Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #450161 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author

Shannon R. Turlington is the author of more than 20 books, including the entertaining and comprehensive Do You Voodoo? which was the culmination of her very popular website of the same name. She is also the author of The Everything Kids Monster Book, to be published in 2002. She has been studying Vodou, Lukumi, and other alternative religions for many years; much of what she has learned can be found in this book. She lives in North Carolina with her dog, Delirium.

Customer Reviews

Great read.
The compelete Idiot's guide to voodoo .... Don't let that name fool you!

When I first got this book from off of my wishlist I thought: if anything it would be good for a laugh or two.
But, I was very wrong.

This book is a must have for new comers to African based Religons.
Shannon R. Turlington explins in depth about the faith of voodoo, the rites, and the lwa (Voodoo sprits/ansters) but most inportantly this book reveals what voodoo really is, and what it's not.
A profound well rounded belief system of beauty and hope and very much missunderstood to outsiders.
Just because you read a few books on the subject dose not mean you know voodoo, I have read a few books and thought I knew enuff, but now that i've read this book I feel like I truly understand voodoo.

Times have been very rough for the people of haiti and this book tells you the true life horrors that people of Haiti have had to endure for hundreds of years, up untill the late 1980's. In a poor contrary, filled with disease and poverty, there's hope, there's honoer,pride and help... With VooDoo being the beacon of comfort and safety for hattie.

Keep in mind- this book explains voodoo in a whole new light.
It also teaches you the difference between new orleans voodoo and voodoo in Hattie.
If you're looking for spells on the subject matter try Voodoo and Hoodoo by jim haskins.

The compelete Idiots guide to voodoo is the best book (and I dont use that turm losely) for anyone willing to expanded thair minds a great deal. Just from reading this boko i've had many questions from people and i've been able to answer them with truth and understanding.
Don't miss out on this wonderfuly writen book.

Reasons why i voted four stars:
Shannon R. Turlington becomes repetitive in some of the chapters, she covers things she's already said. You may get bored with this, but not so much you'll want to stop reading for the time being.
She also talks about Lcumi/Santeria in the book, how its a 2ed rate religion...Yet, the Fon people "adopted" some of the Yourba gods (Shango and Ogun from Ogoo, Orunla and Ehsu make up Papa Legba) being in lucumi, i did not take to kindly to that.

Happy reading!
Ashe!

Well written, nice overview that shatters misconceptions.
I didn't know anything about voodoo before reading this book besides the stereotypes I've been fed through Hollywood.

This book explains the history of a maligned religion thousands of years old, forged by unspeakable human suffering, and practiced in various places today.

The writer has a gift for explaining things clearly, organizing complex content, and writing in an appropriate tone that both respects the religion and knows when to be fun and entertaining.

My personal feeling is that this book is too good to be part of the usually mediocre "Complete Idiot's Guide..." series. It deserves better production and better illustrations.

Those who rail against this book, in my opinion, just have a voodoo ego that causes them to think their personal knowledge is somewhow greater than the author's. If that's so, I dare you to write a better book.

An excellent introduction
I really don't see where the complaints about sensationalism come from. This book was just the opposite--informative, going over some of the common stereotypes, and a good basic history of Afro-Caribbean religions. As an occultist with a primarily neopagan/Western magckal background, I found this to be a good introduction to this mixture of magick and religion. And anyone who's actually read the book will realize that the references to zombie movies are all at the very END of the book, after all the other chapters and directly preceded by a chapter on theories of what zombis truly are. The movie listing is meant primarly for entertainment (and to show that they're just that--entertainment). As for those who claim you can only learn Voodoo/Vodou from an initiate, well--what about those of us who don't have access, or just want to get real information about the religion rather than hype and stereotypes? I'd say this is a good reference for that.

For those interested in the practical magickal aspects of Afro-Caribbean religions, I highly recommend Christopher Hyatt's and S. Jason Black's "Urban Voodoo" as a companion to this title.