((PKG)) NEW ORLEANS VOODOO
((Banner: American Voodoo))
((Reporter/Camera: Jeff Swicord))
((Producer: Jacquelyn DePhillips))
((Map: New Orleans, Louisiana))
((MUSIC))
((NATS: Shots around New Orleans, exterior of Voodoo
Spiritual Temple, Miriam putting sign out in front))
((Popup Banner: Mississippi Valley Voodoo is a spiritual
practice with roots in West and Central Africa))
((NATS))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I have been a Voodoo priestess for thirty years in New
Orleans. I was born in the countryside of Mississippi. I was
baptized under the Baptist order and I was ordained in my
ministry in Chicago in 1982.
((NATS: Inside Miriam’s shop, tourists looking at things for
sale))
((SOTs: Miriam talks to customers))
((Man))
How long have you been here?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
In this spot, three years.
((Man))
Oh really?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah, but in New Orleans, 30 years.
((Man))
Wow!
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
You don’t find Voodoo. Voodoo finds you. The word
Voodoo is God.
((SOTs: Gina and Miriam in shop))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
Yeah, I’m getting ready to write a book now.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Gina was born in New Orleans. Her family is native New
Orleans. The curator at the Voodoo Museum brought her to
me.
((SOTs: Gina and Miriam in shop))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
This is a story.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
He thought I could be a conduit for her to ground herself.
((SOT: Looking at cat gift))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Oh my God, look it there. Pharaoh.
((SOT: Priestess Miriam and Gina Talk about the false
perceptions of Voodoo))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
I noticed that every time they come here, the first question
people have when they walk through the door is ‘what is
Voodoo?’ So, I can't imagine what that's like trying to
answer that every single day, all day.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Well, it's a word that is somewhere with a lot of distraction or
an abstract synonym floating in the air today. It’s like this
word just keeps floating. Voodoo is like this big ship with a
lot of sails but no foundation to anchor the sails on.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
With the wind.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
I want your opinion on something.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
You see people dancing. They hear Voodoo. They hear
party. They want…it’s very hedonistic. It’s drumming and all
of that. What could we do or what needs to take place for
people to become more aware of the medicinal and the
healing aspect of it?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Voodoo is empowering yourself to become more of an
enhanceable person, to rise beyond an impoverished
situation. The Voodoo God is the will of every man and if
your willpower is searched, then you're not going come
suppressed to those circumstance. You see ways to work
beyond it.
((SOTs: Nancy and her husband shopping and talking to
Miriam))
((Nancy))
Have you been making your dolls?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
No, I keep dreaming that I would.
((Nancy))
Yeah, I’ll take this too.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Nancy has been coming to me for over what 20 years. She
were interested in getting a private consultation just to get
some clarity with her experience in life. I provide counseling
and guidance. That is the base of what you can do.
((NATS, SOTs: Bone reading; Tosses bones on table))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Okay, young lady. So, as Clint Eastwood said, ‘There's
sometimes always a little unsettled things get into the good
of things’ and that mean that there could have been
someone in your family that went through some health
issues or…..
((Nancy))
Just recently, yeah.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Some losses or…
((Nancy))
Um, not major, but she was ill.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
The bones is a tool that you have to offset the client that he
can hear clear.
((SOT: Bone reading))
((Nancy))
That’s a great feeling.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
It’s helped me to see the person and the person's thoughts
his emotion and that helped me to bring thoughts, ideas to
help bring the person over his situation.
((NATS, SOTs: Bone toss, bone reading))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
So now, I’ll let you ask the questions.
((Nancy))
I guess, most importantly is health for the coming year.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Oh, yeah, health. You're not a victim of circumstance.
((NATS: Bone toss))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Many peoples want to know if you do healings but when you
give people some creative thoughts and it bring inspiration
into their soul, that takes on toward healing.
((SOTs: Bone reading))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
And created opportunities for you and David. And he’s going
to make enough money for the two of you.
((Nancy))
That’s great.
((NATS, MUSIC: Mariam holding python))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
There's a really diverse measurement of humanity that
comes through my shop. People who really is in dire
struggle for their well-being. I have different tour guides that
bring peoples that come from every country pretty much.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
You get back to the personal insight, maybe that’s what God
is. So, if you don’t have that personal insight, to see how to
create a wellness in the human body….
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Voodoo called me to New Orleans to have an establishment,
a house to assemble the greater thought-pattern in.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I graduated and I worked 11 years in surgery.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani. Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I don't have any set thing that I would want a person to learn.
I want them to be more observant of what has come to be. I
want peoples to see a soul that has risen from the cotton
fields of Mississippi with my families. And that through all of
that time that people look back and say, ‘it’s inferior.’ Inferior
energy brings about a more greater complexity of a mind to
rise and become more assimilated. And never to sit and feel
years of drifting in complaints and weariness of their self.
Whatever I have obtained over my years is to be a legacy to
the humanity that can find it, not so much about me.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Bye. Okay, bye bye.
