Friday, September 2, 2011

Voodoo and Hoodoo

Voodoo



Vodun is sometimes called Voodoo, Vodoun, Vodou. Religions related to Vodun are: Candomble, Lucumi, Macumba, and Yoruba)

General background:

Vodun (a.k.a. Vodoun, Voudou, Voodoo, Sevi Lwa) is commonly called Voodoo by the public. The name is traceable to an African word for "spirit". Vodun's can be directly traced to the West African Yoruba people who lived in 18th and 19th century Dahomey. Its roots may go back 6,000 years in Africa. That country occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Slaves brought their religion with them when they were forcibly shipped to Haiti and other islands in the West Indies.

Vodun was actively suppressed during colonial times. "Many Priests were either killed or imprisoned, and their shrines destroyed, because of the threat they posed to Euro-Christian/Muslim dominion. This forced some of the Dahomeans to form Vodou Orders and to create underground societies, in order to continue the veneration of their ancestors, and the worship of their powerful gods." 1 Vodun was again suppressed during the Marxist regime. However, it has been freely practiced in Benin since a democratic government was installed there in 1989. Vodun was formally recognized as Benin's official religion in 1996-FEB. It is also followed by most of the adults in Haiti. It can be found in many of the large cities in North America, particularly in the American South.

Today over 60 million people practice Vodun worldwide. Religions similar to Vodun can be found in South America where they are called Umbanda, Quimbanda or Candomble.

Today, there are two virtually unrelated forms of the religion:

An actual religion, Vodun practiced in Benin, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Haiti, Togo and various centers in the US - largely where Haitian refuges have settled.

An evil, imaginary religion, which we will call Voodoo. It has been created for Hollywood movies, complete with violence, bizarre rituals, etc. It does not exist in reality.

History of Vodun in the west:
Slaves were baptized into the Roman Catholic Church upon their arrival in Haiti and other West Indian islands. However, there was little Christian infrastructure present during the early 19th century to maintain the faith. The result was that the slaves largely followed their original native faith. This they practiced in secret, even while attending Mass regularly.

An inaccurate and sensational book (S. St. John, "Haiti or the Black Republic") was written in 1884. It described Vodun as a profoundly evil religion, and included lurid descriptions of human sacrifice, cannibalism, etc., some of which had been extracted from Vodun priests by torture. This book caught the imagination of people outside the West Indies, and was responsible for much of the misunderstanding and fear that is present today. Hollywood found this a rich source for Voodoo screen plays. Horror movies began in the 1930's and continue today to misrepresent Vodun. It is only since the late 1950's that accurate studies by anthropologists have been published.

Other religions (Macumba, Candomble, Umbanda and Santeria) bear many similarities to Vodun.

Vodun beliefs:
Vodun, like Christianity, is a religion of many traditions. Each group follows a different spiritual path and worships a slightly different pantheon of spirits, called Loa. The word means "mystery" in the Yoruba language.

Yoruba traditional belief included a chief God Olorun, who is remote and unknowable. He authorized a lesser God Obatala to create the earth and all life forms. A battle between the two Gods led to Obatala's temporary banishment.

There are hundreds of minor spirits. Those which originated from Dahomey are called Rada; those who were added later are often deceased leaders in the new world and are called Petro.
Some of these are:

Agwe: spirit of the sea
Aida Wedo: rainbow spirit
Ayza: protector
Baka: an evil spirit who takes the form of an animal
Baron Samedi: guardian of the grave
Dambala (or Damballah-wedo): serpent spirit
Erinle: spirit of the forests
Ezili (or Erzulie): female spirit of love
Mawu Lisa: spirit of creation
Ogou Balanjo: spirit of healing
Ogun (or Ogu Bodagris): spirit of war
Osun: spirit of healing streams
Sango (or Shango): spirit of storms
Yemanja: female spirit of waters
Zaka (or Oko): spirit of agriculture
There are a number of points of similarity between Roman Catholicism and Vodun:
Both believe in a supreme being.
The Loa resemble Christian Saints, in that they were once people who led exceptional lives, and are usually given a single responsibility or special attribute.
Both believe in an afterlife.
Both have, as the centerpiece of some of their ceremonies, a ritual sacrifice and consumption of flesh and blood.
Both believe in the existence of invisible evil spirits or demons.
Followers of Vodun believe that each person has a met tet (master of the head) which corresponds to a Christian's patron saint.
Followers of Vodun believe that each person has a soul which is composed of two parts: a gros bon ange or "big guardian angel", and a ti bon ange or "little guardian angel". The latter leaves the body during sleep and when the person is possessed by a Loa during a ritual. There is a concern that the ti bon ange can be damaged or captured by evil sorcery while it is free of the body.

Vodun rituals:
The purpose of rituals is to make contact with a spirit, to gain their favor by offering them animal sacrifices and gifts, to obtain help in the form of more abundant food, higher standard of living, and improved health. Human and Loa depend upon each other; humans provide food and other materials; the Loa provide health, protection from evil spirits and good fortune. Rituals are held to celebrate lucky events, to attempt to escape a run of bad fortune, to celebrate a seasonal day of celebration associated with a Loa, for healing, at birth, marriage and death.

Vodun priests can be male (houngan or hungan), or female (mambo). A Vodun temple is called a hounfour (or humfort). At its center is a poteau-mitan a pole where the God and spirits communicate with the people. An altar will be elaborately decorated with candles, pictures of Christian saints, symbolic items related to the Loa, etc.

Rituals consist of some of the following components: a feast before the main ceremony creation of a veve, a pattern of flour or cornmeal on the floor which is unique to the Loa for whom the ritual is to be conducted shaking a rattle and beating drums which have been cleansed and purified
chanting
dancing by the houngan and/or mambo and the hounsis (students studying Vodun). The dancing will typically build in intensity until one of the dancers (usually a hounsis) becomes possessed by a Loa and falls. His or her ti bon ange has left their body and the spirit has taken control. The possessed dancer will behave as the Loa and is treated with respect and ceremony by the others present.
animal sacrifice; this may be a goat, sheep, chicken, or dog. They are usually humanely killed by slitting their throat; blood is collected in a vessel. The possessed dancer may drink some of the blood. The hunger of the Loa is then believed to be satisfied. The animal is usually cooked and eaten. Animal sacrifice is a method of consecrating food for consumption by followers of Vodun, their gods and ancestors.
Evil sorcery:
The houngan and mambos confine their activities to "white" magic which is used to bring good fortune and healing. However caplatas (also known as bokors) perform acts of evil sorcery or black magic, sometimes called "left-handed Vodun". Rarely, a houngan will engage in such sorcery; a few alternate between white and dark magic.
One belief unique to Vodun is that a dead person can be revived after having been buried. After resurrection, the zombie has no will of their own, but remains under the control of others. In reality, a zombie is a living person who has never died, but is under the influence of powerful drugs administered by an evil sorcerer. Although most Haitians believe in zombies, few have ever seen one. There are a few recorded instances of persons who have claimed to be zombies.
Sticking pins in dolls was once used as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of Vodun in New Orleans; this practice continues occasionally in South America. The practice became closely associated with Voodoo in the public mind through the vehicle of horror movies.

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Voodoo Lexicon



Ago

A ritual exclamation used in the sense of Amen.



Agoué (Aga-ou, Agoueh, Agwé)

The loa who represents the sea, is the patron of fishermen and sailors, and is the husband of Erzulie in the aspect of La Sirène. His symbol is the drawing of a boat. In sacrificial rituals to Agoué, champagne and other offerings are loaded on small, specially constructed rafts and set adrift at sea; if the boat sinks, the sacrifice has been accepted.

Aida-Wedo (Ayida Wèdo, Ayidohwédo)

The loa who represents, with her husband Damballah-Wedo, fertility and new life, and who has special influence in the realms of conception and childbirth. Her symbol is the rainbow, and in the hounfort, the rainbow colors painted on the poteau-mitan represent her. Her color is white, and she is offered white chickens and eggs. See also Damballah-Wedo, poteau-mitan.

Aizan (Ayizan)

The loa who represents the marketplace and herbal healing. As an aspect of Legba, she is the protector of the hounfort and guardian of religious ceremonies, who never possesses anyone during ritual; she is also the wife of Loco. Her symbol is the palm leaf, and her colors are white and silver. See also healing, hounfort, Legba, Loco.

Altar

See pé.

Ancestors

The ancestors are always with the practitioners of vodou; wherever they go, whatever they do, they act with awareness of their ancestors' presence around them. The spirits of deceased family members offer protection, healing, and advice, and they bring messages through intuition and dreams. If you travel through the countryside of Haiti, you will quickly see how important the peasants consider their ancestors to be. A family graveyard adjoins each house, and the tombs are as elaborate as the family can afford. Some resemble houses built above the ground, and the most elaborate contain small, completely furnished sitting rooms inside. Often, lit candles are placed before the tombs and prayers are said to the spirits of the family's ancestors. Visitors must pour a small libation of water before the tombs, so that the ancestors will welcome the newcomer into the house. See also death, conception of.

Angajan

See engagement.

Animal sacrifice

Unlike the gods of other religions, the vodou loa need to eat. And just as we do, they lose power when they aren't fed. If a community feeds the gods to keep them strong, then the gods will use that strength to support the community in times of hardship and trouble. Because of this, most rituals include a food offering of some kind, which can include animal sacrifices. To people who get their chicken for dinner from a supermarket already cleaned, packaged, and ready for the oven, an animal sacrifice may seem like a barbaric practice. But to a Haitian peasant, who frequently doesn't own a refrigerator and usually must kill his food shortly before eating it to keep it fresh, killing a chicken to feed a loa is no different than killing one to feed his family. In fact, the sacrifice has even more meaning because the peasant has given up something of real value -- an animal that he was probably planning to eat (although the entire community actually eats the animal during the ritual). In sacrifice, the animal's life force becomes a part of the loa. The animal's blood is collected in a calabash gourd and tasted so that the devotees can share in the loa's divine energy. The cooked meat, as well, is shared by both the devotees and the loa; nothing is wasted in vodou. Doves and chickens are the most common sacrifices, although for important ceremonies, the community may offer a more expensive animal like a pig, goat, or bull. See also mangé loa.

Asson (açon, ason)

In vodou, the symbol of the priestly office is the asson, a ritual rattle made from a hollow calabash gourd filled with stones, snake vertebrae (which represent Damballah-Wedo), and small bones and decorated with beads on the handle. The asson serves as the voice of invocation and controls the direction of rituals. When a houngan is ritually raised to priestly authority, he is said to have been "given the asson." See also houngan.

Azaca (Azaka, Azzaca)

The loa who represents agriculture and who protects crops. He is depicted as a coarse peasant carrying a straw bag called a macoute. His color is blue, he is given corn cakes and cornmeal as offerings, and he often takes his food into a corner to eat in secret.

Bagi

Several separate chambers called bagi are found inside the larger hounforts, each room consecrated to a single loa. Smaller hounforts contain only one or two rooms that hold several altars, one for each of the major members of the vodou pantheon. See also hounfort, pé.

Balance

In vodou, everything is balanced: there cannot be light without dark, good without evil, or white magic without black. That is why the dark loa, the Petro, are as revered as the Rada -- without the one, the other could not exist. That is also why so many loa have both a good and a dark aspect; each one is necessary for the balance of all the cosmic forces. See also black magic, Petro, Rada.

Baptême (batèm) A ritual ceremony in which objects used in the hounfort are baptized, or consecrated to the loa.

Baron Cimetière (Baron Cimeterre, Baron Cimetié)

One of the family of Guédé, the loa who represents the cemetery. See also Guédé.

Baron-La-Croix (Baron Crois)

One of the family of Guédé, the loa who represents the cross. See also Guédé.

Baron Samedi (Baron Sanmdi)

The most powerful member of the Guédé family, and the loa who represents death. Baron Samedi controls passage between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and he provides information about the dead. His symbols are the cross, coffin, and phallus, and his color his black. When he possesses devotees, he tells lewd jokes, makes obscene gestures, wears dark glasses and a top hat, smokes cigarettes, eats voraciously, and drinks rum in which 21 hot peppers have been steeped. See also Guédé.

Baron Tonnerre

See Ogoun Tonnerre.

Barque d'Agoué (barque d'Agwé, bato Agoue)

A specially constructed raft that is filled with offerings to Agoué and set adrift upon the sea. See also Agoué.

Barriè (bayé)

An entranceway or gate, particularly between the material world and the world of the loa. See also Legba.

Baton (baton-Legba)

A long stick or crutch used by Legba. See also Legba.

Battérie (batri)

The vodou orchestra, which usually consists of three drums and an ogan. See also drumming, ogan.

Battérie maconnique (batri maconik)

A rhythmic beat produced by clapping the hands and beating the drum that symbolizes rapping on the door to the world of the loa.

Bizango

A secret society of black magicians that supposedly practices zombification. See also black magic, zombie.

Black magic

All houngans and mambos are also black magicians. That is, they understand and know how to perform black magic, even if they do not literally practice it. A houngan must know evil in order to combat it. In this way, the houngan balances the forces of the universe, a very important function in vodou belief. However, honest priests will have nothing to do with any practices designed to bring harm to others or to defraud people. Real vodou is always used for good ends, to promote the good health and good fortune of members of the community, to cure sickness and solve problems, and to commune with the spiritual world. See also balance, bokor, magic.

