Voodoo is mostly practiced in the Caribbean, and specifically Haiti, but there is still a sense of mystery to it in the United States. Curses and cursed objects like Voodoo dolls have reached mainstream film and television, contributing to folklore.
Those who practice Voodoo know its benefits. They practice ancient rituals that passed down to them in an attempt to heal curses and illnesses and live a spiritually fulfilling life.
When used against you, the effects of Voodoo can be detrimental, but despite the stigmatism that surrounds it, Voodoo is not solely evil. Voodoo shops sell oils, herbs, candles, and other talismans to help protect or cure curses and hexes.
However, it is first essential to understand the culture and history to better understand how to remove a Voodoo curse.
History of Voodoo
The origins of Voodoo can be traced back to West Africa, where it translates to “god, spirit, or sacred object.” Today, the African country of Benin still practices Voodoo, and each year, there is a Voodoo festival where followers and spectators can visit and learn about the religion and its rituals.
Voodoo is also primarily practiced in the Caribbean islands, including Haiti, where it is the dominant religion. Nearly 5 million people on the island currently practice. Voodoo followers worship ancient West African gods as well as Catholic saints that slaves were taught to pray to when captured by Western settlers.
This mashup of religions is also helpful in understanding Haitian life and history.
A lot of stigma came from outsiders witnessing those who practice Voodoo become entranced and possessed by their gods. Voodoo rituals and ceremonies celebrate movement, music, and dance, while eastern religions are more focused on internal mindfulness to reach spiritual fulfillment and healing.
The over-the-top, exaggerated performances in Voodoo rituals can be considered cause for its stereotyping in popular culture. Many scholars and those researching Voodoo reference the film White Zombie because it is a sensationalized, negative depiction of a woman turning into a Zombie after practicing Voodoo. Authors in early 20th century America described Voodoo as a cult because they couldn’t otherwise explain why its followers behaved the way they did.
The act of possession is a significant and common part of Voodoo rituals and ceremonies. Those who follow Voodoo not only believe that they are closer to talking to a spirit when possessed, but they also think in self-sacrifice as well as animal sacrifice and offer themselves to their gods and ancestors through possession.
What is a Voodoo Curse?
To be cursed, someone must perform a ritual where the intent is to cause the victim harm. Voodoo hexes and curses can cause mental and physical distress to the intended victim, and in severe cases, have been documented to bring the victim to an untimely death.
In these instances, the psychological impacts that Voodoo can have on a person are intense, and ultimately, detrimental. Aside from death, curses could affect wealth, sleep, pregnancy or fertility, food or crops, and mental wellness, along with many other misfortunes that can plague individuals, families, or other organizational structures.
Since their establishment in 1967, the New Orleans Saints had not won a playoff game, team owners and fans speculated that it had something to do with their stadium dome since it was built on top of the old Girod Street Cemetery in New Orleans.
The superdome was constructed in 1971 shortly after the team was established. In an attempt to break free from a 33-year playoff slump, the New Orleans Saints held a cleansing ceremony conducted by a Voodoo priestess on their stadium dome.
After their stadium’s cleansing, the New Orleans Saints won the 2000 playoff championship against the Los Angeles Rams that year. The Saints have gone on to win six more playoff games in their home superdome since the ritual.
There are also mysteries and stories of Voodoo priestesses cursing entire towns. In the legend surrounding Julia Brown, a highly respected Voodoo priestess in the small town of Frenier, Lousianna, she was as highly sought after to help cure illnesses and provide protection to the local townspeople.
She eventually felt taken advantage of by this community and began to use her abilities to hurt those who sought her for help. Before her death, she promised to take the entire town with her cursing them. Shortly after her death a hurricane tore through Frenier and left all but two dead. To this day, developers are unable to develop on the land.
When individuals believe themselves to be cursed, it can drive them to madness. Often, they are driven to murder, suicide, or both to end the curse. There are stories of parents murdering their children and committing suicide because they understand themselves to be cursed and do not see another way out.
However, when used for good, Voodoo can heal curses and protect from future hexes.
Types of Voodoo Curses
Curses are meant to cause harm to their intended victim. Dolls, talismans, spoken verses, and sacrifice can all inflict a curse. The person wishing to cause you harm may perform a ritual to try to hurt you physically by inflicting injury or causing illness.
They may also direct negative spirits or energies toward you in an attempt to create emotional and mental distress. Your finances may become a target through a curse trying to take away from wealth or property. While these things can happen naturally, if they seem otherwise unexplained, it may be because you are cursed.
Voodoo curses can be passed down through generations. It has been speculated that Joe Kennedy’s ambition led the family to become cursed. Two of his children died in plane crashes, two were assassinated in office, one was institutionalized after botched brain surgery, and one ruined his political career after an accident with a campaign worker.
