New Orleans Voodoo Handbook

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Instead of associating this religion with zombies and Voodoo dolls, we should perhaps take the time to better understand Voodoo, and view it as a way of life or a set of guiding principles held by its believers. You’ll also learn how to make and use your own mojo bags, spiritual baths and incenses. And if that weren’t enough, there are 50 illustrations that make learning all of these things much easier.

The Pluralism Project. "Vodou, Serving the Spirits." Harvard University (April 29, 2022) https://hwpi.harvard.edu/files/pluralism/files/vodou-serving_the_spirits_0.pdfCussans, John. "Voodoo Terror: (mis)Representations of Voodoo and Western Cultural Anxieties. http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/Cussans.html These practices have been used for centuries, and the book was written by Denise Alvarado who grew up in a family of voodoo practitioners in New Orleans.

Our view is dominated by physical, touchable reality. In Haiti the spirits are as real as your wife or your dog," Corbett said.

The Spread of Voodoo Practices

United States Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook. Haiti. 1/18/2007. https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ha.html

Each religion also focuses its ceremonies around a center point—an altar in Catholicism, a pole or tree in voodoo. Their services include symbolic or actual rituals of sacrifice and consumption of flesh and blood, Corbett noted. According to local Haitian voodoo practitioners, all the Haitian politicians and influential people throughout their history were equally believers in voodoo as were the poor illiterate masses. The trend continues to this day. It was easy to meld the two faiths, because there are many similarities between Roman Catholicism and voodoo, Corbett said. Both venerate a supreme being and believe in the existence of invisible evil spirits or demons and in an afterlife. Historical Museum of South Florida. "Orishia Worship in Miami." http://www.hmsf.org/exhibits/orisha/english/orisha-e-4.htm

References

The Haitian people have a view of the world that is unimaginably different from ours," Corbett said. The Loa are believed to determine our lives to an astonishing degree, he explains, and they are always present in great numbers: There might be two people in a room, but there are also 20 Loa. The idea of spiritual possession is troublesome to many people, but it also has a place in other religions. For example, in Tibetan Buddhism, gods can temporarily inhabit the bodies of oracles. According to Tibetan lore, the Nechung Oracle, or the protector deity Dorje Drak-den in the body of a Buddhist monk, successfully instructed the Dalai Lama on how to escape Chinese forces in Tibet 1959 [source: Pulitzer Center]. Guynup, Sharon. "Haiti: Possessed by Voodoo." National Geographic. July 6, 2004 (April 29, 2022) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/haiti-ancient-traditions-voodoo Falkner nodded. "They had more in common than you may think. They both had a desire to heal, sooth, and do good works. They were both very spiritual people. Marie Laveau blended voodoo with Catholicism, especially regarding the saints.” I had a great time reading this book and it cleared many misconceptions that I had about voodoo in the past.

One common saying is that Haitians are 70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant, and 100 percent voodoo," said Lynne Warberg, a photographer who has documented Haitian voodoo for over a decade. According to the Voodoo tradition — also known as Vodou — there is one supreme God, who is known by different names in different parts of the world. In Haiti, for example, he is called Bondye, which comes from the French phrase bon Dieu, meaning "good God." Regardless of which name people use, the primary god is immensely powerful and beyond the reach of ordinary followers. For this reason, Voodoo practitioners must rely on hundreds or thousands of other spirits to communicate with God. In parts of Africa, people who want to become spiritual leaders in the Voodoo community can enter religious centers, which are much like convents or monasteries. In some communities, initiates symbolically die, spending three days and nights in complete seclusion before being returned to the outside world. Initiates learn the rituals, colors, foods and objects associated with different deities, as well as how to communicate with the loa. The spirits have different personalities and different requirements of their followers, much like the gods in Greek and Roman myths.

What are the Beliefs of Voodoo?

Government of Tibet in Exile. "Nechung - The Oracle of Tibet." http://www.tibet.com/Buddhism/nechung_hh.html To find a voodoo practitioner willing to share the secrets of their magic is very rare. Because of their tough colonial history, Haitians are especially unlikely to share their knowledge with whites. So there aren’t many books on the topic of voodoo. But the slaves continued to practice in secret while attending masses. What emerged was a religion that the colonialists thought was Catholicism—but they were outfoxed. Hybrid Rituals There are hundreds of spells using a voodoo doll that are explained in this compendium with a lovely and precise writing style.