{"id":22021,"date":"2020-03-10T01:10:20","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T05:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=22021"},"modified":"2020-03-11T11:04:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T15:04:48","slug":"book-review-the-magic-of-marie-laveau-by-denise-alvarado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2020\/03\/10\/book-review-the-magic-of-marie-laveau-by-denise-alvarado\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – The Magic of Marie Laveau: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans by Denise Alvarado"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book <\/span>R<\/span>eview <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

The Magic of Marie Laveau<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Embracing the Spiritual Legacy <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

of the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

b<\/span>y Denise Alvarado <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

224 <\/span>Pages<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

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The legendary former Voodoo Queen is the most anticipated stop on ghost tours, has had books written about her, is the subject of songs and is a character in \u201cAmerican Horror Story.\u201d Although Marie Laveau (1801-1881) shaped New Orleans Voudou as well as Hoodoo and Conjure practices internationally, there is not one photograph of her. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While much has been written, Denise Alvarado chose to focus on Laveau\u2019s magical and spiritual legacy. Alvarado is \u201ca born and bred in New Orleans Creole, a cultural anthropologist as well as a life-long NewOrleans Voudou insider. This book contains her practitioner-scholar knowledge as she makes \u201ca case for a specific form of New Orleans Voudou called \u2018Laveau Voudou.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Research is based on legal notices in newspapers, and interviews conducted with elderly folks by the Louisiana writers\u2019 Project between 1936-1941, and carefully selected texts to break what Alvarado calls \u201ca seemingly endless cycle of myths and misunderstandings.\u201d Complementing this foundation are personal experience, understanding and testimony of practitioners of New Orleans Voudou.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The book is divided into three parts. The first details Laveau\u2019s linage, life, death and the religion she began. The second and shortest section talks about becoming a devotee, while the last part is The Laveau Magicospiritual Legacy of the twelve categories of conjure in her tradition, along with spells, conjure and magic.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning with Laveau\u2019s great-grandmother who came to America aboard a slave ship, Alvarado tells the story of Laveau\u2019s life as a woman of color and the challenges she faced with details and antidotes. For instance, an article from the New Orleans Day Picayune in 1871 stated, \u201cFor more than twenty years, whenever a human being has suffered the final penalty [death] in the Parish Prison, an old colored woman has come to their cell and prepared an altar for them.\u201d It went on to describe the many features of the three-tier altar draped in white. Creolization, Voudou verses Hoodoo, and Laveau\u2019s spiritual court \u2013 which included Catholic icons representing African deities \u2013 were also covered.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Those who wish to become a respectful servant of Madame Marie\u2019s work will be guided in the second part of this book. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFind your skills, your creativity, and your passion, and volunteer in ways that show it,\u201d Alvarado writes. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Other ways include blessing money and secretly leaving it where people will find it and leaving pieces of paper with magickal affirmations written in first person in random places. Creating a parterre, table altar and three-tier altar are explained, and a table of correspondences is provided, with such information as Laveau\u2019s feast days, favorite colors, suitable offerings and subjects for which to petition. Prayers and a basic ritual round out that section.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Part three covers the dozen different categories of conjure found in Laveau\u2019s work over time and offers spells for each. Little did I know that the mojo and spell bags and charms I make are not all that different from gris gris. I don\u2019t expect to use the rite to silence someone that requires a large beef tongue and a pound of yard dirt from the grave of an evil person, nor do I expect to place a doll in a coffin with the intention of causing death to an enemy. I do, however, expect to make a sweet jar and perhaps even a vinegar, along with incorporating some of her devotional practices such as blessing money and leaving it to be found by others.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This book was thorough without being dense, and I felt it gave me a good understanding of Marie Laveau, the work she did, the religion named after her, and why she is still revered after her death.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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About Author Denis Alvarado<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Denise Alvarado was born in 1960 and raised with French, Spanish, and Native Americans family roots. For more than 40 years, she has studied indigenous healing traditions from a personal and academic perspective. She is the author of numerous books about Southern folk traditions, including \u201cThe Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook,\u201d \u201cThe Conjurer’s Guide to St. Expedite,” \u201cWorkin’ in da Boneyard,\u201d \u201cThe Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals\u201d and \u201cFortune-Telling with Playing Cards.\u201d Her provocative artwork has been featured on several television shows including National Geographic’s \u201cTaboo,\u201d \u201cThe Originals\u201d and \u201cBlue Bloods.\u201d She is a rootworker in the Louisiana folk magic tradition, a spiritual artist, and teacher of southern conjure at Crossroads University<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Visit her websites: creolemoon.com<\/a> and patreon.com\/denisealvarado<\/a> for a little sweet tea and conjure.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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