About Us

The Mystic Voodoo™ is the result of an intuitive knowing by Denise Alvarado, who was prompted into co-creating the website by the Loas, Orishas, Spirits, Goddesses, and the Divine.  A symbiotic relationship made manifest, the Mystic Voodoo™  features provocative art reflecting cultural and historical factors that influence artistic expression and religion.

Voodoo, as it is known in the United States, is a religion born of the blended spiritual traditions of multiple traumatized cultures. Voodoo art reflects the beauty of those cultures, as well as the sinister side of colonization and genocide. The Mystic Voodoo Dolls found on this site are intended to be artistic representations of the pantheon of Goddesses and Gods that comprise the Voodoo cosmology, as well as other mystical, spiritual, and religious traditions.

Few images are as provocative in American society as the Voodoo doll. Largely misunderstood, Voodoo dolls are a cultural phenomenon found most commonly in New Orleans, although their roots go back as far as ancient Greece. I have taken this primitive spiritual tradition and transformed it into a legitimate art form. Each doll represents a particular deity, and each deity has a story to tell. Their stories and purposes are provided so that visitors can better understand the context in which they are presented. Feel free to print the information for your personal use and pass it on to others so that together, we can dispel the myths  that continue to oppress those who practice this and other indigenous religions. The Loas want it that way; let it be so!

I studied art formally at the University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College in Iowa. However, my professional life ended up taking a different direction and I ended up with an Associates degree in Human Services,  a bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology, and a Masters degree in Clinical psychology. I hold advanced certification in addictions counseling, and I am an ordained Reverend from the Universal Life Church Monastery. I am currently a PhD candidate in Psychology Research and Evaluation at Walden University, and have recently been awarded Walden University's Fellowship for Research and Application for Social Change for my research with Native Americans. I take every opportunity to study spirituality, religions, and mysticism.  In spite of my extensive academic background and quest for sound science, I still believe in the healing arts, magick, spirituality, and Voodoo. 

My interest in Voodoo came honestly. As a New Orleans native and the daughter of two of the best artists in the world, I was exposed to a wide variety of art forms from the time I was old enough to be aware. My father, Don Alvarado, was a formally trained and renowned medical illustrator  (Gray's Anatomy) and my mother, Mae Moore, was largely a self taught painter of folk art, nature, and mystical imagery.

Growing up in the Deep South provided me with ample opportunity to experience mysticism in its many forms from an early age. My first séance on the bayou was led by my aunt who began teaching me the ways when I was about 6 or 7 years old. My mother spent hours telling me Native American stories while braiding my hair. At that time, I had my magick box that I kept hidden under my chest of drawers that contained, among other things,  Gypsy Witch Fortune Telling Cards, a kachina, and a Voodoo doll.  I experimented with manipulating energy and drawing and painting images hidden deep in my psyche all throughout my youth. I loved fortune telling, Native culture, and the power of oracle. Childhood was not an easy time for me, and the art of Voodoo was my saving grace.

I was raised Catholic.  Well, sort of. It was the traditional thing to do as Hispanicized Aztecs after all. I went to catechism and was confirmed.  I hated catechism and I hated the church. It bored me and I never felt alive there. But we did it because my father told us we had to, like his father had told him. Years later, my father told me he never believed in God. At least, not the God of the Catholic Church. Mother Earth was his Higher Power. That explained why we spent so much time in nature developing an intimate relationship with Her.  We were also drawn to our animal relatives and always had snakes, lizards, turtles, scorpions, tarantulas, birds, and a wonderful poodle named Wilma around. I was always partial to the dragon energy of lizards; the bigger, the better.

My parents nurtured my creativity from the time I could hold a pencil in my hand. My father took me to work with him at LSU Medical School where I hung out with the graphics artists and photographers and learned the tricks of the trade. I was like a kid in a candy store. My father made sure I had all the first class art supplies any little artist could dream of. He taught me how to pen and ink like he did in those awesome anatomical drawings he would do.  While I got my early formal training from my father, my mother taught me how to paint and draw with feeling and intuition. She was regularly painting astrological portraits and other  mystical and mythical folk artsy type things. She also taught me how to sew and embroidery, while my grandmother taught me how to knit and crochet. It was the perfect balance and formed the foundation for my art today.

My experiences as a healer reflects the diverse Creole culture of New Orleans. Creole Voodoo is a blend of African Voodoo, Native American herbalism, Spiritualism, European folk magick, Catholicism, Santeria, and Haitian Voodoo, among other things.

When I was 15 I was initiated into transcendental meditation at the Hare Krishna Temple in New Orleans. During this time, I learned herbalism and several methods of divination including tarot cards, I ching, and the pendulum. As an adult, I have participated in numerous ceremonies and rituals, including several sacred Native American rites such as Sundance, hunblecha (vision quest), and the inipi (sweat lodge). I was asked to sit in the seat of honor and given the privilege of pouring the water for the sweat lodge ceremony while in New Mexico and have run many sweat lodge ceremonies over the years for the purpose of healing and purification. I have been able to incorporate such healing practices in a hospital setting, psychiatric ward, adolescent shelter,, and substance abuse treatment centers.

I believe I was chosen as a young child to walk the path of Creole Voodoo, as there are things that I "know" that were never taught to me by others or through books or other forms of learning. There are no formal initiation rites into New Orleans Voodoo. When the loa calls, you either answer the call or you don't. I chose to answer.

Many blessings to all who visit this site,

Denise Alvarado

History
The Mystic Voodoo™ has been an online resource for metaphysical and spiritual issues since 2005. It's popularity has steadily grown as more and more collectors of Voodoo art discover the innovative and sacred creations of the artist. Individuals seeking general and specific information about the art and craft of Voodoo have found the Mystic Voodoo™ to be a valuable resource.

 

Blessed Be!

Special thanks goes to Deidre Lin for the awesome Mystic Voodoo graphic! You can see more of her images here:

http://imagebuilder.deviantart.com
http://excalibur.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/member.php?my_gallery&page=1