How to Use a Voodoo doll
Banishing and defeating your enemies
Karmically Correct "Enemy Be Gone".
How to Voodoo with Voodoo dolls
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/001229.html
What is your desire? Ancient spells for luck, love, or fortune? Placing a curse on your enemy? Bringing back a lost love? Hexing your foe? Oh, the possibilities!
Thanks to Hollywood and general ignorance, the most popular misconception about Voodoo dolls is that they are made to exact revenge against enemies. Just type in Voodoo doll in any search engine and you are guaranteed to come up with countless sites that promise to sell you a Voodoo doll with instructions for hexing someone, casting a revenge spell, or placing a curse on your enemy. These dolls come complete with pins for inflicting illness or harm upon someone and complete justification for doing so. One site I found stated "Witchcraft spells, hexes and voodoo curses are meant to enhance your life and assist you in many situations…", and equated Voodoo with the "dark side of this magical spiritual world" and working with Voodoo dolls as "the Black Arts". The justification used for hexing someone is that it is okay if someone has hurt you through no fault of your own, and that you are not wishing more harm upon that person than was inflicted upon you. It is assumed that you are protected from any type of karmic backlash because this "fair use" of the Voodoo doll is not contrary to any Universal laws.
Folks, there are several things wrong with this type of thinking and advertising. First of all, it is inaccurate on so many levels. Most practitioners of magick and Voodoo, for example, do not use pins in Voodoo dolls - at least not for exacting revenge. When pins are used, they are used as focusing tools to direct healing energy into a particular area of the doll. Secondly, Voodoo is not a form of the Black Arts. Voodoo is a legitimate religion that largely originated in Africa and melded with elements of European folk magic and Indigenous herbology and beliefs to become what it is today. Most aspects of Voodoo are positive and it is used to guide its followers in matters of daily living, as most religions do. Voodoo was brought to the Americas through slavery and the colonization process. It's condemnation and inaccurate representation is as much the result of racism as slavery is.
Next, any tool used for magickal purposes can be charged to possess positive or negative vibrations through ceremony or meditation periodically in association with phases of the moon. In this way, the tool becomes alive and something to be respected. If misused, you will feel the karmic effects through conflicts, accidents, depression, or bad luck for example. This is why it is extremely important to exercise caution when using your Voodoo doll. Voodoo dolls can be used for dark purposes; however, this is never a good idea. There IS karmic backlash associated with using Voodoo dolls with the intent of hurting someone else. That is why all of the reputable practitioners and their associated sites indicate their dolls are blessed to carry only positive energy and light with them. You would be wise to follow suit.
Because Voodoo dolls can absorb energies from people who have used them, it is a good idea to never use someone else's Voodoo dolls or any other magickal tool, for that matter. Common sense applies here: you wouldn't wear someone else's underwear, right? In the same way you shouldn't work with someone else's Voodoo dolls. If you have been given a Voodoo doll and you sense it carries negativity, the folks at Voodoo Authentica sum up well what you should do:
"Spiritual work should be approached with the same common sense that pertains to the rest of life. You wouldn't eat off of someone else's fork, so don't do magic with someone else's tools. If you feel that you are in possession of a negative Voodoo doll, the best thing to do is to put it in a white cloth and sprinkle it generously with sea salt. You can then take it to a river or stream or deep in the woods with an offering of fruit and some coins and ask the spirits of the water or the trees to take this energy and transform it through the power of the earth. Walk away without looking back and when you arrive home light a 7-day protection candle and take a bath with cleansing herbs, including sea salt."
BTW, sea salt is a staple for cleansing any ritual item and restoring it to a pure state. You can also fumigate or smudge things with sage or cedar and achieve the same results.To learn more about this topic, I recommend Luisah Teish's Book, Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals
Okay, so on with the fun stuff. What do we do with Voodoo dolls, and how do we do it?
Karmically Correct "Enemy Be Gone".
This is a ritual that is conducted to remove someone from their environment, or to make a friend of them. Either way, the enemy is gone and the practitioner remains spiritually correct. You can find these spells at http://www.mysticvoodoo.com/authentic_voodoo_spells.htm
Yes, Voodoo dolls are excellent for use in cases of attracting love or improving sex. Get a Voodoo doll in the likeness of Oshun or Erzulie Freda. These are the Santeria and Voodoo Goddesses of love.
To use as a therapeutic tool.
Okay, so there are people in this world whom we would all love to hex and are deserving of massive cursing...like child rapists and my ex-husband, for example (who happens to be..). Is it ever okay to wish excruciating pain and dismemberment on these types of people? Well, yes and no. But, rather than go into it here, I would really encourage you to read what Louisa Teish has to say about it as I could not say it any better than she.
How to Voodoo with Voodoo dolls
