Magic in Europe
Cunning folk and grimoires, alchemy, runes and seidr, the fairy faith, the witch trials, and the folk calendar of fire and fertility. 817 entries on EveryJaadu so far.
Places of magic
London 18Paris 18Delphi 13Athens 12Cairo 5Dodona 5Edinburgh 4Kraków 4Olympia 4Praeneste 4Prague 4Amsterdam 3Bamberg 3Capitoline Hill 3Cumae 3Dartmoor 3Egyptian Hall 3Eleusis 3Logroño 3Lyon 3New York 3Quebec 3Santiago de Compostela 3Trier 3Val Camonica 3Veii 3Vilnius 3Würzburg 3York 3Zugarramurdi 3
Rites of the region
Midsummer and St John's Eve herbs and firesWalpurgis Night and May Day firesSamhain and Halloween divination gamesFirst-footing at HogmanayWitch bottleKnocking on wood and horseshoe customsThe Sator squareIcelandic galdrastafirMalocchio removal with oil and waterMatiasma and ftou ftou
Countries
🇦🇱 Albania 29🇦🇩 Andorra 1🇦🇹 Austria 33🇧🇾 Belarus 21🇧🇪 Belgium 11🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4🇧🇬 Bulgaria 37🇭🇷 Croatia 16🇨🇿 Czech Republic 14🇪🇪 Estonia 28🇫🇮 Finland 38🇫🇷 France 157🇩🇪 Germany 135🇬🇷 Greece 134🇭🇺 Hungary 14🇮🇸 Iceland 47🇮🇪 Ireland 104🇮🇹 Italy 136🇽🇰 Kosovo 4🇱🇻 Latvia 10🇱🇹 Lithuania 20🇱🇺 Luxembourg 2🇲🇹 Malta 2🇲🇩 Moldova 4🇲🇪 Montenegro 4🇳🇱 Netherlands 32🇲🇰 North Macedonia 6🇳🇴 Norway 44🇵🇱 Poland 43🇵🇹 Portugal 16🇷🇴 Romania 42🇷🇺 Russia 115🇷🇸 Serbia 36🇸🇰 Slovakia 4🇸🇮 Slovenia 7🇪🇸 Spain 75🇸🇪 Sweden 85🇨🇭 Switzerland 30🇺🇦 Ukraine 25🇬🇧 United Kingdom 230🇻🇦 Vatican City 1
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreSlavic religion
The pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavic peoples before their conversion to Christianity.Tradition · Protection · Healing Revived
🇮🇹 ItalyFortunaFortūna
The Roman goddess of luck and fate, shown with a wheel and a horn of plentyBeing · Luck and prosperity · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreLeshyлеший
A forest spirit from Slavic folklore who guards the woods and misleads travelers.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreFairy
A European spirit with magical powers and human form found in folklore and artBeing · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreHecateἙκάτη
A Greek goddess of magic, crossroads, and the moon, often shown in three forms.Being · Protection · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreWinter solstice
The shortest day and longest night of the year, marked by rites of solar returnTradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreDruidry
A modern nature religion inspired by ancient Celtic priests and Romantic idealsTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇸 IcelandGaldergaldr
A Germanic incantation and the written charms derived from itText · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 ItalySibylline BooksLibri Sibyllini
Ancient Roman oracular texts consulted during state crises and disastersText · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandMagic circle
A ritual boundary drawn or visualised to create sacred space and protectionTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreMagic in the Greco-Roman world
Private supernatural practices in ancient Greece and Rome, distinct from public state religion.Tradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreAnimal sacrifice
The ritual killing of livestock or wild animals as an offering to deitiesRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 2 moreDísdísir
Female spirits of fate and protection in Norse traditionBeing · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceDeipnonδεῖπνον
An ancient Athenian lunar offering to Hekate and the restless dead at the month's end.Rite · Protection · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇹 ItalyLectisternium
An ancient Roman ritual where couches were draped and meals served to gods.Rite · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyJupiterIuppiter
The Roman sky father and king of the gods, associated with thunder and oathsBeing · Power and authority · Protection Historical
🇫🇷 France and 5 moreYule log
A large wooden log burned in the hearth during winter festivals across Europe and North America.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreCorn dolly
A woven straw figure made from the last sheaf of a European harvest to house the crop spirit.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Revived
🇸🇪 Sweden and 5 moreMidsummerJāņi; Joninės; Jaanipäev; Enyovden; Litha; Juhannus
A summer solstice festival marked by bonfires, maypole dancing, and feasting across Europe.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain
A Gaelic festival marking the end of harvest and the start of winter, observed on November 1st.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreEuropean witchcraft
Historical beliefs in harmful magic and the resulting trials across EuropeBelief · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇮🇹 ItalySanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia
