Witchcraft & Magic

Witchcraft

The belief in witches is manifest everywhere in the world, but only among settled societies. Inherent in that belief is the idea that certain people - usually women - possess a specific power which enables them, even drives them, to separate their "free soul" from their sleepimg body at night and send it on its journeys. Their intention is always evil. Witches are seen as the bringers of death, disease, and material loss. Their desires are at odds with all social values, such as helpfulness and solidarity. Witches uproot trees, rage through storms, unleash disfiguring diseases  such as leprosy or scabies, and make people blind, lame,deaf, mute, impotent, or infertile by "eating" the relevant organ or turning women's wombs around in their bodies. They tempt people into theft, wastefulness, and drinking. In other words, any inexplicable misfortune is credited to them.

Magic

By comparison to witchcraft, magic is far more accessible, as it is not a special innate power but principally a technique for dealing with things, which can be learned by anyone. Unlike in witchcraft, the powers of magic can be used for good as well as evil.
 
Magic powers can be found in minerals, rock formations, plants, animals, and human beings - in fact, everywhere in nature. They are fundamentally neither good nor bad, only of varying strength, and can be activated on command by someone putting them together in the right way, choosing the right place, and casting the correct spells. Thus magical means  or medicines of different types and intensities are made out of impersonal powers. If these powers are locked into certain objects - such as pots, fugurines, horns, or bottles - and brought to life with blood sacrifices, they gain in effectiveness and can be used magically. However, magic medicines must be refreshed regularly, that is, exchanged for unused ones.

 

Further topics

Slavery

Heavy chains, cast iron neck rings, hand and foot cuffs, branding irons and whips - the terrifying tools of the slavers.

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Twins

The twin figures symbolized the dead twins.

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Diaspora

Haitian vodou altar.

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