Pagan Book Reviews

Urban Voodoo: A Beginners Guide to Afro-Caribbean Magic
Christopher S. Hyatt and S. Jason Black
New Falcon Publications, 1993
188 pages

Don’t go into this expecting it to traditional Afro-Caribbean religious practices or a pink pagan primer of fluff.

Hyatt and Black can be caustic and opinionated, which is better than rehashing the same material into oblivion. Within the pages are a wealth of information on practical magick. In fact, this is a superb tool for any Chaos magician or other syncretic practitioner looking to pirate this paradigm.

Some of the book is composed of personal anecdotes of the authors. They’re well-written and entertaining, but they also illustrate magical practice quite nicely. The latter part of the book is dedicated to practical material. There is a veve and other information for each of the loa discussed, as well as some ideas for experimentation. I also really liked the obi divination system–simple, yet complete.

If you’ve never encountered Voodoo before, a good book to pick up before this one might be The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Voodoo by Turlington. Yes, it’s an Idiot’s Guide, but it’s a good one. Then read Urban Voodoo, and get into the more experimental side of things.

5 pawprints out of 5

Want to buy this book?