"I Am a Love Witch:" Lilly Christine

Article from a men's magazine called "HE, Magazine for Men," Vol. 1, No. 8, March 1954. Written by a dancer named Lilly Christine, "the cat girl." I've borrowed this from Java's Bachelor Pad, where you can find other retro essays and articles. Weird article, huh?

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"Yes, I am a voodoo priestess. I perform my love ritual three times nightly in my new home Club 'Basin Street,' New York City.

Imported from New Orleans, I am paid to transform the atmosphere of the club into a land of drums, exotic hoodoo and erotic love--giving the audience a frenzied emotional experience.

I present love making as a beautiful art. In its simplicity and naked innocence love is the appeasement of the soul through the willingness of the body for the great god Damballa--the green serpent god of Voodooism, the ancient African religion.

Most popular gris gris is the Ouanga (voodoo charm), a love fetish. If the love of a man or woman is not returned by the object of his affection he will go to a witch for help. The mamaloi (voodoo witch) takes two sewing needles, lays them side by side point to eye, and binds them tightly together with wool and a layer of medicine leaves. The finished charm is sewn in a leather pouch worn around the neck.

The gris gris I concoct is a strange and powerful love potion for two love-sick dock hands, seeking solace in my wizardry. After listening to their pleas of spurned love, I perform my own interpretation of Ouanga. The culinary process of the brew is savored with the dance customs of rhythm-conscious people. While mixing the drink I execute a love ovation of erotic frenzy that would send even the great Damballa into an eternity of delicious oblivion.

Witchcraft interests many people. Since I began voodoo dancing I have received mail and phone calls from people wanting me to prepare love gris gris for them. It is hard to convince them that I am an interpretive dancer and not really a witch."