Magic in North America

Hoodoo and conjure, Appalachian folk magic, Indigenous ceremony (some of it closed to outsiders), modern Paganism and the stage magic of Houdini to Las Vegas. 187 entries on EveryJaadu so far.

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

🇺🇸 United StatesCotton Mather A Puritan minister and writer known for his role in the Salem witch trials and promotion of smallpox inoculationFigure Historical 🇬🇧 United KingdomGiles Corey An English-born farmer pressed to death for refusing to plead during the Salem witch trialsFigure Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition · Healing · Protection Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesHodag A fabricated American cryptid from Wisconsin folklore and tall talesFigure · Wonder and entertainment Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreFearsome critters Tall tale animals from North American logging camps used to jest and explain the wild.Figure · Wonder and entertainment · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesLava bear A small bear from Oregon's lava beds once thought to be a unique speciesFigure Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesZelph A figure identified by Joseph Smith as a buried warrior in IllinoisFigure · Power and authority Historical

Photo credits on this page

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

Hodag: Gourami Watcher, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Zelph: HotWheels53, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Lava bear: Guy M. Ingram, Public domain, source
Fearsome critters: Coert Du Bois, Public domain, source
Cotton Mather: Peter Pelham, Public domain, source
Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source

Magic in North America

Places of magic

Rites of the region

Countries

Photo credits on this page

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