voodoo dolls
Pin-pricked proxy figures
Voodoo dolls are small human-shaped figures used in folk magic, supposedly linked to a specific person so that actions performed on the doll affect that person.
In popular imagination, sticking pins in a voodoo doll causes the target pain or harm: She made a voodoo doll of her ex and jabbed it with needles.
The concept draws loosely from African diasporic religious traditions but owes more to Hollywood than to actual Vodou practice.
Figuratively, someone treated as a voodoo doll is blamed or punished for others' problems.
- voodooismAfro-Caribbean magical tradition
- effigiesRepresentations of persons
- wax figureSculpted human replica in paraffin
- jujuMagical West African charm
- spellsMagical utterances or intervals
love spell · witchcraft · black magic · dark arts · supernatural · enchantment · sorcery · spirit possession · curses · evil eye · pins · clay figurines · poppet · African diaspora · representations · replicas · rituals · sympathies
- hoaxesalien autopsy, moon landing hoax, War of the Worlds, fake photos, forgeries
- occult artpentagram, pentagrams, sigils, occult symbols, tarot cards
- magicwizard, wand, sorcerer, witchcraft, mage
- New OrleansFrench Quarter, Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, Jackson Square, jazz
- sacred objectsrelic, relics, reliquaries, reliquary, holy relic
- Caribbean SpiritualityRastafari, Rastafarianism, vodou, Santeria, syncretism
voodoo dollsguardian angels
Protective spirits assigned to individuals
four-leaf clovers · horseshoes · dreamcatchers · prayer beads · mezuzahs
voodoo dollscrucifixes
Crosses bearing Christ's image
rosaries · holy water · communion wafers · baptismal fonts · menorahs