The Princess and the Frog

I bet. Do you know of any good books or essays about her and her life?

Awesome observation.

I actually enjoyed this movie because I think, even with being a children's cartoon, it did an excellent job of showing the balance within Voodoo with the positive and negative influence that are part of it; the embodiment of the negative, as well as the embodiment of the positive.

Nice post hun ;)

"Marie Laveau" by Francine Prose, if you can find a copy. ;)

And, yes, an excellent post.

Just a reminder more for the newbies out there, hoodoo and Voodoo are two entirely separate things. Hoodoo is a system of American folk magic used predominately by southern Black Christians. Voodoo is an Afro-Caribbean religion, and most of its adherants DO NOT practice magic.

Marie Laveau did practice a form of hoodoo, as was common for many southern Blacks, as well as being an initiated Voodoo priestess. This is uncommon. You ask most modern priest/esses of Voodoo or other African Traditional Religions if they do spellwork, and they will roll their eyes at you.

The Loa are not worshiped or worked with in hoodoo. Most hoodoo practitioners are protestant Christians - the same is true to this day. They are church-goers and dedicate their spellwork to God the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.

I've never seen the Frog Princess but now I think I will.

Thank you Lady Grey. I did hear the Hoodoo is also used to define folk magick in general.

My only confusion is the difference between Voodoo and Voudun. The sources I've read are vague on the seperation. Could you enlighten me? =)

Folk magic practices exist in every indigenous culture. They may be well hidden or subsumed into folklore, old wive's tales, or superstition. Russian jews have their own folk magic, people from Appalachia have their own folk magic, Tasmanian islanders have their own folk magic, orthodox Greeks have their own folk magic, and on and on.

Hoodoo is just one form of a very diverse field of American folk magic (i already mentioned the magic of Apalachia, think Pow-Wow magic, magic of the indigenous American Indians, magic of all the immigrants adapted to the new country, Mexican/Catholic folk magic, etc.). Hoodoo specifically pertains to the magic of southern Black Americans, and is a mix of Congo/West African magic, American Indian herb lore, Psalm and Bible-based magic, Kabbalistic influences from Jewish peddlers and store owners, and a smattering of European grimoires and astrology.

In my understanding, the spellings Vodou and Vodoun are Creole spellings used mainly to differentiate the religion from the pop-culture New Orleans-ish misconceptions when one spells it "Voodoo."

thank you for mentioning that ldygry in the afro caribbean voodoo, the believers and followers are not allowed to do magical workings only the priest/esses are. apparently american voodoo is different from some of the things i read.

but in the caribbean those who practice a form of traditional African traditional magick it is kept within the family and bloodlines; part of the reason of this is because in the caribbean countries practicing magick is still or was illegal so you will find most of them passing down a history of traditions from relatives and that lived as far back as 3-4centuries by way of watch, learn, listen, and follow.

and only the french afro-caribbean countries practiced voodoo, it gets mixed up with spiritual baptist which is also considered an African traditional and diasporic belief and resemble voodoo from outside looking in, in the English speaking caribbean countries

To add:

For the most part Voodoo is an initiatory religion, though there are probably more uninitiated practitioners than there are initiated. I don't see anything wrong with not being initiated personally. ( I am not ) But I think there is a problem when you pretend to be an initiated hougan or mambo (priest and priestess). So you might want you use caution when it comes to internet mambos and hougan, some may be lying. :S

I agree espirt I don't find anything wrong with not being initiated and still practicing voodoo actually that is one of the differences i found in Southern American Voodoo and French Afro-Caribbean Voodoo however, some Caribbean believers will disagree with this point of view, I find it flattering.

That is really interesting! I never knew that! Being an American, the only thing I have ever had to go off of was the New Orleans style "Voodoo". We had a store in Chicago, the closest metaphysical shop to my house (walking distance). Frankly the store gave me the creeps! But I would buy my incense from them, and a few gemstones here and there.

I have tried to research Voodoo and have only found the half Christian, half African magick you speak of, but I didn't know it was such a huge mixture of so many cultures! Now I want to know about its true roots!

Could you direct me to a resource that could give me good information on the original "Vodoun"? I set out to have a basic if not good understanding of as many religions and magickal practices that I can. Not to practice them, but so I can relate to other people and compare the techniques and beliefs of various cultures. I'm a huge research buff. =)