Derived from the Greek word
dagos, meaning “doll,” a dagyde is a doll similar to the famous “
Voodoo doll.” The doll represents a person who is going to be the subject of a magickal ritual or spell. Needles or pins or even thorns are inserted in various places of the doll (a form of
sympathetic magick) to indicate where magickal energy, for good or ill, is to be sent. Author and
Pagans define the terms as “Witches’ needles and pins."