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):
is a folk magic found among those of African descent in the West Indies. It is derived from the Asante people of west Africa. Its English translation is witchcraft, from the Twi dialect word 'obeyi'.
A (sometimes spelled or ) 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.
Hesketh Bell notes that obeah is likely derived from the Asante Twi word ÃÂbayi, used on the west coast of Africa mean witchcraft, itself derived from the Egyptian word 'ob', meaning 'serpent'. He mentions wanga in the same context, though he does not define it or provide an etymology. Richard Allsopp mentions that Bell equates wanga with obeah, and further notes that it is more commonly spelled ouanga in Haiti. 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."
In his Commentaries, Crowley explains:
He goes on to say: