Meet the man with the voodoo eyes:Solomon Boukman. He'd used voodoo, black magic, and extreme violence to control his people, and to keep anyone who ever heard his name in a state of fear. He'd zombified his enemies with potions and hypnosis and used them as his very own suicide killers. Some said he was the earthly incarnation of Baron Samedi, the voodoo god of death; others said he was The Devil incarnate...Meet his nemesis:For private eye Max Mingus, Boukman has been the cause of unthinkable personal tragedy and professional torment. And when he uncovers a labyrinthine web of death and deceit stretching from the Miami jetset to sinister Cuban slums, the voodoo eyes of Boukman are never far from his mind. But how can Mingus stop him without losing his life, and the lives of those he loves?Meet a thriller that will haunt your dreams.
This compelling reference work introduces the religions of Voodoo, a onetime faith of the Mississippi River Valley, and Vodou, a Haitian faith with millions of adherents today. Unlike its fictional depiction in zombie films and popular culture, Voodoo is a full-fledged religion with a pantheon of deities, a priesthood, and communities of believers. Drawing from the expertise of contemporary practitioners, this encyclopedia presents the history, culture, and religion of Haitian Vodou and Mississippi Valley Voodoo. Though based primarily in these two regions, the reference looks at Voodoo across several cultures and delves into related religions, including African Vodu, African Diasporic Religions, and magical practices like hoodoo. Through roughly 150 alphabetical entries, the work describes various aspects of Voodoo in Louisiana and Haiti, covering topics such as important places, traditions, rituals, and items used in ceremonies. Contributions from scholars in the field provide a comprehensive overview of the subject from various perspectives and address the deities and ceremonial acts. The book features an extensive collection of primary sources and a selected, general bibliography of print and electronic resources.
Tales from the Dark Side of the Mind By: Anthony DiBruno In this collection of short stories, there are many twists and turns. Some have a science-fiction theme, some are horror, but there is one thing all these stories have in common: the endings are unexpected and intense.
For decades, the drug abuse epidemic has been growing. The government has declared opioid addiction to be a crisis. But with all the money and effort spent, we are not winning the war. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put the drugged up Humpty Dumptys back together again. The church offers the solution to the drug problem. As Iron Sharpens Iron opens with “Katherina,” a woman struggling with drug addiction who is crying out for help, she experiences the horror of the drug world and how it is destroying her life, including her relationships with others. She becomes isolated and looks for guidance to stop her out-of-control life. Katherina meets the author and reluctantly asks him for help to conquer her voluntary slavery of addiction. He takes her to faith-based meetings, to church and church functions, where she was ministered to and shown the light. The people, including the author’s parents, are a good witness to her and brings her away from the dark drug world and into the light of Jesus. Katherina accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, and his work is evident in her life. After God calls Katherina home, the author connected to a faith-based ministry for drug addicts and those suffering from other hurts and hang-ups. The story of Katherina’s struggle with drugs and her victory, through Christ, is interwoven with an in-depth look at the root of the problem.
"I have a huge favor to ask." Chloe Clark's smoking hot neighbor and best friend, Liam, needed her help. To practice his kissing. Chloe knew it wasn't a joke. Liam was socially awkward, and on the spectrum, which was why he was still single at 33. Women didn't understand Liam the way Chloe did. Yeah, he was odd, but he was her bestie. She had her issues, too. Like always falling for the wrong guys. But that’s what made them work as besties. They accepted each other for who they were. No pretending. No games. Perfectly platonic. So when Liam asked Chloe for help to get him ready for a second chance date with his high school sweetheart she could hardly say no. After all, Liam was woefully inexperienced; like virgin-level pure. It was downright criminal for someone that sexy to be so untouched. What choice did she have? She couldn't leave her bestie to make a fool of himself with the woman he’d loved since he was a teenager. She'd give him a few pointers, let him practice a few kisses on her, maybe teach him a slow burn kiss, or the right way to cup a woman's breast, then send him on his merry way. He just needed a few kisses under his belt and he’d be fine for his date. The bumped heads and smooshed noses Chloe expected. What she hadn't counted on, was liking Liam’s kisses. A lot. When the practice sessions become a major turn on for Chloe, how will she keep her pesky libido in check? And worse, how was she supposed to hand him over to another woman after she’d fallen for him so hard?
