Beadsaholic brings a review of Black Raven Beads Love, Faith and Courage Collection.

Love, Faith and Courage is such a cute Valentine’s Collection from Black Raven Beads! The collection consist of two patchwork glass beads Faith and Courage and your choice of all silver or Limited-Edition two-tone Voodoo Love Doll.

Voodoo religion has strong roots in the southeastern parts of the USA, especially in New Orleans Louisiana, where it has gain much tourist lore to the French quarters and even to Marie Laveau tomb in the St Louis Cemetery, Marie Laveau the most renown Voodoo Queen of the 18th century and proceeded by her daughter who also carried her name. Marie Laveau is Creole (Cajun) like much of the roots of Louisiana. Creole people vary widely in a mix of ethnic groups including African, colonized French, Spanish and American Indigenous to just name a few. Creole like many of us in the US have diverse cultural backgrounds.

The word Voodoo means spirits and the religion has ties to African Polytheism, Catholicism and are tied to spirits of the ancestors. Voodoo Loa (spirits) are syncretized with Catholic Saints. Like in Catholicism these spirits and saints are called upon in prayer and rituals as the go between the human world and God.

Voodoo dolls also known as an effigy have been portrayed in movies as a magical way to put a hex on your enemy or to control them by sticking pins in the doll to conjure the spell, this is a misconception by Hollywood. Voodoo Dolls and Gris Gris Amulets are both used as affirmation for good luck and protection. Usually a Voodoo Doll is made by a practitioner, sometimes they are made with certain twigs that are bond together into a doll or they are sewn and sometimes may contain healing herbs to help with healing the body or aide in the ritual. Usually the voodoo doll represents the person seeking help and is created with their intent in mind. The pins are used as part of the ritual, whether it be matters of the heart, mind or healing in the body. The pins are placed in the doll as the needs of the person. Throughout New Orleans and a quick search online you can find many novelty Voodoo dolls as generic talisman of good luck.

I love the patchwork design of the Black Raven Voodoo Love dolls with a button eye and X eye, on their feet are cute hearts with stitching and in the middle of their chest is a heart patch with stitching. A cute reminder to love yourself and to open your heart with love and compassion for others. No, matter the scars, stitched and how patched we may feel, have courage and faith that love conquers all.

• Black Raven Voodoo Love Doll (all silver) retails €45
• Black Raven Voodoo Love Doll LE (with plated gold heart. Limited to 50 pieces) retails €52.

The Black Raven Faith glass bead reminds me of the material often used to make cloth Voodoo dolls cream and tan color with a silver-works patch design. Faith retails for €42.

The Black Raven Courage glass bead reminds me of the red heart that is often patched to the chest of a Voodoo Doll. This glass is a beautiful translucent red with a black stitched patch design. Courage retails €42.

Courage and Faith are the patches that mend our hearts and allows love to heal.

“The voodoo culture believes that no event stands alone. The universe is a whole, and everything is related. We are just parts of one big whole. What you do to another, you also do to yourself because you “are” the other, as it were. Voodoo has healing, love, nature, and celebration spells. The gods are invoked for harmony and peace, birth and rebirth, increasing happiness and renewed health. The doll is sometimes used to represent a person seeking healing or a better fate. This voodoo love doll symbolizes healing and tapping into your love for yourself.” ~ Black Raven Beads

“You are all the love you need! What could be better than feeling the love! Give yourself the greatest gift you can give: love yourself. Everyone has wounds and hurts. Love allows us to act out of a place of wholeness rather than a place of pain or desire. To fully accept and love others unconditionally, we need to start with ourselves. Once we develop more love for ourselves, loving another will come naturally. It takes courage and faith to love deeply. Dare to look in the mirror to see if you can love yourself for being there, not for who you are or for what you’ve accomplished. Just because you are you.” ~ Black Raven Beads

For Valentine’s Day I have composed a bracelet featuring Black Raven Beads and Redbalifrog.

Overall, this is such a fun release and I find it close to my heart. I know many of you follow me on social media and you may know that I have been on break due to medical complications of Covid and though I am not fully recovered I wanted to write about this release. Being from the South-East of the US, my husband is from Louisiana and this is a culture we truly love and I wanted to show the positive side, that you see here. Not, how it is depicted in movies. For me and I know for many of you, we choose beads that bring us good vibes and luck. We wear beads from many different cultures and folklore as talisman and I think this collection has such a positive meaning and is a perfect addition to any collection.

Of course, this collection is available now and can be purchased at the following links.

Black Raven Beads Featured Shops

Šperky s příběhem – ships from Czech Republic

Story in the Bead – ships from Czech Republic

Black Raven Beads – ships from The Netherlands

I would love to know your thoughts on this collection from Black Raven Beads, so, please feel free to leave me a comment below ❤

XO,

Paula