Voodoo Ritual Information

Anaquana

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This might be a long shot, but considering all of the random trivia I've seen posted here, maybe not.

I have a character who is a Voodoo houngan. He is a friend/business associate of my main character. At the point I'm at in book two, she is completely messed up emotionally. She's suffering from mild-PTSD, grief, self-loathing, and a whole mess of other crap left over from the events in book one.

Elias has offered to perform a cleansing ceremony for her. The only problem is I don't know what that would entail, and I can't find anything on the internet that isn't sensationalist reporting.

Is there anybody here who can help me? Or at least point me toward somebody who can?
 

PeterL

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I would prefer to fie solid information, but I think that a google search would be better. I just took a look and found many soources oonline that look legitimate.
 

Anaquana

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What search string did you use? I haven't been able to find anything even remotely helpful no matter what I search under.
 

PeterL

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Voodoo rituals got results. You might want to look at the Wikipedia article for more hints. Then there is the matter of which branch of Voudun you are interested in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou
That has a link to the New Orleans variety.
 

Anaquana

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Thanks for the reply, Stephanie. Unfortunately, Voodoo and Santeria are not the same thing. :(

I can find Santerian practitioners all over the place here, but nobody that practices Voodoo.
 

Anaquana

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Thanks Peter. I've read the Wikipedia article several times before and it still doesn't help me set up the ritual. I already know the basics of Voodoo, but I don't know the specifics of what a cleansing ceremony would consist of.
 

PeterL

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I just took another look, and it looks like quite a few people are trying to sell spells, and an inordinate number of people seem to dies during cleansing rituals.

I have seen books of spells that included Voodoo cleansing, but I don't know which ones.
 

Anaquana

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Thank you, Lyra. There are actually a couple of Yahoo!groups I might check out on that list.

Peter, yeah. I'm not sure whether those are actual Voodoo cleansing rituals they were engaged in or if that is simply sensational reporting. That's why I'm looking for somebody a little more knowledgeable than I am. Thanks for your help.
 

ChainsawLicker

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Do not--I repeat--DO NOT go step by step.
People have died during voodoo cleansing rituals. A lot of people, actually. If you include the ritual specifics in your book, and someone uses it as a manual, you could be sued.
 

Rufus Coppertop

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Do not--I repeat--DO NOT go step by step.
People have died during voodoo cleansing rituals. A lot of people, actually. If you include the ritual specifics in your book, and someone uses it as a manual, you could be sued.

Wouldn't the idiot who used it as a manual and killed someone be the one to sue?
 

Anaquana

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Wouldn't the idiot who used it as a manual and killed someone be the one to sue?


Yeah, I'm not quite sure how an author of a fantasy story can be sued because somebody stupidly duplicated something in the book. I've read quite a few books that detail acts that could be fatal and have never heard of an author being sued because somebody thought it was a good idea to copy.

Of course, that doesn't mean that it hasn't happened, but I find it highly unlikely.
 

blackrose602

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Hi Anaquana,

Let me start by stating that I am not personally a practitioner of Voodoo. However, I worked for nearly a year in a Voodoo shop in New Orleans and was friends with several active practitioners. The shop in which I worked catered to locals who needed actual spell components rather than tourists looking for a thrill. Part of my job was to dress candles, fill gris-gris bags, create potions and help customers design rituals.

The truth behind Haitian Voodoo, at least the New Orleans derivative, is far less sinister/dangerous/sensationalistic than the media or popular culture would have you believe. Where is your Voodoo houngan character from? New Orleans Voodoo was mixed with elements of Catholicism in the early 1800s. Haitian Voodoo today also has a Catholic undercurrent, but it is not nearly as pronounced.

In any event, showy Voodoo rituals are mostly done for the tourists. True rituals are much simpler and take place behind closed doors. They're also not dangerous or deadly. Voodoo practices mostly deal with healing the sick and helping the disadvantaged. Google "Marie Laveau" for information on the famous New Orleans Voodoo Queen's good works.

