Well, my take is that there are more similarities than differences. The Earth-based paths do include quite a bit of working with spirit beings to heal, charm and hex --in fact, that pretty much comes with the territory.
What I think Stephanie, Travis, and others in this thread are referring to is that there are spirits who are, well, for lack of a better word, imbalanced, "sick" if you will. They are no good to others, nor to themselves. Like us incarnates, disincarnates can be balanced and "well" ...i.e., empowered, strong, can be counted on for leadership, guidance, they assist us with energy work (i.e., heal, charm, hex, instruct, and other activities). They're up for it, so to speak.
But like us too, some of them are not in a good place mentally, not "up" for anything. They may be mired in depression, or obsessed with something, or frozen in fear, etc. As with us, these imbalances arrest their development. They can't "move on" and do what they're really meant to do --what we're all meant to do: live a self-actualized existence. They're in a state of arrested development. Just because a spirit is on the astral plane, doesn't automatically mean that all is well with it. Just because someone dies to this plane, doesn't mean suddenly he's this all-powerful, omnipotent being full of wisdom and pithy sayings, wearing a long, flowing gown, with a booming, echoing voice. Some of them are cowering little girls sitting in a corner crying their eyes out, or standing by a roadside unable to leave the spot where they "died," or floating above the same spot where they drowned, etc.
Now in our plane of existence, we could put someone like that on anti-psychotic and/or anti-depressive drugs, maybe throw in a little psychotherapy for good measure ...worst case scenario, put him in a psych ward and try to rehabilitate him. We are obligated by law to "do" something with someone who is a harm to himself or others. But discarnates, they're on their own. It's sink or swim over there. It's like the streets of New York; you could stand there in pain for hours (which in the spirit plane may translate to decades or centuries, our time), and no one necessarily may feel compelled to do anything.
It's not that the spirits are cold-blooded, per se. There are schools and classrooms there (the Earth plane itself is a "classroom")...that's their idea of rehab (they don't need meds because they don't have chemical imbalances, because they lack physical bodies). But if you don't take the initiative to at least show an interest in helping yourself, but would rather remain obsessed with your problem, then the Law of Free Will applies (in that plane, as it does here). So you could sit in that corner of the room, or stand at the side of that road, or hover over that lake ...for 3,000 or more years (our time), for all anyone cares. Perhaps some may pause and ponder, "
That is how he chooses to exercise his free will...so be it," and keep going. They are not obligated by any law to lock up or medicate their mentally imbalanced brethren. You have all the time and space in the world, literally, on that side to be as mentally ill as you care to be. Then when you decide you want help, help will be available from the stronger spirits. But until then, you're on your own. And so it is.
That's where Earth folk get what we consider "ghost hauntings." These spirits' minds are caught in a loop, an obsession of some sort, and they can't get their minds off a particular issue that bothered them before they passed from the incarnate realm. As a result they also
can't be depended on for help to heal, charm, hex, or anything else. Instead, they keep doing repetitive things, like walking up and down the same flight of stairs, or sitting in the same spot in the corner of a room, or some other obsessive/compulsive behavior (we see this with humans who continually wash their hands, or can't leave a house, etc.) Either way, such are are no good to themselves, nor to anyone else.
There's this beautiful saying that underlies African spirituality:
umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, "a person is a person through other persons," where "persons" are interchangeably the living, and the so-called dead. In effect, we
are right now, not one day will be, our childrens' ancestors.
Ubuntu (a Zulu word) serves as the spiritual foundation of African societies. It is a unifying vision or world view enshrined in [this] Zulu maxim....At bottom, this traditional African aphorism articulates a basic respect and compassion for others. It can be interpreted as both a factual description and a rule of conduct or social ethic. It both describes human being as "being-with-others" and prescribes what "being-with-others" should be all about. --
Ubuntu: An African Assessment of the Religious Order
We (the living and the so-called dead) live through, and help one another. Not only can we request the spirits' help with healing, charming or hexing, but sometimes they need our help too with things, esp the imbalanced ones I'm talking about. They listen to us, and we can talk them into helping themselves out of the rut they've been in. That's what I think people are talking about in this thread. It's far from "putting them to rest," but rather "waking them up" if anything, helping them live more fully. Then they can go on to be those spirit helpers that we humans rely on, learn from and trust.
So, it seems, the Voodoo and pagan paths may be similar, rather than different, in this regard.