Voodoo:

A spiritist and ancestor religion, originating in Africa, and now found predominantly in Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. Magical rites, trance states and possession all play a major role in Voodoo

(See also: Voodoo, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

VOODOO or VODOUN: the remains of several African religions brought to the Western world by slaves and later combined with Catholicism. Similar to Santeria, Brujeria and Spiritismo. Sympathetic Magick plays an important part in the Voudoun rites.

(See also: VOODOO, VODOUN, Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

JAMAICAN VOODOO: The polytheistic religion and magickal system of West African origin found in the Caribbean, South America and North America today. It recognizes that there are a multitude of gods and ghosts who each have their own myths, rites, offerings, taboos, and magical forces. Obeah is a healer god, who can also be invoked to bring illness and other calamities to one's own enemy. Also known as Obea, Obeah, Obi, Oby, Jamaican Voodoo.

(See also: JAMAICAN VOODOO, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

VOODOO

(Or VOUDON; from Tovodun, the Dahomean gods.) The West African religion together with its transplanted form in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Gulf. It derives from Dahomey or Yoruban vodun, "god" or "spirit" and the chief spirits are Legba, Ogoun, Ghede and, in the new world, Baron Samedi, Piquant and Cimitère. Rites are said to involve serpent worship, sexual magic, cannibalism and corpses (see ZOMBIE). Another name for spirits, those that actually possess the worshippers, are the loa.

According to Michael Bertiaux, latterday priest or Hungan, Voodoo is not an evil religion and is much misunderstood. He heads La Couleuvre Noire, or modern "Black Serpent" Voodoo Cult working with the so-called "Ophidian Current" and "the leapers of the paths" on the other side of the Tree of Life. The latter practice is associated with Juju, another "modern" African religion.

Esoteric Voodoo is actually a highly practical procedure for leading us into making contact with our deepest levels of being and most ancient modes of consciousness, through the dark spirits of the universe that operate on the same frequencies.

Michael Bertiaux's Voudon Gnostic Workbook is probably the most comprehensive and illuminating contemporary work on the subject, both from the practical and from the philosophical, mystical points of view. It ranges in mind from the basic desires of the most ignorant levels of society to the esoteric abstractions of the heights of untrammeled consciousness.

(See also: VOODOO, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

VOODOO DOLL

If everything is connected to everything else, any intention to do harm is enthused into everything the "intender" touches. Indeed, there is no M/magic(k) at all without intention. Specifying the object of malevolence immediately begins to funnel the energy and the more the substitute object resembles the hated victim, the more effective it is. If, then, to this doll are added things that once belonged to the victim, such items help to focus the malevolence all the narrower, as a magnifying glass narrows and intensifies sunlight into actual fire. If chants using the victim's name are used, the hate-force is again intensified.

(See also: VOODOO DOLL, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Voodooism, or Voodoos. A system of African sorcery; a sect of black magicians, to which the New Orleans negroes are much addicted. It flourishes likewise in Cuba and South America.

(See also: Voodooism, Voodoos, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Vodou (Haitian Vodou, vodoun, vodun, voodoo, voodooism, Voudoun): Fusion of Roman Catholicism and ancient African polytheism and ancestor worship, practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries.

The words Voodoo and Voudoun stem from the West African word vodun (or vodu), which means spirit or deity.

(See also: Voodoo, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Voodoo Dream Symbols:

(Source: Myths - Dreams - Symbols)

Related pages: Dream Symbols, Dream Interpretation, Dream Symbol voodoo, Dream Dictionary voodoo, Meaning of dreams about voodoo, Dream Interpretation voodoo, Dream Analysis voodoo, Dreaming of voodoo

Voodoo, Voo Doo, Woo-do, Voodoo

Voodoo or Voodooism [from Fongbe dialect vodunu from vodu moral and religious life of the Fons of Dahomey]

A definite system of African black magic or sorcery, including various types of necromantic practice. It reached the Americas with the African slaves brought from the West Coast, and in and around the Caribbean various degrees of the cult persist and constitute a recognized if little understood social feature in the history and life of the people.

Especially significant in the original Fon religion are the principal temples in the sacred forests, with symbolic hieroglyphics on the walls, depicting the exploits of their kings, voodoo legends, etc., and explaining their belief in the unknowable god Meru (Great Master); this unmanifest god, too far removed from men for them to give to him any form, dealt with them through lesser gods and nature spirit, i.e., voodoo; the priestesses serving the temple in a secret cult with four degrees of initiation, and having passwords unknown to laymen; the cult of the snake or adder as the most primitive form of the religion.

