When I went to New Orleans last October, one place my friend and I couldn't resist going to was the Bloody Mary tour. We booked a tour for after hours but knowing there is also a voodoo shop when you walk in, we decided to go earlier to check things out.
Their website: https://www.bloodymarystours.com/
Now, if you know me, any bit of me, you should be picturing me as a gothic woman jumping up and down like the chance of doing a ritual ceremony on an ultra rare blood moon.... Or kid in a candy store thats never seen a candy store before. No voodoo houses anywhere near where I live.
When we walked in the place was absolutely amazing! It was cluttered, it looked old, it reeked of history and spells and magic and spiritual energy and alters and and and... IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
I wanted to take pictures but I really did feel like it would be disrespectful to do so in the shop where they do create and bless their items. I took as much time as I could in there, wishing I had the money to buy so many things.. even a bat! Yes, a real bad, but dead. What would I do with a real dead bat? I dunno but I like it! :P
Talking to the two women that was working there that day, we found out that there is a mini museum in the back, through there we saw that there is a place to do psychic readings. (Yes I took up the chance to do that as well. I do do Tarot card readings but I have never had one done for me. I can't tell you how that went, it is private of course.)
The museum was/is fabulous. Yes it is small but it does have a lot to see. This, I was able to get pictures of. This part was not part of the after hours tour so we didn't have someone tell us much about. They let us tour ourselves which I was fine with since that meant I could get more time staring.
After the tour I toured the shop one last time. I absolutely had to get myself a voodoo doll. There was no chance of leaving NOLA without one. Unheard of! I found one that I have connected with, and it is really not what a lot of you may think of when you think Voodoo doll. It does not have pins sticking in it and it is not for malicious practices. It is to help you with what you need. The one I purchased is one to help me with my dreams. I am a huge dreamer, and whether you believe it or not, I am a see-er through my dreams meaning that messages are passed through when my spirit is most open, most vulnerable. Without them I get cranky, I am unhappy, as though I lose a part of myself and for a long time I had lost them. Not even a glimpse of a weird dream that makes no sense. I know, everybody dreams, but in this instance I was not dreaming.
So, she, the doll, was blessed at the alter and I was given directions on how to create a connection and how to feed her. No, not feed with food, but with something that connects to you. It could be your perfume, an essential oil, a smell that you love or even your very own spit.
She is made of plants and sticks, special plants that were picked with good intentions and wrapped around the sticks to make a figure, she wears a dress with a piece of yarn used as a belt. She also wears a shell on her head, cute little thing. She does not like having a picture taken of her, I tried and believe it or not (again) she was not in the dozen pictures I have taken. Camera shy? More like sacred and spiritual.
Bringing her home and creating that connection with her, I did start dreaming again. Not all of them were messages, not all of them were insights of my own journey, and that's ok! Because I was dreaming again and I felt good and right.
Another use she had was with my daughter Emma. She used to have bad dreams almost every night and most often would have night terrors. It stopped for a while but then started coming back. I lent her my doll and explained to her how to take care of her, being strong on telling her that it is not her doll. Just like pendulums, they don't like being given to someone else, they are personal and have a connection with you. Emma needed help in a way where I couldn't and I think that with my heart in the right place, in this case it is forgiving. No word of a lie, Emma's bad dreams have gone. It has been about 3 weeks now, maybe more and she has not had one.
As a person that has set out to learn about foraging for natural medicines, and understanding that each plant, each life has spirit, I became determined to make my kids their very own medicine dolls. Noting that I have not called them voodoo dolls, I have taken the idea of them and connected them with what I believe.
Using the plants that we have here that naturally grows and understanding the medicine behind them, we have set out to forage in the forest. Collecting pussy willow, mullein, fireweed, old mans beard (with the help of a friend since I couldn't find any directly around me) and already having sweet grass, I had enough to start making the dolls. All these plants have medicinal properties and great meaning.
While I created each doll, I sang in prayer the songs that connected with each of my children. For Emma, I sang the Cherokee song Strong woman. For Frankie I sang Nibiwabo (water song) and Wendehyaho (sunise song). For Aaden I sang Lakota Peyote's Healing song and Mommy's littel guy by Fawn Wood.
First, I tied two parts of willow branches.
Then, with carefully placing the medicines to create the body, keeping the mullein near the center where the lungs would be for instance as mullein is good for respiratory ailments, and tying it into place.
Once everything is secured nicely, we dress them. This one is Emma's and we made the dress for her doll together, using her kids sewing machine and the materials she has.
Adding pieces that look like heads and also a partridge feather, I smudged the dolls using sage sweet grass and all the left over pieces used to create the dolls to purify them so that they are pure to receive that spiritual connection with the kids, all the while playing the Song For the Sacred elements.
Once my lavender starts to flower and that I get more leaves on my sage plant, I will be adding those medicines to their dolls as well.
The kids were all extremely happy with their dolls, taken it with them as they got ready for bed, holding them close to their hearts 💖
If you want to know more about the medicines and why I chose them, along with the partridge feathers, let me know in the comments and I will be happy to share it with you. The beliefs that come with what I have used are from First Nations culture, using what the creator has intended us to use with all of its respects.
