Witch doctor

A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a traditional practitioner, primarily in African indigenous societies, who employs divination, rituals, and herbal concoctions to identify supernatural causes of illness (such as witchcraft or malevolent spirits) and to effect cures through magical or spiritual interventions. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors". The term is now more commonly used to refer to healers, particularly in regions that use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine. In many contexts, the term "witch doctor" may be used interchangeably with shamans or medicine men, as these practitioners employ ritual, divination, song, and dance to address spiritual, emotional, and social dimensions of health.