Voodoo has carried the weight of outsiders’ imaginations for centuries. Hollywood thrillers, pulp novels, and lurid newspaper stories painted it as sinister and strange, while the real tradition was quietly lived in homes, churches, and cemeteries. The trouble is, some myths grew out of real practices. They were just exaggerated, stripped of context, or turned into weapons against the people who lived them. To understand Voodoo, we need to name these myths, peel them apart, and show the truths that remain inside.
1. Voodoo Is “Black Magic”
This is the oldest and most persistent myth about Voodoo. In truth, Voodoo is not about casting curses in the shadows. Rather, it is about maintaining balance between the living, the Dead, and the spirits. Healing, blessing, and honoring ancestors are its foundation. The “black magic” label is a colonial invention used to instill fear and justify oppression. That said, practitioners have always worked with both hands—blessing, healing, protecting, and when necessary, crossing enemies. What outsiders label as “black magic” is simply justice, retribution, or a way to defend oneself in a world that often offers little legal recourse, particularly for the marginalized. The heart of the tradition, however, is healing and balance.
2. Voodoo Dolls Are Pure Evil
The Hollywood voodoo doll with pins stuck in it is cartoonish but dolls themselves are real tools. In practice, they are vessels for prayer, healing, or spirit presence. They can carry petitions, protect a household, or embody a loved one’s wellbeing. The violent caricature so often amplified and portrayed in the media has little basis in the real tradition. The myth isn’t that dolls exist; the myth is in thinking they only serve as instruments of evil.
3. Voodoo Practitioners Worship the Devil
There is no devil in Voodoo. The spirits are not demons, and the Supreme Creator is not Satan. But the charge of “devil worship” stuck because the faith allows for work that challenges the status quo—justice outside the courts, power outside the church. Anything that unsettled colonial order was painted as diabolical. The truth is more complex: Voodoo honors spirits that bring guidance, power, and accountability, not damnation. The “devil worship” charge was pushed by missionaries and colonizers who refused to see African religions as legitimate faiths.
4. Voodoo Is the Same Everywhere
People often flatten Voodoo into a single tradition, but in reality it takes different forms—Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voudou, Cuban Vodú, West African Vodun, Dominican Voodoo, and more. All share African roots, but each adapted to local laws, Catholic influences, and cultural blends. The myth isn’t in saying they’re connected; the myth is in pretending they’re identical.
5. Voodoo Is a Dead or Dying Tradition
Far from being a relic of the past, Voodoo is thriving. In Haiti, ceremonies continue in peristyles; in New Orleans, altars still flicker in homes and cemeteries; online, a new generation finds its voice. What is true is that the tradition was forced underground at times, appearing invisible to outsiders. But invisibility is not death—it is survival.
6. Voodoo Is About Fear and Control
Fear has always been part of how Voodoo is perceived, and practitioners have sometimes used fear intentionally as warnings, protective charms, or symbolic displays meant to keep enemies at bay. But to reduce Voodoo to fear is to miss its deeper purpose. At its center are healing, protection, justice, and right relationship with the spirits. Fear is one tool among many, not the essence of the religion.
7. Voodoo Is a Closed Practice
The “closed practice” claim is one of the internet’s newest myths. Yes, some rites are reserved for initiates, but the lifeblood of Voodoo comes from ordinary practitioners—vodouisants—who tend ancestor altars, cook for the spirits, sing, drum, and pray. Voodoo thrives in kitchens, doorways, and cemeteries as much as in temples. Most importantly, Voodoo has always been inclusive, open to people regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender. To call it closed erases the heartbeat of the tradition and those who have kept it alive for generations.
8. Voodoo Is “Anything Goes”
Social media often frames Voodoo as a free-for-all, where any eclectic blend counts as authentic. But Voodoo has rules and order that guide songs, offerings, and ceremonies. At the same time, Voodoo is adaptable, taking in Catholic imagery, Indigenous knowledge, and more. The myth is that it’s lawless; the truth is that it’s structured and adaptive.
9. Voodoo Doesn't Exist
One of the most persistent internet claims is that Voodoo is just a myth that never really existed outside pulp novels and tourist shows. In New Orleans especially, people often assume Voudou was “invented” in the French Quarter as entertainment. The truth is that Voodoo grew from African religions carried by the enslaved throughout the Mississippi Valley. It blended with Catholicism, absorbed Native American medicine, and became a vehicle of both survival and resistance. What is true is that by the 19th century, newspapers, entrepreneurs, and even some practitioners marketed it for spectacle. But performance does not erase reality. Voodoo endures as a living faith, rooted in community, ceremony, and ancestral devotion.
10. Voodoo Is About Hurting Others
The idea that Voodoo is nothing but curses is one of the most damaging misconceptions. Outsiders reduce a complex faith to scenes of pins, powders, and malice, ignoring the healing baths, protective charms, floor washes, and blessings that form the core of practice. Crossing an enemy is part of the tradition, but it is not the whole of it. Voodoo is about balance—justice when it is needed, but also mercy, healing, and protection. To claim it is only about harm erases the depth and heart of the religion.
Voodoo is not the caricature spun out by outsiders, nor is it the sanitized version stripped of its power. It is a living faith that works in both hands, holding blessing and retribution, fear and comfort, survival and celebration. By breaking down these myths, we can see Voodoo for what it truly is—a religion of resilience, complexity, and devotion to ancestors and spirits.
Myth vs. Truth: Voodoo FAQ
Q: Is Voodoo just “black magic”?
A: No. Voodoo is about balance, healing, blessing, and honoring ancestors. What outsiders call “black magic” is often justice or protection.
Q: Do Voodoo dolls exist?
A: Yes, but they are not simply evil. Dolls are used as vessels for prayer, healing, protection, or petition—intent determines their purpose.
Q: Do Voodoo practitioners worship the devil?
A: No. Voodoo has no devil. Practitioners honor a Supreme Creator and spirits that guide and protect, not Satan.
Q: Is Voodoo the same everywhere?
A: No. Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voudou, Cuban Vodú, and West African Vodun all share roots but developed uniquely.
Q: Is Voodoo dead or dying?
A: No. Voodoo is alive in Haiti, New Orleans, West Africa, Cuba, and beyond—practiced in homes, temples, and online communities.
Q: Is Voodoo only about fear and control?
A: No. While fear has sometimes been used for protection, the core of Voodoo is healing, justice, protection, and balance.
Q: Is Voodoo a closed practice?
A: No. While some rites require initiation, Voodoo is inclusive and open to people of all races, ethnicities, and genders.
Q: Is Voodoo a free-for-all where anything goes?
A: No. Voodoo has rules and structure, though it also adapts by blending with Catholic, Indigenous, and local traditions.
Q: Does Voodoo even exist?
A: Yes. It grew from African religions carried through the diaspora and remains a living faith rooted in community and ancestors.
Q: Is Voodoo only about hexing?
A: No. Crossing is part of the practice, but so are uncrossing, healing, blessings, and protection. Balance defines the tradition.
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About the Author
Denise Alvarado found herself in her crone years in the high desert badlands writing books, raising spirits, and crafting gris-gris at the old dirt track crossroads. Through her work, she stirs cauldrons, keeps the ancestors close, and disrupts the status quo.
Lisa Rambow
Thank you, thank you thank you so much for who you are & the education that you provide us and the work that you do! God bless you and your family!