GET
YOUR HANDS ON A GENUINE ZOMBIE SPIRIT BOTTLE AND
FEEL THE MOJO MOVE YOU
Spirit bottles and spells
have been preserved in many cultures and traditions,
but most of what we know about them comes to us
from the practice of the hoodoo rootworkers and
conjurers who plied their trade years ago throughout
the rural South and parts of the American heartland.
Most of the hoodoo man’s “prescriptions”
for repelling evil involved the use of visual
objects of one kind or another. It was not uncommon
to find rocks, wire fencing and even old tires
arranged in specific designs meant to serve the
dual purpose of attracting fortune and keeping
bad luck and evil away.
The most intriguing of these hoodoo artifacts
are now rarely seen though they were once a staple
part of the Southern landscape: this is the spirit
bottle tree.
The belief in and use of spirit bottles can be
traced back to 9th and 10th century Congo where
colorful bottles, traditionally cobalt blue, were
placed on the ends of tree branches to catch the
sunlight. It was thought that when an evil spirit
sees the sunshine dazzling from the beautiful
bottles, it is enamored and enters the bottle.
Like a fly, the spirit then becomes trapped within
the bottle; too dazzled by the play of light,
the spirit prefers to remain in its colorful prison,
rather than trouble the world of the living.
This long-standing African tradition was brought
to the Americas with the slave diasporas of the
17th and 18th centuries and it is a fact that
everywhere there are peoples of African descent,
the use of spirit bottles and spirit bottle spells
can be found among them.
In Dahomey as well as in the Congo the spirit
bottles were often used to encase the spirit of
deceased loved ones; bottles also might be used
to contain protective household spirits. These
latter spirits, once encased in the bottle, would
be placed in a prominent spot near the front door
of the home where, in exchange for their protection,
the keepers would make regular offerings to keep
the spirit fed and happy.
Once it was introduced to the West, the native
peoples of the New World readily understood and
adapted the spirit bottle practice producing many
different varieties for a myriad of uses.
In Haiti, the African tradition of warding off
evil was adapted to trapping the spiritual essence
of everything from an animal to a love object
inside the bottle. Once trapped inside, it was
believed, the spirit was at the command of the
keeper – in many instances a Bokor voodoo
priest intent on doing harm, but just as often
a spirit bottle might be kept by an amorous suitor
eager to make a certain loved one cleave only
to him or her.
Throughout Latin America the spirit bottle or
charm bottle could be easily recognized by the
elaborate painting and artwork that often decorated
the exterior. Some of these bottles, dedicated
to saints or Santerian orishas, were kept for
the purposes of healing as well as good fortune
and often medicinal herbs and philters were kept
in these containers. It was commonly believed
that the spirit in the bottle would enhance the
efficacy of the medicine and help speed the recovery
to the keeper.
In the American South, local conjurers employed
bottles of many different colors; though cobalt
blue traditionally remained the most popular other
colors, such as amber, rose and yellow were also
used for specific purposes. Often elaborate carved
stoppers, reminiscent of the protective ancestor
bottles of the African Congo, were placed on the
hoodoo man’s conjure bottles with each color
addressing a specific request or need of the client.
In the Mid-Atlantic States and New England the
spirit bottle was familiar as the “witch
bottle” and served the similar purpose of
warding off evil spirits, in this case the witch
and his or her dangerous evil eye. Philters were
often stored in charm bottles to enhance the potency
of the medicine but also to keep witches from
tampering with it. Tradition also dictated that
some bottles be encased in elaborate twined knots
which, it was believed, the intruding witch could
not resist unraveling, thus forgetting all about
the potion inside.
Rare
Spirit Bottles
New Orleans own Zombie Spirit bottles also had
negative connotations among certain rural populations
where many feared being trapped by in a bottle
by the hoodoo man to be perpetually under his
command; bottles such as these were a fearful
discovery on many doorsteps, including many a
porch stoop in old New Orleans.
Here, the multiple traditions of the spirit bottles
combined in a unique expression of local beliefs
and practices. Marie Laveau often distributed
her potions and cures in magically charged bottles;
only a few genuine examples of her Zombie spirit
bottles are extant today and are extremely expensive
collectibles. More common are the homemade bottles
of Marie Laveau’s devotees and of the local
Cajun traiteurs: it is not uncommon to find these
antique examples of local vodoun culture hidden
with other significant objects under floorboards
or behind bricks in many of the old Creole cottages
in and around New Orleans.
Today, the spirit, zombie and spell bottle traditions
are being kept alive by the descendants of the
original practitioners of the vodoun culture in
New Orleans, many of whom learned the art of making
and charging the powerful bottles from relatives
who were contemporaries of the great New Orleans
Voodoo Queens. Plain, painted, decorated with
elaborate voodoo doll heads and arms or with simple
feathers and strings, all are equally as potent
and should be handled with care. But if treated
correctly, these unique voodoo artifacts will
become treasured possessions of any collector.
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New
Orleans REAL Zombie Spirit Bottles
"Spirit bottles" were once
popular funerary objects and placed
beside the feet of the corpse, in which
to "keep" the spirit of the
dead person in southern Louisiana during
the Southern the period prior to the
Civil War. The bottles could be decorated
and topped with a a head for a lid.
The decoration can consist actual bodies
to hand decorations and paper mache
or cloth.
Some had painted pictures of the deceased
on the bottle or patterns, the long
neck would at times be painted with
portraits of the dead person, flowers,
or relief sculptures o the person or
of a Zombies and New Orleans own secret
Hoodoo voodoo designs and figures covering
the whole of the bottle.
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These Authentic
Zombie Bottle Dolls are made exclusively by the
followers and Artist of Marie Laveaus secret society
which is still very active in New Orleans today.
Accept no imitations visit Bianca the reigning
Voodoo queen of New Orleans at
The House Of Voodoo
online,
and Purchase your very own Today!!!
FREE
VOODOO DOLL DESKTOP DOWNLOADS
NEW
ORLEANS VOODOO DOLL DESK TOP FREE WALLPAPER
BY RICARDO PUSTANIO FROM HAUNTED AMERICA TOURS.
IMAGE SIZE 1024 X 768 AND 800 X 600
