Ancient ✦ Wisdom ✦ Atlas

Motif family

Divine Intervention and Guidance

The direct action of gods or sacred powers in human affairs # sending plagues, parting seas, appearing in dreams, providing animal guides, or redirecting events through supernatural means.

62 traditions

2,114 occurrences

2,068 mapped motifs

8 sub-families

  • afro caribbean
  • ainu
  • akan
  • amazonian
  • andamanese
  • arctic inuit
  • arthurian
  • australian aboriginal
  • biblical
  • buddhist
  • celtic
  • celtic irish
  • celtic welsh
  • christian apocrypha
  • comparative
  • confucian
  • egyptian
  • estonian
  • filipino
  • finnish karelian
  • germanic
  • gnostic
  • greek
  • greek roman
  • guiana amerindian
  • hawaiian
  • hindu
  • hopi
  • inca
  • indigenous australian
  • inuit
  • islamic
  • islamicate folklore
  • japanese
  • jewish christian
  • jewish pseudepigrapha
  • kimbundu
  • maya
  • maya quiche
  • melanesian
  • mesopotamian
  • mongol
  • nahua
  • nahua maya inca
  • native american great lakes
  • native american northeast woodlands
  • native american northwest coast
  • native american plains
  • native american southeast
  • native american southwest
  • navajo
  • norse
  • persian
  • roman
  • romanian
  • shan
  • siberian
  • slavic
  • sufi
  • zoroastrian
  • zulu
  • zuni

Conserved neighbors: divine judgment · theophany · covenant

Sub-families · the next landing down

Messengers and Prophets

87 motifs

Divine Aid in Battle

107 motifs

Healing and Provision

61 motifs

Rescue and Protection

152 motifs

Animal and Nature Helpers

51 motifs

Saintly Miracle and Holy Power

43 motifs

Divine Possession and Inspiration

23 motifs

Withheld and Restrained Divine Power

24 motifs

Not yet placed in a sub-family

1,520 motifs, showing the 60 most attested

Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.