DO WITCHES REALLY EXIST:

A MYSTICAL·PHILOSOPHICAL EVALUATION
By
Joseph Chigbo Ekwealo

Introduction
The nature and activities of witches have in recent times come
up globally, especially as it concerns the so-called negative
effects of witchcraft on human beings. In advanced (Western)
societies, many organizations have come up boldly wit..l]. such
names as satanic societies, witches, sacred grove or cult; and
what they purport to study, research, teach and discuss in their
assembly or sabbath is summarily called 'nature-earth
spirituality'. In Africa, the issue of witches has in recent times
resurfaced with greater vigour partly because of the renewed
wars of propaganda, blames and accusations, especially by
Christian Churches whose members readily and easily
attribute all their woes, misfortune and deaths to the actions of
witches. Belief in the devils existence has created a moral
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corridor wherein personal responsibility for actions is solely

accepted under favourable conditions; otherwise, when an
individual experiences difficulties, mistakes, negations in
both self and circumstances, the culprit is the tempter, the
devil and his existential accomplices, namely witches. The
matter is not helped with the biblical referencing and
application where witches, mediums and sorcerers are
depicted as negative ones deserving obliteration. For
example, in 1934 Dame Alice Kyteler who was eventually
tried for witchcraft, had the following charges brought against
her:
... accused of denying Christ, of consorting
"vith demons, of sacrificing roosters and
compounding their entrails with herbs,
spiders and black worms, with the brains ofan
unbaptized infant, and with the hair and nails

18================
 ofcorpses, all boiled together in the skull ofa
beheaded robber, andfinally ofworking spells
to catch and kill husbands
(Howells: 1962: 106).

According to Howells, this was apparently the real charge; it

was her fourth husband who accused her, alleging fear for his
own skin. The only odd thing is that she had not been seen
flying through the air by hysterical children. In some cases,
people were b~ought to testify .to t?is, as. in the case of the
Trevisard famIly of DevonshIre m whIch eleven people
testified against them. The truth, according to Howells, was
that "it is obvious that the family was sharp-tongued and
always at sword's points with the neighbors, that they
foolishly indulged themselves in spiteful remarks and shallow
threats; and that in this way, the Trevisards managed to get
themselves held responsible locally for most of the ordinary
hazards of Elizabethan life".
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In Africa, the afore-mentioned religious propaganda wars on

witches were in addition to the attendant poverty, difficulties
and stressful living into which the political class has thrown
the citizenry. Unfortunately~ with the recourse to religion for
hope and salvation amidst the quest to know the reason for
lack of personal success and growth, people have readily re-
awakened the ancient attitude of blaming and accusing others
for their woes. Thus:

The increasing poverty in Nigeria in the face

of constricting possibility of escaping its
shackles made many to be susceptible to
various kinds of influence. It is easy for a
bedraggled person for instance to trace the
cause ofhis/her unfortunate predicaments to
the doorsteps of envious people who do not

19================
 want his/her progress. This point would be
easily understood when it is remembered that
scapegoatism is part of human nature
(Elebuibon:2008: VII)

This hostility has reached an embarrassing level with the very

recent torture, burning and kill1ng (in some circumstances) of
some children in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria by some bom-
again Christian Churches and organizations. These innocent
children were branded as witches and penalized, punished and
maimed. Their tormentors-adults-claimed a divine mission to
flush out witches in the state. This abuse of the rights of
children has attracted global attention so much so that in
recent times, the Cable News Network (CNN) arid
international rights group have been critically investigating
the witchcraft issue and its perception in Africa especially.
Another associative abuse is the exploitation, marginalization
and criminalization of 'house helps" as witches a is prevalent
pratice in Nigeria in particular Thus,
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this belief has become of such universal

application that among 'madams' in Nigeria,
their major gossip item borders on suspicion
and accusations against their house helps ...
who is usually ofpoor parentage and whose
religiOUS background is at times dissimilar to
that (~r 'oga' and madam. She is the cause of
all the visible, manifest and hidden problems
in the house, and the basis of this presumed
wickedness is her association with or
involvement in l1'itchcraft
(Ekwealo, 1999: 10).

