The making of Voodoo dolls, poppets, fetishes, and ritual effigies has taken place since antiquity.Poppets can be used for healing purposes, promoting health, finding love, creating happiness and good luck, for protection, for binding, cursing, and to manipulate energy in numerous other ways.
Root poppets can be made out of naturally shaped roots that look like figures, or they can be carved out of root vegetables like potatoes. In the past, they have been made out of mandrake roots or ginseng which can look amazingly human in form.
Mandrake poppets are also called fetiches. Superstitious people were so afraid of its appearance that they would draw a circle around it or tie a dog to the plant to protect themselves when the root was pulled from the ground. It was believed that the mandrake could kill a person from the screams so powerful. The root was worn around the neck.
For more information about poppets, check out Planet Voodoo.
