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 Candombl茅, 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.
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreSacred dance
Movement used in worship to honour deities, heal communities, or connect with the spirit world.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreLibation
The ritual pouring of liquid as an offering to spirits or the deadRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptAncient Egyptian afterlife beliefs
A system of rituals and texts guiding the soul through the underworld to eternal rebirthTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreAncestor worship
Rites of respect for the dead that maintain family bonds and seek spiritual guidanceTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptOpening of the mouth ceremonywpt-r (Egyptian)
An ancient Egyptian rite to restore a deceased person's senses for the afterlifeRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria and 2 more峄寉a
A Yoruba orisha of storms and the dead, worshipped in Africa and the Americas.Being 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚥馃嚤 MaliDogon religion
The traditional spiritual beliefs of the Dogon people of MaliTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚦馃嚳 New Zealand and 5 moreTapu
A Polynesian concept of sacred restriction and spiritual prohibitionTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚞馃嚬 Guatemala and 3 moreMaya religion
The living spiritual practices of the Maya peoples, shaped by centuries of contact with Catholicism.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanNoro绁濆コ
Ryukyuan village priestesses who tend sacred hearths and utaki shrinesTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Fading
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
馃嚦馃嚨 Nepal and 3 moreGurung ShamanismTamu Cho
The ancient shamanic beliefs and rituals of the Gurung people in NepalTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚟馃嚬 HaitiChristian-Vodou
The blending of Haitian Vodou and Roman Catholicism into a single spiritual practiceTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptMenatmnj.t
A beaded necklace and rattle linked to Hathor for protection and luck in ancient EgyptCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Libation: Arkady Zarubin ( 袗褉泻邪写懈泄 袟邪褉褍斜懈薪 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Opening of the mouth ceremony: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- 峄寉a: Picture taken by Eurico Zimbres, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Dogon religion: Unknown author, CC BY 3.0, source
- Folk Catholicism: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source
- Menat: Anagoria, CC BY 3.0, source
- Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sacred dance: Jorge Barrios, CC BY-SA 3.0, source