Urban Voodoo: A Beginners Guide to Afro-Caribbean Magic

by S. Jason Black, Christopher S. Hyatt

Covers Voodoo, Santeria, and Macumba as practised in cities of the Western world. This is not another history or sociological study, but a candid personal account by two who came to the religion from the outside. It includes descriptions of the phenomena triggered by Voodoo practice, divination techniques, spells and a method of self-initiation.

Genres: Occult, Magick, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Religion, Magic

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew guys like this in college. I have no doubt that the authors are experiencing the supernatural events they describe. However, the authors' immaturity, snarkiness and focus on using "magic" for mere personal gain prevents them from writing an interesting book current urban voodoo practice, instead focusing the content on casting spells to harm others or for personal profit without regard to spiritual or personal growth. Despite these problems, this book did provide a bit more insight into the practices of the voodoo bokor, or black magician, rather than providing only white-washed accounts of spirit worship made palatable for an Anglo audience like so many other books in this genre.

[Roman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Безотносительно практик, книга угарная в части описания того как аыторы ко всему этому пришли

[Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book focuses far too much on bashing Christians and white people, even going so far as calling the whole Christian religion "fascist." It also bashes other major religions, some of which are among the largest in the world. Vodou is certainly not a white religion, nor should it be white-washed, but I don't feel like the insulting of nearly every major religion adds to the authors' credibility. Likewise, the authors rage on against dichotomies, yet they frequently dichotomize the world as "Voodoo religion or fascist religion" and "black and white" without recognizing these dichotomies themselves. In addition, the authors make it seem like most voodoo involves blood sacrifice, when the reality (based on everything else that I've read) is the complete opposite. Beyond this, blood sacrifice is impractical and even unethical for many modern readers/practitioners. Sure, blood sacrifice is frequently practiced in Haiti and within various voodoo temples, but for the solitary practitioner, the EXPECTATION of blood sacrifice is quite lofty.

[Kath · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful if you want to know anything about vodou or santeria. Hilarious if you like mocking ritual magicians though.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book supposedly about voodoo there's not actually that much about that subject within. The first third is an account of how one of the authors, Black, came across the craft of voodoo in Los Angeles. It's a pretty good and entertaining story involving Hollywood nausea, hookers, and animal sacrifice, and is a decent read overall. I would say another third of the book is actually devoted to what you could consider the craft or system of voodoo: spells, rituals, the deities involved, etc. All the good spooky stuff you want to read about. My main problem with this book, and the reason for the low rating, is that a good third consists of aimless polemics by co-author and Falcon Books publisher Dr. Hyatt about anything BUT voodoo. Poorly organized rants targeting Christianity, the Golden Dawn, Wiccans, the modern American consumer mindset, and even an eyebrow raising passage on multiculturalism that reads like a crypto-ethnonationalist manifesto. It seems like Dr. Hyatt had a bunch of essays written that weren't publishable anywhere else and he tacked them on here.

Overall: fine. The parts about voodoo itself are fun and well-researched but scarce. Black's introductory narrative is enjoyable. Dr. Hyatt's polemics gave me a headache and almost made me put the book down for good.

[Lohmatii · Rating 3 out of 5]

Чтиво достаточно увлекательное.
Авторы описывают, как сталкивались с практикой вуду прямо посреди современного города, какое впечатление это на них произвело и как они сами втянулись в эту традицию.
Истории из жизни читаются с большим интересом. Блэку они удаются несколько лучше, чем Хаййату.
Хуже становится, когда авторы ударяются в философско-теологические рассуждения. Если Блэк рассуждает более-менее спокойно, то Хаййат раз от раза брызжет слюной, говоря о христианстве. Особено забавно это выглядит, когда он китикует христианских проповедников ровно за то же самое - за ярую нетерпимость к другим религиям. Печально, что в этой пене даже вполне логичные претензии автора начинают звучать просто как поток ругани и теряют всякий смысл.

Та часть, что является кратким экскурсом в оккультную жизнь криминальных районов мегаполиса, очень хороша. Если бы авторы сосредоточились на ней, был бы бестселлер.

