The term "voodoo hoodoo" is used by Louisiana locals to describe the unique variety of Creole Voodoo found in New Orleans. In this book, you will find a plethora of authentic Voodoo and hoodoo rituals for love, justice, gambling luck, luck in court, prosperity, health, crossing, hexes, curse removal, and much more. The author has stripped the shroud of secrecy that has always surrounded Voodoo, and provides detailed instructions on everything from making gris-gris, magickal oils, talismans, and powders, to casting hexes.
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About the Author
Denise Alvarado was born and raised in the Voodoo and hoodoo rich culture of New Orleans. She has studied mysticism and practiced Creole Voodoo and indigenous healing traditions for over three decades. She is a cultural anthropologist, psychologist, writer, artist, spiritual adviser, and cultural consultant.
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More About the Author
Denise Alvarado (1960) is a New Orleans born, native Creole raised in the Voodoo and hoodoo rich culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. She has studied indigenous healing traditions from a personal, professional and academic perspective for over four decades. Her self-published "The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook" has done so well that she recently joined the largest publisher of occult books, Weiser and Conari Press, for a revision and expansion of that work to be released in November 2011. Her provocative artwork has been featured on National Geographic's Taboo, as well as in several books by other authors. In addition, her seminars and coaching on cultural fluency and the magickal arts have helped thousands of people around the globe market their businesses successfully and improve their lives exponentially. She is a rootworker in the New Orleans Voodoo hoodoo tradition, a medicine woman in the Native American tradition, a cultural psychologist, ritual artist, spiritual adviser, and consultant. To see her online gallery of spiritual and ritual art, please visit, www.mysticvoodoo.com. To purchase her line of authentic hoodoo ritual products, Voodoo Mama's Hoodoo Oils, Potions and Gris Gris, or to inquire about other services, please visit www.planetvoodoo.com. To view her cutting edge research on Native American psychology and quality of life please visit www.nativeamericanwellness.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
113 of 128 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook,
By D. Marshall "A Reviewer" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook (Paperback)
If I were new to Hoodoo this book would lead me to believe a lot of things that aren't necessarily true, for instance, I might believe that I would have to practice Voodoo if I wanted to practice Hoodoo and vice-versa or, at least, include the Lwa. It could very well be that this is how New Orleanian practitioners of both work them together, but the practices outlined in this book should not be mistaken for practices in the broader tradition; in fact, I don't think they should be mistaken for the practices of all Rootworkers WITHIN New Orleans. It would make absolutely no sense for a strictly Catholic Rootworker to include the Lwa, Orisha, Nikisi or any other spirit found in an African Traditional Religion in their practice of Hoodoo. They would likely work with archangels, saints, and perhaps, Blackhawk, but not these spirits.
On the positive side, Alvarado does a great job of explaining that Voodoo and Hoodoo are two different practices and that Voodoo is a religion whereas Hoodoo is folk magic. It would have been nice if the author stated, for the sake of clarity, that this is how she practices the two together or that the book represents a very region-centric version of Hoodoo and Voodoo co-mingled that is unlikely to be found outside the State of Louisiana. I strongly disagree with her assertion that in New Orleans the two are called "voodoo hoodoo" because they were melded together. They may be melded together in the author's practice or in the praxis of people who practice both, but, again, what is in this book doesn't represent all practitioners nor the broader Hoodoo Tradition. The number of people who practice Voodoo and Hoodoo together is smaller than the number of Catholics who practice Hoodoo, and the number of Catholic practitioners is very small; most practitioners are Protestant Christians. There is also plenty of documentation from Hyatt, Hurston, Lomax, and interviews done by members of the LWP during the Great Depression to prove Alvarado wrong or, at least, over-reaching in her statement. Her explanation for why a gris-gris bag (a mojo) is called a gris-gris is straight out of fantasyland; I have to wonder if she made it up. The word "gris-gris" is French and does translate as "gray-gray", but it's just a Frenchified version of the Central African word "gree-gree" or "gri-gri" which means "charm" or "fetish" and fits what a mojo/gris-gris is, a charm/fetish bag. The information on crossing/uncrossing, foot track magic, and floor washing is accurate, however, when it comes to floor washing or spiritual cleansing to remove something, you don't throw it out the front door or into your front yard as she states, which is about the worst thing you can do. This is spiritual junk you don't want anywhere on you or on your property. There are several things you can do with it: take it to the crossroads, take it to the street in front of the house and toss it, or as most practitioner do..let is go down the drain and then pour some ammonia down the drain to cleanse it. If you were using a spiritual bath to draw something to do you then you'd want to keep the water on your property. She also states under the same topic that, "hardcore Hoodoos" use their urine or the urine of a child in floor washing. I don't consider the use of personal concerns in any work to be "hardcore Hoodoo" I consider it the right, traditional, and most logical/effective way to connect myself to what I'm doing and increase the strength of the spell or to connect the target of the spell to the spell. She says you can put powders in someone's drink or food. I've never heard of this, and ingesting talc is not a good idea. It contains carcinogens and has been related to the development of various cancers. New mothers are also being warned against using it on newborns because the dust particals are small enough to enter the lungs and can cause breathing problems. I was taught that you can place many, many things into a person's food or a drink, but never a powder. Ihe information about the "Hoodoo altar" is way over the top. None of what she lists is absolutely necessary, for instance, unless you are a Catholic working with saints you don't need saint prayer cards. That isn't to say that there are no Rootworkers who keep elaborate altars only that not everyone does and neither way is right or wrong. The author lists large quantity of stones, yet very few stones