Witches in New Orleans

Recently, I went on a weekend trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. I was so shocked and excited to see how many witches I met along the way!!

Louisiana Voodoo is a wildly interesting reflection of American culture and history. Voodoo practices from people from West-Africa and Sub Sahara who were enslaved made it to Louisiana. These beliefs over time meshed with Catholic belief that was predominant in the area among the white people. This confluence of beliefs over time and space is part of what makes witch culture in Louisiana and New Orleans specifically so interesting and rich. 

Although I didn’t get to spend much time in the city, I did run in to several witches on the street. Two of them was performing tarot card readings and I stopped to listen in. One of the witches was actually a man and he was a warlock performing what looked like a very intricate tarot card reading. The spread that he had in front of him looked like a game of solitaire and people gathered around to hear about the girl’s future. I wondered how he interpreted the cards and how he had learned what each card meant in its specific position on the table. I wondered if this was a family tradition that was passed down from his family or who had inspired him to become a warlock. 

The next witch that I passed on the street had a very intricate table set up filled with lots of witch-y things. On one corner of the table, she had various large crystals. One looked like the stereotypical crystal ball and others looked like rose quartz and other large crystals. In the center of her table she had a placemat with a white star and a black background. On this mat she was placing different crystals that her client chose and pulling cards from the deck under that crystal. Again, I didn’t get to hear 100% of the divination, but it sounded like the client was destined to fall in love. 

I really enjoyed getting to see these practices in a real-world setting. I also enjoyed getting to learn about the history of voodoo and magic in Louisiana, and how its emergence and survival is so intricately tied into the history of Slavery in the United States. Below are some photos of the witches that I mentioned above!