For this weeks blog post, I decided to write about an object that I purchased myself. This is a voodoo doll that I procured from a gift shop in New Orleans, when I went during Spring Break last March for a volunteer trip with friends from a club that I’m in (SASS, or the Student Alliance for Social Services). After watching American Horror Story: Coven, we were all pretty excited to be going to such a spooky, fascinating, culturally rich place.

This voodoo doll was handmade in the city itself, and I was told by the shop owner that my money would go directly towards the locals who crafted the doll. Since it is an authentic voodoo doll, some would believe that it actually has power, if you actually use it for it’s magic. This particular doll is supposed to be a “Goddess to Dominate Your Man”, and inside the tag if gives specific instructions on how to use it. Supposedly, you can personalize your doll with hair, a small photo, or any small personal item by tucking it (or pining it) on to the doll. It says to make a ceremony every morning and every evening by lighting a candle or incense, sticking a pin into the heart for good, stomach for bad, say aloud your desires or intentions and concentrate on your objectives for three minutes. If you repeat this process for nine days, your wish is supposed to come true. This doll was an interesting discovery for me because before actually going to New Orleans and looking at the huge assortment of voodoo dolls, I had thought that they were always used with evil intentions. I looked up history of voodoo dolls and found out: “the voodoo tradition was brought to the New Orleans region by African slaves, often via Haiti and other islands in the eastern Caribbean. Voodoo’s arrival in the Louisiana region caused it to interlope on other traditions already in place, such as Native American and Atchafalaya Gypsy nature and rootwork practices. Ultimately, African Voodoo’s assimilation into these practices resulted in a potent regional hoodoo tradition that persists to this day. Popular among slaves, some speculate that making voodoo dolls and sticking them with pins was one method by which the slave could exert some control over the master: from the very start white plantation owners, mostly of European descent, feared this and its obvious connection to the more familiar poppet magic of their cultures. More often than not, however, the voodoo doll was employed as a weapon against other believers in voodoo, or vodusi, who did not hesitate to use it and immediately recognized its consequences.”

I have never actually done the ritual that is explained on the tag of the doll, although I did choose this particular doll for a reason. Around the time I was in New Orleans, my (now ex) boyfriend was planning on moving to California and I did not want him to go. Perhaps if I used the doll and held a ceremony when I woke up and before I went to bed for nine days, it would have actually stopped him from moving! Though he did end up returning, with no help from the doll, we still broke up…

Maybe one day I will learn if the voodoo doll truly works if I ever feel like I need to use it again, but for now it sits as a decoration in my bedroom. I also think that it’s quite beautiful because of the colorful feathers, fabric, and glitter, so it’s not like I bought it for nothing!