How Vodou Dolls Connect Us to Our Spiritual Guardians
We come from a long line of powerful ancestors. The preservation of their spiritual practices throughout the African diaspora allowed this power to marinate in each of us. Our ancestral practices were rooted in love, but racial hatred worked to weaponize them. Take Vodou dolls, for example.
Historically, Vodou dolls were used for healing, protection, and spiritual guidance. Dolls served as both an offering and a form of communication between the maker and their spirit guides.
Through continued anti-Black propaganda, Vodou dolls were demonized as being evil. In reality, authentic Vodou practices found throughout New Orleans and Haiti can be traced back to Africa.
Minkisi were very popular spiritual objects used throughout Kongo, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.n. Minkisi were objects, often dolls, infused with protective sacred energy and used for very specific rituals and materials.
Minkisi were so powerful that they were treated with the same care and respect as humans.
Many Minkisi were found within the dwellings of enslaved people throughout the African Diaspora. Preservation of this practice showed the people still had faith that their ancestors and spirit guides were watching over them even though they weren’t on ancestral soil.
Ancestral practices like Minkisi heavily influenced the origins of Vodou.
What would your Vodou doll look like? What form of protection would it hold for you?
Vodou dolls and Minkisi remind us it’s important to protect ourselves from anti-Blackness, and that our forms of protection require tending and care.
Tending to our traditional spiritual practices is how we pour love back into our ancestors’ guidance of us.
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