Ted Kennedy even speculated out loud that he believed his family to be cursed. This speculation is something that would seem out of character for a member of such a high caliber family to consider publicly.
Generational curses are not limited to political and otherwise ambitious families though. There are reports of families angering neighbors or ancestors and becoming cursed.
There is a story of a father who doomed his son to live a cursed life after he sought help from a Voodoo priestess who removed a curse from him only to place it on his unborn son. The son later murdered his sister at age 14.
Not as dark as murder and suicide, but equally as powerful, love spells are commonly associated with Voodoo curses. Voodoo dolls are also commonly associated with love spells.
Creating a Voodoo doll of the object of affection and then piercing them with pins can inflict a love spell. Voodoo pins rely on color to symbolize their intent, and typically red and pink and used in love spells as these are colors of relationships and passion.
Depending on the relationship before the love spell, this can be a curse if both parties did not originally reciprocate love.
How to Determine if You Are Cursed
If you are experiencing bad luck, poor health, or other misfortunes that are unexpected and not easily explained, start by considering whether you may have offended someone who would have access and knowledge of Voodoo. A simple assessment of recent life events may be a major indicator as to whether or not you are cursed.
If you think you may be under a Voodoo curse, seek the help of a professional. Some Voodoo priests and priestesses practice tarot card reading, which can help determine if you are cursed and how.
Tarot cards did not originate in Voodoo, but because much of Voodoo blends together different religions and spirits, those who practice Voodoo have passed down knowledge of how to read tarot cards. The symbols on the cards combine the elements: earth, air, fire, and water on cards numbered one through ten.
Different spirits, characters, traditions, and gods also round out a deck. How the reader interprets your hand may determine if you are cursed.
Dreams are also an important indicator of whether you have a Voodoo curse. Many ancient cultures and religions believe that the soul physically leaves our body when we sleep, and it enters a different plane of existence.
Voodoo believes that dreams are possessions from gods and ancestors and that the symbols they provide can offer warnings of what is to come. Symbols in dreams can also provide signs and omens.
How to Remove a Voodoo Curse
Removing a Voodoo curse can be done personally by cultivating beneficial herbs, candles, and oils. Many of these helpful remedies are also used for protection. Depending on the strength of the curse, it may be more useful to consult the help of a Voodoo priest or priestess. Those well versed in the practice of Voodoo are better prepared to remove more powerful curses.
Once again, dreams are potent communications with other divine beings. These ancient spirits can provide insight on how to remove a voodoo curse. Symbols not only give warnings or omens, but they also show ways you can protect, heal, and bless yourself. When interpreted correctly, dreams are a powerful tool helping to lift a Voodoo curse.
The practice of using mirrors to reflect curses on to the person who cursed you is practiced in Voodoo. When you look into a mirror, you are looking at your reflection.
Using the power of reflection and mirrors is the most effective when you know the identity of the person who cursed you because having personal items from that person needs to be presented in front of the mirror to reflect that negative energy to them.
If you do not have a personal piece from the person you are trying to reflect your negative energy to, you can write their name on a slip of paper instead.
Voodoo dolls can also redirect negative energy. Create a doll in your likeness or with something personal to you attached to it to create a decoy for the negative energy that was directed toward you.
It may take some time for the doll to absorb the curse that was intended for you, but once you feel that the curse is lifted from you, you should throw the doll away. Once the curse is solely with the doll, it is best to dispose of it somewhere far away from you.
Bathing rituals are often performed in Voodoo medicine to cleanse the body and mind from curses and ailments. Like other spiritual rituals, Voodoo channels the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. In cleansings baths, incorporate mud, water, plants, and smoke to represent these elements.
Combining salt into your cleaning bath will also ward off evil spirits. Once you’ve gathered your cleansing bath items, wash away your curse. If you are unsure of performing this cleanse on yourself, or if your curse is a powerful one, you should reach out to a Voodoo priest or priestess who is trained to perform these types of rituals.
If you are looking for something that can be done without the assistance of a Voodoo priest or priestess and is very readily available, consider smoking out negative energies. Sage is a very purifying herb that is used in many cleansing ceremonies.
To burn sage, simply light the end of a sage bundle (or smudge stick) and let it burn away malicious spirits. Sage is used as a cleansing herb in many religions and practices because it is antibacterial and can help to relieve stress.
If you are looking for a more traditional method of burning, many Voodoo shops sell candles and oils. When used together, this combination can also undo curses. There are different types of Voodoo candles that provide various methods for healing.
