Book Review: The Voodoo Doll Spellbook

The Voodoo Doll Spellbook

A compendium of ancient and contemporary spells and rituals 

 

Author:                                Denise Alarado

Publisher:                            Weiser Books       

Type:                                    Soft Cover

Pages:                                   194

Genre:                                  Non-fiction

Published:                            2010

ISBN:                                   978-1-57863-554

Source:                                Independently purchased 

The book is a decent size (9" x 7"), the pages have an off white colour which i quite like. The cover picture is kind of creepy, and goes well with the theme.

 The book devotes eight pages to a detailed contents section, additionally, the resources and bibliography can be found at the back. But there is no index, the extensive contents pages go some way to making up for this, but an index is always a required section for me.

The book gives practical examples of various doll magic with subjects including but not limited to; banishment, breaking a curse, health, protection, revenge, oils, divination, manipulation, binding, prosperity, and even necromancy. I would avoid the death magic, personalty i don't want the homewrecker to get off that easily, he needs to suffer, the way he has made me suffer.

A large percentage of the work covers voodoo practices so don't be surprised to find christian/catholic symbolism, psalms and other Abrahamic concepts.

 The book doesn't just deal with new Orleans voodoo, many poppet or doll magic practices are covered, there are some Irish, Mexican, Greece-Roman, Ancient Egyptian, and even Japanese examples of doll magic..

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in poppet or symbolic doll magics and traditions. While i haven't done any of the individual rituals myself yet, i did use many as inspiration when creating my own. 

Denise Alvarado is the author of Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook, Voodoo dolls in Magick and Ritual, and Hoodoo Almanac 2012, 2013, 2014.