How and Why to Make a Voodoo Doll

The principle behind a voodoo doll (also called spirit doll or poppet) is called sympathetic magic. What happens to it theoretically happens to the person it represents.

Obviously, it helps to be heavily superstitious to believe that someone can make a voodoo doll of you and then torture it and cause you ill will.

However, when you make one of and for yourself, it can be an effective tool for self-improvement. We kind of have a cultural trait of self-loathing due in a large part to the commercial ideals that are pounded into our heads from a very young age. So it’s hard for a lot of people to really accept themselves and love themselves deeply. But we can love others, and accept love from others, with little trouble. By making a doll of yourself and treating it as a little person sort of separate from yourself, the process of self-acceptance and improvement can begin.

This works a bit like the process of prayer. When you pray (to whomever), you allow yourself to let go of responsibilities and let god, the universe, fate, whatever take over. But you are also open to accept the help or result you are asking for. It is a form of self-programming, because you aren’t going to make a petition for something and then go expecting that your prayer won’t be answered. Because of your vested interest in the outcome, your mind is open to the opportunities that will help you to bring your prayer to fruition.

A poppet, then, is sort of a physical manifestation of the goals you are praying for. It should look like you do now and you should dress it like you usually dress. Take some time with it, and when you stitch it together (it doesn’t have to be a super sophisticated job) imagine that you are “sewing in” a little bit of yourself with every in and out of the needle.

I find it helpful to make a paper doll first from typing paper folded in half the long way (so it winds up being symmetric). I tried tracing a cookie cutter but there’s not much waistline, and I’m on the pudgy side, so I fooled with it until I got it more or less right. It took a few tries to figure it out. The 3-D aspect threw me off a little.

After you get the paper figure to your liking, draw a line around it 1/4″ away. This is your cutting line. That way you have plenty of room to sew it. Pin to your chosen fabric and cut it out. Sew, leaving a space in the side to add stuffing. Turn it rightside out and use the handle of a spoon or a chopstick to poke the arms and legs out. Add stuffing such as polyfill or cotton balls and any trinkets or personal items you wish to include, such as a lock of hair. I have heard of using lavender and other botanicals, so whatever grabs your fancy and seems “right”. You can put some of those beanie baby polyester pellets in there if you want it to be able to sit up. Sew up the side.

Use yarn or embroidery floss or another material to create hair. If you have short hair, you can paint or draw it on. Then draw on facial features. Practice on paper first if you like, just keep it simple. You can use a little colored chalk or blush to make cheeks if you want.

Add clothes and accessories so it looks like you. If possible, use your actual garments (like if you ruined a favorite shirt and can’t wear it any more, that would be a good one to use). Take your time, get it right.

Now that you’ve made your poppet, how do you use it?

First you consecrate it and give it “life”. This will probably come to you intuitively, since there is no right or wrong way to do it. But if you’re stuck for ideas, consider any of these:

–mix up a little salt water and sprinkle it on the doll like a baptism.
–light a candle and wave the doll over it, to let the light and flame “purify” it. Don’t let it get hot or burn.
–let it sit in the sun all day.
–put it on your bible or other holy book for a while.
–ask god to bless it.

When you feel it has been made holy and sacred, then it will be okay to bring it to life. Up to this point, the doll has just looked like you. Now you will allow it to be your double. Again, this will probably be intuitive, but here are some ideas:

–breathe on it.
–hold it to your heart and infuse it with love.
–kiss it.
–rub it all over you to give it your scent, like a cat.
–sleep with it in your bed a night or two.

In doing this, you have also created a protector. You are the only person with yourself 24/7, so you will always have your own back. Now that there are two of you, your self-protection capacity is doubled. Remember that when you feel the world is picking on you.

Treat your little guy well. Give him attention every day and a nice place to hang out while you are off doing your daily stuff. Keep him away from people who don’t need to know about him, which is pretty much anyone you wouldn’t expect to take a bullet for you.

To work your doll, here are some suggestions.

Pins, since you see that all the time:

A pin is used to direct energy into the body. You can use plain ones but the colored ones are easier to identify with. Some colors have special significance to the user, but some are more or less universal. It is perfectly fine to get a bunch of white headed pins and use markers, paint, or even nail polish to change the colors.