((NATS))
((Banner: American Voodoo))
((Reporter/Camera: Jeff Swicord))
((Producer: Jacquelyn DePhillips))
((Map: New Orleans, Louisiana))
((MUSIC))
((NATS: Shots around New Orleans, exterior of Voodoo
Spiritual Temple, Miriam putting sign out in front))
((Popup Banner: Mississippi Valley Voodoo is a spiritual
practice with roots in West and Central Africa))
((NATS))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I have been a Voodoo priestess for thirty years in New
Orleans. I was born in the countryside of Mississippi. I was
baptized under the Baptist order and I was ordained in my
ministry in Chicago in 1982.
((NATS: Inside Miriam’s shop, tourists looking at things for
sale))
((SOTs: Miriam talks to customers))
((Man))
How long have you been here?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
In this spot, three years.
((Man))
Oh really?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah, but in New Orleans, 30 years.
((Man))
Wow!
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
You don’t find Voodoo. Voodoo finds you. The word
Voodoo is God.
((SOTs: Gina and Miriam in shop))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
Yeah, I’m getting ready to write a book now.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Gina was born in New Orleans. Her family is native New
Orleans. The curator at the Voodoo Museum brought her to
me.
((SOTs: Gina and Miriam in shop))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
This is a story.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
He thought I could be a conduit for her to ground herself.
((SOT: Looking at cat gift))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Oh my God, look it there. Pharaoh.
((SOT: Priestess Miriam and Gina Talk about the false
perceptions of Voodoo))
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
I noticed that every time they come here, the first question
people have when they walk through the door is ‘what is
Voodoo?’ So, I can't imagine what that's like trying to
answer that every single day, all day.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Well, it's a word that is somewhere with a lot of distraction or
an abstract synonym floating in the air today. It’s like this
word just keeps floating. Voodoo is like this big ship with a
lot of sails but no foundation to anchor the sails on.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
With the wind.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
I want your opinion on something.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Yeah.
((Gina Marie, Mystical Reader))
You see people dancing. They hear Voodoo. They hear
party. They want…it’s very hedonistic. It’s drumming and all
of that. What could we do or what needs to take place for
people to become more aware of the medicinal and the
healing aspect of it?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Voodoo is empowering yourself to become more of an
enhanceable person, to rise beyond an impoverished
situation. The Voodoo God is the will of every man and if
your willpower is searched, then you're not going come
suppressed to those circumstance. You see ways to work
beyond it.
((SOTs: Nancy and her husband shopping and talking to
Miriam))
((Nancy))
Have you been making your dolls?
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
No, I keep dreaming that I would.
((Nancy))
Yeah, I’ll take this too.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Nancy has been coming to me for over what 20 years. She
were interested in getting a private consultation just to get
some clarity with her experience in life. I provide counseling
and guidance. That is the base of what you can do.
((NATS, SOTs: Bone reading; Tosses bones on table))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Okay, young lady. So, as Clint Eastwood said, ‘There's
sometimes always a little unsettled things get into the good
of things’ and that mean that there could have been
someone in your family that went through some health
issues or…..
((Nancy))
Just recently, yeah.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Some losses or…
((Nancy))
Um, not major, but she was ill.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
The bones is a tool that you have to offset the client that he
can hear clear.
((SOT: Bone reading))
((Nancy))
That’s a great feeling.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
It’s helped me to see the person and the person's thoughts
his emotion and that helped me to bring thoughts, ideas to
help bring the person over his situation.
((NATS, SOTs: Bone toss, bone reading))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
So now, I’ll let you ask the questions.
((Nancy))
I guess, most importantly is health for the coming year.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Oh, yeah, health. You're not a victim of circumstance.
((NATS: Bone toss))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Many peoples want to know if you do healings but when you
give people some creative thoughts and it bring inspiration
into their soul, that takes on toward healing.
((SOTs: Bone reading))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
And created opportunities for you and David. And he’s going
to make enough money for the two of you.
((Nancy))
That’s great.
((NATS, MUSIC: Mariam holding python))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
There's a really diverse measurement of humanity that
comes through my shop. People who really is in dire
struggle for their well-being. I have different tour guides that
bring peoples that come from every country pretty much.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
You get back to the personal insight, maybe that’s what God
is. So, if you don’t have that personal insight, to see how to
create a wellness in the human body….
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Voodoo called me to New Orleans to have an establishment,
a house to assemble the greater thought-pattern in.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I graduated and I worked 11 years in surgery.
((Priestess Miriam Chamani. Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
I don't have any set thing that I would want a person to learn.
I want them to be more observant of what has come to be. I
want peoples to see a soul that has risen from the cotton
fields of Mississippi with my families. And that through all of
that time that people look back and say, ‘it’s inferior.’ Inferior
energy brings about a more greater complexity of a mind to
rise and become more assimilated. And never to sit and feel
years of drifting in complaints and weariness of their self.
Whatever I have obtained over my years is to be a legacy to
the humanity that can find it, not so much about me.
((SOT: Mariam talking to tour group))
((Priestess Miriam Chamani, Voodoo Spiritual Temple))
Bye. Okay, bye bye.
((NATS))
