Use a Voodoo Doll
Voodoo dolls originated in African diaspora as part of spiritual folkways and are now often found within New Orleans Voodoo as well as remaining a major part of Haitian Vodou.. Although voodoo dolls are sometimes thought to be used to bring about negative effects, a voodoo doll can be used for good in your own life or in the lives of others: for love, healing, protection, success and many other things. The doll is often a representation of the person who desires to appeal to the Voodoo spirits. Voodoo to some is a religion, to others it's a mystery, and to some voodoo dolls are used to promote positive changes in their life.
Contents
Steps
Creating a Voodoo Doll to Represent Someone
- Envision the person you have in mind. When making a voodoo doll, picture the person you you would like the magic to affect and how you would like it to affect them. Because voodoo largely depends upon the connection between you and the voodoo spirits, it's important that the doll you are holding symbolizes the person who will gain good or evil in their life.
- Make a voodoo doll with a picture. One of the ways to create a replica of a person through a voodoo doll is by printing out a full size picture of the person and sewing it together with fabric. Once you have found a picture or printed one out, cut around the body frame of the person in the picture and then use fabric for the back. As you begin sewing the fabric and picture together, fill the doll with stuffing.
- Make a voodoo doll with personal objects. Maybe you don't have a picture of the person you want to represent or you'd rather make a voodoo doll from something associated with that person. A lock of hair or piece of clothing will serve this purpose. Find some yarn, string, or fabric and sew or piece together a simple doll. Then, sew the object you have to represent the person to the doll you have created.
- Clear your voodoo doll. Before you plan to use your voodoo doll you will need to clear it of all previous energy, thus neutralizing it and giving you a clean slate to perform actions on it. To do this, place your hand over the object and direct your energy through it, focusing on making it new and pure. You can also wash your doll in salt water, cover it with purifying incense such as sage or sandalwood, allow natural light such as sunlight or moonlight to cleanse it, or bury it in the Earth and allow the universe and Mother Nature to transform the energy.
- There will likely be previous energy attached to any object you use in making your voodoo doll, so always remember to clear that object so that the energies don't become confused and muddled.
- To make the clearing process easier, use objects and supplies that have had little contact with others, unless you are specifically using that object to represent someone.
Using Voodoo for Good
- Concentrate on your desires. One purpose of a voodoo doll is to provide meditation and focus. While holding your voodoo doll, focus on the desired effect you hope it will bring. You can buy voodoo dolls online that symbolize aspects of life like fertility, marriage, luck, prosperity, etc. or that represent one of the spirits.
- This process may require patience and clearing your mind of distractive thoughts. That is why it's also referred to as meditation because it's the practice of calming your soul in order to be more spiritually in tune with your desires.
- You can bring about good not only to yourself, but to others. If you'd like to bring others good fortune, use the same process but have a doll that represents them instead and focus on the desires you wish for them.
- Use different colored pins. There are traditionally seven colored pins you can use to indicate areas of your life you want to focus on. This technique goes hand in hand with the focusing technique, but focusing and meditating comes first, and then using the pins follows. After you have decided what aspect of life you'd like to change, prick the corresponding colored pen into your voodoo doll. The head represents things that have to do with knowledge, the heart is used for emotions, and the stomach is used for gut feelings or intuition. So, if you desire power in your life or a friend's life, then use the red pin to prick the head. If you desire love, use the blue pin to prick the heart. These are the different colors and what they symbolize:
- Yellow: success
- Green: money
- White: healing
- Red: power
- Purple: spirituality
- Blue: love
- Black: repelling negative energies
- Petition the spiritual beings of Voodoo. Loa, the twins, and the dead are all spiritual beings of Voodoo that interact to bring you different things. In order to summon the spirits, a voodoo doll of the spirit must be created or obtained, you must focus on the desires you hope the spirit will bring you and light a candle in the appropriate color of the spirit, and then a sacrifice must be offered to the spirit. It may be helpful to create an alter for your doll so that you can light a candle to the spirits and offer your sacrifice there.
- Loa interact with people of the Earth and they are the spirits of the major forces of the universe--good, evil, reproduction, health, and all aspects of daily life. There are so many different types of loa and so they can not all be listed, but with adequate research you should be able to find the loa you wish to appeal to.
- The twins are a mysterious set of forces of contradictions: happy and sad, good and evil, ect. When honored, they may help you have the better side of life.
- The dead are the souls of one's own family members who have died, but family has not yet "reclaimed" them. If the family dead are ignored they can be dangerous, but if honored and cared for they can be helpful.
Using Voodoo for Evil
- Use colored pins for harm. While the colored pins can be used on a voodoo doll of yourself or someone else for good, some can also be used for evil. For example, if you wish to exert power over an individual, use the red pin, focus on the power you want the individual to submit to, and prick the voodoo doll of the individual in the head.
- Appeal to a spirit to act on your behalf. Using the voodoo doll that represents the spirit you wish to call upon, create an alter for your doll, focus on the person you wish to harm or cause misfortune to, and petition the spirit to act on your behalf. In the same way as you would petition a spirit for yourself, light a candle that corresponds to the spirit and possibly offer a sacrifice.
- Revert to classic torture techniques. If you wish to invoke harm upon someone through a voodoo doll representing them, you can use regular pins or needles, rope, wire, water, or any sort of torture device you wish. Then, following the focusing technique, concentrate on the person you wish to harm and the actions you are carrying out.
- Make sure you clear the doll of all previous energies. If the doll is in any way associated with someone else, they may experience the harm as well and you wouldn't want that!
- Most experienced practitioners of Voodoo suggest only to use your doll for good, because as the saying goes "what goes around comes around."
Tips
- The voodoo doll is used to represent the spirit of a specific person. You can address the voodoo doll as if you are talking to that person, requesting a change in attitude and influencing the person to act in accordance with your wishes and your desires.
- Much of voodoo is about connecting with the universe and the spirits. If you doubt their power or aren't able to focus on the connection, your voodoo doll will likely not work.
- In New Orleans Voodoo, many have their dolls blessed by an experienced practitioner in order to contact the spirits more directly.
Warnings
- Because voodoo dolls can absorb energies from people who have used them, it is a good idea to never use someone else's voodoo doll.
- If Voodoo dolls are misused, karmic effects such as conflicts, accidents, depression, bad luck, death, etc. can happen to you.
- The powers of voodoo dolls have not been scientifically proven.
- Remember, if you plan to use your voodoo doll for evil, you may experience karmic backlash, so exercise with caution!
Things You'll Need
- A voodoo doll
- Colored pins
- A voodoo doll specific to a certain spirit if desiring to petition to that spirit
- A picture of the person the voodoo doll is representing or a lock of hair or item from the person
- Different colored candles for different spirits
- Wood or a platform to create an alter
