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CHAPTER 5

Marie Laveau—The Legendary Queen of Voodoo

“Stir the fire till it lowe

How like a Queen comes forth the lonely Moon

From the slow-opening curtains of the clouds,

Walking in beauty to her midnight throne!”

—George Croly, “Diana”

VOODOO ARRIVED IN NEW ORLEANS during the antebellum period, as the people of Africa brought their spiritual practices and customs to the New World. As new arrivals entered the city from Africa, Haiti, and the Caribbean islands, these cultures blended and shared their magical secrets, enhancing them with new ingredients, spells, and practices to strengthen the rituals and incantations.

Out of this combination of cultures, a new form of Voodoo arose, which differs from the strictly Haitian Voodoo and from the various West African practices. Many refer to this style as Louisiana Voodoo, which focuses on the women as the high priestess and queen of the group who holds court and is recognized as the supreme leader. Items that are unique to the Louisiana style of Voodoo include Voodoo dolls and gris-gris bags, which are bags filled with charms such as botanicals and other organic ingredients carefully selected and blended to bring power, magic, and mojo to the bearer of these bags. Gris-gris bags were made for specific purposes, including attracting love and providing holistic healing. The bags would often include therapeutic oils and medicinal herbs, and the patient would be instructed to wear the bag on their body to allow the oils to seep through the skin into the body for healing. This type of traditional folk medicine was also used in ancient Celtic traditions and other wise woman folk healings throughout Europe. Gris-gris bags were made for money and prosperity, health and wellness, love and relationships, and specially ordered magical bags were prepared for protection, dreams, and luck, as well as to develop psychic powers and to clear and remove negative energy from homes and businesses.

As these practices grew in New Orleans, the structure of Louisiana Voodoo shifted and changed as it melded into the unique mixture of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean cultures in the city. Catholicism was the predominant religion in the area. With many similarities between the two religions, including the appreciation of the divine feminine and praying to a variety of spiritual beings for help, over time the Catholic practices were adopted into Voodoo rituals. It was an easy cross-connection for practitioners to align the concept of their helpful spirit gods with the representation of the saints of the Catholic church.