What are your thoughts on real life Voodoo?

[Tawmis]

What are your thoughts on real life Voodoo?

Was GK1 your first real experience with Voodoo or had it been something you were interested in before?

Share your thoughts!

[AndreaDraco]

GK1 made me interested in Voodoo. I've always been interested in occult and esoteric beliefs, but Voodoo had always been to "distant" from my perception since Jane Jensen.

Now, I've researched it and read book about it* and I'm extremely fascinated by its own peculiar pantheon and its merged influences. Voodoo has an interesting take on at least one aspect - the human sexuality - too often mortified by other religions, and this is one of things that mostly beguile me.

Being an atheist, I'm not interested in practicing it, exactly like other religions. But Voodoo is one of my deepest passion, from a researching (and even storytelling) point of view.

* I really recommend Madison Smartt Bell trilogy - All Souls' Rising, Master of the Crossroads and The Stone that the Builder Refused - about Haitian history and the role of real-life voodoo in Toussaint's revolution.

[Almirena]

It's quite a frightening draping over one's perception of life, death, control, submission - this whole voodoo/vodoun thing. We were very fortunate to have Maiandra write a fabulous and well-researched article on the subject for the campaign site, and it certainly outlines some perceptions and misperceptions about this religion/belief/lifestyle that aren't very well known.

Westerners often appear quite fascinated by the collection of beliefs that make up vodoun.

For those interested, have you seen the film Skeleton Key? It's set in Louisiana and has voodoo as its subject matter. It's one of the most chilling films I've seen (but remember my "chill" threshold is not enormously high. I was unable to watch Nightmare on Elm Street after the first 5 minutes because my tolerance for scenes of nail-screaming tension where nothing happens but anything MIGHT happen was stretched to the limit).

[AndreaDraco]

For those interested, have you seen the film Skeleton Key? It's set in Louisiana and has voodoo as its subject matter.

I liked it, but - since you cites Nightmare - I have to recommend Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow, set in Haiti and revolving around a voodoo cult. Frightening and incredibly well-done. A must see

[Jules]

The Skeleton Key was a pretty good movie with an ending that wasn't expected!

Before I moved here, my boyfriend took me on a St. Louis Cemetery tour. Afterwards, the tourguide (optionally) allowed us to visit a Voodoo practitioner in her home. He warned us it may be "odd" and slightly encouraged us not to visit. We thought, how weird can it be? It's just a lady and her voodoo.

Wellll... yes. Stuff EVERYWHERE. Beads, statuettes, idols, incense, skulls, hanging from the walls and ceiling, anything, you name it, it was there. You could hardly walk through it all. We found a spot on the cement rug lined with throw rugs to sit with everybody else to listen to her talk - or at least try to talk. Nobody could understand a single word she was saying through all of her cackles and wrinkled ear to ear grins.

Since we were the last ones to enter the room, we were closest to the exit and made a quick escape. I only hoped the others had a just as easy escape as we did!

Now, mind you, they may have chosen this eccentric woman for the voodoo tour to add spice and flair to the New Orleans 'essence' so I wouldn't use her exclusively as the 'typical' voodo practitioner. But from my experience, it was one that I wouldn't want to revisit! At least not HER home.

[Maiandra]

I had seen The Serpent and the Rainbow and heard the usual Hollywood ideas about Voodoo before GK1. However, I was really impressed with how well researched Sins of the Fathers was. Even while playing it I could see that the game dealt with Voodoo fairly and explored both sides of it. It was all quite intriguing. It's always interesting to see a more factual side of religions, cultures, or practices that are commonly perceived in a negative light.

Wanting to look into Voodoo more was what made me offer to write the article for the GK4 campaign. I would have preferred to have used more sources for the sake of accuracy, but it was still fascinating to research and write an introductory look the "oft maligned" religion. However, I probably should have edited it more carefully as well, since I later noticed a few writing flaws in it. *sheepish look*

[AndreaDraco]

Do you guys know if there is a good biography of Marie Laveau at a reasonable price? I checked some European sites but I can't find a good opera, just the usual c**p and I really want a well-researched book.

Thanks!

[DeadPoolX]

If you like voodoo and mystery, I'd recommend a movie called Angelheart. It takes place in New Orleans, too.

[AndreaDraco]

Wonderful movie! With such a finale...!

[Tinuviel]

There was a voodoo reference an article relatively recently about cleansing homes from wayward spirits in The New York Times. If you are registered (registration's free) you can take a peek: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/garden/30haunted.html

Marie Laveau's in New Orleans is mentioned. Clearly, some people DO believe in it. Me? Well, I'm too cynical by nature to put much store in it. But it certainly makes for a good story.

[Tawmis]

They just had a special on Voodoo and the process of Zombification... and how there's one recorded instance of a "raised zombie" that was serving a master for 18 years after being raised... freed only after the one who raised him died.

[DeadPoolX]

Marie Laveau's in New Orleans is mentioned. Clearly, some people DO believe in it. Me? Well, I'm too cynical by nature to put much store in it. But it certainly makes for a good story.

As far as the magical component of voodoo is concerned, I think most of it had to do with "believing it's true." Much like any "hocus pocus" set of ideals, if people believe in it, they'll use it to explain various issues and happenings in life.

The only "voodoo" I believe in would be 3DFX's old line of video cards!

[Almirena]

The mind can become a landscape shaped by one's beliefs. There is a great deal that can affect us through the power of belief, and this is quite a separate issue from whether or not the things in which one believes are valid.

For the purpose of how it affects one, sometimes thought is as powerful as things corporeal.

[Dark Jaguar]

My thoughts are simply that voodoo is a great source for fiction, but that's it. If there's some good evidence to show otherwise, I'll change my mind, but until then, there's no point wasting my time on it.