No doubt, all these accusations result in the renewed need for

deliverance and exorcism and a rightful recognition and

20================
 levation of pastors and reverends, whose 'profession' now is
~eing pursued with greater vigor in recent times. All these are
worrisome enough to attract or warrant philosophical interest.
The interest here of course is to re-examine the concept that is,
the meaning of witches and witchcraft with a new to critically
analyzing the relationship between its purported negative
spiritual activities and their physical effects. The second
interest is to explore these concepts where possible and re-
affIrm the human psychic self thereby working for a
developed human society, especially in Africa. This would
perhaps us to permanently desist from blaming every wrong
condition in our minds, body and affairs on unseen external
circumstances, hereby taking responsibility for our thoughts,
actions and deeds and constructively garnering our energies
and creativities for purposeful development and growth.

Conceptual and HistoricalAnalyses

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We begin this aspect with Sophie Oluwole's succinct

statement that

Some have commented that traditionally the

term 'witchcrqft' connotes a supernatural,
mysterious power devoid of scientific
explanation ... My answer is that while it is true
that some even now still believe that
witchcraft is supernatural in the sense of
being beyond explanation, we may discover
that they are in fact making a mistake.
Secondly, to say something is mysterious does
not mean it is beyond explanation. At times, all
it means is that it is not yet explained. So, the
possibililY ofan explanation may exist at least
in the fUture. Above all, the African doctor or
scientist does not regard witchcraft in any of

========= 21
 these senses. He understands it well enough to
be able to influence and manipulate it. More
accurately, to him witchcraft is 'paranormal'
(1995:369)

In the same vein, 1. S. Mbiti stated that although there are

volumes of research on the subject of witches and witchcraft,
"~me is struck and disappointed by the large amount .of
ignorance, prejudice and falsification which keeps coming
out in modern books, newspapers and conversations on this
subject (1970:253)"

We would therefore, as a preamble, define witches, as those

who have evil powers and exercise these powers against other
people, causi..l1g them either pain, misfortune and in most
times, death. In Africa, the belief is that they have a coven
where they gather to plot Ll-tese misfortunes and they relish in
these negative activities. Unfortunately, women are generally
associated with these activities and the fonnal organization
i,ncorporating this group is called 'witchcraft', Mbiti borrowed
meanings from anthropologists and sociologists by saying
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that, "witches, who are mostly women, are people with an

inherent power by means of which they can abandon their
bodies at night and go to meet with similar people (other
witches) or to 'suck' or 'eat away' the life of their victims
(1970:263)". William Howells also identified this negative
meaning ofwitches thus:

On every continent, there are those who

possess an unnatural ability to do evil, such a
person is a witch. Everyone ofyou must have
felt. at least once in your life, that nothing
would be finer than being able to get even
with people who had offended you, and to
make them sorry just by wishing, unless it

========= 22 = = = = = = = = =
 were being able to fly through the air. Witches
can do both (1962: 104).

Witches, therefore, were perceived negatively by the public

and because of this they received zero tolerance. In Europe,
when Christianity had got a foothold and did not want a
competitor, it was the witch cult that was singled out for
extinction and most people suspected of being witches or
belonging to the witch cult were maimed, tortured, burnt at the
stake, beheaded or executed. Howells notes further that

... however, our own witches were

particularly loaded down with such fearful
crimes for a special reason: the assault of
Christianity. As the Christian faith spread
across the simple culture of western Europe,
it found the religious landscape dotted with a
variety of objects: wise women (those of our
fairy tales), diviners and magicians, good
and bad, and everyYolhere local gods and
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spirits, together with a widespread cult

around a god who appeared as a human being
or an animal at the meetings of the
worshippers (ibid: 105)

Before the coming of the missionaries witchcraft was not

viewed with great hostility in Africa, for it did not have this
explicit negative connotation. Yemi Elebuibon, an Ifa Priest
states:

... it is important to note that in Yoruba belief, awon iya mi (my

mysterious mothers), often called witches for want ofa better
term. are not regarded as total evil-doers. They can be
beneficial if courted It is when they are provoked that they
bring about misfortune like barrenness, misery, untimely

