witch doctor
1. a man in certain societies, esp preliterate ones, who appears to possess magical powers, used esp to cure sickness but also to harm people
2. a person who seeks out or hunts witches in some African tribal cultures
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
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N'Ganga, or witch doctor, in Zimbabwe. Courtesy Cynthia Hind/Fortean Picture Library.
Witch Doctor
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)A term used for a shaman or practitioner of magic and healing in primitive cultures. Among the indigenous peoples of Africa, Haiti, Australia, Polynesia, South Africa and elsewhere, the local wise man or woman who uses spells and charms to cure and exorcise may be referred to by outsiders as a Witch Doctor. He or she is akin to the Hedge Witch but has no real connection to the European Witch in the sense of a Wiccan and follower of the Old Religion.
W I T C H O F E N D O R see ENDOR, WITCH OF
The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism © 2002 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.