In the last blog post, we examined in general the practice of making food offerings to spirits and discussed making an ancestor feast, which is the cornerstone ritual of New Orleans Voodoo. In this post, I would like to expand upon this topic and share a few specific offerings that are traditional to various lwa or saints. The following list of saints and spirits are not specific to any one spiritual pantheon but are rather an eclectic…
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First of all, let me say that the origins of this popular religious figure are at best obscure. In any case, there is no doubt that there is a saint in Heaven named Expedite who rushes to help those of us here below that love and venerate him. There is an urban legend regarding this saint that many New Orleanians swear by. When Louisiana was under Spanish rule, a statue of a strange and unidentifiable saint arrived…
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Saint Cyprian is definitely invoked in Voodoo and in Southern Hoodoo in the United States, but he is found to a much greater extent in Latin-American folk magic. He is the patron saint of good witches who use their power for health, love and protection and he offers protection to his devotees against curses and evil forms of witchcraft. In Galicia, in north western Spain, there is rumored to exist a secret grimoire attributed to this saint…
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All Voodoo doctors and queens hold services this Saint John’s night, which is the most powerful of the year for doing any kind of spiritual work as the veil between the physical and spiritual worlds is at its thinnest. Today I would like to share a link to an article I’ve written about the Feast of Saint John with a video of Mambo Sallie Glassman of New Orleans performing the service on Saint John’s night. You can…
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Saint Expedite is an extremely powerful and fast acting folk saint popular in New Orleans among Voodooists and mainstream Catholics alike. His image is housed at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church across from Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1, both very important sites of Voodoo pilgrimage. Lately, in my consultations with clients, Saint Expedite has been showing up more and more and I have been using him in my work. So, I’ve decided to share a little about…
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