========23
 th d 0 all that the human world need~ to do is to
dea. an so n ...
placate them and avoid their ";"'".ath to f!uarantee success,
. d t b 'f'ty The ultimate lesson IS that eso [aye gba
p,eace a,n, . sfia 1 .lle a' nddelicate Man should live with caution
t 1e wor d IS r a g l ' .
and prudence in order to be spared the ~nger of mysterzous
beings like awoll iya mi (witches) (2008:JlJ)

Barry Hallen and J. O. Sodipo gave a background ontological

origin of 'Aje' and linked it with the placement of soul-
personalities in the world. They explained that "the Aje
hehaves according to how its em; is. Not all of them do bad
things there are some }vho behave well, ifthey have chosen to
be so from heaven. This type of Aje will not associate
themselves with others (aje) who are known to be bad
(1995: 351 -352)".

Historically, therefore, belief in the reality of witches and

magicians is as old as the pre-historic times and can be traced
in the nalTatives, and folklores of primitive tribes and peoples.
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'[his was the time Augustus Comte referred to as the

theological stage in the development of thought and
consciousness, when human beings deified everything or
explained away every circumstance in spiritual, mystical,
religious and animistic ways. According to Richard Daley:

when nothing was known ahout the

transmission ofdiseases, or about science and
natural phenomena, sorcerers and witch-
doctors were accepted' as manipulators of
health and life, respected and frared at the
same time and credited with supernatural
powers by their fellow tribesmen ... as
civilization increased and Christianity
becamefirmly moted, persecution of'witches'
(usually innocent and reclusive wo~en) greli'

24========
 th
enormously in the 16 and 17'h oenturies, and
stories about them inevitably passed widely
into folklore and literature (1991: VII)
In the Western world equally, according to Howells, this same
non-derogatory and negative characterization of so-called
witches earlier existed where they were regarded as wise
women, who ranged fTom the respectable seeress to an old
crone who knew magic and could be asked for help but who
was apt to be crabbed and was best left alone.

Campbell Shittu Momoh introduced the theory of existential

gratitude to situate the aforementioned activity and explained
that societies always introduce a deity reflective of whatever
circumstances shape their economic interest. According to
him, a people whose major occupation is tied to the water,
would coate deities and spirits of the water realm partly to
safeguard them and their property and inoculate them from
perceived enemies. Witches therefore were created or
introduced by primitive minds to explain the invisible but
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physically manifested actions of some people believed to be

bad. Chief Hyacinth Obadile Ekwealo, an Igbo philosophizer
from Nneyi-Umueri in Anambra State, Nigeria, gave an
etymological definition of the Igbo word for witch otherwise
called amosu. He explained that 'amosu' is a shortened form
of 'amananso', meaning those who despit~ knowing the
culture, laws, taboos and principles of the land intentionally
violate them. To further clarify this meaning, he equally
explained other companion or associative words, viz

Ekwensu, generally referring to the Devil. The original term

is Ekwena-nso
Alusi, generally referring to Deity. The root word is Aluna-
nso

Thus 'amosu, ekwensu and alus;', whose root word is 'nso',

========= 25 =========
 meaning taboos are core offenses in the Igbo world whose
violations are viewed with great emotion and disapproval
with appropriate sanctions meted to the offender, the belief
being that such acts pollute the land and cause disharmony
and disturb the equilibrium and balance that are the
ontological order in the Universe on which human life, living
and organization are dependent. According to 'Omenala', the
unwritten constitution from which Igbo consciousness,
worldview, philosophy, religion, sociology, et cetera are
derived, the premise of its voluminous content revolves round
sanctity and respect for life of all persons, animals, birds and
proper respect to all beings, spaces and environment. This
deman.d for respect simply means that citizens will refrain
from hanning and killing fellow citizens and any' act
intentionally or otherwise, of inflicting pain on fellow beings
is an act of alu or nso, hence amosu. Thus, people who
continue to negatively abuse their power. cum advantage
against others are simply being malicious, mischievous and
since it is nso ani, they would ultimately attract their
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appropriate karma.

