Papa Legba Boo Boo's

08/13/2026

08/06/2026

New Orleans voodoo tradition says there are seven hidden gates in the city that lead to the land of the dead, and only one guardian holds the keys. 💀

The old belief is called the Seven Gates of Guinee. In New Orleans voodoo, Guinee is the spirit world, the ancestral homeland across the water where the souls of the dead journey to rest. And the path there is said to pass through seven mystical gates, scattered somewhere in the shadows of the old city, most often whispered to lie among the crumbling tombs of the French Quarter and its cemeteries.

Each gate, the tradition holds, is guarded by a spirit, and over all of them presides Baron Samedi, the top hatted lord of the dead, master of the cemetery, keeper of the crossroads between the living and the departed. To pass through the gates in the proper way, with the proper respect and offerings, is to help a soul find its way home. To meddle with them carelessly is to invite something far darker to find its way back.

Some say that on certain nights, if you know where to look, you can find the first gate, marked by ribbons and offerings, coins and candles and a splash of rum left for the Baron. The truly initiated, it is whispered, spend a lifetime searching for the rest, for the gates do not reveal themselves to the curious or the cruel.

Like so much of Louisiana's spiritual life, the legend braids together many worlds, the Vodou brought by enslaved Africans, the Catholicism of the colony, and the deep human need to believe that death is a doorway and not a wall. It is not a story told to frighten. It is a map of the soul's journey, drawn in a city that has always lived close to its dead.

Walk past an old New Orleans cemetery at dusk, past the whitewashed tombs and the wrought iron gates, and you may feel it, that sense that the veil here is thin, that the old ones are near.

In New Orleans, the line between this world and the next was never a wall. It was always a gate. And somebody is always watching it. 🕯️

08/04/2026

Before any prayer is answered in New Orleans Voodoo, one spirit has to open the door. 🚪 That spirit is Papa Legba, the guardian of the crossroads, the one who stands between the human world and the world of the lwa. Nothing moves without his blessing first.

In the tradition carried from West Africa and reshaped along the Mississippi, Papa Legba is often pictured as an old man with a cane and a wide brimmed hat, sometimes with a faithful dog at his side. He is called on at the very beginning of a ceremony because he holds the keys to communication with every other spirit. To honor him is to ask permission to be heard. 🔑

He is patient, he is wise, and he has a sense of humor that the old stories love to mention. For many practitioners he represents the threshold itself, that charged moment where one road ends and another begins. This is documented spiritual tradition, still living and still respected in parts of the city today.

When you reach a crossroads in your own life, how do you decide which way to turn? 🌙

06/08/2026

06/02/2026

💔 It’s truly unfortunate that, following the passing of Lance Reddick, we’ll never get to see his iconic portrayal of Papa Legba in American Horror Story Season 13.

05/26/2026

In many cultures across the world you can find altars and shrines of dedication. These are mostly honoring deities, spirits and ancestors beyond the veil.

Our altar to Marie Laveau is one such place to leave offerings and petitions to this powerful Voodoo Queen, an ancestor of our magical city.

You may also choose to place a particular prayer or petition in her care as an intercessor of Divine Providence.

05/18/2026

04/28/2026

Marie Laveau la Reina Voodoo por Albert Castillo

04/20/2026

The magic of Voodoo lies in the practitioners of today and the colorful characters of the city’s past, such as our namesake, Marie Laveau.