Bokor (bocor, bòkò)

Houngans who actually practice black magic are called "those who serve the loa with both hands," or bokors. Unlike the open religious rituals practiced by a reputable vodou priest, the bokor works in secret, primarily to protect his recipes for various potions and poisons, but also to avoid the censure of the true devotees to vodou. The bokor has no hounfort and does not lead any société; rather, he sells his services to whoever is willing to pay. See also black magic, engagement.

Bondye

See Grand Maître.



Boucan (boukan) The bonfire that is lit during a vodou ritual.

Boula (bula)

The smallest of the three drums used in Rada ceremonies. See also drumming.

Boule zen (boulez-zain)

After death, the houngan can burn the govi containing the dead person's soul, or ti-bon-ange, in a ritual called boule zen. This burning of the jars releases the spirit to the land of the dead. See also death, ti-bon-ange.

Brigitte

The loa who represents money and who has special influence over black magic and ill-gotten fortune. She is also the wife of Baron Samedi and is analogous to the Catholic St. Brigid. Brigitte lives in a tree in the cemetary and dresses in purple. Black chickens are sacrificed to her. See also Baron Samedi, black magic.

Brulé-zin

After the ordeal of the canzo initiation, the initiate has been resurrected into the religion of vodou and is ready to undergo the final test, the brulé-zin. Draped in a white sheet so that no part of the head or body is visible, the initiate takes a handful of boiling cornmeal that the houngan himself has seized directly from the pot. The initiate returns the hot cornmeal to the pot while his feet pass directly over the flame beneath, but he isn't burned. The entire canzo initiation ritual has adequately prepared him for this final "trial by fire." See also canzo.

Cannibalism

See human sacrifice.

Canzo

The first level of initiation is the grueling ritual called canzo, which serves as a rite of passage and symbolizes death and rebirth into the religion. Not every practitioner of vodou has to go through this ritual; usually only those devotees who are training to become priests or who would like to take a larger part in the rituals do so. The canzo initiation requires significant financial sacrifice, strict discipline, and the acceptance of moral obligation, so no one undertakes this ritual lightly. The ritual can take as long as week to complete. First, the initiates take a purifying bath, start fasting, and drink a concoction made from the fruit corrosal, which is supposed to have a sedative effect. The initiates wear dried palm fronds as protection against evil spirits. They then lie down around the center-post, with their heads in the middle and their legs sticking out like the spokes of a wheel, while the houngan lectures them on what they are about to experience and their obligations once they are fully initiated in vodou. Afterward, they are locked in the djévo, where they receive the laver tête ceremony. Then, they undergo the final trial by fire. The following morning, the initiates reenter the real world dressed in white and wearing masks of palm leaves. They visit the sacred trees located around the hounfort and salute the spirits who reside inside them. They are then free to return to the peristyle, where a dance and celebration in their honor is held. See also brulé-zin, djévo, hounsi, laver tête.

Carrefour

Carrefour is the Petro equivalent of Legba. He represents the dark of night, and stands in balance to Legba, who represents the day. He controls the evil forces of the spirit world and allows bad luck, misfortune, and injustice to enter the world. His symbol is the crossroads, and his color is black. See also balance, Legba, Petro.

Catholicism, influence on vodou

In Haiti, the African beliefs mingled with the Catholicism of the French colonialists to form a syncretic religion, one that combined significant elements of each religion to create a harmonious whole. The white plantation owners forbade their slaves to practice their native religions on pain of torture and death, and they baptized all slaves as Catholics. Catholicism became superimposed on African rites and beliefs, which the slaves still practiced in secret or masked as harmless dances and parties. Practitioners of this new religion, vodou, considered the addition of the Catholic Saints to be an enhancement of their faith, and incorporated Catholic hymns, prayers, statues, candles, and holy relics into their rituals. Tribal deities adopted the aspects of Catholic saints. The cross, already a powerful symbol in the tribal religions as the crossroads, where the spiritual and material worlds meet each other, was adopted as the symbol of the powerful god Legba. However, it's important to note that the vodou gods did not literally become the Catholic Saints; rather, they adopted the symbolic trappings of Catholicism and the Saints who they seemed to resemble most while retaining their original characteristics and personalities.

Cérémonie (ceremoni)

A vodou ritual. See also baptême, canzo, dessounin, invoking the loa, laver tête, Legba, mangé loa, mangé sec, peristyle, range, retirer d'en bas de l'eau, salutations in the ritual, vévé.

Charms

Because vodou is such an archetypal religion, symbols carry great power. They are not magical; they are just evocative of the gods that they represent and the power that the god holds. Vodou practitioners may wear charms or amulets, fashioned by a houngan and generally used for protection from harm, that invoke the power of one of the loa and impose that power on the wearer. For instance, a protective charm may be inscribed with the cross that symbolizes Legba. Again, the charm itself is not magical; it simply represents the spirit who is conferring his power on the wearer through the symbol.

Cheval (chwal, ch'wl)

Literally a "horse," this term refers to a person who has been possessed, or "mounted," by a loa. See also possession.

Cimby

See Simbi.

Clairin

A raw white rum native to Haiti, a favorite drink of Guédé. See also Guédé.

Connaissance

The complete body of knowledge of the loa, vodou rites, and herbal cures held by a houngan or mambo; some of this knowledge is passed down from one generation to the next, and some is intuitive or supernaturally revealed by the loa. See also houngan.

Corps cadavre

The corps cadavre is the physical body, flesh, and blood of the human body that decay after death, as opposed to the everlasting components of the soul. See also death.

Coucher

Literally "to put to bed," this term refers to the point in the initiation ritual when initiates are enclosed in the djévo. See also canzo, djévo.

Couvert sec

See mangé sec.

Creole

This term refers to anything that is native to Haiti, including the language, people, plant life, and loa, as distinguished from objects that have African origin.

Dahomey (Dahomé, Daromain)

The foundations of vodou are the tribal religions of West Africa, brought to Haiti in the seventeenth century by slaves captured primarily from the kingdom of Dahomey, which occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. The word is also incorporated into the names of loa who originated from there, such as Erzulie Fréda Dahomey, and designates dances that originated from that region.

Damballah-Wedo (Dambala, Damballa, Danballah, Danbhalah Wèdo)

The symbolic father of the loa, Damballah-Wedo represents the ancestral knowledge that forms the foundation of vodou. With his wife, Aida-Wedo, he also represents fertility and new life. His symbol is the snake and the asson, his color is white, and he is associated with the Christian figures Moses and Saint Patrick. White chickens and eggs are sacrificed to him. Those who are possessed by Damballah-Wedo sliter instead of walk, hiss instead of talk, and climb trees. See also Aida-Wedo.

Death, conception of

In vodou belief, death is not thought of as a cessation of life. Rather, in death, activities are simply changed from one condition to another. The body, the shell for the life force, simply decays, while the n'âme that animated the body returns to the ground as earth energy. The soul, the gros-bon-ange and the ti-bon-ange, endures after death in a different form. The gros-bon-ange returns to the high solar regions from where its cosmic energy was drawn; there, it joins the other loa and is itself transformed into a loa. The ti-bon-ange is transformed into an esprit and revered as a family ancestor. See also ancestors, Baron Samedi, gros-bon-ange, ti-bon-ange.

Débâtement

The period of physical movement, often very intense and violent, that reflects the struggle between the soul and a loa over the possession of the body of a devotee; this conflict subsides once the loa has taken full possession of the body. See also possession.

Dessounin (desounen, désounin)

The process of separating the gros-bon-ange from the body after death is called dessounin, and it occurs before or soon after the Catholic burial of the body. During this ceremony, the guardian loa of that person is also separated from the soul. The houngan often becomes possessed by the loa, who makes pronouncements about the future of the société. Powered by the loa, the priest is reborn, as the divine essence of life that belonged to the dead person becomes part of the houngan, passing through on the way to the cosmic plane where the loa live. Only a fully initiated and experience houngan should take the spirit from the dead in this way, as it is a risky and dangerous procedure. The malevolent spirits of the dead may do harm to an ill-prepared priest. See also death, gros-bon-ange.

Djévo

During the canzo ritual, the initiates are ushered into a chamber inside the hounfort called the djévo, where they may be locked in for as long as a week. This room represents a tomb where the initiate dies and is reborn into vodou. What goes on inside the djévo is supposed to be kept secret, but that is where the laver tête ritual takes place. See also canzo, laver tête.

Dossa or dossu (dossou)

The first female or male child (respectively) born after twins, who is believed to have supernatural powers. See also twins.

Drapeaux

Ceremonial flags that are brightly colored and sewn with sequins in the design of vévés; La Place and his assistants carry them during rituals. See also La Place, vévés.

Drumming

Drumming is crucial to any vodou ritual, because it sets the rhythm for the dance, and abrupt changes in tempo can bring on possession by the loa. Three drums are used in Rada rituals, and they are treated as sacred objects. The largest drum is called the maman, the next largest the seconde, and the smallest the boula. Sometimes, an instrument called an ogan, which looks like a large flattened bell, is struck to announce the basic rhythm that the three drums will play. In Petro ceremonies, only two drums are used, both smaller than the "mother" drum of the Rada ritual. The drumming in Petro rituals is more off-beat and faster than in Rada ceremonies, in keeping with the tension, rage, and violence of slavery days that gave birth to the Petro cult. See also Petro, Rada.

Engagement

Certain Petro loa are partners in black magic and will perform harmful services in exchange for a huge price. This pact between the loa and a bokor is called an engagement. See also black magic, bokor, Petro.

Erzulie (Ezili)

Representing love, beauty, purity, the ideal female, and the moon, Erzulie is the most beloved of the loa and the wife of Ogoun, Legba, and Agoué. She can influence romance and marriage, good fortune, and artistic creation. Her symbol is the heart, her colors are pink and blue, and she is also represented by a model boat hanging from the ceiling of the peristyle. Her Catholic equivalent is the Virgin Mary. As offerings, she is given desserts, sweet drinks, champagne, perfumes, flowers, candles, and white doves. Devotees possessed by Erzulie wear feminine clothes, dance, and flirt conquettishly, but this behavior is always followed by weeping for lost loves and unfulfilled dreams before Erzulie leaves the material plane.

Erzulie Dantor

The Petro aspect of Erzulie represents jealousy, vengeance, and discord, and she is often cruel toward women's desires. Her symbol is a heart pierced by a dagger, her colors are red and black, and her sacrifice is a black pig. Possession by the Petro Erzulies is marked by uncontrollable tantrums. See also Erzulie, Petro.

Erzulie Fréda Dahomey

An aspect of Erzulie as a white woman who lives in luxurious surroundings. See also Erzulie.

Erzulie ze Rouge

See Erzulie Dantor.

Esprit (espri)

The ritually raised spirit or soul of a dead person. See also retirer d'en bas de l'eau.

Farine (farin)

The flour or cornmeal used to trace the vévés of the Rada loa. See also Rada, vévés.

Farine guinée (farin ginen)

The powdered charcoal ash used to trace the vévés of the Petro loa. See also Petro, vévés.

Feeding the loa

See mangé loa.

Gangan

See houngan.

Garde

A protective charm used to ward off black magic. See also black magic, charms.

Ghuevo

See djévo.

Ginen (Guinée)

This term refers to Africa, the land where the loa originated.

Given the asson

Refers to when a houngan or mambo is raised to priestly authority. See also asson.

Govi

A sacred clay vessel in which the loa or spirits of dead ancestors are housed. See also pé, ti-bon-ange.

Grand Bois (Ganga-Bois, Grans Bwa)

The loa who represents the forest.

Grande Brigitte

See Brigitte.

Grand Maître (Gran Mèt)

Vodou belief recognizes an original supreme being, called the Grand Maître or le Bon Dieu, who made the world and who is analogous to the Christian God. However, the Grand Maître is too remote for personal worship.

Grande Ai-zan

See Aizan.

Graveyard, family

See ancestors.

Great Serpent, the

See Damballah-Wedo.

Gros-bon-ange (gwo-bon-anj)

Gros-bon-ange literally means, "great good angel." At conception, part of the cosmic life force passes into the human being to become the gros-bon-ange. All living things share this force, connecting all of us in a great web of energy. The gros-bon-ange keeps the body alive and sentient, and after death, passes back into the reservoir of energy in the cosmos. Without the gros-bon-ange, a person loses his or her life force; it's possible, according to vodou belief, to separate a person's gros-bon-ange from the body and store it in a bottle or jar, where the energy can be directed to other purposes. The gros-bon-ange also separates from a person when he is possessed, although it isn't clear where this important part of the soul goes during those times. The most important effect of the death ritual is to send the gros-bon-ange to the cosmic community of ancestral spirits, where family members can revere it as a loa, and where it can offer advice and help to surviving family members. If this isn't accomplished, the gros-bon-ange can become trapped on earth, bringing misfortune and disease to those family members who ignored its needs. See also death, dessounin

Guédé (Gede, Ghede

Guédé is actually a group of loa that is made up of the many spirits of the dead and is separate from the Rada and Petro groups. These loa represent death, sexuality, and buffoonery. They are also healers of the sick and protectors of children. Their colors are black and purple, and they frequently possess devotees, when they wear elaborate costumes with large hats, dark glasses, and walking sticks, or when they cross-dress. See also Baron Samedi, nanchon.

