As a practitioner of Folk Magick, poppets and dolls have great roles in my spirituality and magick.
Like the other tools or talismans that are part of my craft, dolls and poppets have symbolic value. My fiancee and I consider our dolls as gris-gris that reflect the way that our souls find their expression in this world. They represent the channels of spiritual and magickal self-expression.
Yes you're right that Vodou isn't all about Dark Arts. Vodou is an African religion which has some elements of Western magick, indigenous herbalism and Catholicism.
Spiritual and Magickal Self-Expression
Our most basic longings for love, for wisdom, for peace, for health, for truth are aspects of our souls, not of our bodies. Without these forces, we suffer the frustration of living in a spiritual vacuum. These are the spiritual symbols of our dolls. My fiancee and I have dolls and poppets which represent us and our spiritual facets. We have a poppet called Seraphin's LOVE, Seraphin's JUSTICE, Loika's BEAUTY (my fiancee's name), Loika's HEALTH. What do we gain by giving them physical expression? And how does constructing them change us?
Our path tells us that the effect of our dolls (like some of our talismans and charms) is to materialize the things we wish for. We also believe that physical act of creating those affected spiritual and magickal changes.
How does a physical act accomplish a spiritual or magickal goal?
Effects of Doll Magick
In our experience, doll magick undeniably have an effect. The focus of the effect of the magick isn't the outer world but the inner world. The magick affects profound changes in our identity as each dolls we make presents specific means of self-expression and self-change.
- Doll Magick channels the basic components of our personalities.
- Doll Magick keeps us in reality.
- Doll Magick commemorates events that happened in the past.
- Doll Magick alters and refines our relationship to the physical world.
While our dolls belong to more than one group, what they share in common is that they affect us (and other individuals) by using the real world as a medium. Feelings and thoughts are grounded and concertized.
In this way, the dolls have a metaphysical fringe benefit, in helping to safeguard us from some wrong doings or keep our focus toward our goals and our desires. The dolls remind us that our inner selves our watching, and our actions should reflect that realization.
Use to Petition the Loa
You can also use the doll to petition a particular Loa (Great Spirits of Vodou similar to Deities), dress the doll in the appropriate color of the Loa, and make offerings to Him/Her. For example, if you want to petition Papa Legba, you would clothe the doll in red or black (His favorite colors) and offer some of His favorite stuffs like smoked or grilled chicken, black coffee, tobacco, rum and cayenne pepper in three (His favorite number).
Here's our Papa Legba Voodoo Doll.
