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. 830 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 3Milan 3New York 3Quebec 3Santiago de Compostela 3Trier 3Val Camonica 3Veii 3Vilnius 3Würzburg 3York 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 30🇦🇩 Andorra 1🇦🇹 Austria 34🇧🇾 Belarus 21🇧🇪 Belgium 11🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 4🇧🇬 Bulgaria 37🇭🇷 Croatia 16🇨🇿 Czech Republic 14🇪🇪 Estonia 28🇫🇮 Finland 38🇫🇷 France 157🇩🇪 Germany 137🇬🇷 Greece 135🇭🇺 Hungary 13🇮🇸 Iceland 47🇮🇪 Ireland 105🇮🇹 Italy 138🇽🇰 Kosovo 5🇱🇻 Latvia 10🇱🇹 Lithuania 20🇱🇺 Luxembourg 2🇲🇹 Malta 2🇲🇩 Moldova 4🇲🇪 Montenegro 4🇳🇱 Netherlands 32🇲🇰 North Macedonia 6🇳🇴 Norway 44🇵🇱 Poland 45🇵🇹 Portugal 17🇷🇴 Romania 42🇷🇺 Russia 117🇷🇸 Serbia 37🇸🇰 Slovakia 4🇸🇮 Slovenia 7🇪🇸 Spain 75🇸🇪 Sweden 85🇨🇭 Switzerland 30🇺🇦 Ukraine 25🇬🇧 United Kingdom 231🇻🇦 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
🇵🇱 PolandBoginka
Female spirits of wild nature in Polish pagan mythologyBeing · Cursing and harm 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
🇷🇺 RussiaTriple-headed eagle
A heraldic and mythological bird with three heads, appearing in Russian symbolism and European manuscripts.Being · Power and authority 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
🇵🇱 PolandTopielec
A Slavic water spirit of the drowned dead that pulls victims into lakes.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
🇷🇺 RussiaHabernitsa
A noon demon of Slavic fields who punishes workers and causes pain.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreBevis of HamptonПовесть о Бове-королевиче
A medieval chivalric romance about a hero's exile and return across Europe and the Near EastText · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyScrofa semilanuta
A legendary sow seen in a dream that became the ancient emblem of Milan.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇫🇷 FranceYan-gant-y-tan
A Breton demon who carries five candles and is said to bring bad luck.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreDusios
A Gaulish spirit type later classified as an incubus demon by early Christian writersBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreNight ravennattravn
A nocturnal creature of European folklore, feared as a child-stealer or seen as a ghost in bird form.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomTrow
Nocturnal spirits of the Orkney and Shetland islands, known for mischief and musical abduction.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇫🇷 FranceMargot the fairy
Earthly fairies of Brittany known for dancing, building monuments, and testing human guests.Being · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical
🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreSárkány
A winged reptilian beast from Hungarian folklore, linked to weather and literary heroes.Being · Cursing and harm · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomPearlin Jean
A Scottish ghost said to haunt the ruins of Allanbank estate in BerwickshireBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇳🇴 NorwayDeildegast
A Norwegian ghost bound to boundary stones it moved in lifeBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 SwedenÅrsgång
An archaic Swedish divination ritual performed on Christmas Eve to glimpse the coming year.Rite · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyAlgiz
A runic letter representing a terminal sound and later symbols of life and deathText Historical
🇦🇺 Australia and 1 moreVoldemort effect
A social pattern where naming a fear or problem makes it seem more powerfulBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyUR Group
An Italian esoteric circle studying magic and traditional philosophy in the late 1920s.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 moreOsirian Egyptian OrderOrdine Osirideo Egizio
An Italian esoteric society tracing its roots to 18th-century Naples and ancient Hermetic traditions.Tradition · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomLantern man
A ghost light of the English fens said to lure victims into the marshesBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreFavomancy
Divination by throwing beans and reading the patterns they form on the groundOracle · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomBarddas
A 19th-century book presenting Welsh bardic and druidic theology as ancient traditionText · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomThe Book of Thoth
A guide to a tarot deck designed by an occultist and his collaboratorText · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreCruentation
A medieval judicial test where a suspect touched a victim's body to see if it bled.Rite · Cursing and harm Historical
🇪🇬 EgyptEnochian chess
A four-player chess variant used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn for divination and playTradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇷 Iran and 5 moreAxis mundi
A concept describing a central point connecting the earthly and heavenly realms.Belief · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇸 Spain and 3 moreJewish heraldry
