Books on Voodoo/VodounA wide variety of books on the topic of Vodoun, from first hand accounts by initiates, to photographic records, to folklore and books of practical ritual. Priestesses, zombies, snakes, and swamps. Photographer Phyllis Galembo shows readers the human and divine faces and voices of real Haitian vodou--as it is still practiced today. Brilliant color photos are accompanied by captions and essays from experts in the field, skillfully woven together into a beautiful, personal, and intimate document of a fascinating and deeply misunderstood religion. Based on Zora Neale Hurston's personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica, where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer of voodoo practices during her visits in the 1930s, this travelogue into a dark world paints a vividly authentic picture of ceremonies and customs and superstitions of great cultural interest. Dispelling numerous myths associated with the cultural phenomenon, a history of voodoo emphasizes recent political events in Haiti and the United States and their effects on practitioners in both countries, and offers insights into voodoo's belief systems and rituals. Voodoo, Santeria, and Macumba as practiced today in cities throughout the Western world. It is not another history or sociological study, but a candid personal account by two who came to "the religion" from the outside. It includes descriptions of the phenomena triggered by Voodoo practice, divination techniques, spells and a method of self-initiation. Secrets of Voodoo traces the development in haiti and the Americas of this complex religion from its sources in the brilliant civillizations in ancient Africa. Joan Dayan, Women's Review of Books:
"The most stunning interrogation to date of the limits of knowledge...I know of no other work about Vodou that can teach the uninitiated so fully what it means to know." The Book of Vodou covers all-important aspects of its intriguing subject, and brings many Vodou spirits fully alive with vivid, often humorous descriptions. Readers learn how to build their own magic altar and invoke Vodou spirits, how to make charms and amulets, and how to work spells and read signs of divination. Voodoo, Santeria, and Macumba as practiced today in cities throughout the Western world. It is not another history or sociological study, but a candid personal account by two who came to "the religion" from the outside. It includes descriptions of the phenomena triggered by Voodoo practice, divination techniques, spells and a method of self-initiation. Must there be an idiot's guide to everything? Apparently so.
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