Voodoo in New Orleans: Reviving history: New Orleans fortune telling

In a case from early sixteenth-century Basle that has the ring of folktale: 3 witches sat together under a peach tree in spring. They considered what they wanted to eat. The first wanted all the cherries that there would be that year as a compote; the second wanted all the birds that would hatch that year, and the third, all the wine that would be grown. These were women with gargantuan appetites, hungry for luxury food: cherries, little birds and wine. Sitting together under the peach tree they plotted how to steal this wonderful food, eat it all themselves – and destroy spring with its promise of rebirth and plenty. And then they attacked a woman in childbed, taking the milk from her breasts, killing the baby, and nearly killing her too, ‘out of envy’. The witch was a woman who wanted it all for herself, and who envied others. If she could cause a mother’s milk to dry up she could do the same to cows, or make the butter fail to churn. She represented the destruction of fertility itself.

Supposedly, a psychic, Sylvia Browne, made predictions regarding COVID-19; is this our witchiness?

I would like to believe I was a witch in a past life. Not a broom-riding, green-skinned, pointy-nosed, black robe-wearing witch, but the type of woman who you would look at 200 years ago and think “That’s a witch;” a woman with her own thoughts and ideas, wanting more out of life than to passively serve a husband and bear children, and defying the rule of the patriarchy. This historical defiance I may or may not have had a part in has allowed me to be a “free” woman. But thinking about this more, the idea of freedom is terrifying. Having to carve my own path in life without knowing if I can be successful. I would also like to have a little witch magic to be able to see into an unknown future. Asking the questions;

“What does my future hold?”

“How can I see into my future without waiting for it to arrive?”

This has led me to the magical voodoo that runs through the veins of New Orleans. Voodoo came to New Orleans in the early 1700s, through slaves brought from Africa’s western “slave coast.” Like so many things in New Orleans, Voodoo was then infused with the city’s dominant religion, Catholicism, and became a Voodoo-Catholicism hybrid sometimes referred to as New Orleans Voodoo. Today, Voodoo lives on in New Orleans through people who see it as part of their culture, through error-prone rumor, and through the long shadow of Laveau, the city’s best-known voodooeinne. Wandering through the French Quarter and finding little booths of fortune-tellers waiting for me to come to answer my questions. As New Orleans has brought me the knowledge and a degree to carve my path, it has also connected me to my witchy roots. Sitting with the fortune-tellers has given me a mystical feeling connected both with the past and my future self.

Psychic reading happening in the French Quarter. (Photo by Ram Joshi)

Where I have found the most magic is in the French Quarter with painters, caricature artists, and most importantly, fortune tellers. Some of the familiar artworks you might see hanging on the black metal fence around the square are Elaine Cummings, whose parents were also artists in Jackson Square, and Lee Tucker who has exhibited his work in galleries all around the US and England.

On the cusp of the French Quarter Voodoo and the overwhelming tourist tables in Jackson Square, I gave a bearded woman $20 at a table outside of a bar, ready to hear some general fortune gimmicks. She then told me about her life. Explaining to me how her fortune abilities have been in her family since they moved to New Orleans, skipping every other generation. Her grandmother even passed her cards onto her, but she said that they were too powerful for her to use on the general public. Second sight surveys in Northern Scotland found that people with second sight are likely to report a family member with the same ability (Cohn, 1994), and family pedigree interviews found that it does indeed run in families with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. Her husband came from a long line of witchcraft, but he can no longer practice it because his abilities are too strong and harmful. Many of these readers come from long lines of witchcraft. One of these is Erzulies Voodoo Shop whose intent is to preserve the lineage of the melting pot of Voodoo from the famed practitioners that made it famous in New Orleans. One cannot walk down the streets of the French Quarter without seeing the commercialization of this misunderstood religion. She began reading the cards I had blindly chosen, or so I thought. As she turns the cards around, she does not give me much information, but it’s like she’s reading my mind.

“Drop the boy you’re talking to now, he’s no good.”

“You have three fake friends.”

She turns over a card and looks at my friend who’s with me.

“Be careful about which friends you trust, she might be the only one you can.”

I know these things, but how could she? As her readings became more accurate and specific to me, my belief and astonishment grew. Fortune tellers can sometimes use tricks to tilt the perspective of their audience. Making general claims, getting the audience to tell them the information they need, backtracking when they notice skepticism, and reading the audience’s reactions. Maybe she was using these tricks on me, but they worked and allowed me to look introspectively at my life and future decisions. Choosing to believe in the magic both the environment and the bearded woman have filled me with, my questions can be answered. With both the cards she drew and her palm reading, she told me to stay celibate for at least 4 years or else I will likely end up with an unplanned pregnancy like herself. Connecting me closer to my believed past life, I too can destroy fertility. Again, fortune-telling does not have much scientific backing, many people who believe in fortune-telling don’t realize that if they are right, they have answered one of the fundamental questions in philosophy, that of free will vs. determinism. My future may not be set, and I will have to carve my own path rather than let fortune-telling lead me where I’m supposed to go, but by listening to my reading, I can use that as guidance to find my place.

The mystical feeling at this corner outside of Bourbon Street and St. Peters cannot be found anywhere else. New Orleans is completely unique with its rich history of Voodoo that has been passed down through generations. Instead of using fortune telling as an exact science, it can be used as guidance to introspectively find where we want our lives to lead. By reflecting on my own experience, I encourage everyone to get a fortune reading. You should put aside your disbelief and use it as a powerful tool to guide you, what you’re looking for is whether that information can help you grow in life. It’s about inspiring and healing and comforting you. Maybe they’ll tell you you’re on the wrong career path and you’ll either shrug it off or realize you hate your job and need change or maybe they’ll tell you that your friends aren’t right for you and you’ll realize that they’re terrible people or they don’t know what they’re talking about and your friends are the best people in your life. Whether you choose to believe in fortune telling or not, it can help you realize what you want out of life and push you to make the changes you need, and that’s the true magic of fortune telling.