beds and in the closet for criminals, and in the kitchen cupboards for very short criminals. You can't be too careful. I've seen every episode of Game of Thrones .
After about half an hour or so, I picked up my golf driving iron and gingerly opened the front door slightly, and then peeked around.
"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."
(Edgar Allan Poe)
Chapter Fourteen.
And that brings me back to the voodoo doll.
It wasn't a nice looking doll, and my spiritual alarms were pinging at maximum. It was sitting right on my doorstep. I knew better than to touch it.
The doll was dressed like me, and as if that wasn't enough, my name was pinned to the doll by a black pin. It looked like a piece of my favorite scarf, but it could have been a piece of any blue and white scarf. I couldn't tell if it was my own hair or simply hair my color. A white shroud was all around the doll, but the spiritual shroud of malevolence had even more impact on me.
The doll exuded a feeling of antiquity merged with an ancient power, a horrible power.
Voodoo dolls have quite the reputation, thanks to Hollywood. However, I knew from previous research that the term "voodoo doll" is used to describe any doll used for magic in many cultures, even ancient Greek or Hittite. As far as I knew, the term started with Hollywood, while actual practitioners preferred such terms as doll baby or poppet . Voodoo dolls generally were used for blessings, healing, love, protection, improving finances, and used far less commonly for harm against another person.
I knew far less about the pentagram at the bottom of the steps. I didn't have the foggiest notion why it would be used in conjunction with the voodoo doll.
That just didn't make sense. It did not belong to any tradition known to me, and I had researched a few of them for the magazine. As far as I knew, pentagrams were protective symbols. I did know sulfur and red peppers were used in Hot Foot powder in hoodoo, and I'm sure they had many other uses. I could only conclude that the pentagram setup was simply theatrical, intended to confuse and frighten me.
I couldn't leave the items outside for the neighbors to see in the morning but I had no intention of going near them. I did the only thing I could do. I shut the door, locked it, then poured another glass of wine and drank it rapidly.
My laptop, of course, was on and ready to go, but for once I bypassed the laptop and headed for a book, a real book as some would call them. Books were tax deductions and apart from that, I love them, whether "real books" or ebooks. I had the very book that would help, and it was right on my bookshelf in easy reach.
The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals by anthropologist Denise Alvarado. The very first page told of a 2008 incident in which the husband of a Commissioner Zenaida Denizac found a black plastic dish containing a wax covered voodoo doll which had a photo of his wife pinned to it. It was burned and covered in black powder, and like my doll, had pins stuck all over it.
I googled "Commissioner Zenaida Denizac." She was alive and well, years after the incident, and this gave me hope. I poured another glass of wine, and went back to the book. It said the use of doll babies was an example of sympathetic magic, which reminded me that I had written an article on sympathetic magic two years ago. It would be in the pile of old magazines.
I stood up suddenly and felt horribly dizzy. I hoped this wasn't the doll spell working, although I'd had more than a glass of wine on an empty stomach, if you don't count the crackers.
The specific issue was easy to find. There are some advantages to being a neat freak. My article included a translation of a Hittite spell which used sympathetic magic. My article said that the Hittites were a major world power rivaling the Egyptians over three thousand years ago, and they lived in what is now Southern Turkey. The three and
After about half an hour or so, I picked up my golf driving iron and gingerly opened the front door slightly, and then peeked around.
"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat."
(Edgar Allan Poe)
Chapter Fourteen.
And that brings me back to the voodoo doll.
It wasn't a nice looking doll, and my spiritual alarms were pinging at maximum. It was sitting right on my doorstep. I knew better than to touch it.
The doll was dressed like me, and as if that wasn't enough, my name was pinned to the doll by a black pin. It looked like a piece of my favorite scarf, but it could have been a piece of any blue and white scarf. I couldn't tell if it was my own hair or simply hair my color. A white shroud was all around the doll, but the spiritual shroud of malevolence had even more impact on me.
The doll exuded a feeling of antiquity merged with an ancient power, a horrible power.
Voodoo dolls have quite the reputation, thanks to Hollywood. However, I knew from previous research that the term "voodoo doll" is used to describe any doll used for magic in many cultures, even ancient Greek or Hittite. As far as I knew, the term started with Hollywood, while actual practitioners preferred such terms as doll baby or poppet . Voodoo dolls generally were used for blessings, healing, love, protection, improving finances, and used far less commonly for harm against another person.
I knew far less about the pentagram at the bottom of the steps. I didn't have the foggiest notion why it would be used in conjunction with the voodoo doll.
That just didn't make sense. It did not belong to any tradition known to me, and I had researched a few of them for the magazine. As far as I knew, pentagrams were protective symbols. I did know sulfur and red peppers were used in Hot Foot powder in hoodoo, and I'm sure they had many other uses. I could only conclude that the pentagram setup was simply theatrical, intended to confuse and frighten me.
I couldn't leave the items outside for the neighbors to see in the morning but I had no intention of going near them. I did the only thing I could do. I shut the door, locked it, then poured another glass of wine and drank it rapidly.
My laptop, of course, was on and ready to go, but for once I bypassed the laptop and headed for a book, a real book as some would call them. Books were tax deductions and apart from that, I love them, whether "real books" or ebooks. I had the very book that would help, and it was right on my bookshelf in easy reach.
The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals by anthropologist Denise Alvarado. The very first page told of a 2008 incident in which the husband of a Commissioner Zenaida Denizac found a black plastic dish containing a wax covered voodoo doll which had a photo of his wife pinned to it. It was burned and covered in black powder, and like my doll, had pins stuck all over it.
I googled "Commissioner Zenaida Denizac." She was alive and well, years after the incident, and this gave me hope. I poured another glass of wine, and went back to the book. It said the use of doll babies was an example of sympathetic magic, which reminded me that I had written an article on sympathetic magic two years ago. It would be in the pile of old magazines.
I stood up suddenly and felt horribly dizzy. I hoped this wasn't the doll spell working, although I'd had more than a glass of wine on an empty stomach, if you don't count the crackers.
The specific issue was easy to find. There are some advantages to being a neat freak. My article included a translation of a Hittite spell which used sympathetic magic. My article said that the Hittites were a major world power rivaling the Egyptians over three thousand years ago, and they lived in what is now Southern Turkey. The three and
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