How to Do Voodoo

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Last Updated: December 5, 2022 References

Voodoo is a religion practiced in Benin, the Caribbean, and the southern U.S. that combines many elements from traditional African religions and Catholicism. There are many forms of voodoo and some focus on magical elements. To try your hand at voodoo, make and manipulate your own voodoo doll or cast love and protection spells. Keep in mind that the results aren't guaranteed and practicing black magic could be risky.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Making a Voodoo Doll

1
Focus your mind on a specific person. Your voodoo doll needs to represent an individual person, so while you’re making yours, you need to picture them in your mind. Voodoo depends on a connection between the visible world that we live in and the invisible world where spirits reside. Focus on the person you want your doll to represent to channel their spirit from the invisible realm.^{[1]
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2
Find a photograph of your chosen person and cut it out. A voodoo doll needs to represent a specific person, and an easy way to do that is to attach a picture of that person to a doll in the shape of the human figure. Collect or print out a picture of the person that you want your voodoo doll to represent and cut out their figure.
- If you don’t have a picture of the person, you can use a personal item that you collect from them, like a lock of hair or a piece of their clothing.
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3
Cut some fabric to fit the photograph. You’ll need enough fabric to fit the same size and shape of the cut-out photograph. You can use felt, cotton, or any other sort of fabric to make your doll. Take a pair of scissors and cut the fabric to match the shape of the photograph.
- Use natural fibers like cotton, wool, or hemp as your material for a more authentic feeling voodoo doll.
4
Sew the photograph to the fabric and fill it with stuffing. Take the cut-out picture and sew it to a piece of fabric cut in the shape of the photo, leaving an opening at the bottom of the figure. Fill the doll with stuffing by adding it through the opening. Once the doll is fully stuffed, sew the opening at the bottom closed.
- You can use any material you like to stuff your doll, but for a more authentic voodoo doll, use natural materials like moss or leaves.
Tip: If you don’t have a picture of the person, sew together 2 pieces of fabric cut in the shape of a doll, stuff the doll, and sew a personal item like hair, clothing, or a button that belonged to the person to the front of the doll.
5
Visualize the purpose for your voodoo doll. After you’ve added the personal effects of the person to the doll, their energy pattern is imprinted and fused with the doll. Close your eyes and set an intention with the doll.
- Whether you intend to harm the other person or make them love you, hold the doll and channel all of your energy into your intention.
6
Call upon one of the Loa to help ensure that the spell works. Focus on one of the Loa, or voodoo deities, and ask them to help make sure that the doll embodies the person you intend it to. Ask the Loa to help you accomplish your goal with the doll, be it good or evil.
- You can also make a doll that contains the spirit of a Loa to serve you. For example, you can concentrate on Ogun, the warrior Loa, while you make your doll to channel his courage and bravery into your doll.
- Go to your local library or look online to research the Loa so you can choose one that corresponds with your voodoo doll.
7
Baptize the voodoo doll and give it a name. The final step of infusing a person’s energy into your voodoo doll is to baptize it with water, repeat the baptizing prayer, and state the person’s name in the prayer. Drizzle water over the doll and repeat the prayer 2 times, making the sign of the cross before you begin the prayer.^{[2]
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- State the prayer as follows: “I baptize you, (Person’s Name), all that I do to this doll, I do to you. Amen.”
- You can use holy water or you can bless a vial of water.
- Cleanse the doll or release the spirit by baptizing it in salt water.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Casting Love Spells

