Fading practices
Known and still practised, but with fewer practitioners each generation.
- Living
- Revived
- Fading
- Historical
- Legendary
- Performed
RegionSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCentral Asia and the CaucasusMiddle EastNorth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaEuropeNorth AmericaLatin America and the CaribbeanOceania
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
🇺🇸 United StatesBraucherei
A Pennsylvania German folk healing tradition using prayers and gestures to cure illness and remove curses.Tradition · Healing · Protection Fading
🇯🇵 JapanNoro祝女
Ryukyuan village priestesses who tend sacred hearths and utaki shrinesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Fading