Healing

One of the houngan's chief occupations is as healer, a very important role in peasant villages that typically make do without the benefits of modern health care. But you shouldn't confuse the houngan with the stereotypical notion of a witch doctor. Rather, the houngan is more akin to a folk healer, drawing on a considerable knowledge of herbal remedies to treat minor illnesses like headaches, colds, infections, and stomach complaints. Because the houngan's patients believe that he works directly with the loa, his remedies often have a strong psychosomatic value as well as a purely medicinal one, which seems to bring about miraculous cures. Nevertheless, members of the société with serious illnesses are referred to a medical doctor by the houngan. See also Aizan, houngan.

Hoholi

Sesame seeds that are placed in a coffin to prevent a bokor from disturbing the corpse. See also bokor, zombie.

Hoodoo

In New Orleans in particular, a new form of African-American vodou has spawned. This offshoot of vodou is sometimes called "hoodoo," a term that refers to the African-American tradition of folk magic. This form of vodou emphasizes magic rather than religion, and the initiatory traditions of the original religion have largely disappeared. However, as more Haitians have emigrated to New Orleans, they have brought the religious aspects of vodou back together with the African-American folk magic traditions.

Horse

See cheval.

Hounfort (houmfor, hunfor)

The temple where rituals are performed and where the members of the société gather together. Only one houngan or mambo presides over each hounfort. The hounfort must contain many basic elements for rituals to be held there properly. A square house, the hounfort proper, is located adjacent to the peristyle and contains the altars to the loa. See also houngan, pé, peristyle, société.

Houngan (hungan)

The houngan is the priest of vodou, its religious leader. The houngan acts as a community leader as well as a spiritual leader, and he serves many functions within the société. His maintains absolute authority over the community, because he is the only person who is fully trained to interact with the gods and to interpret the complex body of belief that makes up vodou. Houngans are highly revered members of the community, someone who can be relied upon to offer sound advice, with all the force of the spirit world behind it. Virtually nothing is done in the community without first consulting the houngan. The houngan has many means by which to contact the gods, including dreams, ritual invocation, and fortune-telling using cards, palm-reading, or figure drawings. Each société's spiritual leader also has the power to alter the vodou ceremonies of his community, tailoring them to the particular gods that are revered by that community, which explains why vodou practices can vary so dramatically even in villages that are right next-door to each other. As well as priest, the houngan acts as confessor, confidential adviser, financial adviser, and prophet for the people in his community. Generally, the houngan inherits his office from a parent. The current priest trains future priests from a young age, and the new houngan is not fully initiated until he reaches his early thirties, usually at the age of thirty-one. See also asson, healing, invoking the loa, société.

Houngénikon (hounguenicon)

The houngan or mambo has one female assistant, who is next on the priestly hierarchy -- the houngénikon. She leads the chorus that chants during the ritual. She also supervises the sacrificial food offerings made to the gods.

Hounsi (hounci, hounsih, hunsi)

Once initiated, a vodou devotee becomes a full-fledged hounsi, outranked only by the houngan and his immediate assistants. The hounsi can now take a more active part in the rituals -- as a member of the chorus of chanters, for instance. They are also more likely to be possessed by one of the gods during the rituals. As the initiate receives more training and instruction, he or she may eventually become La Place or the houngénikon, and so continue on the long journey toward eventually becoming a houngan or mambo. The term hounsi means "bride of the spirit" in the Fon language of Dahomey (although a hounsi can be either male or female). See also canzo, initiation.

Hounsi bossale (bosal)

An initiate who is not yet fully trained and so is given more mundane duties during the ritual; also means "wild" or "untamed." See also hounsi.

Hounsi canzo

The chorus of fully initiated female members of the société. Performing under the direction of the houngénikon, they sing to the gods in the astral plane and so call them down to earth.

Hounsi cuisinière

The sacrificial cook during a ritual. See also animal sacrifice.

Hounsi ventailleur

The initiate who obtains the sacrificial animals for a ritual. See also animal sacrifice.

Hountor (huntor)

The spirit of the ritual drums. See also drumming.

Hountorguier

One of the three male drummers. See also drumming.

Human sacrifice

Many people mistakenly believe that vodou requires the practice of human sacrifice or cannibalism. Vodou first got this reputation in the mid-1800s, when Sir Spenser St. John, an English consul who despised blacks, spread the rumor that the Haitian people as a whole practiced the sacrifice of children. As with all sensationalist rumors, this one was quickly picked up and repeated, particularly by yellow journalists. However, no one has ever found any convincing evidence that human sacrifice was ever practiced in vodou ritual. Sometimes, when a person's death is brought about through the means of black magic or by an evil spirit, that spirit is said to have "eaten" the person. You shouldn't take this to mean that the person was literally cannibalized; rather, it means that the evil spirit consumed the person's life force. See also black magic.

Initiation

In vodou, there are a series of initiation rituals, each one taking place as a devotee gains a higher level of knowledge of vodou traditions and standing in the community. Initiation rituals can only take place in Haiti. See also canzo.

Installé The ritual introduction of a loa to a new hounfort; this term also sometimes refers to possession, when the loa installs himself in a devotee. See also possession.

Invoking the loa

At the climax of the ritual, the houngan calls the loa. To invoke the loa, the priest strikes the vévés with his asson, which obliges the loa to descend to earth. See also loa.

Kafou

See Carrefour.

Kanzo
< See canzo. Kleren See clairin. Konesans See connaissance. Ku-bha-sah The sword, which symbolizes Ogoun, carried by La Place during rituals. See also La Place, Ogoun. La Flambeau Literally "the torch," this title is added to the names of certain Rada loa when an especially fiery aspect of their power is invoked. See also Rada. La Place (laplas) The houngan or mambo has one male assistant who has been almost fully trained for the priesthood and will one day undergo initiation as a houngan assistant. This male assistant is called La Place. He is the grand marshal of the ritual and directs the overall movement of the ceremony. In the ritual, he carries a sword called the ku-bha-sah, which he uses to cut away the material world, leaving the faithful open to the spirits who reside in the cosmic plane. La Place also orchestrates the flag-waving and drumming that takes place during the ritual. See also drumming, salutations. La Sirène (La Sirènn) An aspect of Erzulie who represents the sea and is the wife of Agoué; she is symbolized by a mermaid. See also Agoué, Erzulie. Lambi A conch shell often used as a horn in vodou ceremonies, particularly those connected with the loa of the sea. See also Agoué. Langage (langaj, langay) The sacred but unintelligible language that originated in Africa and supposedly imitates Damballah-Wedo's hissing; it is often spoken during possession and is similar to the phenomenon of speaking in tongues. See also Damballah-Wedo, possession. Laver tête One important event that is known to take place during the canzo ritual is the laver tête ceremony, in which the initiate is consecrated to one particular god who acts as guardian of that person; this god is said to "sit on the head" of the initiate. Generally, an initiate's guardian spirit is the one that first possessed him; if none of the immortal spirits has ever possessed the initiate, the houngan chooses the most appropriate spirit for that person. After the laver tête ceremony, sequined flags and govis are carried inside the djévo, vévés are drawn on the floor, and doves and chickens are sacrificed. The initiates lie down on mats close to the sign of their particular guardian spirit. At this point, each initiate is inevitably possessed by his guardian god. Now, the initiate, with the god animating his body, is finally free to eat after the long fast, and often gorges himself on the meat of the animal sacrifice. See also canzo, djévo. le Bon Dieu See Grand Maître. Legba (Legba Ati-bon) Legba is the most powerful of all the loa. He represents the sun and is the guardian of the gate between the material world and the spiritual plane where the loa reside. All rituals, no matter what their purposes, open with an invocation to Legba, the loa of the gate. Without Legba's permission, no other loa may cross from the astral plane to the material one. Because no loa can pass to the material world without Legba's permissions, only he can permit communication between practitioners of vodou and the loa. The houngan invokes Legba by sprinkling rum on the ground in his honor, tracing his vévé on the ground, and chanting. Due to his wisdom and vast knowledge of the past and future, Legba is often consulted in times of crisis. Legba's symbol is the cross, his color is black, and he is represented in the hounfort by the poteau-mitan and by a sacred tree near the hounfort. He is often associated with the Christian figures, Saint Peter and Christ. His sacrifice is animal bones and marrow, particularly of roosters and goats. Les Invisibles A generic term that refers to all of the spirits, including the loa and the souls of the dead. Loa (lwa) Although I refer to the loa as gods for simplicity's sake, they are actually not deities at all, but the immortal spirits of the ancestors or archetypal representations of the natural world and of moral principles, such as love, death, war, and the ocean. They are analogous to the Catholic saints or to angels in Christianity. The entire vodou pantheon of loa is enormous, encompassing thousands of spirits. Many of these loa are simply aspects of one major god, since one loa may have many different names, appearances, symbols, and personalities that represent a slightly different form of that god's fundamental nature. The pantheon can also expand to include new loa in the form of local deities, ancestral spirits, and even presidents and kings. In fact, the original African gods who the loa evolved from were the spirits of actual human beings. Just as a child looks to his parents for guidance, the living looked to their wiser ancestors who had already passed into the spiritual world for advice and help. Some of these spirits were stronger than others, able to give better advice and accomplish better cures of illnesses and curses. If a family's ancestor seemed especially wise and helpful, it soon began to receive offerings from others outside the family and was thus elevated to the status of a local god. The more people who worshiped the god, the stronger he became, until he was brought into the major pantheon of tribal gods. Captured slaves then brought their beliefs in these gods with them to Haiti where they were incorporated into what would eventually become vodou's pantheon of powerful spirits. The word "loa" means "mystery" in the Yoruba language of West Africa, and so the loa are often also called the mystères. Vodou devotees "serve the loa," forming very close personal relationships with these lesser deities. Each loa has his or her own well-defined characteristics, including specific food offerings, colors, numbers, sacred days, chants, mannerisms, and ritual objects. Thus, a practitioner of vodou can serve one of the loa by wearing clothes of the loa's colors, making offerings of the loa's preferred foods, and observing the days that are sacred to the loa. The loa, in turn, manifest their will through dreams, unusual incidents, and spirit possession, which occurs during vodou rituals. The loa are very active in the world and often literally "possess" devotees during ritual. Rituals are practiced primarily to make offerings to, or "feed," the loa and to entreat them for aid or fortune. See also Agoué, Aida-Wedo, Aizan, ancestors, Azaca, Baron Samedi, Brigitte, Carrefour, Damballah-Wedo, Erzulie, Erzulie Dantor, Grand Bois, Guédé, invoking the loa, Legba, Loco, mangé loa, Marinette, nanchon, Ogoun, possession, servi loa, Simbi. Loco (Loco Atisou, Loco Attiso, Loko, Loko Ati-sou) Loco is the aspect of Legba that is master of the hounfort, and he represents medicine and the healing arts. He is often invoked to help with healing and to protect against black magic. See also healing, hounfort, Legba. Macoute (macoutte, makout) A straw sack carried by country peasants and associated with Azaca, the loa of agriculture. See also Azaca. Mademoiselle Brigitte See Brigitte. Magic in vodou Vodou is primarily a religion, and while selling love potions and protective charms may be a lucrative side business for a houngan, the priest's primary occupation is still as spiritual leader of his community. So, although so many people associate magic with vodou, its role in the actual practice of the religion is in reality very small. See also black magic, charms, hoodoo, houngan Maître Cimetière See Baron Cimetière. Maître Ka-Fu See Carrefour ,br> Maîtresse Erzulie

See Erzulie.

Maît-tête (mèt tèt)

Literally "the master of the head," this term refers to the primary loa who a devotee serves and the one who acts as that devotee's guardian. See also laver tête.

Maman (manman)

The largest of the three drums used in Rada rituals. See also drumming.

Mambo

A fully initiated priestess of vodou who is equal in every respect to her male counterpart, the houngan. (To keep things simple, I'll refer to the houngan alone, with the understanding a mambo may also fulfill any of his duties.) See also houngan.

Mangé loa (manje lwa)

The most frequently performed ritual in vodou is one that invokes a particular loa to offer food to him, including animal sacrifices, and to solicit his presence on earth. This ceremony is called mangé loa, "feeding the gods." Food offerings are always placed on a vévé when made inside the hounfort and on a crossroads when made outside. Ritual feeding of the loa nourishes, enlivens, and fortifies the divine spirits and helps the devotees taking part in the ritual to make contact with a particular god. Each loa has special "favorite" foods; the more the ritual offerings are adapted to a particular loa's tastes, the greater the power made available by the ritual. Tasting the offerings increases the power the loa brings, including the blood of animal sacrifice and part of the flour or cornmeal used to make vévés. Libations of favorite drinks -- particularly the expensive Barbancourt rum or the much cheaper clairin, a raw white rum made from sugarcane -- are made by pouring the liquid three times on the ground. See also animal sacrifice, invoking the loa, mangé sec.

Mangé Morts

The feast for the Dead, a death ritual that is usually held when a houngan, mambo, or hounsi has died. See also death, houngan, hounsi.

Mangé sec (manje sek)

A ceremony where food offerings, but not animal sacrifices, are made to the loa. See also mangé loa.

Manman Brijit

See Brigitte.

Marassa (Marasa, Marassah)

The sacred twins who are saluted in every ritual. See also twins.

Marinette

A powerful and violent female loa of the Petro cult. See also Petro.

