“People have this idea that voodoo is used for harm,” says guide Andersen Gabrych, plunging a needle through the unblinking button eye of his feathered voodoo doll. “But these workshops are helping to change that narrative by showing how voodoo can actually be used for good, for healing.”
It’s a weekday morning in New Orleans, and we’re standing in a store chock-full of spiritual supplies. Tarot cards, candles, even a box of loose alligator paws are watched over by a beady-eyed taxidermied raccoon perched on a nearby shelf. “But it’s also about having a good time, because that’s what people come to New Orleans for,” Gabrych adds with a broad smile.
A new wave of practitioners is shedding light on voodoo, nudging open the door to this hush-hush world for some of the 19 million visitors who come here each year…