In common with other branches of Sympathetic Magic, voodoo medicine relies very little on orthodox (or allopathic) pathology. Orthodox pathology is obsessed with material structure and molecules:
Bodies are composed of organs....
Organs are composed of tissues....
Tissues are composed of cells....
Cells are composed of organelles....
Organelles are composed of molecules....
Molecules are composed of atoms.
This reductionist approach seeks to describe the entirety of a living organism in terms of molecular interactions, and so explain away every therapeutic effect as being due to the actions and shapes of the molecules involved. Even energy is described in atomic or molecular terms, as in the flow of calcium ions across cell membranes, or the ATP/ADP/creatine/phosphocreatine interactions system.
Such an approach has no relevance to "energy medicine", of which Voodoo Medicine is a branch. As with other magic-based modalities, voodoo relies on the "vital force" or "vital essence" which permeates all living things and distinguishes them from mere matter. This force or essence cannot be measured by material instruments or quantified in any way, and is entirely independent of any molecules, atoms or ions. Thus the study of the material structure of the body is irrelevant to the successful practice of voodoo medicine.
In energy medicine the important consideration is that there is something wrong with the patient. How the illness developed, and why, are relatively unimportant. It is not therefore necessary to study anything about the pathogenesis of disease.
Once again, the important consideration is the owner's perception of the animal's condition. The presenting signs, and the owner's interpretation of the significance of those signs, are the reason that help has been sought and the issues which must be primarily addressed. For example, if the patient is coughing, the client would far rather have the cough stopped than be given a long complex explanation of why the cough is there and how you propose to tackle it. Energy medicine addresses the illness directly irrespective of underlying cause, and therefore detailed diagnostic investigations are again generally unnecessary.
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