Ogoun (Ogou, Ogu)

Ogoun is a powerful warrior god who represents all aspects of power, strength, and masculinity, including war, fire, lightning, politics, and metalworking. His color is red, his symbol is the sword, and in the hounfort, he is represented by a perpetual fire with an iron bar stuck in the middle and in ritual by the ku-bha-sah. His Catholic equivalent is St. Jacques. His sacrifices are red roosters and rum poured on the ground and set afire. Those possessed by Ogoun wear red clothing, carry a sword or machete, and smoke cigars.

Ogoun Baba

The aspect of Ogoun who represents a military general. See also Ogoun.

Ogoun Badagris

The aspect of Ogoun who represents the phallus. See also Ogoun.

Ogoun Fer

The aspect of Ogoun who represents stability, order, and authority, particularly in a political sense. See also Ogoun.

Ogoun Feraille

The aspect of Ogoun who is the patron of blacksmiths and metalworkers. See also Ogoun.

Ogoun Shango

The aspect of Ogoun who is the loa of lightning and who is descended from a powerful Nigerian god. See also Ogoun.

Ogoun Tonnerre

The aspect of Ogoun who represents thunder. See also Ogoun.

Ouanga

A magical charm used by a bokor in malevolent sorcery. See also black magic, bokor, charms.

Ouete mò nan ba dlo

See retirer d'en bas de l'eau.

Oum'phor, ounfò

See hounfort.

Oungan

See houngan.

Oungenikon

See houngénikon.

Ounzi

See hounsi.

Ounzi bosal

See hounsi bossale.

Ounzi kanzo

See hounsi canzo.

Monter la tête (monter)

Literally "to mount one's head," this term refers to the act of possession by a loa. A possessed devotee is called a cheval, which means horse; when a loa takes possession, the spirit "mounts" the head of the devotee. See also possession.

Morts

The dead.

Mystères (mistè)

The loa; also refers to certain ceremonies. See also loa.

N'âme (nanm)

The spirit of the flesh that allows the body to function while alive and passes as energy into the soil after death. See also death.

Nanchon

The loa are divided into several groups, called nations or nanchons, each corresponding to the place where the gods in that nation originated. Thus, the loa of the Congo nation originated in the Congo African tribe, while those of the Ibo nation originated with the Ibo tribe. The two major groups of loa, which have largely absorbed the loa of the other nations, are the Rada and the Petro. Many of the major loa belong to both groups; they have an aspect that represents the Rada nation and one that represents the Petro nation. See also Guédé, loa, Petro, Rada.

Offerings

See mangé loa.

Ogan

A musical instrument related to the flattened bells of Africa that is often used in vodou rituals. See also drumming.

Ogantier

The musician who plays the ogan.

Papa Legba

See Legba.

Papa 'Zaca

See Azaca.

Paquets Congo

A small packet constructed by a houngan that offers protection to its bearer. See also charms.



An altar or altar stone called the pé is located at the center of each chamber inside the hounfort; ritual tools and other items are placed on this platform, which is the height of a man's chest. A jumbled, chaotic assortment of objects that have symbolic meaning within the beliefs of vodou covers the pé, including candles, food, money, amulets and ritual necklaces, ceremonial rattles, pictures of Catholic saints, bottles of rum, bells, flags, drums, and sacred stones. Govis, or clay pots that contain the souls of revered ancestors, also sit on the altar. The altar represents the door between this world and the spiritual world where the immortal spirits reside, and so performing a ritual at the altar can call its god from the spiritual world. The houngan may invoke the loa by leaning upon the pé and calling the loa down into a its clay jar or govi. The priest uses traditional chants to attract the loa in this form of invocation. He can then consult the loa residing inside the govi, asking for advice on matters of importance to the community or requesting that the god to reveal the future. See also bagi, hounfort, houngan, loa.

Peristyle (peristil)

The peristyle is a roofed but otherwise open space where the public ceremonies take place. It has a floor of beaten earth, and a low wall, four to five feet high, borders it so that curious spectators who aren't a part of the société can watch the ceremonies from outside without making themselves too conspicuous. A perpetual fire burns in the center of the yard, with an iron bar in the middle of the fire representing the forge of the powerful warrior god Ogoun. A model ship hangs from the roof of the peristyle, symbolizing Erzulie, the vodou goddess of love and the moon. See also Erzulie, hounfort, Ogoun.

Petit

See boula.

Petro (Pethro)

The Petro are the dark gods, the balance to the benevolent forces of the Rada. By "dark," I don't mean that the Petro loa are evil; just as no person is wholly good or evil, neither is any god. Rather, they are necessary for balance, to perform the acts that the Rada loa cannot accomplish. Petro rites originated in Haiti where conditions were very different than in the homeland of Dahomey, although the roots of the Petro rites, dances, and loa can be traced back to the Congo and Ibo tribes of Africa. The Petro rituals and gods also show the influence of the natives of Haiti, the Carib Amerindians, and an Amerindian may have actually founded the cult, a houngan named Don Pédro. The Petro cult developed because the stability and traditional patterns of the African tribes were disrupted and violated by the brutality of slavery. The gods could no longer take a defensive, passive role; rather, action was needed. As a result, the Petro loa, the patron spirits of aggression and action, were born. The Petro cult gave escaped slaves the organization and moral rage to lead the revolt that freed all the slaves of Haiti in 1804, the only successful slave revolution to have taken place in the New World. The Petro loa are more powerful, quick, and magical than the Rada gods. They are also more violent, demanding, fierce, and practical, and they emphasize death, vengeance, and aggressiveness toward adversaries. They can make quick cures of illnesses and perform powerful acts that the Rada loa are not capable of. However, they will only work for someone if the devotee makes a promise of service to them, which often requires an expensive sacrifice, and the god will take revenge if that promise isn't kept. Petro rituals are characterized by red ceremonial clothing, off-beat syncopated drumming, and frenzied dancing. As sacrificial offerings, they demand hogs, goats, sheep, cows, and bulls; the most common sacrifice to the Petro loa is a pig. A Petro ritual is never held in a hounfort where Rada ceremonies are performed. Although the Petro loa are important to vodou, the gods who are invoked in the overwhelming majority of all ceremonies are the members of the Rada pantheon. Many of these loa do have one or more Petro aspects, as each loa has many faces representing a different but related natural force or archetypal principle. See also balance, Carrefour, engagement, Erzulie Dantor, loa, Marinette, Rada.

Pierre-loa

Smooth river stones, often called "thunderstones," that are inhabited by the loa and are often placed on the pé. See also pé.

Possession

In vodou, true communion with the divine comes through possession, or "the hand of divine grace." Possession occurs when a loa temporarily displaces the soul of a devotee and becomes the animating force of the body. Because possession is the way that the loa make their instructions and desires known and how they exercise their authority, it is a common phenomenon in vodou, and it is thus considered perfectly normal by practitioners of the religion. In fact, devotees deem it an honor when an especially powerful god selects them for possession. Through possession, every vodou devotee not only has direct contact with the spirit world, but actually receives it into his body. Often, the possessing loa is the one invoked at the ritual, although other loa who haven't been called, particularly Guédé, often show up unexpectedly. When a loa possesses a person, for the length of time that the god controls the body, the actions and attitudes expressed are those of the loa and not of the person who is being possessed. A child possessed by an old loa may seem frail and decrepit, while the elderly when possessed by a young loa may dance and cavort without regard to their disabilities. Even facial expressions change to resemble the loa. That's why when a male loa possesses a female devotee, the pronoun "he" is used to describe the devotee, and vice versa. A loa may choose to possess a devotee for many possible reasons. He could possess someone to protect that person from danger or to confer a special power that enables the person to successfully accomplish a difficult task; for example, an ocean spirit may possess someone who has been shipwrecked and who doesn't know how to swim, enabling the person to get safely to shore. The loa may mount a devotee to cure an illness or to prevent suffering. Loa use their horses to give advice, to prescribe a remedy for a problem, or to treat an ailment. They also speak through the mouths of the possessed to point out a forbidden ritual, to warn of danger, or to punish devotees who have angered them in some way. Finally, they often take possession to preside over a vodou ceremony or to receive a sacrificial offering. When a person is possessed, the loa enters the person's body as if with a blow at the nape of the neck or in the legs. The person being mounted struggles against the loa at first, staggering around in circles, crying out, and throwing out his or her arms. The body shakes, the muscles are flexed, and there are often spasms in the spine. Suddenly, the person stops fighting and the loa takes full possession, manifesting the characteristics peculiar to that loa. The houngan can look at a possessed devotee and say which loa rides inside him. The priest acts as an intermediary to summon the loa and to help the loa depart when his business is finished. A loa who mounts a devotee is also required to salute the houngan before going about his business. Possessed devotees exhibit the characteristics of the loa who has taken control, often dressing in strange clothing or cross-dressing. The loa can request his own special emblems, such as costumes, kerchiefs, beverages, or cigarettes; each loa's accessories are kept on-hand in the hounfort in case the loa chooses to possess someone. The symbolic nature of these objects helps the loa to perform his magic more easily. The possessing loa also smokes, drinks alcohol, and eats, partaking of physical pleasures that the spirit cannot normally access. While possessed, a horse often speaks in ancient African tongues called langage, which only other loa can understand, tells the future, and even performs magical acts. He can feel no pain, and can, for instance, walk on hot coals, grasp a red-hot iron bar without pain, or eat fire. The person also exhibits great strength and energy while possessed, followed by exhaustion when the loa leaves. When the loa leaves his horse, the possessed person immediately drops any objects he's holding and slumps to the ground. After possession, devotees fall into a state characterized by complete indifference to the loa's actions during the possession. They are physically exhausted by the loa's powerful presence inside them, especially if one of the major members of the vodou pantheon mounted them. They can't remember what they said or did while the loa possessed them, and so they can't be held accountable for their actions while the loa controlled them. See also loa. Poteau-mitan (poteau-Legba, poto Legba, potomitan) The poteau-mitan, or center-post, is located in the center of the peristyle. The houngan salutes this center-post at the beginning of every ritual, and the rest of the ritual revolves around it. A flat-topped base made of cement at the foot of the center-post called the socle serves as a place for food offerings to the gods. In conjunction with the socle, the center-post forms a cross, the symbol of the most powerful of all the vodou gods, Legba. Usually, a whip hangs on the side of the post, representing penitence. The post is painted in bright rainbow colors in horizontal or spiral bands that represent Aida-Wedo, the matriarchal leader of the vodou pantheon. In vodou belief, the top of the post is considered to be the center of the sky and the bottom the center of hell. Thus, the spirits can travel down the post from where they live among the stars, enter the hounfort, and take part in the rituals. See Aida-Wedo, Legba, peristyle.

Put to bed

See coucher.

Rada

The Rada are the benevolent, gentle loa who originated in Africa and who represent the warmth and emotional stability of the home continent. The Rada nation got its name from the city of Arada, located on the coast of Dahomey, where many slaves were abducted. Rada rites follow traditional African patterns and emphasize the positive, gentle aspects of the gods. Most of the Rada loa were imported from Dahomey in West Africa, and they reflect their place of origin. Dahomey was a well-organized, stable monarchy founded on agriculture and cooperative work systems. In that setting, the gods played a protective role, guarding the stability of the nation against whatever outside forces might threaten it. Therefore, the Rada gods were essentially benevolent, passive, and paternal. Rada rituals are characterized by the all-white clothing of the devotees and by dignified, stately drumming and dancing, which is always on the beat. At Rada ceremonies, a large fire with an iron bar stuck in the flames, representing the loa Ogoun, perpetually burns. The Rada loa never demand a larger sacrificial offering than chickens or pigeons, although sometimes goats and bulls are sacrificed to them. They will perform services for their devotees without causing any harmful consequences to the person asking the favor, but their services are by definition not very powerful. The majority of vodou ceremonies are of the Rada type. See also Agoué, Aida-Wedo, Aizan, Azaca, Dahomey, Damballah-Wedo, Erzulie, Grand Bois, Legba, Loco, Ogoun, Simbi.

Raide

This term means strong or stern and is used to characterize Petro loa. See also Petro.

Range

A ritual in which an object is charged with the power of a loa.

Regler

To have command or authority over the loa, or to restrain the loa; generally, only a houngan or mambo attains this level of authority. See also houngan.

Reine silence

The person in charge of maintaining order during rituals.

Reler

To invoke, when used in vodou songs. See also invoking the loa.

Renvoyer

To ritually send away a loa. Reposoir (repozwa) Trees in the yard around the peristyle are sanctuaries, or sacred reposoirs, where some of the ancestor spirits and vodou gods live permanently. One tree in particular is consecrated to Legba, the most important god in the vodou pantheon. These trees are honored as divinities and are decorated with the colors of the god who lives there. A pedestal at the base of each tree holds a lit candle and food offerings for its inhabitant. Often, ritual dances are held around these trees. Heaps of stones or other objects around the hounfort can also serve as reposoirs, as long as the object is consecrated to the use of the god who inhabits it. See also Legba.

