Marie Laveau: Voodoo Queen of New Orleans

Oh Marie Laveau! Anybody whose ever been the least bit interested in New Orleans voodoo has heard the many legends of Marie Laveau. She led huge dances is Congo Square that scandalized all of white New Orleans. She led enormous rituals at the shores of Lake Pontchartrain every St John’s Eve (the night before midsummer, or the summer solstice). At one of these rituals, she was taken by the lake, never to be seen again except for the type of glimpses usually reserved for ghost stories.

Trying to trace the historical Marie Laveau is a tricky business. She was actually two people: Marie Laveau (1794 – 1881) and her daughter, Marie Laveau II (1827 – 1895?), who sometimes went by the name of her father, Paris.

Future Ancestor Alert: Joan Rivers

This was supposed to be a post about Demeter and the Eleusian Mysteries, but events. Check back early next week for that one.

Joan Rivers died yesterday. This may seem like an odd thing to talk about on a magick and mythology blog but hear me out.

I believe that one day people will look at some of our contemporaries the way we see figures of legend. Marie Laveau, Joan of Arc, Aliester Crowley: they were all actual people with regular lives who live on in the realms of memory. I know a guy who keeps Thomas Jefferson on his altar right next to Herne. These are what I call the Future Ancestors. More recent examples: Margot Adler, BKS Iyengar, & Robin Williams (wow, it’s been a tough summer).