Such findings in voodoo history, however degraded in course of time and overlaid by beliefs and customs of cruder native tribes, have the basic elements of a hierarchic religion so enveloped in mystery as to indicate an origin far beyond the creative imagination of any people. Rather, here in strange temples of dark mystery, were the lingering echoes of some ancient wisdom teaching of those who were truly "as wise as serpents." The least altered of the original system is probably the voodoo music with its solemn, insistent rhythm in the mood of prayer or an invocation. This rhythm persists, even when the ritual songs in Haiti are composed entirely of Creole words, or of a series of unintelligible sounds.

Counterparts of the debasing and malign system of voodoo are found elsewhere under many different names, like the left-hand Tantrika of India, and the Dugpas of Tibet. In general, all of these unholy practices date back to the abuse of spiritual knowledge and power by the late Atlanteans.

(See also: Voodoo, Voodooism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Voodoo: Voodoo is both a corruption of the African Fon word 'Vodou' (which means 'spirit' or 'mystery') and now a powerful spiritual tradition in its own right, most associated with New Orleans and the American South.

Voodoo travelled from Africa in the hearts and souls of Africans who were transported to the Americas during the slave trade. There it became blended with the spiritual practices of the indigenous peoples, who often had a shamanic or animistic belief system, and with the Catholic religion of the slave owners. It recognises one creator-god and a pantheon of angel-like spirits (called Loa) who work on his behalf. The ancestors are a third spiritual force.

All of these spirits may be appealed to for practical help, advice, and support, through prayer, divination and magic. Herbalism also plays a major role in New Orleans Voodoo, where it is known as Hoodoo or root doctoring, and the Voodoo priest and priestess are often powerful healers, working with herbs and with more spiritual and magical healing tools.

Famous names associated with New Orleans Voodoo include Marie Laveau and Dr. John.

(See also: Voodoo, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

VODOUN, VOODOO, VOUDOU, VOUDOUN (Fon, vodu, “spirit”): Like Santería, Vodoun is a blending the worship of traditional Catholic saints, Christ and the Gods (loas) of Africa, for example, a Vodoun practitioner could beg for intercession from St. Patrick and really be calling on their serpent God, Danbhalah-Wedo.

Vodoun worshippers believe that the work of the loas appears in every facet of daily life and that pleasing the loas will gain the faithful health, wealth, and spiritual contentment. The loas speak to their devotees through spirit possession but only for a short time during ceremonies and manifest to protect, punish, confer skills and talents, prophesy, cure illness, exorcise spirits, give counsel, assist in rituals and take sacrificial offerings.

The priest (houngan) or priestess (mambo) acts as an intermediary to summon the loa and help the loa to depart when his or her business is finished. Magick, for both good and evil, is an integral part of Vodoun. Evil is merely the mirror image of good, the magick of the spirits is there to be used, and if that is for evil, so be it. Also known as Hoodoo.

(See also: VOODOO, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

Voodoo, Vodou (African, "divine spirits", also Vodou, Vodoun, Vodun)

African- Christian new religion born in Haiti, whose followers worship the "divine spirits" in life and rituals and accept possession by those spirits for healing and spiritual guidance. Originally a pejorative term -"Voodoo" is now acknowledged as the proper designation for the complex beliefs and practices among the majority of the populace of Haiti.

Voodoo began as the clandestine religion of enslaved African sugar-plantation workers in Haiti in the seventeenth century, but its early history is preserved only in scattered eighteenth-century colonial records and ordinance codes. The reports of covert meetings, dances, funeral practices, and even trance possession among enslaved and freed Africans indicate that they preserved ancient traditions in the face of enormous obstacles; the development of Voodoo is itself a tribute to the spirit and stamina of those early devotees. It is rooted in the West African Yoruba, Fon, and Angolan communities, as well as in French Roman Catholicism.

It has primarily continued African priestly roles, ritual themes, symbolism, and pantheons of named female spirits (especially Ezili) and male ones (Ogou, Damballah-Wedo, Legba). Voodoo theology parallels traditional medieval Christianity, for its followers acknowledge a high creator deity, Bondye (Bon dieu), but invoke the intermediary spirits for intercession in human affairs. It is only the intermediaries-identified individually with Christian saints or sacred places-who descend to "mount" their "horses," their followers, during possession rituals.