Retirer d'en bas de l'eau

After death, the ti-bon-ange must be taken care of in a special ritual presided over by Baron Samedi. A year and a day after the death, the houngan performs a ritual to ensure that the ti-bon-ange is put to rest. If this isn't done, the ti-bon-ange may wander the earth and bring illness and disaster on others, particularly the remaining family members who have the responsibility of caring for the souls of their deceased ancestors. This ritual is called retirer d'en bas de l'eau, "taking the dead out of the water." Because the ritual costs so much, many families may pool their money to hold a mass ritual once a year, and the souls of family members who died during the past year may all be raised at the same time. During the ritual, the soul -- now called an esprit, meaning simply "spirit" -- is raised by the houngan through a vessel of water covered by a white sheet and placed in a special govi. The voice of the dead may speak from the govi or the esprit may briefly possess someone attending the ceremony to express love for family members or even bitterness at being neglected, if they put off holding the ritual for too long. The houngan then places the govi inside the hounfort, where the family can continue to feed the spirit inside the jar and treat it like a divine being. See also ancestors, Baron Samedi, ti-bon-ange.

Ritual

See cérémonie.

Sacrifice

See animal sacrifice, human sacrifice.

Saint (Sen)

A Saint of the Catholic Church; sometimes used as a synonym for loa. See also Catholicism, influence on vodou.

Salutations in the ritual

After the invocation to Legba, the priest presents water to the four cardinal points. He also makes salutations to Legba, to the Christian Trinity, and to the vodou Trinity of Mystères (spirits), Marassas (twins), and Morts (dead). He pours water in front of the poteau-mitan, tracing a line from the entrance of the peristyle back to the center-post. This post is sacred to Legba and provides an entranceway for the loa to enter the peristyle. Finally, the houngan pours water three times before each drum. After the libations, La Place and two hounsis, or vodou initiates, perform salutations with sequined ceremonial flags and the sacred sword to the four cardinal points, the center-post, and the drums. They salute the houngan and any visiting dignitaries, and then they light candles inside the circle around the center-post. See also houngan, La Place, Legba.

Seconde

The middle-sized drum used in Rada rituals. See also drumming.

Servi loa (service, servir)

Literally "to serve the loa," this term is used by vodou devotees to refer to their faith. The most important thing to understand about vodou is that practitioners think of their religion in practical terms. They don't believe in vodou; rather, they serve the gods that represent the major forces of the natural world, and so devotees of vodou are called serviteurs. In return, the serviteurs expect the gods to go to work for them, healing illnesses, imparting advice, and providing help in times of need. Because practitioners of vodou are largely poor, they need the gods to help them get through the trials of everyday life. Devotees believe that all things serve the loa and so by definition are expressions and extensions of the spiritual. What is sacred in vodou is not a particular person or place, but rather the moment when the divine is invoked. In vodou, divinity is found in the act of ritual itself, in chanting and drumming and dancing to call the immortal spirits down from the cosmic plane where they live. It is this act of service, and not any magical object or spell, that infuses the practitioners of vodou with divine power. See also loa.

Servir a deux mains

Literally "to serve with both hands," this term refers to someone who serves both the Rada and Petro loa and practices black magic. See also black magic, bokor.

Serviteur (sèvitè)

A vodou devotee.

Signaler (siyale)

The ritual movement performed by the houngan to the four cardinal points at the beginning of the ritual in recognition of the loa. See also salutations.

Simbi (Sim'bi d'l'Eau)

The loa who represents fresh waters and rainfall and who oversees the making of protective and destructive charms. His symbol is the water snake, his color is green, and his sacrifice is the speckled cock. See also charms.

Snakes

Snakes are important in vodou as the symbol and servant of Damballah-Wedo, and so sometimes a snake will live in the hounfort or in one of the sacred trees nearby. However, practitioners of vodou do not worship snakes. See also Damballah-Wedo.

Société (socyete)

Practitioners of vodou come together in a neighborhood community, called a société. The société centers around a temple where rituals are performed and offerings are made to the immortal spirits that are revered in that community. The société is always led by a single priest or priestess, who possesses a wide range of knowledge in religious and practical matters, ranging from telling the future to communicating with the gods to healing the sick with herbal medicines. Vodou sociétés are very close-knit and provide a central organizing structure to small villages in Haiti. A highly malleable religion, vodou rituals and other practices can vary hugely from community to community inside Haiti itself. The structure of the vodou société, the role of the priest or priestess in the community, and the elements of the ceremonies have many basic elements in common. But in vodou, it's perfectly acceptable for a community's traditions, which are passed down from generation to generation, to deviate from the traditions of other communities. See also hounfort, houngan.

Socle

The cement base at the foot of the poteau-mitan where offerings to the loa are placed. See also poteau-mitan.

Sorcière

A female bokor, or sorceress. See also bokor.

Soul, components of

According to vodou belief, a human being's soul is made up of five basic components: the corps cadavre, or mortal flesh; the n'âme, or spirit of the flesh; the z'étoile, or star of destiny; and the gros-bon-ange and the ti-bon-ange, the two major parts of the soul. See also corps cadavre, gros-bon-ange, n'âme, ti-bon-ange, z'étoile.

Tambour

A drum. See also drumming.

Ti-bon-ange (ti-bon-anj)

The ti-bon-ange makes up the other half of a person's soul, with the gros-bon-ange. Meaning "little good angel," it is the source of a person's personality. The ti-bon-ange represents the accumulation of a person's knowledge and experience, and it is responsible for determining an individual's characteristics, personality, and will. See also death, retirer d'en bas de l'eau.

Tonelle

A primitive peristyle that is merely an open-sided roof held up by poles. See also peristyle.

Traitement An herbal cure administered by a houngan or mambo. See also healing.

Trianglier

The musician who plays the triangle.

Twins

As in many West African rituals, twins in vodou are considered to have special powers and are revered because they represent balance and two halves of the same whole. See also balance, Marassa.

Verser

The ritual pouring of liquid, such as water or liquor, on the ground for the loa. See also salutations.

Vévé (vever)

Vévés are elaborate designs that symbolize the gods and ancestral spirits. They are painted permanently on the walls of the hounfort, as well as drawn in cornmeal, flour, gunpowder, powdered red brick, chalk, charcoal, or ashes just before a ceremony or the invocation of a god. Usually drawn around the poteau-mitan, on the altar, or on top of a place of sacrifice, the vévé acts like a magnet, obliging the spirit who it represents to descend to earth and appear at the ritual. These vévés symbolize the loa who is being honored in the ceremony, and serve as both a place to put offerings and a magical symbol that calls the loa down to the material plane. These vévés incorporate the symbols of the particular god that they represent: a cross for Legba; a heart for the goddess of love, Erzulie; a snake for the patriarchal leader, Damballah-Wedo; a coffin for Baron Samedi, the spirit of death; and so on. They radiate out from the center-post in a wide circle. Despite the elaborate care and skill with which they are drawn, the vévés are generally destroyed by the end of the ceremony, blown away or swept apart by dancing feet. See also hounfort, loa, poteau-mitan.

Vodou (vaudun, voodoo, vodoun, voudou, voudoun)

The complex body of religious belief that emphasizes a close relationship with the spiritual world and with one's ancestors. The word "vodou" derives from the word "vodu," from the Fon language of Dahomey, which means "spirit" or "god." Vodou originated in the West Indies country of Haiti during the French Colonial period. The Haitian slaves were captured from many different tribes throughout West Africa, but these tribes shared several core beliefs: worship of the spirits of family ancestors; the use of singing, drumming, and dancing in religious rituals; and the possession of the practitioners by immortal spirits. Once living together in Haiti, the slaves created a new religion based on their shared beliefs, but absorbing each tribe's strongest traditions and gods. Influences from the native Indian populations were also absorbed during this formative period. Vodou is still widely practiced in Haiti today, mostly among the poorer peasant classes. Vodou has also migrated with Haitians to many other parts of the world, with particularly strong communities in New Orleans, Louisiana; Miami, Florida; Galveston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and New York City. Each of these communities has spawned new rituals and traditional practices. Worldwide, vodou has over fifty million followers. See also ancestors, Dahomey, loa.

Vodouisant

An uninitiated vodou devotee who attends ceremonies, receives advice and medical treatments from a houngan, and takes part in other vodou-related activities.

Voodoo dolls

The voodoo doll is a product of this belief in the power of symbols. These dolls are generally crudely fashioned from wax and incorporate hair or nail clippings from the person who the doll is supposed to represent. Obviously, the doll represents that person, and the hair or nails just ties the doll and the person closer together. The idea is that if you inflict harm upon the doll, the person will experience similar harm. And if the person is hurt, it's probably because he believes so strongly in the power of the symbolic doll that he manifests psychosomatic symptoms, rather than from any real magical effects. Despite the fact that voodoo dolls are almost universally associated with vodou, actual practitioners in Haiti rarely use them, and they are not at all important to the fundamental practices of the religion. Indeed, they primarily seem to serve as souvenirs sold to tourists in voodoo shops in New Orleans. See also magic.

Wedo (Ouedo)

This term refers to the African city of Ouhdeh in Dahomey and is used to designate any loa who originated there, such as Damballah-Wedo and Aida-Wedo. See also Aida-Wedo, Dahomey, Damballah-Wedo.

Zen (zain, zin)

The ritual pots used to cook food for the loa.

Ze rouge

Literally "with red eyes," this term is used to describe an attribute of some of the Petro loa, such as Erzulie ze Rouge. See also Erzulie ze Rouge, Petro.

Z'étoile

The z'étoile decides a person's destiny and resides in the heavens, apart from the body. It is not of great importance to vodou belief.

Zombi astral

A zombi astral is created when a black magician captures the ti-bon-ange of a person during that period when the soul hovers over the body after death. In contrast to a zombie, which is a body without a soul, a zombi astral is a soul without a body. The zombi astral is confined to a glass jar or bottle and performs deeds at the command of the bokor, never allowed to join the land of the dead or achieve a final rest. See also black magic, bokor, ti-bon-ange.

Zombie (zombi, zombi cadavre)

According to vodou belief, a zombie is a dead body that has no soul, and it is always created by a black magician, a bokor. The bokor performs a ritual that causes a person to die. Then, within a short period of time, the bokor calls the person back to life as a soulless body. A significant number of researchers believe that this process of "zombification" is an actual practice, achieved not through magic and ritual, but rather through a combination of powerful drugs and poisons. This potion is so toxic that it merely has to be absorbed through the skin to have an effect. No one knows exactly what the components of the potion are, and the bokors guard the recipe zealously, but it is thought to contain substances from various toxic animals and plants, including the gland secretions of a particular frog, the bouga toad, which are 50-100 times more potent than digitalis and also contain a hallucinogen. Other ingredients supposedly include millipedes and tarantulas, the skins of poisonous tree frogs, seeds and leaves from poisonous plants, human remains (for effect), and four types of puffer fish, which contain tetrodotoxin, one of the most poisonous substances in the world. After administration, the victim becomes completely paralyzed and falls into a coma. To all intents and purposes, he seems to be dead. Sometimes, the victim remains conscious and witnesses his own funeral and burial, but is powerless to stop it. The bokor raises the victim after a day or two and administers a hallucinogenic concoction called the "zombie's cucumber" that revives the victim. When the person is revived, he is so brain-damaged that he cannot remember his name or his family; he has lost the power of speech, and his senses are dull. The human personality is entirely absent. Zombies are thus easy to control and are used by bokors as slaves for farm labor and construction work. Family members can take steps to ensure that the body and soul of a deceased loved one are not misused by a bokor. Often, family members set up a watch in the cemetery for thirty-six hours after the burial, after which time, the deceased can no longer become a zombie of any kind. One way to keep someone from becoming a zombie is to kill the body a second time by stabbing it in the heart or decapitating it. Hoholi, or special sesame seeds placed in the coffin, also prevent the machinations of a bokor. If the hair or fingernails have been after death, however, that is a sure sign that a bokor has tampered with the body. Contrary to what is portrayed in popular movies, the bodies of zombies don't continue to decay, and they don't try to eat human brains. In fact, practitioners of vodou don't fear being harmed by a zombie so much as they are afraid of being made into one. Giving a zombie salt supposedly restores its powers of speech and taste and activates a homing instinct that sends it back to its grave and out of the bokor's influence. But as widespread as stories about zombies are, there are few reliable, documented cases of actual zombies. Unlike in the Night of the Living Dead movies, Haiti is not crawling with reanimated, soulless bodies. The horror and shock value of the zombie story probably chiefly contributed to it being so widely spread, and if bokors ever did once turn people into zombies in Haiti, the practice has probably stopped by now. See also bokor


Author Unknown





Roots & Herbs - Their Magickal Uses
(In regards to Hoodoo & Santeria tradition)

