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. 819 entries on EveryJaadu so far.

Places of magic

Rites of the region

Midsummer and St John's Eve herbs and fires Walpurgis Night and May Day fires Samhain and Halloween divination games First-footing at Hogmanay Witch bottle Knocking on wood and horseshoe customs The Sator square Icelandic galdrastafir Malocchio removal with oil and water Matiasma and ftou ftou

Countries

KindTradition Rite Charm Oracle Substance Being Figure Text Illusion Belief

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic Magic used for evil or selfish purposes, and the beliefs surrounding itBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreMedical astrology An ancient practice linking planetary movements to the human body and diseaseTradition · Healing Historical

🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 morePig-faced women A European legend of a woman with the face of a pig, and the charms used to break her curseFigure · Change and initiation Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomBrown Lady of Raynham Hall A famous English ghost story and photograph from a Norfolk country houseBeing Historical 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandPsychological astrology A system that maps horoscopes to psychological theories and archetypesTradition · Change and initiation Living 🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreSeventh son of a seventh son A folklore belief that birth order grants supernatural healing or cursed powersBelief · Healing · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇬 Egypt and 4 moreThelema A Western esoteric philosophy centered on discovering and following one's True WillTradition · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living 🇮🇹 ItalySola Busca tarot The oldest complete 78-card tarot deck with unique illustrations and Roman numerals.Text · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇫🇷 FranceLouviers possessions A seventeenth-century French convent case of mass demonic possession and witchcraft accusationsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreLocational astrology A branch of astrology that maps planetary influences to specific places on Earth.Tradition · Power and authority Living

🇫🇷 FranceChamalières tabletPlomb de Chamalières A Gaulish lead tablet from a French spa, read as either a curse or a healing prayer.Text · Cursing and harm · Healing Historical

🇮🇹 ItalyArcheosofica A school of esoteric Christianity founded in Rome that teaches ascetic disciplines and magical theory.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living

🇬🇷 GreeceGreek divination Ancient methods of consulting deities for prophecy and omens in Greek cultureOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandEarly Irish astrology The study of celestial cycles in early Ireland, blending native observation with Christian and continental learning.Tradition · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreUnclean forceнечисть A Slavic term for evil spirits and the undead that inhabit the natural worldBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇮🇹 ItalyIatromathematics A seventeenth-century Italian school that applied mechanics and astrology to medicineTradition · Healing Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 5 moreAxe of Perun Bronze axe-shaped pendants worn in honor of the Slavic god PerunCharm · Power and authority Historical 🇮🇪 IrelandLorica A Hiberno-Scottish monastic prayer for protection against evilText · Protection Historical

🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNeopagan witchcraft Modern pagan traditions that practice magic and draw on historical witch beliefs.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living 🇬🇧 United KingdomWirry-cow A Scottish folk figure representing a frightening object or spiritBeing · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreStrichaСтріча A Slavic goddess who spins the golden thread of human destiny and good fortuneBeing · Luck and prosperity · Protection Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomMadam Pigott A White Lady ghost of Shropshire who haunts roads and rides on horsesBeing Historical

🇸🇪 SwedenKvinneby amulet An 11th-century Swedish copper plate with a long runic inscription seeking protectionCharm · Protection Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreShamanism in Europe Scholarly theories on shamanic elements in European folk beliefs and witch trialsTradition · Protection · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇭 Switzerland and 4 moreBelgian Tarot A standard tarot deck printed in the Low Countries, mislabeled as Swiss.Tradition · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇦 UkraineGhost of KyivПривид Києва A wartime legend of a mythical fighter pilot who rallied Ukrainian morale.Figure · Power and authority 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

🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreTutelary deity A guardian spirit or god assigned to protect a specific place, person, or group.Being · Protection Living 🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreKalevaKalev A primordial giant and ancestral figure in the mythologies of Estonia and FinlandBeing · Power and authority Historical

🇨🇭 Switzerland and 2 moreOrder of the Solar TempleOrdre du Temple solaire A neo-Templar new religious movement responsible for mass deaths in the 1990s.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical

🇷🇺 Russia and 3 moreChortчёрт A Slavic demon spirit with horns and hooves, known in folklore as a trickster or minor evil force.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇷🇸 Serbia and 5 moreWolves in folklore, religion and mythology A global survey of how cultures view the wolf as symbol, spirit or threatBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreDietrich von Bern A legendary Germanic hero based on the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the GreatFigure · Power and authority 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

🇷🇴 Romania and 2 moreStrixστρίξ A classical bird of ill omen that evolved into a term for witches and vampires across Europe.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇬🇧 United KingdomEnfield poltergeist A disputed 1970s case of alleged supernatural activity in a London homeBelief Historical

🇫🇷 FranceTitivillus A medieval demon who collects scribal errors and liturgical mistakes in a sack.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

🇯🇵 JapanAllocer A duke of demons in grimoires who teaches sciences and commands legionsBeing · Power and authority Historical

🇱🇹 Lithuania and 2 moreLaumaLaumė A Baltic fairy-like spirit of the sky, weather, and newborn children.Being · Protection · Healing Historical

🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreFairy Queen A female ruler of fairies found in folklore, literature, and witchcraft trials across Europe.Figure · Power and authority Historical

🇬🇷 GreeceGelloΓελλώ A Greek demon of infancy and a class of beings blamed for infant death.Being · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical

🇫🇷 FranceDictionnaire Infernal A French demonology book cataloguing spirits and their hierarchies with engravings.Text · Power and authority Historical

🇷🇺 RussiaTriple-headed eagle A heraldic and mythological bird with three heads, appearing in Russian symbolism and European manuscripts.Being · Power and authority Historical 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreThirteen Treasures of the Island of BritainTri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain A collection of magical objects from late-medieval Welsh legendText · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreCola Pesce An Italian merman legend about a boy cursed by his mother to live in the seaFigure · Cursing and harm · Seeing and foretelling Historical

🇪🇸 SpainAnjanaanˈhana / an.xa.nɜ Cantabrian fairies who protect forests and bring gifts to children.Being · Protection · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇷🇺 RussiaHabernitsa A noon demon of Slavic fields who punishes workers and causes pain.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreWiedergänger A German term for a revenant or ghost that returns to the world of the living.Being · Cursing and harm Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Pig-faced women: DubhEire, CC0, source
Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
Greek divination: Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Sex magic: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Order of the Solar Temple: George Stock derivative work: thumperward ( talk ), Public domain, source
Brown Lady of Raynham Hall: Hubert C. Provand e Indre Shira, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Xana: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
European witchcraft: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
Kvinneby amulet: Ulrik Skans SHMM, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Archeosofica: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Chamalières tablet: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Unclean force: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Brownie: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
Belgian Tarot: PATLECOQ, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Dietrich von Bern: Workshop of Diebolt Lauber, Hagenau 1444-1448, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology: Unknown author, CC0, source
Strix: Prosthetic Head, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Enfield poltergeist: Mx. Granger, CC0, source
Titivillus: Andrewrabbott, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Allocer: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
Gello: Filippino Lippi, Public domain, source
Dictionnaire Infernal: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
Wiedergänger: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Palladium: Marie-Lan Nguyen ( Jastrow ), Public domain, source
Chort: Unknown author, Public domain, source
Lauma: Raki_Man, CC BY 3.0, source
Household deity: Claus Ableiter, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Axe of Perun: VoivodeZmey, Public domain, source
Ghost of Kyiv: Андрій Данкович / Andriy Dankovych, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Triple-headed eagle: Неизвестный автор. (фото обложки сборника: Александр Храмов), Public domain, source
Medical astrology: Unknown author, Public domain, source