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Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo and Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo Shop are located in New Orleans in the historic French Quarter. For more than 40 years, both shops have intrigued curious tourists, collectors, and facilitated practitioners. Despite Marie’s social position in a group marginalized in society, she gained followers and clients from all classes of life, from social-elites to prison inmates and all in between.
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And voodoo sellers quickly figured out how to transform the nation’s voodoo lust into marketable products that could be sold for profit” (2). The actions of the employees are also conducted so as to market and sell an experience. The employees don’t speak often and when they do it is quiet and short so as to further the aura of mystery in the store. The conversations that take place within Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo reaffirm that the commodification of voodoo, done largely by non-voodoo practitioners, can perpetuate misconceptions surrounding the religion. Historically voodoo dolls have no relation to Voodoo as a religion, either inceremonies or otherwise, but similar items with nails or pins in them may be found in the Congo region of Africa in the form of Nkondi.
The True Story Of Marie Laveau, The Infamous Voodoo Priestess Of 1800s New Orleans
Blessed items may include Gris-Gris, Mojo Bags, Skeleton Key Talismans as well as a variety of seasonal charms, provided by our in house practitioners. Marie Laveau was a famous and powerful voodoo priestess who lived in New Orleans in the 19th century. Renowned in life and revered in death, some say she continues to work her magic from beyond the grave. But though people of all races visited Laveau and attended her ceremonies, many white people never accepted Voodoo as a legitimate religion. White people who witnessed rituals sometimes sensationalized them, and stories spread outside New Orleans that described Voodoo as a dark art.
Early life

Largely irreverent to Voodoo practiced as a religion or spiritual path, voodoo dolls became linked with our traditions through Western popular culture and media. However, the concept of a human shaped effigy has been around for millennia and was predominantly used in witchcraft and folk-magic. Usually referred to as ‘poppets’, this western witchcraft practice became merged with the ‘new world’ black magic of voodoo through movies and novels during the early 20th century. Marie was the daughter of Charles Laveaux and Marguerite D’Arcantel, both free people of color born to mixed families. In a cottage on Saint Ann in the French Quarter, she was taught by her mother the practice of alternative and holistic healing methods for the family and their community.
How The “Voodoo Queen” Persevered Against Racism
Guests are constantly reminded of their movement, the movement of others, and the space they are occupying in the small store. The creaking floorboards contribute to the product and experience of voodoo the store is trying to sell to customers—an experience of mystery and comfortable horror. In our shop, you will find a very broad range of types of voodoo dolls made fromdifferent practitioners around the region. If one of our dolls has chosen you, we wish you success in your workings to attract positive change into your life.
These include; 7day spells candles, Taper Candles, All Natural Oils, Incense, Resins, Herb Packs and Sage, Crystals, Roots, Teeth, Bones, Skulls, and Spiritual Waters. Laveau died in 1881, and is said to be buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, in the tomb of her husband’s family, the Glapions. Some scholars dispute this as her final resting place, but it is mentioned in her obituary, and is the most likely spot.
December in New Orleans - NBC News
December in New Orleans.
Posted: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:00:00 GMT [source]
BLESSED ITEMS
In 19th-century New Orleans, Marie Laveau proved that Voodoo was much more than sticking pins in dolls and raising zombies. Learn about the historical and spiritual significance of the religion"”and the woman who helped revive it in the city"”at this store that triples as a museum and shrine. You'll find a mix of kitschy souvenirs up front and a spiritual advisor in the back, who performs readings just by feeling your pressure points. Whether you're a believer or not, Marie Laveau's is a spot that's uniquely New Orleans.
People say these 11 spots around the world are actually gateways to hell - Chron
People say these 11 spots around the world are actually gateways to hell.
Posted: Mon, 17 Oct 2016 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Artistic legacy and in popular culture
This may be due to the fact that many efforts to commercialize voodoo were not undertaken by authentic practitioners of voodoo. Cooper notes that “many of the companies that mass-produced and distributed voodoo supplies during the 1920s and 1930s were owned by whites” (2). The motivations behind turning this culturally rich set of beliefs and practices into a consumer commodity are not always to improve the public’s perceptions towards voodoo. For many producers and consumers of commercialized voodoo, it is mere entertainment or a rebellious indulgence in a societal taboo. Cooper writes, “Voodoo emerged as a topic of interest among Americans of all races, who had become enthralled by the primitivist fantasies and tales that connected New World blacks to their African ancestors.
Throughout American history, voodoo has been primarily viewed as a taboo and evil mystery. Their voodoo tales generally characterized African-black spiritual practices according to popular stories about black savagery in the black diaspora” (2). The American public of the 19th, 20th, and even 21st century have largely viewed voodoo as a terrifying form of witchcraft with grim consequences for those who partake in it.
Marie Laveau’s home once stood on the site of present-day 1020 and 1022 St. Ann Street. Marguerite Darcantel, Laveau’s mother, and Catherine Henry, Laveau’s grandmother, raised Marie Laveau at the property. Marie Laveau went on to raise her own family in the same house and often opened the building up to those in need. Marie was a beautiful and dynamic woman who balanced her devout Catholic upbringing and belief with the ‘roots’ of her voodoo practice. Her gris-gris was sought after and her counsel was important to French Quarter residents from homemakers to a few local politicians, according to legend.
You will be amazed by what many people mistakenly think of as entertainment, our reader’s offer a divination service that will help you find clarity, insight, and revelation in the circumstances of your life, personality, aura and spirit. Laveau, who likely learned about Voodoo from her family or African neighbors, filled her home with altars, candles, and flowers. She invited people — both Black and white — to attend Friday meetings where they prayed, sang, danced, and chanted. And though Marie Laveau’s Voodoo ceremonies allowed worshippers to practice their faith, the whites literally spying from the trees nearby reported sensationalized accounts of “occult drunken orgies” and dismissed Laveau as an evil witch. But the true story of Marie Laveau is much richer and more nuanced than the inflammatory myths that have persisted for more than a century.
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