1
Pin the voodoo doll of the person you desire next to your pillow. If you want a specific person to love you, make a voodoo doll that is infused with their energy and pin it to next to your pillow when you go to sleep. Speak to the voodoo doll and imagine that you are speaking to the person you want to love you.^{[3]
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- Voodoo practitioners believe that the person’s soul will hear your voice and will want to be with you.
- According to the voodoo religion, pinning the voodoo doll to your bed will prevent the person you want from having physical contact with another person.
2
Give someone anointing voodoo oil to make them your soulmate. Take 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of vegetable cooking oil, place 1 of your eyelashes in it, and allow it to sit overnight. Have the person you want to be your soulmate dip their index finger in the oil for 1 minute. Apply the oil from their finger to your lips and kiss them. According to voodoo belief, the person will then become your soulmate.^{[4]
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- The person needs to already be attracted to you in order for the spell to work.
Tip: Tell the person that they need to dip their finger into the oil to prove that it isn’t hot so they don’t suspect anything.
3
Bind names together on paper to make someone attracted to you. Take a piece of paper and write the person you want to become infatuated with you 4 times on the left side of the paper. Then, write your name 5 times on the right side of the paper. Melt purple candle wax and drip 4 drops of wax onto the left side of the paper and fold the paper so the wax seals it. Lastly, place the paper in a dish, cover it with water, and burn a red candle on top of the paper.^{[5]
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- As the red candle wax melts into the water, voodoo belief says that the person will become attracted to you.
4
Write your lucky number on the inside of your underwear. Count how many letters make up the first and last name of the person you desire. The 2 numbers put together make up your lucky number for the love spell. Write your lucky number on the inside of every pair of underwear that you own.^{[6]
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- For example, if the person you desire is named Timothy Smith, then your lucky number would be 75. Timothy has 7 letters and Smith has 5 letters.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Performing Other Rituals

1
Stick colored pins into a person’s voodoo doll to hurt them. Bright colored pins can be used to prick a voodoo doll that is bound to another person to harm them. For example, insert a red colored pin into the head of the doll to make them submit to your will.^{[7]
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- Insert needles into specific regions to cause pain to them. Stick a pin into the knee of the voodoo doll to make the person’s knee hurt.
Warning: Take care when using voodoo for evil. Practitioners believe that there is a price to be paid for everything. You may be required to suffer to make amends for your evil deeds.
2
Abuse a person’s voodoo doll to harm them. Submerge the doll in water to make them feel like they’re drowning or struggling to breathe. Use a rope to hang the doll to torture the person the doll represents. Be creative and focus on the person and how you want them to suffer when you hurt their doll.^{[8]
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- Use classic torture techniques against the doll to inflict pain on the person.
- Be careful when applying fire or heat to harm someone because the doll may catch fire.
- Use the voodoo doll as a form of catharsis and let out your frustrations by imagining different ways to harm the person the doll embodies.
3
Transfer a sick or injured person’s ailment to their voodoo doll to heal them. Make a voodoo doll of a person you know who is very sick or injured. Visualize separating the disease, injury, or illness from the person and transferring it into the doll. Then drive a nail into the point of the doll where the malady originated from. Followers of voodoo believe that the disease will be contained in the doll.
- Once the spell is performed, bury the doll or place it into moving water.
- Use white fabric to sew the voodoo doll.
- Perform the ritual during a waning moon.
4
Cast a control spell to get someone to obey your commands. Write your target’s name on a piece of paper. Fold a picture of them 3 times and put it into the paper, add a personal item like hair or nails, and fold the paper to form a package. Light 1 green candle, concentrate on the person, and call on Loa Simbi to help. Stick 1 pin into the green candle, light 2 more green candles, and stick a pin in each of them.
- Allow the candles to burn out completely.
- When the ritual is complete, take all of the items and offer them to Loa Simbi by throwing them into a body of water like a river or lake.

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What does it mean to put roots on someone?

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Putting a root on someone means to put a curse or other spell on them. This practice often involves using materials such as candles, herbs, and special substances like graveyard dirt or powdered lizard or snake skin. Depending on the spell, you may also need to obtain a personal item from the target person.
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What is the real meaning of voodoo?

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The word “voodoo” comes from voudon, the name of a traditional Afro-Caribbean belief system that originated in Haiti. Voudon is a combination of traditional African religious beliefs and Catholicism. It involves not only magical practice, but also medicinal practice, worship of a variety of spirits or deities, and its own system of morals and ethics.
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What is a voodoo practitioner called?

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Voodoo priests are called houngans, and priestesses are called mambo. Black magic practitioners are called bokor.