This thesis of Chief H. O. Ekwealo's may be factual for in

a'1cient societies, as said earlier, witches did not originally
have the negative meanings which are attached to them today;
at best, they were associated with spiritual powers. It was in
the context of community living with the attendant jealousy,
competition and rivalries that come with it that consciousness
of these negative attitudes awakened and became objectified
in language, concept and visualization. It was only fear, which
was naturally descriptive of the attitude of early societies, that
could have implied human persons to seek self-protection
through acquiring spiritual powers for protection of self and
family. Part of the reason would have been to be fit to avenge
the wrong which would be done to them. Traditionally,
powers always come with responsibility and caution or

= = = = = = = = = 26 = = = = = = = = =
 refrain from abuse. In other words, people were discouraged
from misusing these powers against others unless in cases
when one's own life is threatened. To the extent of the
observance and practice of this responsibility is the origin of
witchcraft, in line with Ekwealo's thesis. In an agricultural
society, therefore, in which polyandry was the norm and
wives was jealousy rampant, the fear of harming another's
child may have warranted a woman's bestowing her offspring
with those powers. Children being given to impulsiveness and
quick anger, such powers which are normally tempered with
a corresponding maturity would be unnecessarily exhibited,
utilized when a child's interest is challenged. I have read of
primary school children who in their normal competitive
games and plays would silently radiate evil and negative
energies/powers through punishing other children when they
unintentionally mock hislher inabili ty to excel. Its unfortunate
then that children acting in their typical ilmocence would be
exposed to such metaphysical torture just because of a
bewitched child's immaturity. All these are instances of
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abuses of spiritual power.

Yemi Elebuibon, though exammmg this issue from the

language and worldview of the Yorubas, did an existential
confIrmation and corroboration of Ekwealo's etymological
analysis of witches as simply evil ones. He submits that
witches, also described as Aye (the world) or Omo araye
(children of the world) are ofthree categories namely:

At:ayekunri male offspring of the world. (This refers to

wicked men who use evil charms to harm fellow human
beings and destroy their Ii ves.

Arayebinrin: powerful women who are collectively referred

to as aje or iya mi.

======== 27 =======""'==""'=
 Araye aboju peete this refers to those who are close to people,
yet still go ahead to hann them. They are called Amoniseni
(2008 :XII) .

The three categories correspond to social activities or

associations among human beings. Therefore, through a
process of role categorization as we have seen, witches are
classified from the social context, evidenced from their
activities in the lived-in-world. They are so called because of
their immoral conduct as it relates to their association with
other people, and their use of metaphysical or spiritual
powers. A second premise can be evidenced from here, and is
affirmed by an African adage that says it is only a witch from
one's house that can invite others to ones home or
environment.

Critical Analysis

To the questions whether witches exist and whether there is

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such an act as witchcraft, the simplest answers are that: (a)

there are peopie who possess such powers, so witches exists
and (b) in so far as there are those who possess such powers,
they one way or another put the powers to use, so there is
witchcraft. This is based on the fact that there is a word for it in
very many languages. Language, according to Hospers (1981 :
3) is " a system of words, a system of conventional signs
whose meanings we have to learn if we are to know the
language, and whose ingredients-words-would be noises
without meaning if sometime, somewhere, they had not
acquired these meanings for their human users". Words and
languages mirror reality, they are the vehicle of
communication. They are signal systems which a group
agreed on to refer to a common referent or they are both
natural and conventional, spoken noise with a meaning given
by members of a group. According to the reference theory of

28=================
 meaning, words have meaning in context such that in the case
of witches it has become almost an onomatopoetic word.
phenomenologically as to whether they refer to concrete
events, facts in the world, we can also say that it is, even if
they are metaphysical acts or facts. According to Brentano-
Hussed, consciousness is object directed: there is no time the
mind can conceive of absolute nothingness. Whatever the
mind conceives must be about the world. As to the question
about the unicorn, for instance, the answer is that the idea of
the unicorn was derived from consciousness of perceptible
(primary and secondary) qualities of things, events. They are
empirical qualities which the mind abstracted and then used to
create another thing. A distinction however has to be made
between reality and actuality. Thus, based on consciousness
as argued, we affinn the reality of witches and witchcraft but
in actuality, it becomes a tricky issue because being a
metaphysical reality, most validations of witcraftare not
based on empirical or causal relation but on emotional,
superstitious or circumstantial effect whereby one accuses
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somebody of attacking him or another, at times showing

