Chapter 21
Marie Leveau
🌙 Marie Laveau (c. 1801–1881)The Voodoo Queen of New OrleansWho She WasMarie Laveau was a free woman of color born in New Orleans, widely regarded as the most powerful and influential practitioner of Louisiana Voodoo in American history. She dominated the spiritual and social life of New Orleans for decades, commanding respect — and fear — from people of every class, race, and background.Her Practice•She blended African Vodou, French Caribbean traditions, Roman Catholicism, and folk magic into a uniquely New Orleans spiritual system.•Her rituals often took place along Bayou St. John and in the heart of the French Quarter — the very streets your novel cover depicts.•She was known for her gris-gris (charm bags), healing work, and her ability to influence powerful men through knowledge, spiritual authority, and what many believed was genuine supernatural power.•She kept a famous snake named Zombi, named after the Voodoo spirit.Her Power in Society•As a hairdresser to wealthy white Creole women, she gathered secrets and information that gave her enormous social leverage.•She ministered to the sick during yellow fever epidemics, tended to prisoners on death row, and was beloved by the poor.•She held legendary St. John's Eve ceremonies on June 23rd that drew enormous crowds.Her Legacy•Her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 remains one of the most visited sites in New Orleans. Visitors still leave offerings and draw XXX marks on her tomb asking for favors.•She is considered a folk saint by many, and her influence on New Orleans culture, Voodoo, and American occult history is immeasurable.•There is believed to have been a Marie Laveau II — possibly her daughter — who continued her work after her death, which adds to the mystique and legend.🔮 Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)The Great BeastWho He WasAleister Crowley was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, and provocateur — one of the most controversial and influential figures in Western esoteric history. He called himself "The Great Beast 666" and was dubbed "the wickedest man in the world" by the British tabloid press, a title he thoroughly enjoyed.His Philosophy & System•In 1904, while in Cairo, Crowley claimed to have received a transmission from a supernatural entity called Aiwass, which he transcribed as The Book of the Law — the foundational text of his spiritual system.•He founded Thelema, a philosophical and spiritual system built around the central law: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."•He developed an elaborate system of ceremonial magic called Magick (he added the k to distinguish it from stage magic), incorporating Kabbalah, Tarot, astrology, yoga, and ritual practice.•He created the famous Thoth Tarot, illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris, which remains one of the most studied and used Tarot decks in the world.His Organizations•He rose through the ranks of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, one of the most influential occult societies in history, before breaking with its leadership.•He later led the A∴A∴ (Astrum Argentum / Silver Star), his own magical order.•He became the head of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), incorporating Thelema into its teachings.His Notoriety•Crowley was deliberately transgressive and theatrical — he used shock, scandal, and provocation as tools.•He experimented with drugs, sex magic, and extreme ritual, and documented everything obsessively in his diaries and writings.•He was expelled from France and later from Sicily, where he ran his infamous Abbey of Thelema.•Despite his dark reputation, he was also a prolific poet, mountaineer, and chess master — a genuinely complex and brilliant figure.His Legacy•His influence on 20th and 21st century occultism is enormous — virtually every modern Western magical tradition has been shaped by his work.•He influenced rock music deeply: The Beatles included him on the Sgt. Pepper's cover, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page was a devoted collector of his work and purchased his former home, and David Bowie referenced him extensively.•His writings — particularly Magick in Theory and Practice, The Book of the Law, and 777 — remain core texts in occult study.✨ How They CompareMarie LaveauAleister CrowleyEraEarly–mid 1800sLate 1800s–1947OriginNew Orleans, USAEnglandTraditionLouisiana Voodoo / CatholicismCeremonial Magic / ThelemaPower BaseCommunity, healing, social influenceIntellectual, philosophical, organizationalLegacyFolk saint, cultural iconFather of modern Western occultismReputationBeloved and fearedScandalous and reveredThey never met — their worlds were geographically and culturally separate — but both left indelible marks on the occult world and continue to fascinate historians, practitioners, and writers alike.Given your witchcraft series and your New Orleans vampire novel, both of these figures could be incredible sources of inspiration. Marie Laveau in particular feels like she belongs in your world — she was operating in the exact streets your cover depicts, right around the same era. 🖤
The morning after my second regression, I woke with Marie Leveau’s name on my lips. Not Laveau, as the history books spell it, but Leveau—the old French Creole pronunciation, the way she herself would have said it. The way I had heard it in that candlelit room, spoken by a woman whose eyes held the weight of centuries.
I sat up in bed, the New Orleans sunlight slicing through my blinds, and realized I had been dreaming of her again. Not the past-life vision, not the ritual fire, but something quieter. A conversation. She had been sitting across from me at a small wooden table, a cup of coffee steaming between her hands, and she had been telling me something I desperately needed to remember. But the words slipped away as I woke, leaving only the echo of her voice and the scent of chicory.
I knew then that I could no longer rely solely on the fragments delivered by hypnosis. I needed to understand who Marie Leveau truly was—not the legend, not the caricature, not the tourist-trade voodoo queen with a snake around her neck, but the woman. The priestess. The power broker who had shaped New Orleans from the shadows.
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