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A guide to the practices, tools, and rituals of New Orleans Voodoo
as well as the many cultural influences at its origins
- Includes recipes for magical oils, instructions for candle
workings, and directions to create gris-gris bags and Voodoo dolls
to attract love, money, justice, and healing and for retribution
- Explores the major figures of New Orleans Voodoo, including Marie
Laveau and Dr. John
- Exposes the diverse ethnic influences at the core of Voodoo, from
the African Congo to Catholic immigrants from Italy, France, and
Ireland
One of America's great native-born spiritual traditions, New
Orleans Voodoo is a religion as complex, free-form, and beautiful
as the jazz that permeates this steamy city of sin and salvation.
From the French Quarter to the Algiers neighborhood, its famed
vaulted cemeteries to its infamous Mardi Gras celebrations, New
Orleans cannot escape its rich Voodoo tradition, which draws from a
multitude of ethnic sources, including Africa, Latin America,
Sicily, Ireland, France, and Native America.
In "The New Orleans Voodoo Handbook," initiated Vodou priest Kenaz
Filan covers the practices, tools, and rituals of this system of
worship as well as the many facets of its origins. Exploring the
major figures of New Orleans Voodoo, such as Marie Laveau and Dr.
John, as well as Creole cuisine and the wealth of musical
inspiration surrounding the Mississippi Delta, Filan examines
firsthand documents and historical records to uncover the truth
behind many of the city's legends and to explore the oft-discussed
but little-understood practices of the root doctors, Voodoo queens,
and spiritual figures of the Crescent City. Including recipes for
magical oils, instructions for candle workings, methods of
divination, and even directions to create gris-gris bags, mojo
hands, and Voodoo dolls, Filan reveals how to call on the saints
and spirits of Voodoo for love, money, retribution, justice, and
healing.
SHAMANISM / INDIGENOUS CULTURES"This highly readable book will be
valuable to every reader interested in Haitian Vodou, and essential
for those who want to make the transition from intellectual
knowledge to personal experience of a profound and unfairly
neglected religion." --John Michael Greer, author of The New
Encyclopedia of the Occult, A World Full of Gods, and The Druidry
Handbook The Haitian Vodou Handbook explains how to build
respectful relationships with the lwa, the spirits honored in
Haitian Vodou, and how to transform the fear that often surrounds
the Vodou religion. Until recently, the Haitian practice of Vodou
was often identified with devil worship, dark curses, and
superstition. Some saw the saint images and the Catholic influences
and wrote Vodou off as a "Christian aberration." Others were
appalled by the animal sacrifices and the fact that the houngans
and mambos charge money for their services. Those who sought Vodou
because they believed it could harness "evil" forces were
disappointed when their efforts to gain fame, fortune, or endless
romance failed and so abandoned their "voodoo fetishes." Those who
managed to get the attention of the lwa, often received cosmic
retaliation for treating the lwa as attack dogs or genies, which
only further cemented Vodou's stereotype as "dangerous." Kenaz
Filan, an initiate of the Societe; la Belle Venus, offers extensive
background information on the featured lwa, including their
mythology and ancestral lineage, as well as specific instructions
on how to honor and interact fruitfully with those that make
themselves accessible. This advice will be especially useful for
the solitary practitioner who doesn't have the personalguidance of
a societe available. Filan emphasizes the importance of having a
quickened mind that can read the lwa's desires intuitively in order
to avoid establishing dogma-based relationships. This working guide
to successful interaction with the full Vodou pantheon also
presents the role of Vodou in Haitian culture and explores the
symbiotic relationship Vodou has maintained with Catholicism. Kenaz
Filan (Houngan Coquille du Mer) was initiated into Societe la Belle
Venus in New York City in 2003 after ten years of solitary service
to the lwa. Filan's articles on Vodou have appeared in newWitch,
PanGaia, and Planet magazines and in the pagan community newspaper
Widdershins.
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