Voodoo vs. Witchcraft

Main Difference

The main difference between Voodoo and Witchcraft is that Voodoo is an African religion brought over the slave ships, whereas Witchcraft is the use of magic or sorcery to get required outcomes.

Difference Between Voodoo and Witchcraft

Comparison Chart

Voodoo vs. Witchcraft

Voodoo and witchcraft both are scary things. They both make the people involved in doing unwanted things and even worse. Voodoo is known as an African religion brought over the slave ship; on the other side, Witchcraft is the use of magic or sorcery to get required outcomes. Voodoo is derived from Fon Language whose literal mining is ‘Spirit.’ or “Sacred” while, Witchcraft is derived from Old English Wicca, which means “Wise.” Vodun was first originated in West African religions of the Ewe, Fon, Yoruba, etc. It originated after the arrival of African slaves in the Carribean whereas, witchcraft originated by Gerald Gardner in the 1950s. Some people claim its ancient origin, but there is no evidence for it. The goal of voodoo is to honor God and the lwas (Saints) and the celebrations of life, on the flip side, the goal of witchcraft is to honor the ancient Gods and Goddess and to respect the cycles of life. Both of them still has practitioners, but they do not make their belief public. Hollywood has depicted a different image of them.

What is Voodoo?

Voodoo is an African religion according to which our world is divided into two worlds, i.e., the visible and the invisible. And this is the only thing that separates the living from the dead. On this note, the dead can return as Iwa, a spirit that can enter the body of a priest or pastor and speak to those who need to give advice or help them come out with life’s problems. If animal sacrifices are made in this case, they are said to help revive enthusiasm in their journey between nature. Voodoo dolls, although most of them are Hollywood inventions, as we know, are tools for priests and voodoo priests to ask for blessings and help for recipients. Nowadays, this is not a widespread practice. There is no any white and black magic in Voodoo. But every time an evil spirit entered the body of a priest, it was said that his eyes could turn red. Therefore, Voodoo is represented by red color.

What is Witchcraft?

It is the largest religion created in the last century. When we refer to witchcraft, we allow all the magical practices that we can think of to include in this word. Someone who practices magic is a person who performs rituals to produce the desired results. If we refer to wizards in accepting European and American terms, we might refer to members of the Wiccan belief system, a religion that was officially accepted as an option for many people. Mahir Wiccan is known for chanting mantras, bewitching dead people and carrying out other paranormal actions. It all depends on the strength and level of experience of the person. The history of magic is tumultuous, as in the Middle Ages people used to hunt witches and would arbitrarily burn women at stake when it was only assumed that they were witches. There was even nothing that the defendant could say to escape death because the whole community was made to scare the witches and demons so badly that the simple accusations were enough to make the whole community turn to someone. Witches are blamed for misfortune, war, plague and God’s wrath, etc.

Conclusion

According to the above discussion, voodoo is an African religion to get back spirits to get advice, etc. whereas, witchcraft is the use of magic to get desired outcomes.