visible marks to prove the spiritual attack. Here, we are in
difficulty for there has to be a corresponding connection
between the supposedly immaterial force and its physical
effect on the human subject. In some cases, it is argued that
witches take up the embodiment of birds and fly _to their
groves or to harm people. Elebuibon writes that, "one curious
aspect of witchcraft in Yoruba cosmology is the association of
witches with birds ... they are collectively referred to as 'awon
Eleye' (owners of birds). It is believed that witches are human
beings who transfonn into different kinds of birds under
different circumstances" (2008 :XII).

In another passage, he agrees with LawaI (1996) that" ... the

soul of the witch is suspected to be capable ofleaving the body
at night, and turn into a bird, a cat, or a poisonous snake that

================29================
 · visibly attacks an unsuspecting victim, sucks his or her
~~ood and gradually consume: the fle~h': (2?08:23). T?e
-oblem with this circumstantIal descnptIOn IS that while
~fricans associate animals like cats with witches, in Europe
and America cats are very lovable, sensitive creatures which
are common in homes as pets. They are even treated the same
way as human beings are treated and accorded warmth, care
and tenderness.

Another way to examine this matter is to bring in the fact of

evil. We summarily accept that good and evil are potentialities
and since Man has freedom, it simply means that a being can
be either good or bad. Also, we accept that thought, words,
actions are forms of energy and can be transmitted from one
persoll to another, either spiritually or physically. To that
extent, we can argue the reality of witches as those who
exercise evil powers through invisible means that result in
physical harm. However, the invisibility of the energy
movement is the same way light forces travel, even if one does
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not see them and which, for Idoniboye, is not really an issue as
African spiritualists see it. If we follow the moral line of
mogument, it then means that what people and society
generally refer to as witches are normal wicked people who
abuse their spiritual powers in the same ways one can equally
abuse hislher physical powers. Here, thinking and acting are
the characterizing principles. This then removes the
mystification which society has placed on the concepts of
witches and witchcratl:.

The other issue concerns whether the supposed witches can

harm people According to Harvey Spencer Lewis,

a beliefthat negative thoughts have power

is a holdover .lrom the darkest days of
superstitious frenzy. Superstition is a

================30================
 growth of ignorance, erroneous thinking,
old wives' tales, and just plain gossip.
Black- magic, witchcraft, curses,
and voodooism are not efficacious in any
manner whatsoever, except if the mind of
the intended victim believes they are
(1973)

In another place, he argued that

while the consciousness and Cosmic ether

that intervenes between all human beings
and fills all space between the souls and
bodies of God's creatures on earth will
refuse to carry and convey the destructive
thoughts held in the mind of one who
would use them to injure another, within
our own bodies, our own worldly mortal
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nerves and sensory constitution and

physical consciousness will carry from
our own minds throughout our own bodies
those destructive, inharmonious,
infectious and poisonous thoughts that
our own minds created out of fear and
superstitious beliefs (1964:2)"

In other words, the belief in the ability of witches to harm their

victim is, for Lewis, mental poisoning. He correctly explains
that

... we as individuals, can become the victims

ofour own poisonous thoughts, but we' cannot
become the victims ofthe poisonous thoughts

31================
 of another. What we may conceive in our
minds in fear and through false belief, and
allow TO become a law and a command unto
ourselves, constitutes one form of mental
poisoning. All ofus are more or less victims of
this self-poisoning from the beginning of
earthly life to its end, unless we have learned
how to protect ourselves against the whole
satanic scheme ofevil thinking (Ibid: 2 7)

Lewis analyzed suggested that our minds, through mental

creation (for it is an active force capable of generating things),
has anthroponnophized the concept of witchcraft, especially
in regard to the negative connotations associated with it. This
same point is shared by Elebuibon who also quotes Ulli Beier
that: the English word witch is not an accurate translation of
the Yoruba concept of'Aje' since "Aje" represents more than
the word in translation can capture. Aje refers to the mystic
powers of a woman, her longevity and her secret knowledge
(2008:22).
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On this note, Lewis exhorts: he who fears black magic

through a sincere belief in its existence and potency,
automatically, through self-suggestion within his own mind,
becomes not only enslaved by fear but a ready victim of the
evils his mind invents (Ibid:26).