A Through To L

Acacia flowers- Burn for power & blessings
Adam & Eve Root- Powerful for love & happiness. The man carries the Eve root ,the woman ,the Adam root
Adders Tongue-Use to stop gossip or slander
African Bird Pepper- Throw in someones yard to cause problems
African Ginger- Stops hexes & curses, cures mouth sores
Agar Agar- mix with Fast Luck powder to bring luck in bingo,rub on hands before you play
Agrimony- Burn to reverse & turn back spells
Ague Weed- Burn to stop hexes & crossings from getting to you
Ajenjible- wash a persons clothes in this tea added to wash water to make someone move out of your house
Alfalfa- Keep in the home to keep poverty away & help you prosper
All Heal- Make into a tea & sprinkle in the room of the sick to cure illness
Allspice- mix with Gloria incense & burn everyday for money,attracts success & prosperity
Aloes- Burn on the night of the full moon to have a new lover by the new moon
Althea(Marshmallow)- keep a jar on altar or burn on candles to pull the good spirits to you
Angelica Root- As a tea, sprinkle in corners & entryway to to purify & stop evil
Anise- Burn to increase your clairvoyant abilities
Anise Estella(Star Anise)- brew into tea and sip or bathe in it to bring back your lover,burn as incense
Archangel- Burn to bring a lost love back to you
Altamisa- This makes a very good love & attraction bath
Arrow Root- Mix with gambling powder to increase luck
Asafoetida- Burn to hex & increase black magic power,throw in a persons yard to cause misery
Ash Leaves- Burn to prevent hexes & witchcraft from harming you
Balm- Put on wine or food to make a love potion
Balm of Gilead buds- Carry for protection against evil & to solve love problems
Balmony- wrap a persons name in a bundle of balmony & it will cause them to get sick
Basil- A very good herb to bathe in to remove jinx & to change your luck
Bay Leaves- Keep in home or on person to to protect against any type of evil,best protection
Bayberry Bark- Attracts good fortune & money,Burn a white candle sprinkled with the bark
Berry of The Fish- Sprinkle in enemies yard to make them move away or keep away from you
Beth Root- Attract a mate by secretly mixing this into food or drink
Benzoin- Burn with incense & oils for peace of mind & to defeat witchcraft,It is said that no demon can stand this scent
Bergamot- Considered very powerful for success, it can be burned at any ritual for more power
Betony Wood- Burn with uncrossing incense to defeat any form of witchcraft
Bistort- Carry in a yellow flannel bag to attract wealth & good fortune
Bittersweet- Toss into an enemies path or yard to make them leave town & never look back
Black Candle Tobacco- Mix with salt & burn with a black candle ,said to win most court cases
Black Cohosh- Make into a tea & add to bath water, it is said to ensure a long & happy life
Black Mustard Seed- Causes problems & disturbances when sprinkled in an enemies yard
Black Snake Root- Bath in tea to uncross your nature, also may be burned as a love incense
Bladderwrack- Carry while traveling for protection, said to cause a UTI if placed by stall of enemies
Blood root- A favorite voodoo root used for defeating hexes & spells aimed to harm you
Blue Flag- Mix with money drawing incense for financial gain
Blueberry- Said to cause confusion & strife when tossed in a doorway or path of enemy
Boldo Leaves- Sprinkle around the house to ward off evil ,must be renewed once a month
Boneset- To curse an enemy, burn as incense along with a black candle inscribed with their name*
Broom Tops- Make into a tea & sprinkle around the home to clear away all evil
Buchu Leaves- Bathe in these to be able to fortell the future
Buckthorn Bark- Grants a wish if made into a tea & sprinkled in a circle at the the full moon
Camphor- Burn with Rama Dream incense before retiring for prophetic dreams
Caraway seed- Carry these for protection
Cardamon- Add this,powdered, to the drink of the one you want to love you
Cascara Sagrada- sprinkle tea made from this around the courtroom before court to win case
Chamomile- Wash your hands with a tea made of this before going to gamble for good luck
Chewing John Root- Chewing the root & throwing it away sends back a curse, use for court cases
Chicory- Burn with a black skull candle to cause a sure hex on an enemy
Cinnamon- Add to wine or food as a love potion, use for good luck in money matters
Cinquefoil -To curse someone, rub on an image candle along with Dume oil at the full moon:**
Cloves- Mix with Camphor & burn before using a ouija board for better luck/results with it
Coriander- Powder & mix with food or drink for a strong love potion
Cumin- Mix with food to keep lover faithful even over long period of separation
Curry Powder- Burned to keep evil forces away
Damiana- Said to be an aphrodesiac & to draw love to those who drink it as tea
Dandelion- Carry to make wishes come true, said to induce clairvoyant ability
Devil Bone Root- Cut into small pieces & carry in a red flannel bag to ward off arthritis
Devil Shoestring- Carry in a red flannel bag for protection or in pocket for drawing gambling luck
Dill Seed- Steep in hot wine for love potion or keep in home to repel witchcraft
Dittany of Crete- Bathe in this before a date for success & attraction with the person
Dog Grass- Sprinkle in an enemies yard to ruin their yard & make it look ugly
Earth Smoke- To attract quick financial gain, ake into tea & sprinkle about & rub on shoe bottoms
Eucalyptus- Sew into a pillow to ward off nightmares & for peaceful sleep
Elecampane- grind together with vervain & mistletoe to make a powerful love powder
Elder Berries- Grind & place in corners & doorway for protection & to eliminate trouble
Fennel Seeds- Carry to prevent witchcraft and also used in love potions
Five Finger Grass- Wrap in red cloth and hang over the bed to ward off dark spirits of the night
Flax Seed- For more accurate readings into someones future ,sprinkle a tea made of this in the area
Frankincense- one of the strongest resins for mystical purposes. Burn prior to any ritual for success
Galangal- Burn nightly for 14 days before a court case. Save the ashes in a green flannal bag & take to court.
Garlic- Kept on hand to protect from witchcraft & envious people
Gentian- add tea to bath for much power & strength
Grains of Paradise- to ensure success & protection***
Gravel Root-Helps get a job, carry in green flannel bag and annoint with Job oil
Guinea Pepper- Cast upon doorsteps to break up homes,Used to cause death by enchantment :-( (OK, this
is only here for information purposes and there is a very elborate ritual to make it
work properly, otherwise its just a nice soup flavouring)
Holy Thistle- Brew into a tea and sprinkle around the house to get rid of a jinx thrown on you
Hawthorne- Add to scrub water to purify your home, & to remove negative vibrations
Holy Ghost Root- prolongs life and protects against evil spirits & witchcraft
Hyssop- bathe in to keep away evil eye and ward of jinx & to purify
Horehound- keep near doorways to keep trouble away
Irish Moss- make into tea & sprinkle around business to bring in customers
Iron Weed- Carry in purple flannel bag for control over others, controls boss & co-workers
Jamaican Ginger- carry for gambling luck, bathe in this before going to Vegas Etc...
Jasmine- very good as a love & attraction bath, sewn into lovers pillow so they will only want you
Jezebel Root- to cause one harm,put root in jar with Jezebel oil & Destierro powder,bury in thier
yard
Job Tears- Carry 7 for luck ,and having one wish come true
Joe Pie- Carry in blue flannel bag to gain popularity & friendship ,annoint with pure Orris oil
Juniper Berries- steep in wine for increased vitality
Kava Kava Root- carry in red flannel bag for success & job promotions, protects from harm
Khus Khus(Vetivert)- to change your luck ,bathe in this tea for 9 days
King of the Woods-A man carries for this control over his woman
Knot weed- Used to get rid of an enemy+
Ladies Thumb- draws love to you++
Lucky Hand Root- carried in red flannel bag with good luck charms while gambling for best of luck
Life Everlasting- It is belieived that this tea will prolong life
Lovage Root- bathe in this prior to court for victory
Laurel- Give to the bride for a long & happy marriage
Lavendar- Burn with incense to bring peace, love & money to the home
Linseed- Burn to attain divinitory powers
Lemon Verbena- Used for a peaceful home, To help a marriage going sour or to break one up+++
Licorice- Sprinkle on the footprints of lovers to keep them faithful
Linden- Keeps a lover faithful, dab a small amount on your forehead before retiring

Chant the following: I alone will break your bone, you can no longer harm me,The harm you have done will return to you, as sure as the sky turns blue.

**As it burns repeat the following over & over: "I burn thee, I curse thee" . This should cause an enemy much despair & heartache by the next waning moon.

***Put a picture of St. Peter at the front door & a picture of St. Michael at the back door with a bag of Grains of Paradise behind each .

+Fill black voodoo doll with knotweed and any of the enemies possessions. On parchment write the name of the enemy & pin to the doll. Sprinkle the doll with Destructor oil and then nail the doll to a tree in the cemetary. While hammering the doll repeat over & over "I beat you, I break you, I curse you" then don’t look back as you leave.

++Place the herb on the picture of the one you want and seal it in a box. bury the box beside your front door.

+++Mix with 4 thieves vinegar & sprinkle on the doorsteps of the couple. Discord will prevail and they may even become bitter enemies. To help a bad marriage, place a jar of Lemon Verbena mixed with Peaceful Home powder & place behind wedding pictures as well as sprinkling around the house.

M Through To Z

Mace-In earlier times this was thought a very powerful love herb. Still used in some reuniting rituals
Maiden Hair Fern- Brings beauty & love into your life(represents Venus, the goddess of Love)
Mandrake- Carry in a red flannel bag to draw love from the opposite sex. Burn as incense in black magic spells
Manzanilla- Used as a hand wash for good luck in bingo & lotto,keep tickets with a packet of the herb
Marjoram- Prized as a charm against witchcraft, place in each room of dwelling & renew monthly
Magnolia- Sew into a mates pillow to ensure faithfulness
Marigold- Used with love sachets to attract, bathe in tea for 5 days to find ‘Mr. Right”
Marjoram- for a person who is sad or grieving,bathe them in this for 7 days
Master of the Woods- A man carries this to have control over his woman
Mesquite-burn as an incense to cleanse your tools or voodoo room,us in purification baths
Mistletoe- Made into a tea & bathed in it for love drawing
Motherwort- keep some in a jar by the family pictures to keep them safe
Mugwort- Burn as an incense while crystal gazing to increase psychic visions & ability
Mullien- Used as an incense in black magic to dume(doom) an enemy
Mustard Seed (Red)- Sprinkle in & around the home to ward off burglers
Mustard Seed(Yellow)- A symbol of faith followed by success, One of the oldest good luck amulets
Myrrh- Burn on the altar before performing any ritual, for success, a good incense to clear your home
Myrtle- Inhaling the warm vapors of a myrtle infusion is said to clear head pains caused by severe colds,also
used as a love herb
Nettles- For removing curses & hexes,mix with Jinx removing powder & sprinkle in each room &
doorway
Nutmeg- Make a hole in the nutmeg, fill with quicksilver, seal hole with wax,carry in red flannel bag for best
gambling luck
Oak- The most royal of all trees,burn with mistletoe to remove spirits from businesses
Orange- Use the leaves or flowers for love rituals, very good to bring on a proposal
Oregon Grape Root- Carry in green flannel bag with money drawing powder for money & popularity
Oregano-mix with Stay Away powder to repel in-laws,with Law Stay Away to repel law
Orris Root- Cast a love spell by dusting it on the clothes of the opposite sex & wear for attraction
Palo Azul- Very powerful,make into a tea and use to remove any jinx or hex
Palo Santo-Used when you feel you have been cursed,Rub this herb on your body then bathe
Papaya leaves- mix with Mandrake root and burn or bathe for spell reversal or jinx
Parsley- mix with jasmine & carry in your shoe to make you more attractive to opposite sex
Passion Flower- Brew into a tea & bathe in for 5 days to attract opposite sex
Patchouli- Used in money & love rituals,incites lust,use in any ritual where graveyard dirt is required
Peach Tree-mix the leaves with Concentration & Success oil to help pass tests
Pennyroyal- Carry while traveling by water & never know the pangs of sea sickness
Peony- For protection againts any evil or to cure lunacy
Peppercorns Black- Can be used to cast evil to someone or to get rid of evil
Pepper Tree(Pirul)- Used for limpias and cleansing,mix with ruda ad bathe in for 10 days to remove evil
Peppermint- To increase chance of prophetic dreams,add to Rama dream incense
Periwinkle- A love herb, Burn with love incense before having sex
Pine- burn as an incense to cleanse house, also used to remove negativity & attract money
Plantain- hang in car to protect from evil or jealous people
Poke Root- Breaks hexes by brewing it into a teas & adding it to bath water
Poppy Seeds- Sleep on a pillow stuffed with poppy seeds if you suffer from insomnia
Primrose- Put in childrens pillows to gain control over them, also put some in bath water to make them mind
Quassia Chips- Mix with some hair of your beloved, burn & keep ashes in small bottle to preserve the love
Queen of The Meadow- for good luck ,make into a tea
Queens Delight Root- Legends say that drinking a tea made from this root will help a woman concieve
Queens Root- Take a bath in this when you wish to get married
Quina Rojo- Use only when sex is desired & with extreme caution
Quince Seed- Used in spells pertaining to protection, love & happiness
Raspberry- Bathe in this herb daily and your man will not want to wander
Rattle Snake Root- Put in a purple flannel bad for protection from sudden death & accident,
keeps others from doing you wrong
Rosemary- Kept near the bed to ensure faithfulness, good for cleansing & protection as well
Rose Petals- Known as the love herb, Keep your lovers picture in a bowl of rose petals*
Rue(Ruda)- Make into a tea & bathe in it for 7 days to attract love from the opposite sex
Sacred Bark-Keep in a bowl on your alter or reading table to help you concentrate
Safflower- Mix with any jinx incense to cause destruction to an enemy,also used by gay men to bring on
exciting sexual encounters by rubbing it on the inside of their knees
Sage- Wards off misfortune,used in reversing spells, also used for protection
Sampsons Snake Root- Used to regain male vigor(lost manhood)**
Sandalwood- One of the 3 holy incenses,used for love, health & fortune,to grant wishes***
Sarsaparilla- alledged to prolong life,hinder premature aging, excite passions, improving virility
Sassafras- Should be carried in your purse or wallet near your money, makes it go farther
Saw Palmetto- use in a strong tea made of Damiana,Sarsaparilla, muira puama to help men get erections,
Supposedly, this is what the ancient gods use to have sexual encounters
Scullcap- To keep mate faithful,women should sew into his pillow some scullcap and 2 white lodestones in
white flannel
Sea Wrack- add to black magic & hex rituals
Senna- secretly have mate bathe in a tea made of this to ensure faithfulness,to get one to notice you+
Slippery Elm- Excellent in poultices for skin ailments,keeps others from gossiping about you++
Smartweed- attracts money & clears the mind
Snake root- carried as a charm to strengthen ones vitality, also good for court cases
Solomons Seal root- carry for protection & success, place on altar to ensure success with all rituals
Southern John The Conqueror- carry as a charm to bring luck in love & money matters
Southernwood- kept in the home as a love charm , burned to protect one from trouble
Spearmint- used for cleansing
Spikenard- to keep a lover faithful,to secure a relationship bury it in the ground and renew monthly
Squaw Vine- Bathed in by pregnant women once a week to keep jealousy away from unborn child
Squill Root- to draw money, place in container, add one dime, quarter & dollar ,say money prayer
Star anise- to increase power ,place on altar, carried for luck, burn to increase psychic ability
St. Johns Wort- protects against all forms of black witchcraft , hang above all windows in home
Sulfur- although not an herb,it is mixed with many herbs to bring ahrm upon an enemy
Sumbul Root- A favorite love root, said to attract the opposite sex very quickly, carry on you or burn
Tansy- a bit placed on shoes is said to keep the law away, can also be bathed in for same purpose
Tarragon- To cause a person to have a toothache, sprinkle on mouth of figure candle & burn at midnight
Thyme- bathe in to ensure money at all times,add to jar & keep in home for good luck,use to cleanse magic areas and place in pillows to stop nightmares
Tonka Beans- a favorite hoodoo good luck charm, to make wishes come true...+++
Tormentil- as a tea,drunk to keep or remove witchcraft that has been given in food or drink
Trefoil- mix with vervain , dill & St. Johns Wot for most effective defense againt evil doing
Trumpet Weed- used to make a man more potent, rubbed on member as a tea while hard
Twitch Grass- reverses hexes,causes trouble for enemies if thrown on their doorstep
Unicorn Root-Carried for protection,used as a love charm,hide in loves belongings for love or hide two tied
together to keep them faithful
Uva Ursi- carry to increase your power,burn with psychic incense when meditating
Valerian- drink to soothe nerves, sprinkle about to bring peace and end strife
Vanillian-powder can be burned with love incense to ensure that mate will always think of you
Verbena- Bathe your children in this to help them learn faster,Burn with sandalwood for jinx removing
Vervain- considered a holy herb, bathe in for 7 days to bring money,used for love drawing & jinx
removing
Vetivert(Khus Khus)- placed in cash registers for increased business, burnt to overcome evil spells
Violet- used with other attraction herbs like lavender to bath in , helps those ill to heal faster
Virginia Snake Root-Said to be best good luch charm but very expensive & hard to get
Wahoo Bark- Also very hard to get,used to remove hexes
Willow Bark- Burn when you want the aid of Satan
Wintergreen- bathe your children in this to grant them good fortune & luck throughout their lives
Witch Grass- bathe in to attract a new lover, wear special witch perfume as well
Woodruff- good for victory, place in your left shoe before a game so your team will be victorious

