Obeah and wanga

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Part of a series on
Thelema
Unicursal hexagram
Holy Books and Stele The Book of the Law The Holy Books of Thelema The Stele of Revealing
Key figures Ankh-af-na-Khonsu François Rabelais Aleister Crowley Jane Wolfe Karl Germer Wilfred Talbot Smith Helen Parsons Smith Jack Parsons Phyllis Seckler Grady McMurtry Marjorie Cameron Sara Northrup Kenneth Grant Kenneth Anger Marcelo Ramos Motta James Lees Nema Andahadna Christopher Hyatt
Core concepts Abrahadabra Great Work True Will The Abyss Magick Qabalah Holy Guardian Angel Thoth Tarot Yoga Gnostic Mass The Aeon
Methods Banishing Body of light Bornless Ritual Cake of Light English Qaballa Enochian magic Goetia Mass of the Phoenix Night of Pan Sex magic Tree of life
Thelemic texts Aleister Crowley bibliography Kenneth Grant bibliography Marcelo Motta bibliography Thelemic texts
Organizations A∴A∴ O∴A∴A∴ Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC) Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) Society Ordo Templi Orientis (SOTO) Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn Typhonian Order (TOTO)
Deities Nuit Hadit Heru-ra-ha Aiwass Therion Babalon Baphomet Chaos Ma'at
Related topics Abbey of Thelema Abramelin oil Agape Lodge Boleskine House Choronzon Dianism Eroto-comatose lucidity Magical formulae Number of the beast Obeah and wanga Solar Lodge Stellar wisdom Table of magical correspondences The Beast & Whore of Babylon
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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 oanga 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.