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Voodoo Dolls
When people hear about voodoo dolls, the first association that comes to mind is a
scary shaman that puts needles inside the body of the doll and causes horrible pain
to the victim. Others consider it as black magic that is summoned to do harm to
others. In reality, these perceptions are far from the truth.
Although there are some practitioners that work with dark spells and magic around
the world, and they use dolls in their rituals which have quite some features in
common with voodoo dolls used by Haitian voodoo priests. However, the original
and primary use of voodoo dolls is precisely the opposite: getting rid of negative
energy, search for love, invocation of good luck, improve wellbeing, healing serious
diseases and so on.
In essence, voodoo dolls can be considered a form of gris-gris (the so-called charms
that protect the owner from evil spirits and bring luck, often in the form of bags filled
with dried herbs, stones and other objects). Amulets in the form of small, brightly
colored dolls were hung above the wall, as it was believed that they held unwanted
energies away from the home. Talismans in the form of a black cat (voodoo
practitioners used the image of a cat quite often) were believed to bring good luck
in sports and gambling (especially lottery and card games).
Often times voodoo dolls were passed by heritage and became family heirlooms.
Naturally, these dolls kept all the energy of past generations inside of them. A lot of
modern families keep voodoo dolls in their houses, that served the first immigrants
from Africa in the beginning of the 18th century.
Fertility dolls were especially often passed by heritage, as they contribute to the
continuation of the family. Dolls were used for protection against enemies and rivals.
It is accustomed to gift two voodoo dolls with needles inside of them in weddings in
Louisiana. Before the dolls go to their newly wed owners, they go through the hands
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of all guests present at the wedding. Each guest sticks a specifically colored needle
inside the doll. If the guest wishes long and strong love between the couple, he will
stick a red needle in the heart area of the doll. Should a guest wish for many children,
he will stick a needle in the groin area. A needle in the bride’s heel symbolizes the
unbreakable marriage. The dolls then go to the possession of the couple. When
coming home, the couple must place the dolls in the most visible location.
Differently colored needles, each with its own symbolic meanings, are used in rituals
with voodoo dolls. As opposed to the doll’s clothes, the needles come in only seven
main colors. Yellow symbolizes success, red is power, purple is spirituality, blue is love,
green is wellbeing. White color brings positive energy, while black color gets rid of
negative energy.
It is important to remember that with the creation of a voodoo doll comes personal
responsibility.
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There are no real accepted rules on how to create a “real” Voodoo doll. You can
make any doll you want, and however you want, by keeping in mind that the doll will
have direct materialistic and spiritual connection to the person. People have made
Voodoo dolls from any materials they could get their hands on in various places and
periods, such as clay, wood, wax, corn leaves, human bones, various fabrics,
feathers, plant roots, etc.
You can use any materials at your disposal. Let’s have a look at some in more detail.
Clay
New Orleans Voodoo dolls were mostly made out of blue clay, which was dug out of
burrows of crayfish. You can use any clay you want to create your dolls. When
finishing working on a doll, a hollow void is kept inside, where materials can be put
into that hold symbolism or belong to the person such as herbs for example. After
that the doll is brought into a proper form, painted and applied with magical
symbols.
Spanish Moss
A classic material for New Orleans Voodoo dolls. This plant resembles a human beard
hanging from the branches of trees, and is an excellent material for stuffing pillows,
furniture, etc. This is why Spanish Moss is common in southern United States, and has
been used successfully by Louisiana sorcerers. A “traditional” Voodoo doll without
legs is made out of this plant.
Wax
A material which is perfect in almost all aspects. It is flexible and capable to last in its
original shape for a long time. Wax is especially preferred for its ease of human
portrayal, ease of carving magic symbols and the possibility to attach human hair to
the doll.
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Cloth
Rag dolls were used in New Orleans Voodoo and were made from two strips of
material. These two strips are then embroidered into two identical forms on the left
and right side of the doll, leaving a hole to fill the doll with magic herbs, objects or
ordinary moss.
Wood
The most primitive doll can be made out of wood, but such dolls will only depict a
human form in a very generalized way (without the small details). Sometimes a single
doll is carved from a single piece of wood, which requires a certain skill and
accuracy. One of the simplest versions of dolls which were popular in early stages of
Voodoo in Louisiana was a thick tree branch or stump covered in moss, trimmed with
a cloth and a face which made the doll look somewhat realistic.
Plant Roots
The roots of a mandrake, which often look very similar to a human figure, can be
used for Voodoo magic without any additional work. With sufficient skill, you can
carve a figure of a human from potatoes, celery or the like.
