Marie Laveau – Mambo Priestess of Voudou
As a priestess, she was highly sought after for her services. In its June 23, 1881 obituary of Laveau, The New York Times wrote: “…lawyers, legislators, planters, merchants, all came to pay their respects to her, and seek her offices…There were business men who would not send a ship to sea before consulting her upon the probabilities of the voyage…coming in daily contact with the best informed men of that period, and possessing a remarkably retentive memory, it is no wonder that she acquired a large store of valuable information…as her predictions nearly always came true, and the course she suggested generally proved the wisest.”
Laveau was a hairdresser by trade, and many of the wives of these powerful men also sought her services. In this way, she became privy to the most intimate details of families and finances, adding to her storehouse of knowledge. In addition to being a priestess, she was an expert herbalist who could provide remedies for healing the sick. During the Yellow Fever and Cholera epidemics in New Orleans, she served as a nurse and administered to those in need.
The wealth she gained from her affluent clients enabled her to provide for her city’s ill and destitute. Meals and lodging at her home were always available to the downtrodden. In addition, she not only visited condemned prisoners but, in many cases, used her influence to obtain pardons and commutations.
Many in Laveau’s community believe death did not stop her efforts to help those in need. To this day, believers who place an offering at Laveau’s grave at St. Louis Cemetery, speak or write about what they desire, and mark three Xs on the tomb will have their wishes fulfilled.
At one point, Laveau’s grave was the second-most-visited in the U.S. after that of Elvis Presley.
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