and minerals are used and can be counted on less than two hands. It doesn't mean you can't use Aventurine if you wanted to, but doing so is not Hoodoo. Back in the day most practitioners couldn't afford precious or semi-precious stones so they didn't use them. Under the Assorted Objects and Curios couple of things caught my eye that I have a problem with: the inclusion of Bluestone and what she says about the Black Cat Bone. Bluestone is not a stone it's copper sulfate and is extremely, extremely toxic. If it is still used in industry today the people dealing with it are wearing haz-mat suits because touching it unprotected can poison a person through their skin. In Hoodoo, Bluestone was long, long ago replaced with Laundry Bluing and she doesn't even list Laundry Bluing. I can see some poor soul, who doesn't know any better, end up getting some of this stuff and killing themselves with it. Likewise, next to the listing for a Black Cat Bone she tells the reader to get chicken bones painted black instead. Sorry, but this is a stupid, stupid statement; she should have just left the Black Cat Bone off the list. A chicken bone painted black isn't a substitute for a Black Cat Bone and never will be!! A Black Cat Bone can only be obtained through a very inhumane process that kills the cat. It is alleged to give the owner of the bone the same abilities the Toad Bone gives in English Folk Magic, including invisibility. A chicken bone painted black will never do these things. As far as I know dried chicken feet, black hen's feathers, and black hen's eggs can all be used for cleansing, but these two animals don't do the same thing, obviously. I really have to wonder if she just made up this nonsense. Under Formulas she includes three known sources, Cat Yronwode, Ray Malbrough's "Charms, Spells, and Formula's, and Herman Slater's "Magical Formulary". Catherine Yronwode's recipes can be trusted as is, but I would check her book Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic before I used Malbrough's stuff just to make sure it was correct; I wouldn't waste my time with Slater's book. It's full of incorrect information and whatever is correct he plagiarized from someone else without giving credit where it was due. One recipe book I do recommend is The Conjure Cookbook by Talia Felix. She states that ritual bathing is used when facing negative stuff; however, ritual/spiritual bathing can be done for any reason and is often included as part of spellwork. The instruction she gives for spiritual/ritual bath is severely lacking. Nowhere does she state that spiritual cleansing has to be done before sunrise, that if drawing good things the bath should also be taken at dawn, and if trying to get rid of something the bath should be done at twilight. She also doesn't mention directionality regarding the left over bath water. She includes baths with a few as one ingredient when few Rootworkers would make a bath with only one ingredient. As far as the rest of the baths: white, yellow etc. these have nothing to do with Hoodoo; they are used in Vodou/Voodoo in connection with the Lwa. Alvarado writes that gris-gris can consist of a doll or a bag. Well, maybe in New Orleans or in Alvarado's practice they do, but you won't get that answer if you ask most Rootworkers. In Hoodoo a mojo/gris-gris is a mojo and a doll-baby/dollie is a doll-baby/dollie. The primary difference is that a doll-baby is used to influence a person because once it is named and baptized it becomes that person. A mojo doesn't represent a person, and is never treated the same way a doll-baby is. She also writes: "You should only put an odd number of items into your gris-gris bag; never less than three and never more than thirteen." This is one of those unnecessary "musts/shoulds". You can use any number of ingredients you want to, some people count their ingredients and some people don't; neither way is wrong. Some people follow the "odd number" practice and some don't, neither way is wrong. There are no rules in Hoodoo concerning counting or the amount of ingredients, although, someone using more than 13 might signify someone who isn't quite sure of what they are doing. The most important aspect of ingredients is getting the most effective ones for the job not how many a person is using. Here's another unnecessary must: "Color symbolism is important. Choose a color specific to your need." No, isn't not and no, you don't have to. Prior to the 1940's Hoodoo practitioners used only two colors: black for harmful work and white for beneficial work because colored candles where too expensive, and a few Rootworkers will still work like this. Likewise, some Rootworkers only use red flannel for mojo/gris-gris regardless of what its purpose is and some don't. Again, there are no rules regarding this. The author tells the reader not to use Goofer Dust and only includes it because for historical value...give me a break. She is attempting to insert her own ethics into someone else's practice. If she isn't comfortable using Goofer Dust then she shouldn't, but few Rootworkers would appreciate being told what type of magic they should or shouldn't practice. Then she also claims that it can be used for protective purposes, yeah, good luck with that one. It sounds like she's taken a few lessons from the Stephanie Rose Bird School of Hoodoo. Despite what she claims, Goofer Dust has... Read more ›
23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exactly what I wanted to write myself, but...,
By
This review is from: The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook (Paperback)
...Denise Alvarado beat me to it!
I bought this book from Denise's website "The Mystic Voodoo" along with the companion CD (which has extra occult texts and material not in the book), and couldn't be happier with my purchase. While the term "Voodoo Hoodoo" might throw off some viewers, the writer is clear in the proper definitions of both Voodoo AND Hoodoo early on in the book. This is chocked full of information regarding the Loa, Catholic saints, magic, folk remedies, superstitions, recipes for occult oils, rootwork and just about everything else. A great introduction to both New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo, a must-buy for those interested in these paths. I would also recommend the following as companion purchases: Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A Materia Magica of African-American Conjure, Dr. Snake's Voodoo Spellbook and Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals.
11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
DJ Parhams,author,
By D. J. PARHAMS "BLUES AFFICIANADO" (CHICAGO, ILL.) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook (Paperback)
I recently purchased this book, and I found it too be extremely informative. It's more than apparent that Ms. Alvarado is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the arts of voodoo/hoodoo. I especially enjoyed her recipes for root work and oils.
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