Erzulie's is thrilled to offer handcrafted Vodou products from this amazing Mambo. She is one of the most beautiful and spiritual people you will ever encounter; her products certainly reflect her devotion to the Spirits. These stunning photos of Mambo Marie in ceremony were taken at 2 different ceremonies in June of 2004 by the Root Queen!

Manbo Marie Carmel Charles is a highly skilled and reputed Vodou practitioner. She has over 20 years experience as a manbo of the Vodou having taken the ason in Haiti at age 18 from Manbo Jacqueline Anne-Marie Lubin, who had taken the ason some 30 years prior from Felicia Louis-Romain, the famous Kintonmin- Bo Manbo daGinea of Bel-Air, one of the first manbo to receive the ason lineage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in the early 20's. It is from this very antique lineage that she finds her knowledge, inspiration, & strength.

Manbo Marie was born in the country of Haiti into a very affluent & influential Petionville family; the proud daughter of the well-known M. Menthor Alexandre Loiseau LeGran. She was child number 14 of 64 children! Her heritage is not only Haitian, but also French, Cuban, & Tayino Indian.

The Vodou has been Marie's life since the age of 7, & it was at age 18 that the Spirit called her to become a manbo asogwe. From her father's blood line she received the traditions of the ason (though she was initiated into the house of Manbo Jacqueline Anne-Marie Lubin). However, her mother's blood line, which originates high in the mountains above Kenscoff, Haiti, is not an ason lineage, but rather is strong in the traditions of both the Kongo/Ibo & the Tayino Indian. It is from here that Manbo Marie received the old, old knowledge of the Vodou, knowledge that now has been largely lost in the "new" Port-au-Prince houses who often forget that the ason lineage by kanzo asogwe is not so old a lineage at all & that there are far older traditions kept in the countryside of Haiti.

Manbo Marie currently resides on Long Island in NY. She is a highly respected manbo within the New York Vodou community & in the Diaspora as well, having a large following who appreciate her for her vast depth of old knowledge of the Vodou, her trustworthiness, discretion, & especially, her effectiveness. Her reputation as a healer & priestess have led to her constant travel to provide treatments all over the USofA, Canada, the Caribbean, & South America. The services held in her Long Island home attract hundreds who pack her basement temple to hear her stellar singing, as well as, the superior playing of her good friend, the master drummer Frisner Augustine. When Marie holds service for the Vodou, the lwa themselves rush to appear in great numbers (a sure sign of a properly made fete), joyously entering the service to receive their salutations according to proper regleman (rule/order/protocol).

Manbo Marie is a full-time priestess of Vodou. She also owns & operates the very popular Mt. Carmel Botanica, currently located in Freeport, NY, with her partner Charlie.