[Royal Blue Sicarii · Rating 2 out of 5]

Today’s book review: Urban Voodoo by S. Jason Black and Dr. Christopher S. Hyatt. This review will be simple and numbered.

1. Skip to chapter 10 for the nitty gritty stuff. Otherwise, you will spend 9 chapters reading the ideologies of outsiders and stories that only describe the path from two guys looking through a peephole.

2. They only describe a few of the spirits and they use terms used mainly in Brazilian Voodoo, so prepare for that.

3. They keep using references (especially with initiation) with western groups and can confuse a novice practitioner with an interest in a totally different tradition.

I give this book a 2/5 and recommend to keep doing research past this book.

[Boris Bacic · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb book.

The author jumps from one event to another, and explains everything in a manner that would indicate that the reader is already well-acquainted with the rituals, invocations, and other things that were explained in the book.

On top of all that, the author often assumes a subjective and judgmental stance, often disparaging in his book others who practice Voodoo, calling them 'posers'.

Would not recommend this one.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adored it. Insightful, engaging & intimate. I appreciate the personal touches and the history highlighting societal impacts upon voodoo and how it is viewed and perceived in the public eye.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by serious occult practitioners...who also believe in real magic and spirits and have a bit of Nietzschean way of thinking about power and desire. A bit scary at times. A bit dated.

[Onyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say that I passed up this book so many times over a period of years because every time I saw it, either I thought the title of the book was seriously cheesy, or else it was just too scary of a subject. Finally, I bought it and started reading....I guess by now I was prepared for whatever was in between the covers.
As I have said before in a couple of my previous reviews, I'm not a big fan of spirits or the spiritual. That's for someone else; it's not for me. I mean if I really had to work with spirits I might, but I, for one, don't have the talent for it; and also, if I have to put up with people in the everyday realm, why would I need to fill my life with even more from the otherworldly side? Let someone who's good at it do that. I think I know my limits....
Nevertheless, this was a really good book. I really liked it. Once I started reading it, it was tough to put down. A lot of things the authors said sounded just about right, especially about psychology, Wicca, and Chaos Magic. The stories they told were interesting, especially up to the middle of the book. They even had a decent sarcastic sense of humor. But although they kind of claim to have worked with spirits (like any good open-minded skeptic, they couldn't definitively explain or explain away exactly what their experiences were in some cases; they just knew something happened,) it sometimes sounds to me less like voodoo and a little bit more like hoodoo. I might be wrong. Whatever it was, I was interested enough to keep reading. I mean, Urban Voodoo? Nah...Well, I guess they had to call it something, considering it's two white guys writing about their experiences with it and not an insider. That kind of skews things somewhat. Even they had to admit up front they were outsiders. There's no point giving off the wrong impression....
From Chapter Ten on, they give an example of a modified divination system, plus some samples of spells along with drawings that represent the spirits to call and what they're for. If you're into doing this and want to try it out, give it a go and see what you think. I don't know about the initiation and self-initiation in the last chapter though, but then I already said how I felt about working with spirits. Play at your own risk.

[Valenfore Alestreneon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is necessary and a true gem to the Magikal world. It really brings the essentials to working with spirits and Magikal practice. It's a true tome of serious Magikal practice. Goes on tangents a lot, but in all fairness, it does do a good job of debunking Christianity and PseudoMagik in those tangents, so it's a fair trade. Gives the clear standard for evidence and practice. Forget Ravenwolf, forget the anti-realism of "Psychology" Magik, this is the legit stuff.

If you want to learn about actual Voodoo culture, though, this is not the book for you. It's a system of Urban Voodoo, which, as they state in the beginning, is exactly what they're doing and even say in the book that they don't take the religious paradigms literally. This is more of a book of pure Magik with Voodoo overtones.

[Daniel Doughty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mud.

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a hodge-podge of material. Amusing though to read.

[Quinn O'connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

It somewhat made sense up until they started talking about how ' the Esau da caps preta sigil will evoke images of Christopher lee as Dracula'