The termsobeah andwanga areAfrican diasporic words that occur inThe Book of the Law (the sacred text ofThelema, written by English author andoccultistAleister Crowley in 1904):
Also the mantras and spells; theobeah and thewanga; the work of thewand and the work of the sword; these he shall learn and teach. (AL I:37).[1]
Obeah is a folk magic found among those of African descent in theWest Indies. It is derived from theAsante people of west Africa. Its English translation iswitchcraft, from the Twi dialect word 'obeyi'.
Awanga (sometimes spelledouanga orwanger) is a magical charm packet found in the folk magic practices ofHaiti, and as such it is connected to the west African religion ofVodun, which in turn derives from theFon people of what is nowBenin.
Hesketh Bell notes thatobeah is likely derived from the Asante Twi wordƆbayi, used on the west coast of Africa meanwitchcraft, itself derived from the Egyptian word 'ob', meaning 'serpent'.[2] He mentionswanga in the same context, though he does not define it or provide an etymology.[3] Richard Allsopp mentions that Bell equateswanga withobeah, and further notes that it is more commonly spelledouanga in Haiti.[4] Gordon Rohlehr notes that the wordwanga 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 hisCommentaries, Crowley explains:
Theobeah is themagick of the Secret Light with special reference to acts; thewanga 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 ourWill 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]
