I don't know if you guys believe in them in your own locality but in my country witch doctors and shamans are deemed to be real. Most stories are hilarious because a lot of them claim to heal incurable sickness and diseases by using herbs and doing rituals. But the stories of my mom always fascinates me. She said that her father was a famous witch doctor in their home town. My grandfather wasn't the shaman type who goes around scamming people and doing cheesy rituals, but he was someone who is quiet and someone who doesn't accept payment for his services. He was a fisher man not a full time witch doctor. My mother always tell me that her father had great powers and he was ultra sensitive to supernatural beings.
He had his tools and ritual texts buried somewhere so it could never be found. He said that his practices as a witch doctor was unforgivable. Even though he helped many townsfolk with warding of bad spirits, he said he still was meddling with forces that man should not trifle with.
I had this one little page once. There was a 4 lined paragraph in a language i don't understand, maybe it was latin with all the veni vidi vici et cetera kinda words. My mother took it from me and said it was from her father. She hid it because she said it was dangerous.
She also mentioned of a black dog-like minion of my grandfather who still lurks in my mother's home town. My mother always dream of my grandfather's soul still not finding peace in the afterlife.
This is funny but i think my own mother wont screw up my mind with mystical bullcrap if she doesn't believe in it. She's an open minded woman and I love her but I would believe all her tales in full circle if I would witness and find proof to her accounts. Sadly I never met my grandfather.
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Way back then, witches are perceived as evildoers that's why they are being cursed.They are believed to be as someone who uses black magic to anybody that have hurt them, resent with or to people they don't like.
In olden days, innovative and smart women who know medicine and science were condemned as witches. A lot of women were brutally executed to humanities ignorance and superstition.
Ray said:
I am curious about witchery or witchcraft. I have loved it after seeing Harry Potter wherein they learn magic. I love to have magic, who doesn't? with magic, you can do what do you want in just a snap. Very convenient isn't it? But it's hard for me to believe that magic do exist in real life. I don't know if there are really witches or witch doctors that existed with the spells and all.
I don't think that witch doctors are still existing nowadays. They are becoming extinct. With all the advanced technologies brought by modernization, their services are not needed anymore. I think, even witch doctors will even seek the help of a real doctor to treat themselves for some medications when they are sick. Herbs alone cannot cure some major health problems that require surgeries or operations and in the real world, there is no magic and magic is just a trick as what you can see in a magic show.
I thought witch are those who are engaged in black magic and are involved in evil spirits. I never thought of them as doctors. Witch are always condemned and they are being cursed. I am not familiar about witch doctors but the way as I understand it, they are like using their spells in a positive manner and this is to help and not to harm people to which I find it good.
I don't know .. maybe it they were labeled "witch" because they use mystical rituals with the aid of different indigenous herbs.
Why would they call them witch doctors if they use herbs and the like for healing?
Yeah.. they are more common in small towns but my grandfather's town actually HAVE doctors even in his time... anyhow.. like I said he wasn't the typical herby-girby stereotypical witch doctor.. maybe more closer to a magkukulam (someone who cast and un-cast curses and hexes).. not too much herbs were involved.. there were more chants and mystical practices .. all now buried somewhere.... lol that's weird. I think of it as a semi-tribal old school occult type of thing lol..
Witch doctors only exists in small towns or barrios wherein there is no doctor to treat people with sickness. For me, it is just like an attempt to deal with life in order to survive. In this situation you are able to look for some remedies and help yourself and others to heal sickness. Witch doctors can be compared to people who are depending on alternative medicine for they also used medicinal plants to cure numerous diseases. Herbs are also known to have medicinal properties that can truly cure diseases. This is the reason why there are also lots of herbal products dominating the market nowadays and people are now more conscious on their health and patronizes foods or products that are natural and healthy.
i don't know about shamans and witch doctors but I think they get their powers from earthbound spirits and energies from nature. Never associated them with the devil.