HOODOO CONJURE DOLLIES
Doll babies have been worked with in conjure work since the first African was enslaved and brought here. Doll babies are not just used to cross a person up as most folks think they are; there are many uses for them. If you ask most folks about hoodoo dolls they call them voodoo dolls. Voodoo is a religion, hoodoo is not although conjure workers are Christians. I was taught to make the hoodoo doll out of red flannel and to stuff the body with cotton, petition, prayers, roots, herbs, and any personal concerns I had that belonged to the target. The doll is made to represent the person the work is being done for. Once the doll is made it is set up on the altar within a candle set up and prayed over. The dollie is worked for varies reasons, they can be worked, for healing, uncrossing, reversal, money drawing, domination, essence of bend over, or protection work the list just goes on and on. In the old days doll babies were hand made; today very few workers make their own dollies for their work. I prefer to sew both my dollies and my mojo bags. This is how I was taught and I prefer them rather than store bought.
The most common dollie is made of red flannel and stuffed with cotton or this is how they are made in the part of the South my family is from. I'm a traditional worker and teacher; I stick as close as possible to Old Style Conjure. I have found through research that most people stuff their dollies with moss; this originated out of Louisiana. I think that these types of dollies have a more Vodun element than Hoodoo. In the end it depends on the
worker and how they were taught to do the work. There is nothing wrong with that; but since this is my website I will talk about how I was taught to do things.
I don't just work with red flannel dollies, over the years I have learned a few other ways to make dollies. One of my favorites is the wax dollie. You empower the wax dollie the same way you would empower a candle. Wax holds power! You can add all your ingredients to the wax then you shape the wax into a doll baby. When I make a wax doll baby I place it in a red flannel packet.
I use licorice sticks to make a stick doll when I need to do strong commanding and domination work on someone. These dolls are put together and covered with cotton and red flannel. These dollies are powerful and should be used as a last resort.
Last but not least, I was taught how to make dollies from the dirt of the crawdad mound. I think that this type of doll baby also originated out of Louisiana. An old Cajun told me about these dollies; he called it swamp magic. I found the concept very appealing and tried my hand at making a dollie this way. It worked very well. The good thing about making a doll baby like this is; that like the wax doll you can add your roots and things while you are shaping the doll.