The Haunted Vessel: My favorite voodoo doll.

The above title is from Voltaire's song "Don't Go by the River," a piece that sings of New Orleans and its darker side. I've done Haunted Vessel pieces in the past about the purpose of dolls in magic and religion, but I don't think I fully explored it enough.

I won't delve too deeply into magical theory, but the branch of interest for this post is something called "sympathetic magic*." Basically sympathetic magic is the use of an item (or items) as a representation of the person/thing you wish to do magic for. A practical example would be the use of poppets or voodoo dolls. The item is made in the image of the person, sometimes using personal identifiers (hair/nails/etc.). Once you have the doll created, magic is then worked on that, with the understanding that through this method it is also worked on the individual the doll represents.

Obviously this is most famous in some voodoo practices, but this kind of magic has been worked by all different cultures for many, many years. The ancient Romans and Greeks for example had something called curse tablets*, which used a form of sympathetic magic. The individual would create a tablet of varying materials, and inscribe words on it detailing a curse. Sometimes these would be made in the image of a person, but more often they remained in a general tablet shape. The words themselves though would specify a certain person or thing that the individual wished to curse.

Poppets are found in movies and literature as synonymous with witches and/or magic. Ranging from works like The Crucible to more contemporary venues like anime. Ghost Hunt which I have discussed here before, illustrates the use of sympathetic magic in two sets of episodes: After School Hexer and Forbidden Pastime. In both cases sympathetic magic is used in conjunction with "dolls" formed in the shape of a person and named. I won't spoil the endings, but if you're interested you can catch Ghost Hunt on Hulu.

As I mentioned above, voodoo dolls are the epitome of sympathetic magic at least where popular culture is concerned. Voodoo itself is far more multi-faceted than that, but generally most people recognize it for this practice. A voodoo doll is an item made in the image of a certain person, frequently using specific items to connect it to that person. Be it hair or skin or otherwise, these pieces are believed to create a stronger connection/focus with the individual in question. Of course these days you can go out and buy your very own "voodoo doll" in any number of mass-marketed kits, giving everyone the opportunity to do some sympathetic magic should they wish.

*If you're looking for more information on sympathetic magic, Elfie Music (of Paranormal State fame) has a great article here.
**Curse tablet information here. Above tablet picture from this site.