A fetish is an inanimate object which has been imbued with power via an enchantment or a spirit which inhabits it. Fetishes are often worn on the body to impart magical powers such as protection, luck, love, curing ailments, warding off evil, money, etc. They are typically dolls, carved images, stones, animal teeth, claws or bones (1). In African divination, a fetish can be a portable grave, which serves as a portal for an entity or power from the land of the dead (2). West Indian and Guianan sorcerers often use fetishes in their practice of obeah: hair, fingernail clippings, blood, fur, feathers, bones articles of clothing or dirt (preferably from a graveyard) are used to make them.
- Guiley, R.E. 1991. Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience.
- Pemberton III, John. 2000. Insight and Artistry in African Divination.