Traditionally, Voodoo dolls were created to symbolize a deity. Researchers say they were brought over by West African slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are tools of an old and spiritual religion. Because of a universal misconception, they hold a dark place in our cultural imagination and most people see them as agents of evil. In contrast, they have in fact many positive uses, both in the past and present time. Presently, they are constructed to serve a practical purpose in the real world.
It is easy to see how in a time of slavery voodoo dolls became associated with vengeful magic. Within their cruel world, slaves sought protection against brutality, salvation from slavery and revenge for the suffering experienced at the hands of masters and drivers. The dolls became tools for hope and cleansing.
In time, media showed voodoo-doll-making to the public as a bad form of magic. Modern-day practitioners, however, disagree with the latter and presents that a large percent of these dolls are in fact used for healing and meditation.
People are driven to make voodoo dolls for two basic reasons: to gain power over someone or an element ( the disinterested love object, safe travels) and to help a community (good weather for the crops). They are also most commonly used in meditation, a process that involves placing the doll on an altar and focusing on it as one concentrates on a particular desire. They may also be used to connect to a particular deity, by lighting a candle to it and making offerings.
However a voodoo doll is used, whether it be to achieve success, find true love or even more rarely, to inflict pain on another, its overall function is to place the individual in a give-and-take relationship with the spiritual and the divine.
See more Voodoo articles at the How To Do Voodoo site. Click here to know more about voodoo dolls.
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