"Obeah" refers to spiritual folk practices that were derived from West African sources. The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute databasesupports obeah being traced to the "dibia" or "obia" meaning "doctoring" traditions of the Igbo people.
Specialists in "Obia" (also spelled Obea) were known as "Dibia" (doctor, psychic) and practiced something similar to the "Obeah men and women" of the Caribbean, like predicting the future and manufacturing charms.