As io the operations of witches and their physical result, we

can borrow lessons trom psychotherapy in the case of
hypnosis and psychic states to explain that physiologicaL
pathological an.d psychological symptoms will always result
~~] one ,:.:vh0se ~j~:d. is ?~!~~2.d)r 2.c:~.epti:'!g :,! !he :"e~Ii~J:~ ~f
witches, their possibilities and actualities. In other words,
whenever the belief in the reality of the entity subsists, then
the effects bordering on that reality would always appear, for

32========
 the mind is already poisoned.

Although the spirito-psychological law mentioned above

holds in all cases, we must be guided by the qualification that
circumstances may affect its universal application. This is
because the same existential or environmental condition does
not hold for the Western societies and Africa. It is easy for
advanced societies to jettison the idea of witches operating in
the night. At any rate, electricity is always permanent making
the operation of witches in the night not mentally possible. In
Africa, on the other hand, darkness is the norm, so it is equally,
not easy for the African to totally obliterate the consciousness
of witches, even ifthey may not have existed ontologically. It
is based on this mental-existential difficulty in thought-
creation that we entertain Elebuibon's 'sacrifice thesis' as the
antidote for witches' operations. He argues that witches ought
to be appeased, 'settled' for one to go about hislher own affairs
in the universe. Basden explains that
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Fear is the drivingforce; the sacrifices do not

spring from any inherent desire to give, nor
from any spontaneous love to render honor or
worship. Sacrifices furnish the only way of
escape from the evil designs and activities of
malignant spirits. Failure to perform
propitiatory sacrifices would make life
unbearable; every department would labor
under imminent threat ofpossible disaster (cf
Arinze: 1970:38)

Chiefs H. O. Ekwealo and Boniface Okonkwo argued that the

best antidote, rather, would be the power, principle and
operation oflove. They explained that everyone, including the
so-called witches, would want to be loved and really relish the
goodwill and kindness of people. Such operation of love,

33================
 C b 'lds an aura which is a kind of charged, energetic
therelo re Ul ' . f h"
., I all for the self and m the case 0 one w 0 IS 111 need
spmtua
f ntidote, it is a kmd 0 lortl lcatlOn, lor y th at gesture
w . fc·fi . C b
~ /~~: operates from a higher spiritual pedestal than the
\~tch. Consequently, any action by the witch against such a
Jovingperson will be counter-productive, for the witch would
have benefited from the universal love which the person has
released to the cosmos. Ekwealo and Okonkwo summarized
their positions in the slogan that divine love is the most
powerful chemical in the Universe which dissolves anything
which is not of its own. This form of love is best practiced
through meditation, focalization and visualization whereby
we contemplate love flowing from our very self to all
humanity, such that our consciousness extends and expands as
10 encompass the whole Universe, radiating to everyone:
witch, saint, clergy, commoners, et cetera.

Chief James Buzugbe synthesized the two apparently

opposed views by saying that the operation oflove is a mental
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act while the one of sacrifice is a physical act. Importantly, he

argued that both are jointly the operation of the law of amra or
thithing which is an ancient law of compensation through
which human beings cobweb their psychic, physicai spaces
and ways, thereby ensuring wealth, health, long life,
prosperii'j, peace and happiness, all of which are material and
spiIitual needs of humanity. For him, therefore, appeasing a
witch through sacrifice, as Africans advised, is an expression
of love and it fulfills same intent of building a force-field, a
protective shield for one in' a world characterized by
challenges and difficulties.