Roman Catholicism provides the ritual framework for the lives of Voodoo members as well, for they not only follow its traditional liturgical calendar for scheduling pilgrimages and lesser ceremonies but also participate in the common rituals of baptism, marriage, and the Mass. Roman Catholic prayers, some still in Latin, form a significant component of some Voodoo rituals, as do other lesser aspects and ritual objects from traditional Catholic festivals.

The divine spirits (loa or lwa) of Voodoo occupy separate pantheons or nations; two of these, the Rada, whose spirits are generous and benevolent, and the Petro, whose strong spirits evince terrible powers, dominate worship in urban centers. The higher powers (lemiste) are associated with natural dimensions or places, such as sacred springs or cemeteries, and are joined in the spirit world by souls of the dead and ancestral spirits (lemo) and sacred twins (lemarasa). Individual worshipers, drawn to individual spirits by necessity or similarities in personality or temperament, may choose among them for personal devotion but must not neglect those ancestors and spirits traditionally venerated in the family.

Voodoo rituals range from simple devotional acts, such as the lighting of candles with accompanying prayers, to family observances for the family dead to elaborate rituals enhanced by large meals, drumming and singing, and exuberant dance. The spiritual leaders in the Voodoo community are the male hungans and female mambos; in their religious roles, they perform divination and healing rituals for individual members, as well as oversee all training and calendrical ceremonies. As elders and teachers, they guide the possession trance dances, which allow the individual divine spirits to be present among their followers, to receive worship, and to offer healing and counsel.

In Haiti, rural communities continue Voodoo as a family-centered religion firmly tied to traditional agricultural life, while urban centers have interwoven a wider variety of practices, some structured and formal-including rituals of initiation, funeral rites, pilgrimage to Catholic shrines, and festivals-some less so, including not only divination, but also the making of amulets for luck and protection.

(See also: Voodoo, Vodou, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

image magick (image magic, sympathetic magic, sympathetic magick): Ancient form of magic whose basic principle is that like produces like - i.e., that a person or thing can be supernaturally affected through the name of, or an object representing, that person or thing. Specifically, it is a form of homeopathic magic (mimetic magic) that includes doll magic.

Practitioners typically use image dolls (e.g., voodoo dolls): small clay, cloth, straw, waxen, or wooden representations of their targets. image magick extends from black magic to love magick and white magic. For example, practitioners of white magic may use image dolls to effect healing or to increase fertility.

(See also: Image magick, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

LOA

Voodoo Gods. (See LHA).

(See also: LOA, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Candomble:

A Brazilian spiritist religion.

See also Umbanda; Voodoo.

(See also: Candomble, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Pocomania:

A Jamaican spiritist religion.

See also Voodoo.

(See also: Pocomania, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Umbanda:

A Brazilian spiritist religion.

See also Candomble, Voodoo .

(See also: Umbanda, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Zombie:

A corpse that has been partly brought back to (soul-less) life by magic.

See also Voodoo .

(See also: Zombie, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

OBEAH

Obi is the West Indian God of Evil and an "obeah" man or woman is a type of sorcerer, proficient in Voodoo and other forms of magic.

(See also: OBEAH, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

LEGBHA

African (Dahomey, Yoruba.). When the Sun-God Damballah touched the penises of Leghba's four sons,they ejaculated the logoi spermatikoi into the heavens, whence the philosophers received reason and wisdom.

Papa Legbha is the god of the knotted stick (phallus), the strongest God of the Voodoo religion. He is the guardian of the crossroads and opener of the way for the other gods to follow, and the last son of the Creator God and equated in the New World with the Devil. He appears as a ragged old man with a crutch, pack on back and pipe in mouth. Leghba desires the human race in a lustful way and every voodoo magician, at some point, experiences a desire for sexual union with Leghba, whereupon, if he is accepted, the supplicant enters an initiation into the deepest mysteries of all.

(Note: Readers who wish to know more about Voodoo, should read Bertiaux's "Voodoo-Gnostic Workbook" and those who are familiar with computer games, will find Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers (which is set in New Orleans) very instructive.

(See also: LEGBHA, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )