by Hannah Phillips

Created on: June 01, 2008

Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo is far more complex and often times benevolent than media would have you think. Years of television and speculative press have shrouded this religion in layers of misconstrued hearsay and mystery. Speak the word voodoo' and most often you conjure up the stereotypical image of a woman wearing a tignon, rattling a stick or drinking blood to raise zombies from the grave.

This damaging and sadly enduring vision has persisted amongst those unwilling to look a little closer into the fascinating traditions and rich spiritual landscape that comprises this religion.

The voodoo that we know today was born from African traditions brought to the west by forced emigrations, and later cogitated and mingled with catholic practices and Native American influences. It is as multifaceted and organic in its dimensions as the region from which it hails, and variations in geography create variations in the practice. You will not find the same voodoo in New Orleans that you will find in parts of Haiti or the Caribbean islands.

Quite literally, the word voodoo' translates in to the word spirit', the concept of spirit being the foundation that faith is built upon. Varying articulations and personifications of the all mighty make up the Loa, or spirits, and much like saints these individual spirits can be appealed to and prayed to for guidance in particular situations, assistance and hope when hope is lost. When slavery flourished in the southern half of the United States, and brutal slave owners forbade their working men to worship in a way that was natural to them, these Loa spirits underwent a major syncretism, and took on the faces of many popular catholic saints like St. Anthony and St. Peter.

Voodoo is not to be confused with hoodoo, which is a form of traditional folk magic found in the southern half of the United States. While some voodoo practitioners blur the lines between hoodoo and voodoo by employing both methods, it is important to be aware of the distinction. Generally, some form of folk magic can be found throughout all cultures in the world.

For the oppressed peoples sold into slavery and the harassed free people of color, the survival of this connection to the spirit world played a vital role in their own emotional survival. Over time, voodoo developed into a network that acted as a community-sustaining way of life. Though slavery was abolished and the war won by the north, it would still be a century until equal rights were gained by

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