Voodoo, also known as vodun, comes from the religion of the Dahomean people in Africa. As Africans were kidnapped and sold into slavery, they were stripped of their families, their culture, and their identities. Aspects of the African religion was combined with the Europeans’ Roman Catholicism; it was the one piece of the slaves’ heritage that they were able to keep and practice in secret.

The religion is based on one supreme being, Damballah, represented by a snake, and several lesser gods, called loa. The loa are often represented under the guise of the Catholic saints or their by their vevé, or sacred symbols. They have their own personality traits, likes and dislikes, and can be loving and benevolent or demanding and fickle.

Rituals and spellwork vary from region to region, but certain elements are commonly known and have been distorted by Hollywood. For example, Voodoo dolls began as bocheo, figures made from wood as a focus for empowerment and healing. When slave owners banned these wooden figures, cloth dolls replaced them.

Another example of a gross distortion of voodoo practice involves zombification. The zombies pictured in the movies may have risen from the grave and are looking for brains to munch on, but the truth of the matter is that zombification was a punishment. A powder derived from puffer fish was given to the offender who then was transformed into a mindless, trance-like state, easy to manipulate.

Animal sacrifice is a part of ceremonies, but is not the central focus. It is just as much a part of the religious rites as the consecrated slaughter of an animal for consumption in the Jewish culture, when food is deemed kosher. It is known as “feeding the loa”, connecting their powers at the earthly level. Birds, goats and chickens are common sacrifices accompanied with drinks and cakes.

Like Wicca, spells should be executed with caution in that whatever energy you set forth will come back to you. It is in a practitioner’s best interests to do good, although there are a number of spells to hex as well as heal. Common spells include getting a job or a raise, binding a lover to you, sending an enemy away, and bringing luck into your life.

The following samples come from the appendix of the folkloric novel From Mules and Men.

To Rent a House
Tie up some rice and sycamore bark in a small piece of goods. Tie six fig leaves and a piece of John the Conquerer in another piece. Cheesecloth is good. Boil both bundles in a quart of water at the same time. Strain it out. Now sprinkle the rice and sycamore bark mixed together in the front of the house. Put the fig leaves amd John the Conquerer in a corner of the house and scrub the house with the water they were boiled in. Mix it with a pail of scrub water.

In a Court Scrape
a) Take the names of the opponent of your client, his witnesses and his lawyer. Take all of their names on one piece of paper. Put it between two whole bricks. Put the top brick crossways. On the day of the trial set a bucket or dishpan on top of the bricks with ice in it. That’s to freeze them out so they can’t talk.

b) Take the names of your client’s lawyer, witnesses and lawyer on paper. Buy a beef tongue and split it from the base towards the tip, thus separating top from bottom. Put the paper with names in the split tongue along with eighteen pods of hot pepper and pin it through and through with pins and needles. Put it in a tin pail with plenty of vinegar and keep it on ice until the day of court. That day, pour kerosene in the bucket and burn it, and they will destroy themselves in court.

Today, voodoo is still practiced in Haiti, West Africa, and New Orleans by nearly 60 million.