POST MAGAZINE - Voodoo? #01

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EDITORIAL This first preview of Short Post will show you things about Voodoo. Do you reaaly know what ir is? Se in the next pages. The art of Voodoo, which encompasses culture, heritage, philosophy, art, dance, language, medicine, music, justice, storytelling and ritual; is seen as a way of looking at and dealing with life, in which it heals and destroyas, is both good and bad, and is simple in concept but complex in practice. Enjo

CONTACTS Chief Editor Wagner Rech wagner.rech@hotmail.com + 55 51 9841 8553 Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Voodoo probably isn't what you think it is. It might be easier to start with what Voodoo isn't: Voodoo isn't accurately portrayed in most movies, TV shows and books. Even some documentaries and non-fiction books are misleading. Voodoo isn't a cult, black magic or devil worship. People who practice Voodoo are not witchdoctors, sorcerers or occultists. Voodoo isn't a

practice intended to hurt or control others. Most Voodooists have never seen a "Voodoo doll" (unless, like you, they saw it in a movie). Voodoo isn't morbid or violent. Voodoo isn't the same everywhere. Not everyone who practices Voodoo does it in exactly the same way or agrees on exactly the same things.


Voodoo is a religion that originates in Africa. In the Americas and the Caribbean, it is thought to be a combination of various African, Catholic and Native American traditions. It is practiced around the world but there is no accurate count of how many people are Voodooists. Voodoo has no scripture or world authority. It is community-centered and supports individual experience, empowerment and responsibility.

Voodoo is different in different parts of the world, and varies from community to community. This is mostly about Voodoo in New Orleans and Haiti. Voodoo embraces and encompasses the entirety of human experience. It is practiced by people who are imperfect and may use religion for their own purposes or interests. Just as there are differences within other faiths, there is great variation within Voodoo

Racism clouds our view of Voodoo. It is rooted in slavery and intricately connected to this hemisphere's political and social evolution. Voodoo was first practiced in America and the Caribbean by slaves of African descent, whose

beliefs and practices. In places and times where conditions are very desperate, Voodoo is often focused on survival. In a New Orleans community, many Voodooists feel that part of religion is service to their community, so there is an emphasis on healing and social activism. We also have many artists and musicians in our community, further reflecting New Orleans.

culture was both feared and ridiculed. Slaves were not considered fully human. Their religion was dismissed as superstition, their priests were denigrated as witchdoctors, their Gods and Spirits were denounced as evil.


Over time, American culture became fascinated by this mysterious tradition and began to depict it in movies and books as sensationalized horror. "Voodoo" practices were dreamed up by Hollywood; most of the disturbing images fixed in our minds are something we saw in a movie. Hollywood created a mythology that we have taken as truth. "Voodoo" has become part of modern

Voodoo dolls are more complicated than they’re usually portrayed. A voodoo doll doesn’t actually symbolize a person in the respect that what happens to it, happens to the person. Instead, a doll is only associated with the person in question— usually by attaching a picture of the person, or something that was in intimate contact with them, such as a lock of hair.

folklore as something evil that can hurt us. But Voodoo is widely practiced in Haiti, and it is still relevant in politics there. Politics and religion make a controversial mix. In that regard, Voodoo is the same as any belief system. In the U.S., many Voodooists are afraid of how they will be treated so they hide their religion. While this is understandable, it also reinforces suspicion that they practice in secret to conceal something bad or violent.

One of the names most commonly associated with voodoo, and consequently she has become something of a surreal, larger-than-life figure. Even what’s known for sure seems debatable. She was said to be born the illegitimate daughter of a Creole plantation owner and his half black, half Native American mistress. Her first marriage ended when her husband disappeared under mysterious circumstances; her second, common-law marriage, however, lasted years and gave her 15 children. One of these children, Marie Laveau II, followed in her mother’s footsteps as a voodoo priestess and is thought to be the source of rumors that the elder Laveau lived decades longer than any mortal person should.


Marie Catherine Laveau was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voodoo renowned in New Orleans. Her daughter, Marie Laveau II, also practiced Voudoun, as well as Voodoo. She and her mother had great influence over their multiracial following. "In 1874 as many as twelve thousand spectators, both black and white, swarmed to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain to catch a glimpse of Marie Laveau II performing her legendary rites on St. John's Eve. Coven tells the secret history of witches and witchcraft in America. Over 300 years have passed since the turbulent days of the Salem witch trials and those who managed to escape are now facing extinction. Mysterious attacks have been escalating against their

kind and young girls are being sent away to a special school in New Orleans to learn how to protect themselves. Wrapped up in the turmoil is new arrival, Zoe (Taissa Farmiga), who is harboring a terrifying secret of her own. Alarmed by the recent aggression, Fiona (Jessica Lange), the long-absent Supreme, sweeps back into town determined to protect the Coven and hell bent on decimating anyone who gets in her way. Angela Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress who is in the third season of American Horror Story, Coven. She plays Marie Laveau, a Voodoo Queen. In the fourth season of American Horror Story she plays Desiree Dupree, a three breasted Freak Show performer.




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