Heraldic achievements used by Jewish communities in Europe and abroadTradition · Power and authority Historical
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreOuroborosοὐροβόρος
An ancient image of a serpent eating its own tail, symbolizing cycles and wholenessFigure · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇳🇴 NorwayGrógaldr
An Old Norse poem about raising a dead seeress to ask for helpText · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreGiants (esotericism)
Spiritual beings linked to lost continents and root races in occult literatureBeing · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyŚuri𐌑𐌖𐌛 (Etruscan)
An ancient Etruscan deity of volcanic fire, the underworld, and healingBeing · Protection · Healing Historical
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreBožićБожић
A Slavic figure linked to the new year and spring, whose name now marks ChristmasFigure · Luck and prosperity · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomNine sorceressesnaw chwaer
A group of nine magical women in Welsh and Arthurian legendFigure · Cursing and harm · Protection Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomCurse of Scotland
A nickname for a playing card linked to bad luck and Scottish historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 1 moreNekyiaνέκυια
An ancient Greek rite for summoning and questioning the deadRite · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇵🇹 Portugal and 1 moreCurse of BraganzaMaldição dos Braganças
A historical myth about premature deaths in the Portuguese and Brazilian royal housesBelief Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreGold of Tolosa
A legendary treasure hoard seized by Rome and lost to historyBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceDaimonδαίμων
A Greek spirit or divine force that mediates between gods and humansBeing · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreGrim Reaper
A hooded skeleton with a scythe, representing death in Western art and story.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇴 RomaniaTanacu exorcism
A 2005 Romanian Orthodox ritual that ended in a nun's death and a murder convictionRite · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 FranceLoudun possessionsaffaire des possédées de Loudun
A 17th-century witchcraft trial in France involving alleged demonic possession by Ursuline nuns.Belief · Cursing and harm · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyAlchemical DoorPorta Alchemica
A Roman gate covered in alchemical symbols and legends of transmutationCharm · Power and authority · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyMagic Circle of the German Democratic RepublicMagischer Zirkel der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik
A national association for stage magicians in East Germany from 1956 to 1990.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomBook of Magical Charms
A seventeenth-century English manuscript of spells and medical remedies held in Chicago.Text · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Book of Magical Charms: Robert Ashley, died 1641, Public domain, source
- Śuri: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
- Grógaldr: W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932), Public domain, source
- Jewish heraldry: Consulta Araldica, 1868, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cruentation: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Xana: John William Waterhouse, Public domain, source
- Changeling: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Boginka: Walery Eljasz Radzikowski, Public domain, source
- Bevis of Hampton: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Wiedergänger: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Yan-gant-y-tan: Louis Le Breton, Public domain, source
- Night raven: Kim Diaz Holm (den unge herr Holm), CC BY 4.0, source
- Dusios: Eric Hunt, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Sárkány: Albrecht Dürer, Public domain, source
- UR Group: Gruppo di Ur, Public domain, source
- Giants (esotericism): Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Curse of Scotland: James Gillray (died 1815), Public domain, source
- Curse of Braganza: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Gold of Tolosa: AchilleT, Public domain, source
- Daimon: François-André Vincent, Public domain, source
- Grim Reaper: Jaroslav A. Polák, CC BY 4.0, source
- Loudun possessions: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Alchemical Door: Sailko, CC BY 2.5, source
- Axis mundi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Algiz: Arolsen Archives, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Voldemort effect: Shayan Barjesteh van Waalwijk van Doorn, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ouroboros: Djehouty, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Nekyia: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Triple-headed eagle: Неизвестный автор. (фото обложки сборника: Александр Храмов), Public domain, source