witch doctors
Magic-using medicine men
Witch doctors are traditional healers or medicine men in various cultures, typically African, who use spiritual rituals, herbal remedies, and magic to treat illness or ward off evil.
The term carries colonial-era condescension, implying primitive superstition rather than legitimate practice.
It appears in adventure stories and old films as exotic shorthand: The expedition sought out the village witch doctor.
Modern usage often applies it sarcastically to quacks or pseudoscientific practitioners.
- shamansSpiritual healers and intermediaries
- healerOne who restores health
- medicine menTraditional indigenous healers
- curanderoLatin American folk healer
- jujuMagical West African charm
trance · healing rituals · tribal medicine · ancestral spirits · spirit world · spirit possession · evil spirits · indigenous healing · voodoo dolls · exorcism · divination · sorcerer · animism · laying on of hands · charm · hex · incantation · drums
- folk medicinefolk medicine, herbalism, herbal remedies, folk healer, herbal medicine
- occultistswizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, warlocks, mages
- tribal beliefsanimism, shamans, ancestral spirits, nature spirits, spirit worship
- tribal religionsshamans, healers, medicine men, spirit mediums, totemism
- African MythologyAnansi, Legba, ancestor spirits, sky gods, thunder gods
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
witch doctorsmedical doctors
Licensed practitioners of medicine
surgeons · physicians · MDs · specialists · clinicians
witch doctorsscientists
Systematic knowledge seekers
researchers · epidemiologists · rationalists · skeptics · empiricists
doctor, witch, witches, bewitch, bewitched, bewitching, witchery, bewitchment, bewitchingly