personal gift. Priests commonly describe their work as worship and prayer, and not as magic, a distinction scholars say is often contested. The line is not the same everywhere: a rite that one tradition calls a blessing, another may call a spell.
Magic or religion
Scholars once drew a line: religion asks and magic compels. Later writers dropped the line as unworkable, since prayer, sacrifice and compulsion overlap in most traditions. The Catholic Church has a formal rite of exorcism, revised in 1999 and carried out by authorised priests, and a long tradition of blessings. Medieval Christians believed sacramental items such as holy water had power, which Protestants later rejected as superstition. They also keep records, calendars and texts, and in many societies priests were the first literate class.
Gender and exclusion
Priesthood is male in many traditions, including the Catholic and Orthodox churches and most Brahmin ritual. Women lead rites in Shinto, in Vodou and Candomblé, in Korean shaman practice, and in several Buddhist and Protestant settings. Class also shapes access: temple priests may refuse low-caste worshippers, and caste discrimination in temple access has been challenged in Indian courts. Within Christianity, the Catholic Church has had both a line of exorcists and a series of rules against selling blessings for money.
Misuse and reform
Priests have been accused of abuse in the name of deliverance, of exploiting the vulnerable for payment, and of staging miracles. Reform movements, such as the Protestant Reformation and the Arya Samaj in India, attacked priestly ritual. In many countries today, pastors in Pentecostal churches lead deliverance services that some scholars compare with older exorcism, with benefits for some and harm for others. Protestant, Salafi and modernist critics have often opposed ritual specialists as intermediaries who stand between a person and God.
Priests and ritual specialists on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreYantraयन्त्र
A geometric diagram from Indian traditions used for worship and meditationTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMantraमन्त्रम्
A sacred sound or phrase repeated to focus the mind and invoke spiritual powerText · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreSacred dance
Movement used in worship to honour deities, heal communities, or connect with the spirit world.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 IndiaMangalaमंगल (Maṅgala)
A Hindu deity of Mars, war, and the planet's red lightBeing · Power and authority · Protection Living
🇮🇳 IndiaTaraतारा (Sanskrit), তারা (Bengali)
A fierce Hindu goddess of protection and wisdom, central to the Mahavidya tradition.Being · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreAmritaअमृत (Sanskrit)
A Sanskrit concept of immortality and the nectar that grants it across Indian religionsBelief · Healing · Power and authority Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 5 moreOgunÒgún
A West African deity of iron, war and metalworking found in Yoruba and diaspora traditionsBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 2 moreỌya
A Yoruba orisha of storms and the dead, worshipped in Africa and the Americas.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇳🇬 Nigeria and 1 moreObatalaỌbatalá
The Yoruba king of white cloth who is believed to have created humanity and presides over purity.Being · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreShivaशिव
A principal Hindu deity of destruction and yoga, worshipped across South and Southeast AsiaBeing · Power and authority · Change and initiation Living
🇯🇵 JapanShugendō修験道
A Japanese mountain ascetic path blending Esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, and folk ritualsTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreKartikeyaKārttikeya
Hindu god of war and victory, son of Shiva and ParvatiBeing · Power and authority · Protection Living
🇮🇩 IndonesiaNyepiᬜᬾᬧᬶ
A Balinese day of total silence, fasting, and self-reflection to mark the new year.Rite · Cleansing and purification · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreUpanayanaउपनयन
A Hindu rite of passage marking a student's initiation into formal education and spiritual discipline.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇳🇵 NepalTaleju𑐟𑐮𑐾𑐖𑐸 (Newar) / तलेजु (Devanagari)
A royal goddess of the Kathmandu Valley, worshipped as Durga and Tara.Being · Protection · Power and authority Living
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka and 1 moreKataragama templeකතරගම / கதிர்காமம் முருகன் கோயில்
A Sri Lankan shrine shared by Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and VeddasTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreHomaहोम
A fire ritual found across Asian religions where offerings are burned as a votive exchange with the divine.Rite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreMahanam Sampradayaমহানাম সম্প্রদায়
A Bengali Krishnaite monastic order focused on chanting and humanitarian serviceTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority 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
🇳🇬 NigeriaIroke Ifáìrọ́kẹ́ Ifá
A carved staff used by Yoruba diviners to mark time and invoke spirits during ritual sessionsCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tara: Chore Bagan Art Studio, Public domain, source
- Mantra: Markrosenrosen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mahanam Sampradaya: Neehar Haldar, CC0, source
- Amrita: http://picasaweb.google.com/injamaven, CC BY 3.0, source
- Ogun: Chado07, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ọya: Picture taken by Eurico Zimbres, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Obatala: Isha, CC BY 3.0, source
- Shiva: Indianhilbilly, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Shugendō: 唐山健志郎 (Kenshiro Karayama), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kartikeya: Dassmahen, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nyepi: Matt Croxson, Public domain, source
- Upanayana: vinodbahal, CC BY 2.0, source
- Taleju: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kataragama temple: Ghostface Buddha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Vahana: Unknown Nepali, Public domain, source
- Iroke Ifá: OmoAyan, CC BY 4.0, source
- Homa: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, source
- Sacred dance: Jorge Barrios, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mangala: E. A. Rodrigues, Public domain, source
- Yantra: Photo by Daniel Conrad (Chromacon), artwork by Daniel Conrad under dir, Public domain, source