I'm sure when you hear the word "FETISH" your mind immediately goes towards the kink side of life? It doesn't take a psychic to know that. What if I told you there was another kind of fetish, one that relates to witchcraft? by now you may be on the same page as me but for those who aren't, welcome to the world of fetishes and what they actually are. Those who know about fetishes stay too, you may
learn something new here! I want to pull you away form the movie stereotypes of the "Voodoo Doll" with pins sticking out of its body and being a tool for baneful Magick but instead I will show you the many uses, the history, and many cultures who use fetish dolls in their practice and religion.
A fetish is a type of sympathetic Magick, basically meaning like creates like, or action creates result which imbues the energy of a spirit to aid in its use. It is by using a fetish you can heal the sick or harm your enemy. It's a simple explanation so let's learn a little more about their history and uses shall we?
As usual, TO THE TIME MACHINE!!!
Sympathetic Magick is believed to date right back to Palaeolithic cave paintings such as the ones in North Africa and Lascaux, France. The theory is that these paintings were made by shamans who would retreat into caves, go into a trance-like state and begin to paint their visions onto the walls.
Take a look at this extract from The golden Bough by James George Frazer who says;
"If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: first, that like produces like, or that an effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed. The former principle may be called the Law of Similarity, the latter the Law of Contact or Contagion. From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not."
What we can take from this extract is the use of a doll, a poppet, an idol, or fetish we have the ability to create a tie from one object to a person and cause effects to
appear physically in their life whilst never having to even touch the person. All it requires is the person to have touched the object or incorporate a piece of that person into it. Now this all sounds like heavily advanced stuff, and it is, but why are fetishes so popular amongst folk practitioners?
Well, they're pretty simple to make is the short answer. But you're not here for short and sweet, you're here for information. So, we have established they're easy to make but they can also be as crude as possible. You can bind some sticks together in the shape of a person, you can create one from corn husks like they do in Native American practices, you can forge one out of clay from the land like I do to create the shape of a person along with any binding sigils, hell, even fabric makes for a great poppet that you can fill with herbs and ingredients that aid in that fetish's purpose. As you can see there is no "right" way of making a poppet or fetish just as long as it can be bound to a person or environment to create its effects.
The use of fetish dolls can be traced back several millennia, back to the days of ancient Egypt, when Rameses III was Pharaoh. Rameses III had many enemies including some of his harem women and at least one high-ranking official used wax idols of the Pharaoh to bring about his death.
It wasn't uncommon for the Greeks to dabble with sympathetic Magick as Christopher Farone, professor of classical languages and literatures at the
University of Chicago, explained. Greeks would create poppets known as "kolossoi" to restrain a ghost or even a dangerous deity. They were also used to bind two lovers together.
During the time of the Slave Trade of the West Africans they brought with them a doll called a "fetish". In this case, the doll is not so much a representative on an individua,l like the poppet or kolossoi, but is in fact possessed by spirits connected to the doll's owner. A fetish contains notable power and is typically worn or carried by the owner as a talisman. During America's colonial period, slave owners were allowed to kill any slave found in possession of a fetish.
If you wish to have your own fetish or poppet to aid you in your magickal workings I do actually craft these and can be found on my shop! There will also be a new addition later on today so check back on my website for that at thegreywitch.co.uk
for further research on Fetish dolls and poppets check out these great books below!
✧Poppet Magick: Patterns, Spells & Formulas for Poppets, Spirit Dolls & Magickal Animals
Book by Silver RavenWolf
✧voodoo dolls in magick and ritual books
Book by Denise Alvarado