The Spellcaster's Source Hoodoo and Voodoo Witchcraft Blog of Talia Felix

"Voodoo Doll" has come to be the standard term for any kind of magical poppet or doll-baby, and especially those which are intended to bring influence on a specified person. Virtually any kind of material can be used to make these dolls, just as long as the final shape is recognizably humanoid. Some people even like to save themselves time and use store-bought dolls or figurines around which to build their dolls.  Denise Alvarado's book  Voodoo Dolls in Magick and Ritual  has many interesting photos from her collection showing how they can be made.  Doll Babies, or "Voodoo Dolls" as they are more commonly called, have a variety of magical uses. Purposewise, they are used as a stand-in for an actual person on whom a spell is being worked, and are not themselves inherently used for evil. They are generally used in a symbolic way that is representative of the sort of effect the practitioner wishes to produce upon their human target. In previous times, they were ...

A black dress, a pointy hat, buckled shoes. Classic witch outfit. But why is this the classic outfit? One sees speculations in occult books, often times being presented as if this has been the "witch outfit" for thousands of years. Reasons are offered, such as that the conical hat channels energy into the head, or that black clothing is for protection, etc. The facts, however, are a bit more mundane... The depiction of witches in pointy hats and black gowns is a fairly recent way to depict them. Old illustrations from the middle ages through the 17th century usually show witches practicing in the nude, or else wearing whatever kinds of clothing were commonplace at the time. The picture at left, from 1555,  shows the witches in typical middle-class gowns and kerchiefs. Interestingly, some of the men observing the activity seem to be wearing tall pointy hats, and that brings us to the real reason behind this witchy fashion... As can be seen in this image of the art...

The concept of a magic spell "backfiring" on the one who had it cast is similar to the idea of "karma" as it is used in most modern American contexts. It conceives of magical spells (or certain types of magic spells) as being evil, and that a sort of spiritual punishment will befall the one who performed such a ritual or who arranged for it to be performed.  "Karma" in the sense of a mystic retaliation for negative deeds, is not a traditional part of hoodoo, nor of popular American spiritual belief before the 1970s or so. Traditional Eastern belief in the concept of karma holds it to be the force that governs what fortunes and misfortunes you will undergo in your life, these being the consequences of actions committed in your previous lifetime. (Basically, your good or bad deeds from a prior life create karma, which governs how you will be reincarnated in a future life.) One would not expect to suffer karma in this lifetime for a deed that was also c...

In the Petit Albert, the recipe for the Hand of Glory is as follows: ON THE HAND OF GLORY, WHICH IS USED BY TREACHEROUS THIEVES, IN ORDER TO ENTER HOMES BY NIGHT WITHOUT HINDRANCE. I confess that I have never tested the secret of the Hand of Glory; but I have three times assisted in the convicting of certain miscreants who confessed under torture to have used the Hand of Glory in the thefts they had committed; and when during the interrogation they were asked what it was, how it was acquired, and what it was used for, they responded, firstly, that the purpose of the Hand of Glory was to entrance and make immobile those to whom it is shown, after which they become unable to stir, such as if they were dead; secondly, that it was the hand of a hanged man; thirdly, that it must be prepared in the following manner: One takes the right or left hand of a hanged man who has been left to the dogs; one wraps it in a piece of a funeral shroud, in which one presses it well so as to squeez...

Prosper Mérimée was a French writer of the Romantic movement. As with many Romanticists, he was also a noted archaeologist, historian, and an important figure in the history of architectural preservation. He is best known for his novella Carmen , which became the basis of Bizet's opera Carmen.  Mérimée acknowledged that he chose to make his femme fatale Carmen a gypsy mostly because that's what he had been studying at the time he composed the novella, and he was very excited about the subject. One can't fault any man who lived 200 years ago for not following modern academic styles in his research, but just because it's old doesn't mean his reports should be totally discounted. These are some of the best records we have about the life of the Romany people at the time.  Within his fictionalized story of Carmen, he sought to utilize known information about their lifestyle and magical practices. Because the story was widely read, these types of spells became general fol...

At my hoodoo site , it is rare that I'm asked for a money spell that isn't just a get-rich-quick spell. Sometimes the client assures me that they know someone else who became rich by using a spell; but typically a little investigation shows one person or the other is greatly exaggerating or else using a very loose definition of the word "rich." Let's face it, if hoodoo and voodoo were good at making people instantly wealthy, 19th century black slaves would have just routinely bought their freedom, and probably would have come to run the whole country due to their fabulous riches. Not to mention if it could be done so simply and fast, probably nobody would cast spells professionally -- we magicians would just cast an instant riches spell on ourselves and never work again. Magic will always take the path of least resistance, and unless you're just a step away from becoming rich already, a spell won't cause such an event to happen -- not immedi...