Burn in the bedroom for love or scatter rose petals all over the floor,leave them on the floor during the day and then sweep or vacumn them up at night. Use as a tea for a love and attraction bath. Carry petals in a red flannel bag with a picture of your love to draw them to you.

**Make a Mojo bag containing a magnetic lodestone,a swallow heart & some Sampson Snake root,sew it shut and carry in the pocket nearest your private parts.

***When you want a wish to come true,write your desire on a piece of parchment paper & burn sandalwood on top of it while concentrating on your wish coming true.

+When someone doesnt know you want them, write their name on parchment paper with Doves Blood ink & put Senna leaves & Come To Me oil in a yellow flannel bag and carry it on your person.

++Stuff a yellow helper doll with Tapa Boca powder and write your name and family members names on a slip of paper, insert into doll along with a packet of Slippery Elm. For 3 days say the Tapa Boca prayer or express your wishes for the gossip to stop. Then burn the doll,save the ashes & use them to make the sign of a cross on the bottoms of your shoes.

+++ Carry the beans for 18 days(No more!) On the 18th day they must be left at a church & In 3 days your wish will be granted
Wormwood- sprinkle on enemies path to cause strife & misfortune to them
Yarrow- Used to overcome fears, place in yellow flannel bag with a piece of parchment paper on which you
have written your fears,carry with you
Yerba Mate- Said to keep a lover from wandering, put 2 Tablepoons into their food once a day
Yerba Santa- Used to attain beauty from within,to make ones body more desirable
Yucca- For jinx removing, Use a new slice of yucca root daily for 7 days and rub all over your body






BODY FLUIDS IN HOODOO:
MENSTRUAL BLOOD,
SEMEN, and URINE
In the folk magic of virtually every culture there are spells that make use of all of our bodily effluvia and detritus, including the amniotic sac (caul) of a baby, spit, semen, tears, urine, feces, head hair, pubic hair, and nail clippings. However, due to taboos surrounding menstrual blood, semen, and urine in some urban cultures, the use of these particular body fluids in spell-casting can be problematic for those unfamiliar with the larger history of folk magic. In light of the universality of bodily effluvia and detritus as tools of magic, the singling out of menstrual blood, urine, and semen is most rationally approached on the basis of their intended effect (generally spells of sex and love) than on the basis of their origin (human bodies).
The frankest discussions of the uses of these substances in magic will be found in ethnological treatises on folk-magic; the "ceremonial high magicians" of the late Victorian era (including Aleister Crowley and his cohorts) were too prudish to deal with this matter as anything other than an antinomian and rule-breaking rite. They found it exhilarating in proportion to the degree to which they judged it to be daring, provocative, and naughty -- and their 20th and 21st century followers have continued in the same vein, especially as the possibility of blood-born and sexually-transmitted diseases has made working with these substances seem dangerous. In folk-magic, on the other hand, menstrual blood, semen, and urine are straightforward tools of spell-casting and the knowledge of how to deploy them is routinely passed from one family member to another.
MENSTRUAL BLOOD
In the African-American hoodoo tradition, as well as in Sicilian folk-magic, menstrual blood served to a man in his coffee or tea is a sovereign recipe for capturing his sexual attention. No ritual, prayer, or invocation is necessary; you simply add some menstrual blood to the man's coffee or tea. The idea is to get your scent into the beloved's sphere of consciousness. This is nothing more or less than pheromone-magic, and as such it partakes of biology as much as it does of occultism. My Sicilian grandmother believed in its efficacy completely.
I have done this often, with uniformly good results. I have directly fed gobbets of menstruum to my lover, from my fingers, as one might feed a pet. This was done to bind him, but to avoid the sneakiness of slipping it into his drinks -- i want him to KNOW how much i want him to be mine, and to know that i am working the spell on him right out in the open. (As the old slogan for the Steak-and-Shake drive-in chain reads: "In sight -- it must be right!")
VAGINAL FLUIDS
Women who are not menstruating due to pregnancy or breast-feeding, who have had surgery that terminated their cycles, or who are past the change obviously do not have menstrual fluid to use in sex-spells. Their best alternative is to use vaginal fluids gathered after masturbation during the full moon. In hoodoo and Sicilian folk-magic, vaginal fluids make a good substitute for menstrual blood in coffee or tea love spells.
I have used menstrual blood or vaginal fluids with equal success when anointing idols (statues of deities), amulets, and curios -- for instance, when dressing lodestones in spells for sexual attraction and bonding.
URINE
In European -- especially Italian -- folk magic, as well as in hoodoo, urine is used in women's coffee and tea love spells, as a quick substitute for menstrual blood, when the intention is to tie or bind a lover. This is particularly common among girls to young or women too old to have menstrual periods, and among pregnant women and those who for any other reason don;t menstruate. Men also can put urine in a drink to tie a woman, although this is not mentioned so commonly.
In hoodoo, and in polite Southern speech generally, urine is often called "chamber lye" or "water." No matter what you call it, one of the oldest root work traditions is for a male gambler to have a female lover urinate on his mojo bag or lucky hand while he is at play. If the gambler and his partner can retire to an alley to perform the act while the game is in progress, so much the better. This is called "feeding the mojo," and the use of the word "feed" is, of course an indicative link to African magico-religious thought, from whence this custom derives. (Lodestones are also "fed" in hoodoo -- with magnetic sand.) Women players rarely ask a man to urinate on their mojo hands, so, for whatever reason, it is female urine that is considered lucky in this case.
Chamber lye can be a vulnerable spot in a man or woman's periphery. An enemy who gets your "water" can cause grave damage to you by stopping it up in a bottle with red pepper and Graveyard Dirt. The result will be urinary tract problems, ranging from cystitis and nephritis to prostatitis and kidney stones. The only way to take off such a condition is to find the bottle and destroy it, letting the urine run out into a fire.
Conversely, chamber lye has its strengths -- a man can use his own urination to cure a case of impotence that was put on him through magic. Peeing on a knife blade and letting the pee run on the ground is one of many methods for accomplishing this. Another is to urinate into a red ants nest. Women who have had their natures hoodooed can pee into a running river as they call on the river to take off the jinx.
I should also add a quick comment on the term "chamber lye" for readers who are not native English speakers:
Chamber: A chamber means a room, so in the old days a bedroom was called a bed chamber. With no indoor plumbing, you went outdoors to pee in an outhouse, but the first pee of the morning, before dressing or washing up, most folks didn't want to go out, so they peed in a covered container called a chamber pot, which was carried out later.
Lye: This is an old Anglo Saxon word meaning any strong alkaline liquid. Most of the time nowadays you'll hear the word lye in reference to making soap at home, where one good source of lye is potash -- literally pot ashes. You make potash or pot ash lye by concentrating water that has run through the ashes collected from the fire under your cooking pots. Since there is no one chemical formula for lye; in common parlance it can be any really strong alkaline solution. So a polite word for urine used to be "chamber lye" -- an alkaline solution obtained in the bed chamber.
So... "chamber pot" plus "pot ash lye" equals "chamber pot lye" -- which is shortened to "chamber lye"!
SEMEN
Men can make use of their sexual fluids in love spells. Josh Geller (dclxvi@best.com) gave this simple formula for an orgasmic spell utilizing semen:
Masturbate to orgasm and preserve the resultant fluids. You should be concentrating on your desired result at the point of orgasm. Take some of the resultant fluids and insinuate a bit of them into the food or drink of your prospective victim.
For every man who uses his semen to attract a woman, however, there are probably a hundred women who capture a man's semen to rule and control him or to keep him faithful. The most popular way to do this in hoodoo is by making a knot-spell on the man and keeping it tied up in a nation sack. For this purpose, the semen can be fresh or gathered from a discarded condom -- or even stored in the freezer until needed. Most of the rootworkers who have told me about how to capture semen have noted that it is important that the woman not have an orgasm when capturing semen, because then she might get "mixed up in the spell," and fall victim to her own conjurations. "Hold yourself aloof," was how one woman put it to me. "Don't let yourself get mixed into it when you collect his stuff."
FROM FOLK MAGIC TO SEXUALIZED SPIRITUALITY
Karezza is a sexual-metaphysical system in which heightened states of spirituality are believed to occur if both partners become highly aroused but hold back from having orgasms. However, even in the most ascetic forms of karezza, intercourse during menstruation -- not involving blood per se, but taking advantage of the woman's typically increased level of desire at that point in her cycle -- is perceived as a "rite" in the mystical sense. One karezza writer, John William Lloyd, who advocated abstinence from orgasm, declared that during "the woman's time of great desire" (e.g. at the outset of her period) she should be allowed to have all the orgasms she wants and that the man should go along with her and come too. So Lloyd recognized the menstrual period as qualitatively different from the rest of the woman's cycle, in terms of the performance of a spiritual sex act.
WHY DOES IT WORK?
The use of urine or menstrual blood in witchcraft, stregha, hoodoo, and other forms of folk-magic is a codification and amplification of the natural biological process by which a female attracts a male. Note that in token of this, urine/menstrual blood magic is almost always a subset of love or lust magic.
Some people think of urine as a "territory marker," equating its magical deployment to the way that male dogs and other carnivores use it to drive off male rivals, and so they don't appreciate the fact that a lot of the urine magic encountered in folklore involves WOMEN'S urine, not men's. However, the basis for the utilization of urine in women's sex-attracting spells makes ready sense to anyone who has ever raised goats -- because smelling and even tasting the urine of a doe goat is the prime way that a buck goat has for determining the female's readiness for mating. This is true of many other mammals as well.
Are humans more like dogs (males using their urine to drive off rivals) or like goats (males tasting female urine to assess readiness to mate)? Well, here's a clue: in humans, there is a notable difference between the sexes in regard to the body parts they sniff to get a whiff of attractant pheromones. Just as female humans are attracted to male underarm scents (rich in androstenone) so are male humans attracted to female vaginal scents, a complex compound of uterine menstruum, vaginal secretions, and lingering urine odors known collectively as "copulins." The composition of these copulins changes throughout the woman's monthly cycle, but they are basically attractants for males, not territory markers. They may function as territory markers to other females, of course.
AVOIDING MAGICAL "CAPTURE" BY MENSTRUAL BLOOD OR URINE
Because men are thought to be so susceptible to the magical deployment of women's menstrual blood, vaginal fluids, and urine, in some cultures they are taught to avoid eating anything served to them by an unmarried woman which might contain these bodily fluids. It is common for a man to refuse or only warily accept dark-coloured beverages like coffee or tea or foods with brown or red sauces such as barbeque, lasagna, or spaghetti from a woman.
Some folks believe that the power of menstrual blood is inherent -- that is, it will work just the same whether it is deliberately added to foods or beverages as a magical act or ingested accidentally. For those who feel this way, any contact with menstrual blood may result in bewitchment. Nona C. Wright tells how this advice was passed along in her husband's family:
My late husband, who was African American, used to tell me his grandmother warned him never to indulge in oral sex with a woman during her period because it would make him bound to her for life. I always took it as his quirky sense that one could use menstrual blood in love spells. But in hindsight this seemed to be a very powerful thing to him as he swore he would never do it. To him it had to do with giving up his free choice to be with someone and somehow being under their power or control.
Clear mention of avoidance of capture by menstrual blood or urine can be heard in the old song "Dry Southern Blues" recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in March 1926, where Lemon sings:
I can't drink coffee and the woman won't make no tea
I can't drink coffee and the woman won't make no tea
I believe to my soul sweet mama gonna hoodoo me
TAKING OFF A MENSTRUAL BLOOD OR URINE CONJURATION
What can a man do if he suspects or knows that an unscrupulous woman is putting menstrual blood on him? What can a woman do if she suspects or knows that another woman is using that stuff on her man or on a male relative?
Well, you can't stop her if she's already done it, but to take the mess off you have a couple of choices:
1) A doctor can perform a purification on the man -- such as washing him in a bath of rue herb tea, smoking him with Uncrossing Incense, and then dressing him with Van Van Oil
and/or
2) If the man has been rendered impotent by the enemy woman, he can perform a specific spell of his own, such as drawing cross-marks on his penis for nine days or pissing into a red ants' nest to restore his manhood.
and/or
3) The man or a root doctor working on his behalf can get back at the enemy woman and reverse the spell by capturing some of her menstrual blood and laying a trick for her, such as stopping her blood up in a bottle with 9 pins, 9 needles, and 9 rusty nails, then hiding the bottle in a hollow tree where she will never find it. That'll serve her very well. She'll get "female trouble" and will have to leave that man alone.
MUST MAGICAL BODY FLUIDS BE USED FRESH?
I am often asked this question, especially by women who want to work with their period blood during particular magical phases of the moon or who have collected semen from a lover and found that it dried up before they were able to work with it.
The answer is simple: Traditional old spells that originated long before artificial refrigeration was developed simply call for drying the fluid on a piece of cloth or a string. Soaking the cloth or string in liquid will re-activate the fluid. I have known women who have frozen their menstrual blood in ice cube trays in the freezer for future use. I find that dried tampons work fine, though, if you swish them through coffee like a tea bag.
CLOSE TO BODY FLUIDS: BATH WATER AND DRINKING WATER
Bath water or left-over drinking water, soda, coffee, or tea from a person has special uses, as does the water they washed dishes or clothing in, if they scrubbed the dishes or clothes by hand. The idea is that this must be water that they physically contacted.
One traditional method of preparing these "personal waters" is to use in love spells of control is to wash your own face and body parts with the liquid, collect it, and use it to feed back to the person you are working on. In other words, you mingle their "personal water" with your body fluids and then get the target to drink it. This work is aided by the accompaniment by powerful prayers.
You can also use a person's bath or drinking water to water a plant in which you have "planted" a honey-apple spell. You may keep the plant in your home and let the person set near it, or your could give the etablished plant to the person as a present.
Finally, you can use a person's to make a "boiled prayer." You write a prayer for love or a petition for domination with a water-soluble ink on paper and then boil it in their bath or drinking water until the volume of the water is reduced to 1/3 of what you started with and the written words have all washed into the remaining water. You may then feed the "condensed" water back to the person to control them. This practice is the subject of a 1930 song by the Memphis Jug Band called "Papa's Got Your Bath Water On."
SUBSTITUTES FOR BODY FLUIDS: THE MAGICAL LINK
I am often asked what a person can use for this type of rootwork if bodily fluids cannot be gotten. In descending order of strength, according to hoodoo folk magic, here is a list of substitute magical links:
Genital fluids: menstrual blood, semen, vaginal fluid
Other biological concerns: urine, feces, sweat, blood, spit
Hair: pubic, head, armpit, beard
Person's unwashed clothing: underwear, socks, handkerchief
Person's foot track lifted from the dirt
"Shed" body items: nail clippings, baby teeth
Person's bath water, wash water, drinking water
Person's handwriting on paper
Something Person owned or wore
Something Person touched, e.g. butt from smoked cigarette
Photo of Person
Drawing or silhouette of Person
Person's business card
Person's full name written on paper 9 times
These items can be used for good or for evil; all that is indicated here is the relative strength of the tokens that represent the person.
In practice, the weaker of these items may be combined to increase their power. For example; you may get the person's business card and then write their name on the back 9 times, or you may get their handwriting on paper, write their name on the back 9 times, and fold the paper around a hair you stole from their comb or brush while you were using the bathroom in their house.

