The Ancestors

 

The ancestral altar should be the first altar to create by anyone who wishes to develop a New Orleans Voodoo spiritual practice. This can be to honor your biological ancestors, the universal archetypal ancestors, or both. Any and all connection to the spirit world is dependent upon the strength of your ancestral connection.

The following are some guidelines for creating your own ancestral altar. Follow your intuition when creating your altar, and feel free to add to or subtract from the suggestions below.

To create an altar you will need:

• A table, flat stone, or shelf
• White cloth
• Photos and momentos of your ancestors
• White candle
• Glass or crystal bowl of water
• A portion of each meal of the day
• A dish with 9 different types of earth, including graveyard dirt
• Fresh cut flowers
• Incense

Drape the white cloth over the table or shelf. If using a stone, leave it bare. Place the glass bowl of water in the center of the table and the white candle behind the bowl. Arrange the photos and momentos, flowers, and bowl of earth on the altar in a manner that pleases you. The bowl of food should go in front of the bowl of water.

How to Address the Ancestors

First, light the incense to purify your surroundings. Sprinkle a little fresh water on your altar, on the items on your altar, as well as on the earth to give respect to the Ancestors. Light your candle and begin speaking to your Ancestors. Begin by introducing yourself. Say something like,

"Greetings Ancestors, my name is __________, son/daughter of ________ and ________ and I come with a pure heart to honor you with these offerings."

"I honor (say all of your ancestors names out loud). I honor all of those remembered and forgotten, who were associated with my ancestors as friends, companions, and loved ones. I love, honor, and respect all who have gone before me. I thank you for your guidance and protection, seen and unseen. I offer this special prayer so that you may rest in peace through the intercession of the four archangels and the Seven African Powers” (say the prayer to the Seven African Powers here followed by a heartfelt prayer of your own).

You can now talk to your ancestors about your problems and ask them for guidance. When you are finished, offer them the food and drink and thank them for listening. Take a moment and meditate on your life, focusing on your blessings, and abundance. Visualize passing on all that is good to your ancestors who have gone before you and to those yet to come. To conclude, pour water on the ground and say “Aché!” Let the candles burn out if possible.






Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.denise-alvarado www.planetvoodoo.com 

Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau, Copyright Denise Alvarado All rights reserved.

Marie Laveaux, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. For such an important figure in American folklore, very little can be known certainly about her life. She is supposed to have been born in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1794, the daughter of a white planter and a black/Choctaw woman. She married Jacques Paris, a free Black, on August 4, 1819; her marriage certificate is preserved in Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. M. Paris died in 1820 under unexplained circumstances; after his death, Marie Laveau became a hairdresser who catered to wealthy white families. She took a lover, Luis Christopher Duminy de Glapion, with whom she lived until his death in 1835. She is said to have had a snake called Zombi, named for the African God Nzambi.

More than anyone else, Marie Laveaux put New Orleans Voodoo on the map with her powerful magic and infamous ceremonies held in what are now Congo Square, Bayou St. John, and Lake Ponchartrain. Oral traditions suggest that the occult part of her magic mixed Roman Catholic beliefs and saints with African spirits and religious concepts. She is believed to be born in 1794 in a French and Spanish City, where the Catholic Church dominated the lives of its citizens. She is celebrated every year on St. John’s Eve, the foremost Voodoo holiday in New Orleans. St. John’s day corresponds with the summer solstice. This same celebration has taken place for almost 300 years; many of those years in Congo Square.

 

Learn more about the Spiritual Traditions of Marie Laveau from Crossroads University.

Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.

Spiritual Artist for Freedom of Expression (SAFE)

The History of the Fleur de Lys

 

If you ever wondered where Catholicism and candles came from in New Orleans Voodoo, the following should enlighten you.

 

Edict of the King: 

On the subject of the Policy regarding the Islands of French America

March 1685

Recorded at the sovereign Council of Saint Domingue, 6 May 1687.

Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre: to all those here present and to those to come, GREETINGS. In that we must also care for all people that Divine Providence has put under our tutelage, we have agreed to have the reports of the officers we have sent to our American islands studied in our presence. These reports inform us of their need for our authority and our justice in order to maintain the discipline of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith in the islands. Our authority is also required to settle issues dealing with the condition and quality of the slaves in said islands. We desire to settle these issues and inform them that, even though they reside infinitely far from our normal abode, we are always present for them, not only through the reach of our power but also by the promptness of our help toward their needs. For these reasons, and on the advice of our council and of our certain knowledge, absolute power and royal authority, we have declared, ruled, and ordered, and declare, rule, and order, that the following pleases us: 

Article I. We desire and we expect that the Edict of 23 April 1615 of the late King, our most honored lord and father who remains glorious in our memory, be executed in our islands. This accomplished, we enjoin all of our officers to chase from our islands all the Jews who have established residence there. As with all declared enemies of Christianity, we command them to be gone within three months of the day of issuance of the present [order], at the risk of confiscation of their persons and their goods. 

Article II. All slaves that shall be in our islands shall be baptized and instructed in the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We enjoin the inhabitants who shall purchase newly-arrived Negroes to inform the Governor and Intendant of said islands of this fact within no more that eight days, or risk being fined an arbitrary amount. They shall give the necessary orders to have them instructed and baptized within a suitable amount of time. 

Article III. We forbid any religion other than the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith from being practiced in public. We desire that offenders be punished as rebels disobedient of our orders. We forbid any gathering to that end, which we declare to be conventicle, illegal, and seditious, and subject to the same punishment as would be applicable to the masters who permit it or accept it from their slaves.

Read the whole Code Noir (Louisiana Black Code) at Crossroads University.

Copyright 2013 Denise Alvarado, All rights reserved worldwide.

Spiritual Artist Against Spiritual Slavery (SASS)