34================
 conclusion

Ontologically, whether in Africa or in Europe, witches do not

exist. However, it was out of fear that the human mind created
witches. Tbs is in part based on the need to have answers to
the apparent uncertainties in the world, the vagaries oflife and
the meaninglessness that characterized our existence. Man
therefore qualified certain human beings as having special,
spiritual powers, a privilege which is naturally possible for all
human beings in so far as we are spiritual, psychic and
physic~l bein~s. Thus, although originally witc~e~ ne.ver
existea, today It makes sense to speak of them as eXIstmg m a
connotative, emotional sense. Evans-Pritchard (1937)
affirmed that a 'witch performs no rite, utters no spell, and
possesses no medicines and that an act of witchcraft is a
psychic act. Consequently, the issue does not relate anymore
to whether they exist but on the meaning of its existence, and
as this relates to having especially negative effects on people
and their society. Rather than the ideational meaning of
witches, we propose simply the referential theory, which if
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properly attuned to, will also remove the behavioral,

emotional meaning of witches (Hospers, 1981: 19). A witch
properly so called, is simply a wicked, malicious one who
lacks the proper decorum expected of one possessing especial
spiritual knowledge and ability.

Bodunrin (1995 :383) saw this question from the

epistemological background and proposed that there are the
scientific and philosophical skeptics who do not believe in the
existence of witches because it is difficult to explain how the ,
trans'ferelice occurrcd from 'A' to 'B'. However, rather than
phitosophical and scientific skepticism, I see the basis of
belief of witchcraft from perspective of ethics and intention.
That is, the same way we believe but do not see light travel,
same way we believe but do not see the operation ofthought as
an energy, and the same way we accept that minds can
communicate (thought transference), all of which are

35================
 believed from circumstantial evidence lacking conclusive
epistemological proofs, so we. may argue for belief in the
existence and operation of witchcraft. Thus, so long as we can
explain that with thought projection, mental creation and
poisoning, one can bring unto ourself influences that may not
necessarily be existir;g earlier, then we can also explain how a
spirituai act can cause a physical effect. We will however add
that the difference between a witch and a saint is intention, the
same way the difference between a professor of criminology
and a criminal is intention. Whereas the teacher of crime
utilizes hislher knowledge constructively for the good of
humanity, the criminal takes advantage of his knowledge to
terrorize the populace, knowing full well that the society will
always find his conduct unpalatable, unfavorable and
ultimately will be visited with appropriate sanctions and
punishments. In the same way, a witch is a spiritualist who
willful1y abuses hislher spiritual knowledge knowing full
well that she is creating disharmony in the Universe and that
there is a penalty, (spiritual and physical) for her actions.
Thus, there is a thin line separating good and evil for both of
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them work on the same principles, the difference being in their

application by human beings. The witch is at home with the
law of just compensation, the law of karma and the law of
harmony which teaches that we will reap what we sow.

Therefore, although witches and their craft exist, as Spencer

argues their ability to affect us is based on recognition and
acceptance by us that they can affect us, which is called
mental poisoning. However, we. are make an addition to
Spencer's position by explairiing that it is not enough to
mentally accept that they do not exist and then one is free from
their effects. Mental acceptance must go with the right
physical acts or conducts that are positive for them to be an
effective weapon. It is said that he who goes to equity mllst go
with clean hands. Thus, disbelief in the reality of witches must
be accompanied with a refrain from evil, unpleasant acts and

==========- 36 ==========
 the right human relations. There is this a physical as well as
spiritual demand which wi1.1 make beli~f in the non-exis~ence
of witches potent and effective; otherwIse, where one beheves
but commits unpleasant acts, he/she brings to hislher psychic,
spiritual and ultimately physical spaces, those conditions
which he wants to avoid. The law behind this point is the
principle of attraction or the law of harmony which brings to
us those things which we attract through our thoughts,
conducts and actions.

