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.
🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 moreMaraboutmurābiṭ
A Muslim religious leader and teacher in West Africa, often linked to Sufi brotherhoods.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇳 IndiaKamakhya Templekamakhya mondir
A Hindu temple in Assam known for its yoni shrine and the Ambubachi Mela festivalTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreBhairavaभैरव
A fierce manifestation of Shiva and a Buddhist protector deity worshipped across South and East Asia.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇧🇯 Benin and 5 moreVodun art
Religious sculpture and temple painting from West African Vodun traditionsTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇫🇷 France and 3 moreReliquary
A container for sacred remains or objects, crafted across many faithsCharm · 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 5 moreMandalaमण्डल
A sacred geometric design used in Indian religions for meditation and spiritual mapping.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇯🇵 JapanChinkon kishin鎮魂帰神
A Japanese spiritual practice combining soul calming with spirit possessionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living
🇮🇷 IranFravashi
A personal spirit in Zoroastrian belief that guides the living and protects the dead.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇪🇬 Egypt and 5 moreTariqaطريقة
A Sufi spiritual path and the community that follows itTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇳🇵 Nepal and 3 moreGurung ShamanismTamu Cho
The ancient shamanic beliefs and rituals of the Gurung people in NepalTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇹🇷 Turkey and 3 moreSamaسماع
A Sufi ritual of listening, music, and whirling to reach spiritual ecstasyRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation 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
🇸🇦 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
🇧🇬 Bulgaria and 5 moreApocryphal prayer
A folk prayer text blending church forms with apocrypha and incantations for protection and healingText · Protection · Healing Living
🇩🇿 Algeria and 5 moreZawiyaزاوية
A Sufi building and institution for worship, education, and community life in the Islamic world.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living
🇪🇸 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
🇺🇸 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
🇹🇷 Turkey and 4 moreSufi whirlingSemazen
A spinning meditation practiced by Sufi dervishes to reach spiritual connection through music and movement.Rite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇯🇵 JapanHoshi Matsuri星まつり
A Buddhist ritual to honor stars and pray for protection from disasterRite · Protection · Luck and prosperity 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
🇯🇵 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
🇭🇹 Haiti and 1 moreHaitian Vodou and homosexuality
The place of LGBTQ people in Hait Vodou practice and beliefTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chinkon kishin: Tomokiyo Yoshisane (友清歓真), also known as Tomokiyo Kyūgo (友清九吾), Public domain, source
- Church of Satan: Palnu ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Marabout: Jan Broekhuijse, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kamakhya Temple: JyotiPN, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bhairava: Saankav, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Folk Catholicism: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source
- Vodun art: Fraipont, Gustave (1849-1923), Public domain, source
- Vahana: Unknown Nepali, Public domain, source
- Fravashi: Hooman Mallahzadeh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Reliquary: Attributed to Jean de Toul, also written Jehan de Touyl in one source, CC0, source
- Homa: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mandala: Marion Golsteijn, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Holy Chalice: Vitold Muratov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kṣitigarbha: སངས་རྒྱས་བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།, Public domain, source
- Hoshi Matsuri: Anonymous ( Japan ) Unknown author, CC0, source
- Suzu: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Sama: myself, Public domain, source
- Zawiya: Schneders, CC BY-SA 4.0, source