In the eastern world, Moroccan women are known and feared to be able to cast spells (“sHour“ is the word used for spell) and practice witchcraft to steal or keep husbands at bay. Of course, as with previous portfolios, this is an effort destined for failure due to the limited space available for publication, and the resources for translation. Moroccans tend to transmit this tradition believing in the benefits of it and the help it secures for them.

This spirit is also present in the characters we read, who hold some of these mystical qualities though are not themselves mystics. I’d love to see more artists use two-color printing; less expensive than full-color, Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco shows how slick the end result can be. As an example, sometimes people refer to mental health problems as the consequence of being possessed by a demon or of result of an evil-eye spell. The Quran clearly states that “Nobody can tell the future except for God” but the book doesn’t deny the existence of the jinn’s (which can be good and bad), which are actually mentioned and therefore reflect the belief in the unseen and unknown. If you add up the several sessions it can take to solve your problem, it actually costs less, in the long term, to go to a shawafa and fix the problem in one go.

Unmodified photograph of the Sidi Chamharouch shrine taken by James Handlon in 2014, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-SA 2.

Practiced by all stratums of society starting from lowest to highest, the issue of sorcery has factually plagued the almost entirety of the African continent but has somehow remained particular to Morocco through time.A trip to the medinas; the explosion of colour, the exotic smells and the cacophony of street merchants will fuel the fire in your soul. The rituals and activities that Moroccans practice while visiting the tomb of Moulay Abdellah Ben Hussain in Tamesloht village are surprising. As the shawafa instructed, Saaidi tapped her ex-boyfriend’s shoulder and ran away before he had the time to react. We thought about the topic of magic with Linda during one of the tours we tried out together here in Morocco, when we started talking about how – despite the influence of Islam – magic and superstition is still present in the life of people in Morocco. Watch out for the men holding monkeys (poorly treated in cages and on chains) as wanting photos only results in this horrible practice continuing.