Anyway, a simple cleansing ritual for a friend? He'll probably invite her to his home, where he has a small altar set with pictures of his ancestors, small statuary representing his chosen spirit(s) (Google "Voodoo Spirits" for ideas) and perhaps a few flowers or other token gifts to the spirits (food or wine, perhaps, not dead cats or children lol).

Your houngan will talk to his friend for a few minutes, make her feel comfortable, and probably try to draw out her most pressing concerns to give the ritual a bit of focus. If she's curious about the altar/religion/ritual, he'll be glad to answer any questions.

He will probably burn a little incense and call to his chosen spirit(s) and/or ancestors for help. Depending on his preferred method of spell working, he might burn a white candle (for general healing/cleansing) or a color that targets a more specific need. Google "candle colors" for ideas. Some Voodoo practitioners use essential oils as well. He might burn a smudge stick (a bundle of sage lit at one end) around his friend (close to the body, roughly where the aura is) or even ask to smudge her entire home (used to drive out evil forces and create a calming space). Incidentally, smudge sticks are also used by modern witches and spiritualists. A lot of the practices overlap between religions. Anyway, he'll say a short prayer for her, asking his chosen spirits and/or ancestors to assist her. At the end, he will thank the spirits/ancestors for their help and release them.

Before she leaves, he will probably give her a gris-gris bag. A gris-gris bag is sort of a good-luck charm, usually a small pouch filled with dried herbs. Google "magical herbs" for a guide to the various herbs that might fill the bag (High John the Conqueror root is a very powerful general good luck item. Very expensive, but one piece will suffice. It's also very good if she's having financial difficulties). He might write her name on the bag in magical symbols.

Again, I'm not a practitioner or an expert. The above is based strictly in my experiences as a shop assistant and friend to New Orleans Voodoo practitioners. If you would like some more opinions, the shop where I worked, Esoterica, has an active forum known as the Oracle http://members4.boardhost.com/onewitch/ There's a lot of witchcraft discussion (the shop supplies a lot of witches), but some Voodoo discussion as well. Feel free to jump in and post your questions. If you want to speak to my former boss directly, you can email her at [email protected]. She's actually a witch rather than a Voodoo practitioner, but she has studied both New Orleans and Haitian Voodoo in great detail. Her name is Mimi.

That's a lot of info. I really hope some of it helps! If you have any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer.
 

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I know one that I ran across while researching Eastern European traditions, actually. It's used there, in Mexico, and in Voodoo -- with different spins, of course.

It's apparently either archetypal or generic, lol. Let me know if you want me to find it in my books.

It involves an egg, or something that soaks up things [like clay], herbs, and rubbing things on the naked person in a certain way. Later, the soaker-upper is either buried, put in a special metal bowl, or drunk by the practitioner.
 

Anaquana

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Hi Blackrose, thank you for the information. I'm actually a practicing witch myself, so most of this is standard practice for me which is very interesting. I've never studied Voodoo so I wasn't sure if I would offend practitioners if I based the cleansing ceremony on a witchy cleansing ceremony.

Elias is an immigrant from Haiti. And it's interesting that you mention their focus on helping the sick and disadvantaged because Elias chooses to make his home in an alley where he helps the homeless and poor at no cost other than a token offering (and a meal of roasted rat, but that's another story altogether :) ).
 

blackrose602

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If you're a practicing witch, I would definitely go with a derivation of a witchy cleansing ceremony. There's so much overlap in the magickal components of pretty much all of the religions that use magick, a reader would be hard-pressed to prove you wrong. From my own experiences, it appears that the differences are in the actual worship/beliefs about deities rather than the magickal practices.

And yay, I don't have to get into explaining how the candle/incense/rope/whatever is just a conduit/focusing tool, since you know that already :)

That's really perfect to have Elias living in an alley and helping the homeless/poor. The true practitioners I know never ask for more than a token, and believe that bad juju will come to those who try to profit from their work.
 
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