Voodoo Authentica: Trading Grand Generalizations for Human Connection

In the heart of the French Quarter, the line between the sacred and the mundane often blurs at 4 a.m. inside a 24-hour Walmart. For Mambo Brandi Kelley, the founder of Voodoo Authentica, those early morning hours spent having fun and trying on hats with her late godmother, the renowned Mama Lola, were just as much a part of her spiritual education as any formal ceremony.

“It’s a familial bond,” Kelley said. “Sometimes she needed mothering, sometimes I did. We were as likely to be doing a ceremony as we were to be at Walmart. Just like a regular family.”

This rejection of the mysterious mentor trope is central to the dynamic Kelley shares with Jesse Brunet, a born-and-raised Cajun and fellow initiated priest. While Kelley’s journey began with a Catholic baptism in New Orleans before leading her to a hybrid initiation in Haiti, Brunet’s path was paved by the traiteurs—the traditional folk healers of South Louisiana.

Brunet recalls a childhood where a grandmother’s French prayers and a piece of twine succeeded where doctors failed, removing a persistent wart with a simple burial beneath a cistern. That blend of regional folk magic and African-Haitian tradition forms the gumbo of their practice today.

Despite the heavy weight of their titles, both Kelley and Brunet maintain a radical openness toward those outside their circle. In an era of increasing tribalism, Kelley views the street preachers and picketers who frequent Jackson Square during Mardi Gras not as antagonists, but as fellow humans on a mission.

“I try to put my shoe on the other foot,” Kelley said. “In their mind, they’re on a mission to save people. That’s deep.”

When approached by those asking if she has been saved, Kelley doesn’t shy away. She leans in. She often finds common ground with Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses by focusing on a shared devotion to God, regardless of the name used. For her, the group-to-group mentality is where conflict starts; the human-to-human connection is where enlightenment begins.

“I’m really happy with the relationship I have with Jesus,” Kelley said. “We came to a common ground; we’re both honoring God in our own way, and we both can respect one another as human beings and children of God.”

For these practitioners, the legacy of New Orleans Voodoo isn’t found in a textbook or a grand generalization. It is found in the daily responsibility of an extended family that spans from the streets of the Musicians’ Village to the shores of Haiti and the plains of Africa.

“You don’t know everything until the day you die,” Brunet said, echoing Mama Lola’s words. “You’re always learning.”

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This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into African spirituality, history, and culture. It was created by an immersion journalism class in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on The Power of the Tongue: From Walker’s Point to Congo Square.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.