As to witchcraft, which we have discribed as the assembly of

witches, the sense in which society believes that they are
people who congregate to celebrate their evil deeds does not
exist. Howells averred that, "it seems to be a fact that
witchcraft works in several ways as a safety valve through
which many escape the accumulations of anxiety, irritation,
envy, and neurotic tensions that arise in all human groups and
which are particularly painful in a small, closed, primitive
society from which there is no escape" (1962:110). Most
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times, what people wrongly interpret with this craft is a

gathering of groups not easily classified by the Christian fold.
For instance, in the case of the Ga people in West Africa, their
\vitchcraft societies were summarized as an assembly to
celebrate astral menu, notably: stealing children's soul so that
their bodies die and their blood drunk, making women sterile,
sending infants to certain homes to permanently punish and
terrorize their earthly parents; all these misdeeds, the witches
do in company (Howells, 1962:! 11). No doubt, these far-
fetched witches' cosmic menu are laughable, an imagination
and accusations from a mischievous, superstitious mind for
these issues are not believable. After all, in ancient societies,

or mystical pol,.vers. For example, it wouid be wrong to brand

the Ogborn society of the old Oyo Empire in Yorubaland as a
class of witches in the sense of negative-minded people. No

=========.=_ 37 ==========
 doubt, these elderly ones were mystically minded
personalities who were either Oniseglln or Aje or doubling as
the two. History has it that they were a class of elderly men
and women whose hallmark was their spiritual and moral
worth. This group acted as checks and balances to the powers
of the Alafin (King) and the Oyo-mesi, the kingmakers. They
were people whose moral worth was impeccable such that
they could call the king or the council to question when their
rules and administration ofthe empire were not in favor ofthe
polity. In essence, they were watchdogs of the society,
representing the conscience of the people. In Igboland, there
was the Alusi termed obaligbum-gbu-onweya (he/whatever
. comes to kill me would kill himself) deity, reflective of the
PelliecostalChristians "return to sender". Families readily
have this as a protective deity. No doubt, such families who
have these protective shrines are involved in traditional
practice but that does not make the head of the family or priest
a witch. In other words, it was common practice to be
spiritually strong; the only qualification was that one's actions
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were always enjoined to be guarded by Ojo-Ila- Ogwu

meaning standing on the altar of truth, justice and equity, the
belief being that if one is fOll..'1d wanting on this moral plane,
he or she would attract the penalty from conscience, the
deities and Chukwu (Almighty God).

To the question of self-confessed, witches, which is often

addressed in movies, we simply explain them as people with
psychological and neurotic conditions whose environment
has socialized their mind set into the given consciousness and
beliefsy stems and they readily attribute their challenges to the
sajd conditions. At times, all they seek is to get "one-minute-
__. __ .- . . . -___." 'i""'"! ... --~
V.J. ··1.CU.Jl~ • .J. l1U:':',

... someone who is struggling against anxiety,

morbidity. a feeling of social iliferi()ril)~ or
some other such cause of tension will under

18=================
 this stress begin to wonder if she is becoming
a witch (some even develop temporary
blindness or deafness, doubtless hysterical)
and absorbed by the notion, willfinally accept
it. in spite of a .feeling of guilt, as the
unavoidable cause of her personal
unhappiness; this is apt to bring a relaxation
of tension, especially as it makes an exciting
fantasy to compensate for the lack ofability to
deal 1,vith her troubles in the actual world
(Howells, 1962:112)

In conclusion, while the objective existence of witches may

be argued, it may be stated subjectively that the witch that
exists for the individual is the one he or she mentally brings
about. All that the self needs is to negate or deconscientize
itself from such belief through mental affirmations and
physical refrain from doing evil. Another way is placating and
pacifying the witches through sacrifices and/or prayer and
meditation based on the principle and pqwer of love. To do
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both or either of these acts is to engage in spiritual-physical

exercises or service.

On a lesser note, going back to the issue of words and their

meanings in context, since 'witch' and 'witchcraft' are words
used by mankind to arbitrarily refer to what ordinarily are
nOlmal, wicked tendencies and actions which necessarily
obtain in every perfect society, perhaps anoth~r way out is to
consider revising or changing the word so that its connotative,
emotional effect on people would be done away with. On a
personal level, all this amounts to is Spencer Lewis' advice

other option then is for society to prohibit utterance of the

words.

39=================
 References

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Ibadan University Press.

Bodunrin, Peter O. (1995) "Magic, Witchcraft, and ESP: A

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Dalby, Richard (ed.) (1994). Tales of Witch-Craft: Stories hy

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=======c== 40 =========
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41 =================