Obeah and wanga

The terms obeah and wanga are African diasporic words that occur in The Book of the Law (the sacred text of Thelema, written by English author and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1904):

Also the mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach. (AL I:37).^[1]

Obeah is a folk religion and folk magic found among those of African descent in the West Indies. It is derived from West African Igbo sources and has a close North American parallel in African American conjure or hoodoo.

A wanga (sometimes spelled ouanga or wanger) is a magical charm packet found in the folk magic practices of Haiti, and as such it is connected to the West African religion of Vodun, which in turn derives from the Fon people of what is now Benin.

Etymology and meaning

Hesketh Bell notes that obeah is likely derived from the word obi, used on the east coast of Africa to refer to witchcraft, itself derived from the Egyptian word 'ob', meaning 'serpent'.^[2] He mentions wanga in the same context, though he does not define it or provide an etymology.^[3] Richard Allsopp mentions that Bell equates wanga with obeah, and further notes that it is more commonly spelled ouanga in Haiti.^[4] Gordon Rohlehr notes that the word wanga refers to the "obeahman's power to cast spells and the much-feared sexuality of the old woman which could 'blight' a young man."^[5]

In Thelema

In his Commentaries, Crowley explains:

The obeah is the magick of the Secret Light with special reference to acts; the wanga is the verbal or mental correspondence of the same. [...] The "obeah" being the acts, and the "wanga" the words, proper to Magick, the two cover the whole world of external expression.^[6]

He goes on to say:

Magick is the management of all we say and do, so that the effect is to change that part of our environment which dissatisfies us, until it does so no longer. We "remould it nearer to the heart's desire."
Magick ceremonies proper are merely organized and concentrated attempts to impose our Will on certain parts of the Cosmos. They are only particular cases of the general law.
But all we say and do, however casually, adds up to more, far more, than our most strenuous Operations. "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." Your daily drippings fill a bigger bucket than your geysers of magical effort. [...]^[6]

References

Citations

^ Crowley (1976), ch. I, v. 37.
^ Bell (1893), p. 6.
^ Bell (1893), pp. 5, 8, 20, 39.
^ Allsopp (2002), pp. 26–27.
^ Rohlehr (1999), p. 270.
^ ^a ^b Crowley (1974), New Comment, ch. I, v. 37.

Works cited

Allsopp, Richard (2002). Guyana Talk: Early Essays in the Study of a Caribbean Creole. Barbados: Carlex Language Consultancy.
Bell, Hesketh J. (1893). Obeah: Witchcraft in the West Indies. London: Samson Low, Marston & Company.
Crowley, Aleister (1974). Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law. Montreal: 93 Publishing.
Crowley, Aleister (1976). The Book of the Law: Liber AL vel Legis. York Beach, Maine: Weiser Books. ISBN 978-0-87728-334-8.
Rohlehr, Gordon (1999). "Images of Men and Women in 1930s Calypsoes". Gender in Caribbean Development: Papers Presented at the Inaugural Seminar of the University of the West Indies, Women and Development Studies Project. Barbados: Canoe Press University of the West Indies. pp. 223–289. ISBN 978-976-8125-55-2.