Small, colored pillar candles can help provide peace, good luck, prosperity, or spiritual cleansing, depending on which colors are lit. Candle colors are very similar to pins. Here is a list of all of the colors’ relationship to how they can help:
- Red: Color of passion and love, but can also improve courage.
- Orange: Best for those who have been inflicted with a memory curse. Orange can also bring happiness.
- Yellow: Much like a gold medal, yellow is the color of success.
- Green: Often, a symbol of money and luck, green affects these aspects of your life in Voodoo as well.
- Blue: Always a symbol of peace and tranquility, but dark blue can also provide protection.
- Purple: This vibrant color is great to use when searching inward for answers since purple is the color of psychic awareness.
- Pink: Like red, pink relates to relationships. But instead, it is used for friendship and harmony. It can also be used to help with fertility.
- White: Often, a symbol of purity, white is no different in Voodoo. If you are performing a cleansing ritual, incorporate white candles.
- Black: Black is often stigmatized, but it can help repel negative energies when used for good. It is also used in meditation.
Voodoo shops also sell candles in glass jars with pictures of their gods and spirits on them—those who practice Voodoo sacrifice and call to different gods for protection, guidance, and healing.
Animal Sacrifices and Voodoo Rituals
Chickens, goats, snakes, and other animals are sacrificed during various Voodoo rituals. They are sometimes sacrificed as a way to curse a victim, but they can also be used as a sacrifice to remove a Voodoo curse. While the specific animal used in rituals has meaning, often, Voodoo priests or priestesses say that it is the blood that gives energy and calls to their gods.
Blood energy is potent to those who practice Voodoo, and they do not limit their sacrifice to animals. While performing possession rituals, followers often cause self-harm as a way of drawing blood to appease their gods. However, if an animal is sacrificed, the flesh is usually saved for meals.
The blood is most important in the ritual as an offering to their gods, but the rest of the animal is not wasted.
Football isn’t the only professional sport plagued with the lore of curses. Baseball has had its share of folklore and curses. The curse of the Bambino and the Boston Red Sox 86-year losing streak following selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees is probably one of the most popular losing streaks. The curse was said to have been lifted following the Red Sox 2004 World Series sweep.
Unlike the chance victory that lifted the Red Sox victory, Chicago Cubs fans turned to animal sacrifice to lift their team’s curse.
A curse also plagued the Chicago Cubs with a losing streak. After the owner of Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago was turned away from a Cubs baseball game because his goat – who held a valid ticket – was not allowed in the stadium, he cursed the team.
Each year, superfans would sacrifice a goat to try to lift the curse. For the next 70 years following the initial curse, the Chicago Cubs would never go on to win a World Series. Extensive research into numerology, specifically the number 108, showed that 2016 might lift some of the negative spirits weighing on the Cubs, and, in 2016, the team finally won the World Series again.
Significant Symbols of Voodoo
When Ava Kay Jones, the priestess called to help the New Orleans Saints, prepared to cleanse their superdome, she came equipped with a large boa constrictor, a Voodoo doll, a bottle of gin, and a gris-gris bag. These talismans that she used to assist her are powerful symbols in Voodoo.
The snake represents Damballah, a creator god, who is one of the most important gods in the Voodoo religion. He is depicted as a serpent god and a benevolent being that represents creation and fertility. The snake or serpent represents strength when calling to gods and spirits.
Voodoo dolls are often depicted as evil in popular culture. Often in film and television, they are created to cause another character harm. However, traditional Voodoo dolls are made for good or evil. When determining how to remove a Voodoo curse, using a Voodoo doll may help.
When used for good, different colored pins have different meanings, and the placement of those pins has different meanings. For example, white pins represent healing, and black pins repel negative energies.
Alcohol is often used as an offering to spirits and ancestors to calm restless spirits, provide protection from evil, or treat illnesses with rum being the most commonly used. During rituals to remove curses, rum is poured onto graves or otherwise offered to spirits for protection and healing.
Gris-gris (pronounced gree-gree) bags are often stigmatized as evil and relating to dark magic, but they benefit cleansing and blessing rituals. These small, cloth bags are typically filled with herbs, minerals, and roots, and in the case of the Saints’ dome cleansing, they were also most likely filled with soil from the cemetery the dome was built.
While Ava Kay did not confirm this, graveyard dust is a common ingredient in gris-gris bags.
Final Thoughts
Voodoo is a historically misunderstood religion in the United States. However, its followers have passed down traditions of harnessing its powers for both good and evil. If you feel that you are victim of a Voodoo curse, there are remedies you can create in your own home to alleviate the curse.
You can also seek the help of Voodoo priests and priestesses who may provide better insight for stronger curses. Practicing Voodoo for the power of good can help protect you from future curses and harmful spirits.
