"I
Am A Love Witch"
"the cat girl"
from
HE, Magazine for Men
Vol. 1, No. 8, March 1954
Yes, I am a voodoo
priestess. I perform my love ritual three times nightly in my new home
Club "Basin Street," New York City.
Imported from New Orleans, I am paid to transform
the atmosphere of the club into a land of drums, exotic hoodoo and erotic
love--giving the audience a frenzied emotional experience.
I present love making as a beautiful art.
In its simplicity and naked innocence love is the appeasement of the soul
through the willingness of the body for the great god Damballa--the green
serpent god of Voodooism, the ancient African religion.
Most popular gris gris is the Ouanga (voodoo
charm), a love fetish. If the love of a man or woman is not returned by
the object of his affection he will go to a witch for help. The mamaloi
(voodoo witch) takes two sewing needles, lays them side by side point to
eye, and binds them tightly together with wool and a layer of medicine
leaves. The finished charm is sewn in a leather pouch worn around the neck.
The gris gris I concoct is a strange and powerful
love potion for two love-sick dock hands, seeking solace in my wizardry.
After listening to their pleas of spurned love, I perform my own interpretation
of Ouanga. The culinary process of the brew is savored with the dance customs
of rhythm-conscious people. While mixing the drink I execute a love ovation
of erotic frenzy that would send even the great Damballa into an eternity
of delicious oblivion.
Witchcraft interests many people. Since I
began voodoo dancing I have received mail and phone calls from people wanting
me to prepare love gris gris for them. It is hard to convince them that
I am an interpretive dancer and not really a witch.
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