Voodoo Dolls In Magick And Ritual

by Denise Alvarado

For the first time anywhere, explore the history, mystery, and magick of Voodoo Dolls in this fascinating new book. Tracing the Voodoo doll's roots back in history, author Denise Alvarado provides an intriguing account of the most provocative and mystifying icon of the African-derived healing tradition, dispelling stereotypes and myths, while at the same time showing how to make and use Voodoo dolls to enhance every day living. Learn how to make three kinds of Voodoo dolls, find over 30 spells and rituals to find love, attract wealth, offer protection, and promote healing and happiness. Denise Alvarado was born and raised in the Voodoo and hoodoo rich culture of New Orleans. She has studied mysticism and practiced Creole Voodoo and indigenous healing traditions for over three decades. She is a cultural anthropologist, psychologist, writer, artist, spiritual adviser, and cultural consultant.

Genres: Occult, Spirituality

210 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Independent scholar, ritual artist and prolific author of Southern folk magic, spiritual traditions and culture. I create art and describe my life experiences as a Creole woman growing up in the Hoodoo capitol of the World, New Orleans, Louisiana. That said, my life experiences are by no means limited to New Orleans as I have been all over the world and currently call Arizona my home.

Please visit my website: Creole Moon

Reviews

[Carolina Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched book which provides an overview of the history and use of dolls in various magickal disciplines, most notably New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo, as well as provides examples of how they are made and deployed in the practice of magick. Voodoo Dolls in Magick and Ritual also contains several photographs and illustrations of dolls in the author's personal collection. The only reason you'll put this book down is to make your own!

[Fabian Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for a book on Voodoo dolls but flawed. Well there are a number of books on making and using Voodoo dolls and this seems to be one of the better ones. There is some historical background and lots of photos of dolls, which would have been much better in colour. I bought it for general interest and the spells don't particularly interest me although it was interesting to read about the different uses. However, as a book on the occult, it is really not very good in absolute terms. The author keeps repeating herself about this threefold law where if you do something bad it will come back to you threefold. However, she uses threefold law and cause and effect as interchangeable terms, which is inaccurate and misleading. Also quite amusingly, she mentions a method for mirroring the effects of a malicious doll attack back to the sender and specifies that one should say that the intended effect should be sent back to the sender threefold. That is hilarious. Surely if someone is doing something to you, sending it back at the same level is considered fair and anything more is just malicious and juvenile. It's like if someone hurts you in the playground and you maliciously beat them up far worse than they beat you up. And to have that as a standard procedure and get sanctimonious about the threefold law and using voodoo for negative purposes is hypocritical. Also, I found one technique for wishing someone bad luck which she endorsed as not in breach of the threefold law as you are asking God to do it for you lol. How is that even relevant. I take a lot of the book with a pinch of salt, it was worth buying, but that general kind of immature and 'have your cake and eat it' attitude is not uncommon with 'lightworker' or 'fluffy bunny' types. Also, there is a page on cleansing a doll, most of it giving you background as to why it is necessary. Yet there are only 7 lines on performing the actual cleansing and it is non-specific about duration etc. and rather unhelpful. She writes to pick and method and just do it lol

[Mercades Garza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for making Poppets and Dolls. Highly Recommend

[Onyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read somewhere that Hoodoo is an ever-growing magical practice, since it's a amalgamation of different traditions coming from diverse continents. And from what I've read in this particular book, Ms. Alvarado seems not to have allowed the practice she grew up with to stagnate and become stale. She let it grow and thrive by borrowing from New Age and Wicca, along with the conservative stand-bys from Asia, Africa, Native America, Europe, and the Middle East. Normally, I would have considered this a bad decision, but she did such a good job blending it, I became impressed.
New Orleans Voodoo would certainly give Wicca a run for its money, since Wicca has lost a lot of what made it attractive by focusing so much on the conservative religious part, at the expense of the magic. Also it retains a lot of that cultural feel that, at least, American Wicca has trouble retaining.
I may not technically agree with the "what ever you send out will come back to you times three" or the "karma" caveats she added to her advice on building voodoo dolls and such, but I do agree in general principle of what she is trying to communicate, that backlashes do happen when you mess with the equilibrium. Things you don't want to happen sometimes do end up happening anyway...and it's not always good, even with the best intentions. You could have the "monkey's paw effect" if you're not careful, so it's better to learn as much as you can about subjects like this before you start working with it. Nature will rebalance herself, and she can be merciless, so just be aware of what you're doing.
Overall though, I found this a very enlightening and educational book. Very good.

[Constantin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best occult-related books I have read, and definitely the best book I have found so far on the subject.

The historical/theoretical part of the book is very well written, almost in the say way as an academic essay, which is great because it gives all the information you need in a "to the point" way, while avoiding nonsense fillers.

Then, to my surprise, there was a practical part in it as well, with instructions that range from how to create and use different types of dolls, to how to even make the oils from scratch.

In conclusion, a very well all rounded book that is an excellent read.

[Amie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gives some interesting information on different dolls as well as some I haven't heard of before. That's not surprising since I haven't delved much into this area of study beyond the basic poppet/voodoo doll. I like how many different cultures and belief systems have some form of magic doll deep in their practice. There were some good pictures of different styles of dolls as well. This is definitely a good starting off point if you want to look deeper into some of the varied areas of study presented here as well as it gives a good overall general base if that's all you're looking for.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I typically like things by Alvarado, but there were just too many Wiccan references in this one for my taste. For myself, that lessened the credibility of this text. I didn't buy it to learn about Wiccan consecrations and rituals. I wanted some Hoodoo. Overall, it was a decent read. Like I said, there were just too many references to Wicca.