Paper
Those who are familiar with the papier-mache technique don’t need explanation
how a Voodoo doll can be made out of paper. The two basic ways to do so is to
either turn the paper into pulp, soak it and mix it with an adhesive composition (then
it can be used as clay or wax), or apply layer by layer, gluing the paper to the same
composition. It is easy to turn paper into a substitute for other materials.
Bones
Voodoo dolls out of bones are mainly used for black magic.
Modern Materials
Dolls can be made out of plastic, polyethylene, foam, or even from 3d printers using
the latest technology
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Symbolism of Gris-gris Stones & Minerals
In order to use the stones and minerals in your gris-gris bags, you will have to crush
them into dust and mix them with dried herbs. The minerals have several meanings
that all fall into one of the following: love, success, spiritual protection and health.
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• Ginseng: protection from negative influences
• Holly: home protection, good luck
• Hypericum: love
• Jasmine: love
• Juniper: love, protection, cleansing, healing, success in sexual relationships
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• Thyme: peace, tranquility, preservation of wealth, riddance of nightmares
• Vanilla: love
• Yarrow: courage
Voodoo Baths
As with other religious traditions, water is a prominent element in Voodo witchcraft,
rituals and ceremonies. Spiritual cleansing, baptism, divination and many other rituals
are dependant on water, which is believed to have the ability of absorb and
transform negative energies.
Voodoo magic has evolved rapidly in Louisiana, amongst the black community.
Under the conditions of poverty, constant monitoring and partial loss of spiritual
communication, potions were not always created for magical rituals that were
performed. Today is a different era, where it is quite simple to buy needed liquids in
pharmacies, botanical and esoteric stores in Louisiana. It is still recommended to
create your own potions, though.
Cleaning baths have always gotten special attention in the traditions of Voodoo.
They are encouraged to take when you feel the approach of danger, anxiety,
depression or wish to relieve fatigue. They can also be useful if you want to restore
mental balance after a bad accident.
Cleansing bath recipes differ by the purpose of each bath. Before taking such a
bath, certain preparation is needed:
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• Clean the bath with salt water after each session. Use plain salt only if you
don’t have sea salt.
Before making cleaning procedures, wash yourself with soap and water in a regular
bath. Don’t use soap with cleansing herbs. After cleaning yourself, let your body dry
in fresh air, don’t use a towel.
In order to create a Voodoo doll, many different materials are required, some of
which are not taken directly from nature such as beads, buttons, fabric, thread, glue,
paint etc. Think about the number of people who touched these materials from the
manufacturing stage onwards. This is why it is important to purify and cleanse
everything before starting a ritual.
This doesn’t apply to items received from your spiritual guide or from the church are
not needed to be purified. You only need to add your energy to these items.
This can be done by cleaning your dolls with water, with dissolved sea salt or raw
stone salt.
Burn the incense while the Voodoo doll is placed on top of the smoke in order to
absorb it.
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Bathe in sandalwood oil.
Direct energy transfer from the person who performs the ceremony to the doll.
Earth Purification
The Voodoo dolls is buried in the ground in order for it to receive the energies of
Mother Earth.
To get the love of a specific person try this spell this month. It doesn’t matter if they
are straying.
MATERIALS:
• 1 red candle
• 1 pink candle
METHOD:
• mix the herbs together, and divide between the body cavities of each doll
• add 6 drops bitch oil to the cavity of doll which is NOT YOU
• run a flame up the side of one candle, press it against the other candle to
hold them together, (so both are now stuck together)
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• tie both dolls face to face with the red ribbon – wrapping them in a crisscross
fashion
Secure the ribbon wrapping by tying a bow, and place in front of the candles
until they burn out. Wrap the dolls in red velvet and place under you bed.
• chilli powder
• cinnamon
• sandlewood
NOTE:
2. make sure you work on newspaper and then rid of/burn after finished work
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Do’s
• DO be thoughtful about the kind of energies you wish to attract. Love and Lust
can have two very different consequences.
• DO use protection unless you are happy to get pregnant. Lust and love spells
call up Fertility and Creative energies...you have been warned!
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• DO have fun and really let yourself go...love spells should have an element of
chaos to them.
Dont’s
• DON’T ever cast a spell for a particular individual to ‘fall in love’ or lust with you.
This is against the Harm None rede.
• DON’T cast a lust or love spell at inappropriate time. Eg; Lust spell at work is
not a good idea!
• DON’T cast a lust spell on a waning moon cycle if at all possible. Waning
moon is better for spells where you wish to free of unwanted attention.