When you insert a pin, slide it in softly and at the same time try to feel that energy come into your own life and/or body. Since you are consciously initiating this change to yourself, you have complete control and safety in all aspects of this work. The only things that will happen can happen because you give them permission to work. However, many of us are lax in our guard and give passive permission by not saying “no”. Take care to ensure you leave no gaps in your personal firewall.

Some suggestions:
Yellow into the mouth and ears for communication.
Blue into the head and heart for peace.
Pink into the heart and hands for friendship.
Green into the belly for weight loss.
Red into the throat, mouth, and “guts” for courage speaking up.
Purple to help with substance abuse.
Orange to uplift and energize.
Black to block things that need blocking temporarily (you will need to address them later though).

If you are after a better image, say maybe you feel you’re not as spiff as you like, talk it over with the poppet and ask how you guys can work it out. Maybe it’s just a change of clothes. So go shopping and dress him up a bit too.

For weight loss, do what you need to do. A lot of people get bummed because losing weight is boring. You eat less… and then… you wait. Most of us just need to exercise. If you want to use the poppet for weight loss, give him the role of Jiminy Cricket. You have to answer to him. He might tell you to drop and give him 20 if you didn’t go walking…

Funny thing about weight loss… it’s really mindless work. You don’t have to think about it, but when you are trying to do it, that’s all you can think about. Not just food, but how you need to lose weight. At least that’s how it is with me; I think about it all the time but do I go in the next room and walk on my treadmill? No. Because it’s boring and I’m doing something else. So find activities you can do while walking around the block or whatever, like listening to audiobooks. Eventually the exercise becomes a habit and part of your routine but it’s getting established that is usually the hard part. Having an exercise buddy, even if it is a voodoo doll, makes this more pleasant.

As you change, adjust your poppet to fit what you look like.

Another way to work a poppet could be to give him a “massage”, if you are feeling stressed out (using a filler such as flaxseed or beanie baby pellets will enhance the knead-ability of the doll). The action of kneading its little shoulders and back, while visualizing the same feeling coming into your own body, can be quite relaxing.

A poppet could be made for short term use such as for enhancing the energy of a Crown of Glory spell or other drawing spell. Details are beyond the scope of this article, but if you are interested in this aspect of poppet magick, click the link above and take it from there.

If you decide that it’s time to stop using your poppet for some reason, thank him for the work he did with you and withdraw the “life” you lent him back into yourself in a way that makes sense to you. Open the seams and burn or flush the stuffing, and wash the fabric part well with soap and water to deconsecrate it. What you do with it after that is up to you, whether you keep it for use another time, throw it away, flush it, burn it, or bury it.

What about making dolls for or of someone else? Is this ever okay?

I have made a voodoo doll for an ill woman’s relative, using the woman’s own hair (from a hairbrush) for the filling and cloth from a favorite scarf for the body. The woman is in a long-term care facility following a brain injury. While her immediate family is able to visit her daily, the relative (who lives a long way away) also desired a way to be involved caring for the woman, however it could be managed. Although this family member calls often to support the others, it’s impossible to be there physically. The person feels the doll provides a way to be with the woman on the psychic plane. The ill woman is in a semi-comatose state, so perhaps that isn’t as farfetched an idea as it might sound. From what I understand the relative regularly spends time holding the doll and speaking comforting words to it, sending love and healing thoughts to the ill woman while doing so.

Maybe all this does, in the great cosmic scheme of things, is to help the relative feel more connected to the healing process, to assuage any guilt about not being able to physically be there to help with the woman’s care. I like to think that somehow the ill woman is able to receive those loving intentions and not be afraid, lost, or all alone as she tries to make her way back to full consciousness. Spoken words carry vibrations, and although tiny perhaps the butterfly’s effect of that kindness and love will make a positive impact somewhere in the world, so even if the woman is unable to receive them, maybe it’s pushing some molecules around the right way somewhere else. It certainly is not causing harm, so yes, this would be an okay way to make and use a poppet representing someone else.