Kind greetings and warm wishes! Thank you for visiting us and learning more about the beginnings of Erzulie’s Voodoo Shop in the French Quarter. This had to have been the hardest section to write on the entire site. What does one say about themselves? I’m still not sure, but for those who are interested in how Erzulie’s began, I wanted to introduce myself to anyone who wants to take the time and say hello!
Hello there! I hail from a deeply rooted, multi-belief, and multicultural, spiritual household. This of course was one of my many entrées into spirituality and cultivated my great curiosity of the unknown, mysteries, ancient cultures and traditions.
Although my maternal side were very devout in the Catholic faith, they were also very mystical and highly skilled in herbology due to their long family lineage of medicinal healing from Madeira, Portugal. While highly knowledgeable of many ancient traditions, (walking encyclopedias) they were always very open, encouraging and respectful to anything spiritual.
This was my initial basis for connecting to ancient paths and spiritual traditions, but this isn’t where my life traveled initially. I began my early career in Broadcast media. That work required a lot of travel, including 2+ years based in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. That is where I first lived within the Vodou, and received my early initiations.
For the past 25 years I’ve traveled extensively to study and learn about the African Traditional Religions in North America, South America, Africa, and frequently, all over the Caribbean, where I received additional initiations later on. Other pursuits took me to most of Europe, and spent some time in Asia. All have amazing spiritual teachings to draw upon, which we try to incorporate throughout our work. Essentially, by 1996, Erzulie’s was beginning to develop, but I had no idea what or how spirit was aligning this concept. As you probably guessed, Ancient philosophy, wisdom, techniques, belief systems and cultures have always fascinated me, especially indigenous traditions.
This is where I was so drawn to Vodou; as it is all one, all connected, all spirituality, universal wisdom and strongly believe since it is one of the world’s oldest religion, all paths are born from these ancient belief systems. During that time, I was constantly studying the great wisdom and methods of the ancient Vodou tradition and I decided to apply some of this knowledge to spiritual items that have proven beneficial for thousands of years.
I was asked by several friends to help with certain situations with specialty oils, herbs, formulary, ritual work, and, most importantly listening to their problem and offering some spiritual insights, if possible. It was at that time I was asked to create a little line of items for my friend’s spiritual store – ergo, the birth of Erzulie’s officially in 1997! The intent was to just help as needed, and not focus on this as my entire life, since I already had another career.
About a year or so later, I was asked by my dear colleague who owned a spiritual store in New Orleans for over 30 years, if I would consider a full retail store there, not just offering a few items for other stores. This was quite challenging as I had already had an established career elsewhere, so how could I uproot my entire life, move to New Orleans, and simply open a Voodoo store?
Is this even possible or rational? I thought I was insane to even consider a feat of this magnitude. That was the question for a couple of years and boy, did I straddle that fence as long as I could! As with all paths, when you are on the correct one, everything aligns, and I am grateful it did for me, as scary as it was. I leased a store front during the winter of 2000 in the French Quarter, where we’ve remained ever since. Presently, our French location is used exclusively for private rituals clients, and crafting spiritual items for our online retail wares.
I always felt very welcomed by the locals, became dear friends with the other spiritual store owners, and started working with the most incredible Mambos, Hougans, Vodun Chiefs, Paleros, Santeros and Practitioners from all over the world. Sadly, in the course of almost 30 years, several have passed on, but their knowledge is held sacred by those that remain and carried on through their equally amazing, Godchildren.
Several of these renowned Vodou practitioners are showcased on the site. Those that have performed initiatory Godparent roles for me personally, are indeed honored here as well, and other Mambos and Hougans from Haiti, Miami or NY serve for private rituals as our clients require.
Even in the beginning phases, Erzulie’s was founded with one vision and one vision only: have the world meet the Lwa, the Divine forces behind Vodou, using the finest, handcrafted spiritual items available! To have people understand this is a beautiful religion, with amazing spirits, available to step in and help anyone at anytime. Maybe even help find the balance needed for this busy, disconnected, imbalanced, modern world. Most importantly, to help connect us back to the ancient paths and Divine spirits for comfort, relief, understanding and assistance, in a form they can relate to and incorporate into their modern lives.
It was a tremendous honor and privilege to be selected by the European Museum Council, to install our handcrafted Vodou creations, sacred objects, jewel encrusted altar pieces and ritual items, and work with numerous museums throughout Europe for their touring Vodou and African Traditional Religions exhibitions. I drew from that relationship as such an inspiring experience, I obtained my Masters of Arts from Johns Hopkins University in Curatorial and Museum Studies, to find a way to incorporate more African Traditional Religions into the art world.
Since then, Erzulie’s has grown and expanded it’s focus considerably to include supporting, sponsoring and exhibiting incredible African Spiritual Artists in several museums throughout the US and Caribbean, art festivals, and community workshops to preserve the sacred knowledge of the African Traditional Religions.
Like I said, I had no idea what I was about to embark upon so long ago, and some days I still don’t, I only hope I am serving this purpose well.
As for the “Root Queen™” title, it was a charming nickname given to me by my native New Orleans Voodoo practitioners. They wanted to honor my family who were highly skilled “root workers” and all of the people who contributed with their vast and expert knowledge to support this vision. It represents my spiritual family in its totality. A family that transcends this dimension, the family in this dimension, and most specifically; the family that gave every bit of their knowledge, experience, advice, and spiritual expertise freely and lovingly, because they believed in Erzulie’s! They believed in the need to preserve the ancient spiritual paths, and most importantly, because they believed in Spirit.
Erzulie’s is indeed a collaborative effort on the part of so many amazing and devout practitioners, spiritualist, healers and “magicians.” It is a mystical journey for everyone involved, one without any end, a constant cycle of growth and evolution. We welcome and invite you to peruse our website, meet some of teachers, spiritual experts, learn about their specialties, uncover the mysteries of ancient traditions, spirituality and most importantly, meet the Lwa!