The racialized and exoticized cult of Voodoo occupies a central place in the popular image of the Crescent City. But as Kodi A. Roberts argues in Voodoo and Power, the religion was not a monolithic tradition handed down from African ancestors to their American-born descendants. Instead, a much more complicated patchwork of influences created New Orleans Voodoo, allowing it to move across boundaries of race, class, and gender. By employing late nineteenth and early twentieth-century first-hand accounts of Voodoo practitioners and their rituals, Roberts provides a nuanced understanding of who practiced Voodoo and why. Voodoo in New Orleans, a melange of religion, entrepreneurship, and business networks, stretched across the color line in intriguing ways. Roberts's analysis demonstrates that what united professional practitioners, or "workers," with those who sought their services was not a racially uniform folk culture, but rather the power and influence that Voodoo promised. Recognizing that social immobility proved a common barrier for their patrons, workers claimed that their rituals could overcome racial and gendered disadvantages and create new opportunities for their clients. Voodoo rituals and institutions also drew inspiration from the surrounding milieu, including the privations of the Great Depression, the city's complex racial history, and the free-market economy. Money, employment, and business became central concerns for the religion's practitioners: to validate their work, some began operating from recently organized "Spiritual Churches," entities that were tax exempt and thus legitimate in the eyes of the state of Louisiana. Practitioners even leveraged local figures like the mythohistoric Marie Laveau for spiritual purposes and entrepreneurial gain. All the while, they contributed to the cultural legacy that fueled New Orleans's tourist industry and drew visitors and their money to the Crescent City.
There is no more compelling nor more spiritual city than New Orleans. The city's Roman Catholic roots and its blended French, Spanish, Creole and American Indian populations heavily influenced the rites and rituals that West Africans brought to Louisiana as enslaved laborers. The resulting unique Voodoo tradition is now deeply rooted in the area. Enslaved practitioners in the nineteenth century held Voodoo dances in designated public areas like Congo Square but conducted their secret rituals away from the prying eyes of the city. By 1874, some twelve thousand New Orleanians attended Voodoo queen Marie Laveau's St. John's Eve rites on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The Voodoo tradition continues in the Crescent City even today. Rory Schmitt and Rosary O'Neill study the altars, art, history and ceremonies that anchor Voodoo in New Orleans culture.
Zora Neale Hurston wrote her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, while in Haiti on a trip funded by a Guggenheim fellowship to research the region’s transatlantic folk and religious culture; this work grounded what would become her ethnography Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. The essays in Zora Neale Hurston, Haiti, and “Their Eyes Were Watching God” persuasively demonstrate that Hurston’s study of Haitian Voudoun informed the characterization, plotting, symbolism, and theme of her novel. Much in the way that Voudoun and its North American derivative Voodoo are syncretic religions, Hurston’s fiction enacts a syncretic, performative practice of reference, freely drawing upon Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian, and Haitian Voudoun mythologies for its political, aesthetic, and philosophical underpinnings. Zora Neale Hurston, Haiti, and “Their Eyes Were Watching God” connects Hurston’s work more firmly to the cultural and religious flows of the African diaspora and to the literary practice by twentieth-century American writers of subscripting in their fictional texts symbols and beliefs drawn from West and Central African religions.
Part textbook, part life-story, part theological exposé, Understanding Haitian Voodoo comes from a much-respected Haitian gentleman who writes as a lawyer, judge, and evangelist who cares deeply about his people and their bondage in Voodoo. "Voodoo is not simply a myth, toward which we can remain indifferent. It is not just popular culture that we should teach and practice in schools through dances and songs. The gods of Voodoo are not simply idols or harmless gods. They are real beings, intelligent beings, they lust after worship and are full of cruelty." With testimonies from Voodoo priests, followers, witch doctors and more, Understanding Haitian Voodoo is a deep observation of Haitian Voodoo through the eyes of Christian faith, molded in Haitian theology that is biblical, contemporary, relevant and transformational. From his identity as a Christian believer and as a Haitian, proud of his culture, traditions, language and customs, author Emmanuel Félix brings a remarkable contribution to a better understanding of the relationship of Voodoo to Haitian culture, to Christianity, to zombies, community life, religions and beliefs, identity and more. The final conclusion of this majestic work confirms all that man seeks is found in the Almighty God Jehovah, through Jesus Christ, and in Him alone, no matter a man's race, culture and beliefs. Whether you're planning to visit Haiti, seeking to pray more intelligently for the work of the Gospel or are simply looking to learn more about the Haitian people, this book is a must-read. Read this book prayerfully, with a Bible at your side and an eye on the realities of life in Haiti. Published by Radio 4VEH, The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti, serving God and the Haitian people through effective Christian broadcasting since 1950. Proceeds from the sale of Understanding Haitian Voodoo support the ministry of Radio 4VEH.
