Making Wanga Voodoo Dolls

Making Wanga Voodoo Dolls
By Kendra Leonard, eHow Editor

Wanga dolls---also known as ouanga dolls, poppets, doll babies, and obeah dolls---are closely related to voodoo (or voudun) dolls. However, with voodoo dolls an element, such as hair of nail clippings, from the target is used to create an energy between the doll and the target, wanga dolls are said to be the tangible houses of a spirit, with which the user communicates his or her desires. The wanga doll is said to summon powers of the night, and wanga doll makers are initiated into the craft through largely secret ceremonies and training.

Wanga dolls are made for specific purposes: to bring love, money, luck, success, power, attraction, sex, wisdom, protection from other spells, to hex enemies, to remove jinxes or to exorcise a person from your life forever. Each wanga doll is handmade and imbued with power by the maker. Because wanga dolls are manifestations of a spirit, they must be treated with care and handled with respect.

Practitioners consecrate, or charge, wanga dolls through many different rituals. According to Santeria priestess Madrina Angelique Samedi, the process is as follows: "Light a candle in the appropriate color. Write your intent neatly and clearly on a clean piece of paper and place under the candle. Place the Magical Fetish Wangas near the candle. Touch your magical Fetish and speak to Spirit. Tell the Divine your wishes, desires and needs. Ask Spirit to bring these needs, wishes and desires into reality. Treat your Voodoo Fetish Wangas with respect and the Voodoo Spirits will answer your wishes!"

After you have obtained a wanga doll from a practitioner, you must make friends with it. You should talk to your wanga doll several times every day; tell it your troubles or desires. Hold the doll gently while you talk to it, and stroke its hair and clothes. You can also add some of your own essence to the doll, such as hair, sweat, blood, urine or something personally meaningful to you, such as a bead or charm. Many wanga doll users also write their desires on a small piece of paper and insert it into the doll's body, carefully repairing the hole made in doing so. Some people wear their wanga dolls underneath their clothes, keeping them close at all times.