A vast Roman sanctuary complex in Palestrina that housed an oracle and a temple to the goddess of fate.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Protection Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreHercules' ClubHerkuleskeule
A club-shaped amulet worn in the Roman Empire and by Germanic peoples as a protective charm.Charm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNeopagan witchcraft
Modern pagan traditions that practice magic and draw on historical witch beliefs.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇸🇪 SwedenKvinneby amulet
An 11th-century Swedish copper plate with a long runic inscription seeking protectionCharm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreMagic in Anglo-Saxon Englandgaldorcræft
Healing charms and protective rituals practiced by early English tribesTradition · Healing · Protection Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreOomancy
Divination by eggs, reading shapes and signs to foresee events or diagnose spiritual statesOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Healing Living
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreKollyra curse tablet
An ancient Greek tablet cursing a thief to suffocation until stolen goods are returned.Text · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 morePalladiumΠαλλάδιον (Palladion)
A wooden statue of Athena said to protect cities, stolen from Troy and brought to Rome.Charm · Protection Historical
🇯🇵 Japan and 4 moreHousehold deity
A spirit or minor god believed to guard a home and its family members.Being · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreRinging Cedars' Anastasianismдвижение «Анастасия»
A Russian new religious movement based on books about a Siberian mystic and nature worshipTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreSupernatural beings in Slavic religion
Mythic entities of nature, death, and fate in Slavic folklore and belief.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇸🇪 Sweden and 1 moreTroll crosstrollkors
A carved or bent iron sigil used in Sweden and Norway to ward off harmful magic and creatures.Charm · Protection Revived
🇳🇴 NorwayGrógaldr
An Old Norse poem about raising a dead seeress to ask for helpText · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceMeilichiosΜειλίχιος
An ancient Greek chthonic spirit linked to Zeus and appeased through fire offerings.Being · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyŚuri𐌑𐌖𐌛 (Etruscan)
An ancient Etruscan deity of volcanic fire, the underworld, and healingBeing · Protection · Healing Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Yule log: Pehr Arvid Säve (1811—1887), Public domain, source
- Fortuna: Charles Samuel, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Supernatural beings in Slavic religion: Bartolomeo Giuliano, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bald's Leechbook: Unknown, the Internet Archive scan is low quality, and some of the tex, Public domain, source
- Śuri: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
- Grógaldr: W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932), Public domain, source
- Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia: MM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Oomancy: Rollcloud, CC BY 3.0, source
- European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Corn dolly: Renata ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Kvinneby amulet: Ulrik Skans SHMM, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Midsummer: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
- Leshy: Γραφέας, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Hercules' Club: Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hecate: Henryk Siemiradzki, Public domain, source
- Winter solstice: Image by Przemyslaw " Blueshade " Idzkiewicz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Druidry: TheJaySpearing, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Galder: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Palladium: Marie-Lan Nguyen ( Jastrow ), Public domain, source
- Sibylline Books: kladcat, CC BY 2.0, source
- Meilichios: Mark Landon, CC BY 4.0, source
- Magic circle: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism: Лобачев Владимир, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Troll cross: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Household deity: Claus Ableiter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Magic in the Greco-Roman world: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Animal sacrifice: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Dís: Emil Doepler, Public domain, source
- Lectisternium: Classical Numismatic Group (CNG), Inc., www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Jupiter: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Slavic religion: Alphonse Mucha, Public domain, source