Voodoo | Magic and Medicines #19
The Three Ravens PodcastPlay episode
Show notes
This month's Magic and Medicines Bonus Episode definitely has Haunting Season associations, as we're talking all about Voodoo!
Although, being up front, "Voodoo" is but a tiny subset of a vast number of syncretic religious and cultural practices dating back to Africa 6,000 years ago - 'syncretic' meaning something which merges different beliefs into a unified whole.
Sharing lots of ideas with forms of ancient pagan animism found all over the world, 'Vodun' is a religious faith with over 60 million followers today. But how has it changed due to societal factors, including slavery, which directly birthed Haitian 'Vodou' and its curious relationship to Catholicism?
So yes, we will be talking about Louisiana Voodoo, the 20th century Voodoo Revival, "Voodoo Dolls" and all sorts of other cool stuff, from temples marinaded in sacrificial blood to Mami Wata, Legba the 'Spirit of Crossroads' to Marie Laveau, and so much more.
But we also need to acknowledge both where our Western concepts of Voodoo come from and how those ideas came to dominate much of the cultural consciousness.
It's dark matter, as they say, and we've done our best to do the topic justice!
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