The use of images of living people in witchcraft is an ancient tradition, allowing the sorcerer's magic to be directed--for good or ill--at any person of his or her choosing. Superstition dictates that such an image, usually made of clay, wax, or cloth, does not have to be a particularly good likeness, so long as it is finished off with something that has been in close contact with the victim or patient. This may be anything from a strand of hair or fingernail clipping, to a handkerchief or a shred of clothing. The underlying idea is that the image and the real person are mystically linked, and anything done to the image will be duplicated to the living person.
Pins or thorns stuck into the image will cause the victim excruciating pain; if the image is melted, placed in a fast-flowing stream or otherwise destroyed, so too will the real person perish. However, in the superstitions of Afro-Caribbean voodoo the figure is actually sent to the victim.