The following documentation on the use of body fluids in hoodoo spell-casting comes from "Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork," a 5-volume, 4766-page collection of folkloric material gathered by Harry Middleton Hyatt, primarily between 1935 and 1939. For a further documented series spells using salt in the German-American and African-American folk-magic traditions, see the page on Protection Spells.
IMPORTANT: If this is the first time you have encountered Hyatt material
at this web site, please take a moment to open and read the supplementary page called
"Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork" by Harry Middleton Hyatt.

MAN'S SEMEN IN PILLOW CAUSES IMPOTENCE {TIES HIS NATURE}
10262. Ah heard dey said yo' could take yo' discharge an' put it in a rag an' put it where no air kin git to it, an' put it in yore pillah, an' he cain't do nuthin off nowheres else, an' he'll have tuh stay home.
[Fayetteville, N. Car., (1443), 2614:7.]

HAIR -- PUBIC {AND MENSTRUAL BLOOD}
3207. Well the other is, you can take hair from around your privates and use in a way, say a man or a woman, if she is running around and you are in love with her or something and you want to stop her. Say you use that {her public hair} to stop her.
(Do you know how they would use it?)
Take it -- you have to get it during intercourse see and get it and keep it to yourself. Take it and put this hair in a bottle and stop it up, and the other {menstrual blood} goes with it -- take a cloth or a rag, anything she uses. Take that and...
[Informant was so long trying to finish sentence, that I suggested:] (You carry it with you, is that the idea?)
No, you can stop her to make her stay where you are, have no connection with nobody but you...
[I stop machine and let him talk (see dots) and then attempt to summarize.] (By taking some of her private hair and a piece of her monthly cloth, and putting in in this bottle and stopping it up, and keeping it on your person. Wearing it.)
No, Sir, place it in a secret place right over the door there or anywhere you can hide it -- up over her, where she goes through.
(That will keep her from running around with men?)
Yes.
[Fayetteville, N.Car., (1393), 2503:8.]

IF A MAN GIVES HIS URINE TO A WOMAN IN A DRINK
SHE WON'T HAVE ANY NATURE FOR ANY OTHER MAN
10273. He takes and give her his urine to drink unbeknownst to her, like in beer or wine, and she won't even look at another man, won't have any nature towards any other man. That urine keeps her mine [mind] on that one man, her husband, when he is gone away from her, on a visit or somepin.
[New Orleans, La., (809), 1139:6.]

URINATING INTO RED ANT NEST CURES IMPOTENCE
10271. If a person got chew fixed so yo' ain't got no manhood wit churself, yo' jes' go an' make water into a red ant's nest. It will freshen right up ag'in. Ah've lost mah nature mahself dat way an' ah've gained it back dat way. Dat's true about dat.
[For more ants, see Nos. 3111-3112, p. 2342, v.3.]
[Waycross, Ga., (1145), 1869:6.]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The Harry M. Hyatt material on this page was transcribed by Landa (chicomex@goldstate.net).






How to Get Rid of a Cursed Voodoo Doll


You have found an unusual looking doll on your doorstep or in your parking garage at work. You get a creepy feeling just looking at it. Come to think of it, you have had a streak of bad luck lately. Was this doll put there for you to find? Is someone sending you a message on the down low?
A person who wants to lay a trick on you can use any type of doll they wish. It does not have to be the stereotypical ugly Voodoo doll with some of your personal effects attached to it. Sometimes, it can be as innocent looking as a sweet baby doll that is the object of any little girl's affection. This doll is an example of a doll that is believed to have been used as a Voodoo doll. In this case, the doll bride was used to represent the daughter-in-law of the the son of the person casting the spell. At first glance, she seems like a beautiful baby doll. But upon closer examination while removing the veil, it became evident that her hair had been clipped off. Not everyone who believes they have been cursed or hoodooed actually has been. To find out if you have been hoodooed, you should have a divination done by a reputable practitioner, or do a divination yourself using cards, a pendulum, or some other divination system with which you are familiar. The results of the divination will reveal whether or not your situation is due to being crossed or jinxed.

If the misfortune you are experiencing is not due to a medical or mental health condition, and you are certain it is due to some unwanted spiritual force, then you should take steps to reverse it. It helps to know who has crossed you, and it helps if you have the object with which you have been cursed so that you can destroy it.

If you are confident in your ability to confront a Voodoo hex or curse, then follow these instructions for getting rid of a cursed Voodoo doll:
If you feel that you are in possession of a negative Voodoo doll, the best thing to do is to put it in a white cloth and sprinkle it generously with sea salt. You can then take it to a river or stream or deep in the woods with an offering of fruit and some coins and ask the spirits of the water or the trees to take the negative energy and transform it through the power of the earth. Walk away without looking back. When you arrive home, light a 7-day protection candle and take a bath with cleansing herbs, including sea salt.

Alternately, you can:
On a Saturday, place the doll (or object) in a clean white cloth, dig a hole in the earth on sacred ground (if possible), far away from your home. Place the cloth wrapped doll in the hole and burn it. Then, cover the ashes which remain with Holy Water and cover the hole over with the dirt. The earth will recycle that negative energy very quickly and turn it into positivity and blessings. When you return home afterwards, bathe very well, adding some Holy Water to your bath.

-----------------------

Been Hoodooed?

If you think you are hoodooed, take one
pint of salt, one pint of corn meal, one
pint of your urine. Put that in a can on the
stove at twelve o'clock at night and cook until
it burns. Then throw the can and all away
and your hoodoo spell will be off."

From the book "Folk-Lore From Adams
County, Illinois" by Harry Middleton Hyatt









Doll of Shadows



Roughly translated (very roughly) "Earth, Air, Fire, Water, bring bitter malevolent ghosts of the dead remove/dispose of enemy, arrive at bedroom/sleeping chamber and successively be present in sleep."


Doll of Shadows
(Used with permission from Luigee - wiccanism@yahoo.com)


A Doll of Shadows is used in black magick and its only purpose is to do evil and harm. I felt it was necessary to introduce you to these types of dolls so that you are aware of their existence and how to defend yourself against them if necessary.

These dolls are created by very advanced and powerful black magick, so if you're a beginner in Magick or Witchcraft and come under attack, I would recommend you seek the help of a more advanced Witch if at all possible.

I have never created a Doll of Shadows myself, but according to my research, a Doll of Shadows is created by using human bones, animal parts, feathers, nails, blood, cemetery dirt, and anything else that you can use to make the doll as gruesome as possible.

Once the doll is created and consecrated in the name of evil, the way it works is that the person who created the doll takes a picture of the Doll of Shadows, writes the curse on the back of the picture, and then sends it to the victim. When the victim sees the picture, the image of the doll is then projected telepathically into the victim's dream state. This mental projection will then cause horrific nightmares that are meant to torment the individual. In some cases, these nightmares are so horrific that people's hearts stop beating or they simply go insane. It is also possible that the spirits within the doll may eventually gain control over the victim all together - a form of possession.

If you come under this form of attack, it is important that you perform a cleansing, protection, and hex breaking spell immediately. I would add a general Healing spell just to be safe. If you're inclined to do so, a reversal spell to send the curse back to the person who sent it to you is also an option. Again, I want to remind you that it's always a good idea to seek the help of a more advanced and experienced Witch if you don't feel you have the experience or knowledge to defend yourself.

A Doll of Shadows can be used over and over again to afflict many victims. Once a doll is created the spirits within it give it power and life forever. These dolls, therefore, should never be destroyed. Unlike Voodoo Dolls or Poppets, which can be destroyed after their purpose is complete; a Doll of Shadows has evil spirits living within it. If the doll (their home) is destroyed, then they will use the person (and the person's home) who destroyed the doll as their new home. For this reason, if you find, buy, or inherit a Doll of Shadows, I advise that you store and keep it away in a safe place away from people. Placing a magickal shield around the doll to protect those who may walk within proximity to it is also recommended (A Doll of Shadows can contaminate a person's Aura).
















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