"Dead animals spilled off the top of it to form a pool on the floor. Chickens, dogs, a small pig, two goats. Lumps of fur and dried blood that I couldn't identify. The altar looked like a fountain where dead things flowed out of the center, sluggish and thick."
Voodoo or Vaudun is both a religion and a power. You cannot be a Vaudun Priest without worshiping their gods and many work death magics.
Necromancy and Vaudun mix easily, and those who are both usually turn 'bad' as the temptation of easy power is too great.
If attempting to kill a powerful Vaudun, they should be treated like vampires, cutting the head off, digging the heart out and burning the body, as they can be brought back from death.
The Voodoo Religion, not to be mistaken for Hoodoo, is a complex mix of many different older religions created by African slaves in the Caribbean during their enslavement. Their gods, or the Loa, and the worship of the Loa, called Iwa, teaches that there are no accidents. Practitioners believe that nothing and no event has a life of its own, that everything and everyone are interconnected.
Vaudun Terminology[]
Bokor - Vaudun sorcerer of priest
Hornless Goat - Human
White Goat - Human sacrifice
Examples of Vaudun magic[]
Dominga Salvador's gris-gris
Gris-gris - A charm, typically made of woven rope, feathers and beads, worn as an armband and fed with blood or hair. Some gris-gris can cheat death, but they must be fed regularly and always come with a caveat, something which must be avoided in or else the spell will be broken. Zachary's gris-gris was fed with immortal blood and was undone by mortal blood; Maximilliano's was made of the hair of the women he'd killed and was undone when touched by a man's hair. Other gris-gris can bring wealth, power or sex - these require the sacrifice of virgins, children or preadolescence boys. A necromancy-testing gris-gris is made from black feathers, bone and a mummified hawk's foot, which reacts to a necromancer.
Verve - Symbols drawn in a Vaudun sanctuary to summon The Loa. Usually brackets a pathway to the altar, or on or around the grave of the person they are raising. Voodoo vévés are symbolic designs used in ritual, drawn on the ground with cornmeal prior to or during a Voodoo ceremony. These designs represent the various powers and attributes of the Loa (God, Goddess, Spirit, Orisha) to be invoked, and serve as a focal point for invocation and offerings. Several vévés of different Loa may be drawn for one ceremony.
Known Practitioners[]
Dominga Salvador - The most powerful Vaudun priestess in the Midwest, possibly the whole of North America. She is considered a 'bad' vaudun
Manny Rodriguez - Powerful practitioner, but he gave it up to be a plain animator. He was considered a 'bad' vaudun at that time.
Grandmother Flores - Anita Blake's maternal grandmother. It is unclear whether she was 'good' or 'bad' but her concern for Anita tips the scale towards good.
John Burke - Rumored to have been part of several ritual murders before The Lunatic Cafe. The biggest animator in New Orleans, second only to Anita in the Midwest; one of the 'best' vaudun priests in the country.
Peter Burke - brother to John Burke. There are also several rumors surrounding his involvement in homicides. It was discovered posthumous in tLaC that he was indeed involved in many lurid affairs.
Maximiliano - The son of Doming Salvatore and Manny Rodriguez. Like his mother, he is highly skilled and able to invent new spells and rituals. Manny and Anita doubt he is truly devout, but his magic is steeped in Vaudun ritual.
