In the Anita Blake Universe

The information on this page is specific to the descriptions and references made in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. It is not intended to be any resource or reference to any cultures or religions that are practised in the 'real' world.

Voodoo or Vaudun

It is both a religion and a power. You cannot be a Vaudun Priest without worshipping their gods. And many work death magics.

Necromancy and Vaudun mix easily, and those who are both usually turn 'bad' as the temptation of easy power is too great. (?ref?)

If attempting to kill a powerful Vaudun, they should be treated like vampires - cut the head off, dig the heart out and burn the body, as they can be brought back from death. (?ref?)

The Religion

Voodoo, not to be mistaken for Hoodoo, is a complex mix of many different older religions created by African slaves in the Caribbean during their transit. Their gods, or the Lao, and the worship of the Lao, called Iwa, teaches that there are no accidents. Practitioners believe that nothing and no event has a life of its own, that everything and everyone are interconnected.

Euphemisms

White Goat - Human sacrifice
Hornless Goat - Human

Vaudun Magic:

• Gris-gris - A charm of woven rope, feathers and beads, worn as an armband and fed with blood. Some gris-gris can cheat death, but they must be fed with immortal blood - mortal blood will undo the spell. Other gris-gris can bring wealth, power or sex - these require the sacrifice of virgins, children or preadolescence boys. A necromancy-testing gris-gris is made from black feathers, bone and a mummified hawk's foot, which reacts to a necromancer.
• Verve - Symbols drawn in a Vaudun sanctuary to summon The Lao. Usually brackets a pathway to the altar, or on or around the grave of the person they are raising.

List of known Vaudun Priests:

• Dominga Salvador - The most powerful Vaudun priestess in the Midwest, possibly the whole of North America. She is considered a 'bad' vaudun. (tLaC)
• Manny Rodriguez - Powerful practitioner, but he gave it up to be a plain animator. He was considered a 'bad' vaudun at that time. (tLaC)
• Grandmother Flores - Anita Blake's maternal grandmother. It is unclear whether she was 'good' or 'bad'.
• John Burke - Rumored to have been part of several ritual murders before tLaC. The biggest animator in New Orleans, second only to Anita in the Midwest; one of the 'best' vaudun priests in the country
• Peter Burk - brother to John Burke. There are also several rumors surrounding his involvement in homicides. It was discovered posthumous in tLaC that he was indeed involved in many lurid affairs. To learn more about this, please go to the RPIT Cases page.

Miscellaneous

• They cannot enter a cemetery at night without a permit, because of their stereotype
• Signs of a vaudun ritual include verve drawn in chalk, blood and sometimes a dead fire.

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