My first visit to the magically strange city of New Orleans was a work trip that took place almost 10 years ago. Well, if you can call being hired to emcee a show featuring a tattooed dwarf, a drag queen, a burlesque troupe, a sideshow ensemble, and a few fire-breathing devil babes "work." 

An old friend who had moved out to NOLA brought me and my partner on board to co-produce a "Voodoo Fetish Circus" for a new club that was opening up, a gig that quickly devolved into a stressful, chaotic mess—the venue never got the permits to open.

Desperate to get paid, we hesitantly agreed to promote the ill-fated club with guerrilla-style performances during that year's Mardi Gras : in a tiny, local bar, on the rickety roof of a French Quarter brick building and processing down Bourbon Street on a wild Saturday night. 

As my partner and I led our Voodoo Circus Krewe down those rowdy cobblestone streets, we were ringed by a circle of top-hatted security guards we had painted in skull face for extra effect. This was all by design to invoke and honor Baron Samedi for protection as our troupe of scantily clad devil babes, burlesque beauties, and San Francisco fetish models marched into the Heart of Madness. 

Baron Samedi is the leader of the Guede Loa (spirits of the dead) of Haitian Vodou. He's a protective trickster spirit of the Underworld known for rude and unruly behavior and recognized by his skeletal aspect, a top hat, tuxedo, cigar, and sunglasses with one missing lens.

Baron Samedi LOVES a sexy good time.

The Electric Presence

Feeling totally terrified but quite bad-ass in my skeletal tux outfit, I held my flaming skull staff high as I cleared a path forward through the swelling crowds.

The beads that rained down upon us were so plentiful we caught them in upturned umbrellas, trinkets we would take home to decorate our venue for years to come.

I had played many costumed characters before, but this time was very different. I felt an intense, electric presence with me as I marched in the guise of Baron Samedi. 

The Baron was with me, guiding and protecting, watching on gleefully through my eyes at the titillating performance and carnival debauchery unfolding around us.

After this powerful experience walking with The Baron (as I like to call him) in New Orleans, it was clear that he wanted to be more present in my work back in San Francisco.

A corner of our venue’s Tiki Lounge was dedicated to The Baron, where we frequently made offerings of rum and cigars, asking for his protection. I am confident that he played a role in our venue running for 13 years without incident!

To this day I still walk with him, feel his presence, and call on his protection in times of need.

Riding with Spirits

I am not an initiated practitioner of Vodou, but I would refer to this style of practice as "Cosplay Shamanism." Cosplay is the fast-growing "costume play" phenomena most seen at Comic Con -type events, and Shamanism refers to those individuals who exist at the edge of any tribe, the shape-shifting storytellers who court altered states in order to commune with spirits and bring back healing stories, insight, and guidance.

In the early '50s, a famous experimental filmmaker named Maya Deren traveled to Haiti and was granted permission to film Haitian Vodou rituals, including participants being "ridden" or possessed by Loa. The film (which was released posthumously in 1985) is aptly titled "The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti," referring to the participants who willingly "ride" with the many Vodou spirits for blessings of healing, protection, and prosperity.

When I put on the costume of my various allies, such as The Baron, I am able to ride with them in a way that’s inspiring, instructive, and often ecstatic.

Fast Forward 10 Years

Returning to New Orleans on vacation, my partner and I were thrilled to receive an invitation to a Vodou ritual honoring The Guede and Baron Samedi on Mardi Gras day, hosted by Sallie Ann Glassman at her temple. 

We excitedly set out on a chilly Mardi Gras morning and found the small dirt alley leading to her temple lined with old fences covered in Vodou symbols, artwork, veves, skeletal mermaids, crosses, and flowers.

Sallie smiled when I described the role Baron Samedi held in my venue in San Francisco for all those years. What a thrill to honor this ally in her temple during a New Orleans Vodou ritual. 

We joined a small but friendly group of participants that morning in putting on skull face, dancing and singing all in honor of The Guede. I offered one of my finest Cuban cigars. Afterward, we processed together—a gaggle of Guedes—joining the parade of The Krewe of St. Anne for what was our final experience before dashing off to catch our plane back to San Francisco.

Having been an event producer for 25 years and a long-time attendee of Burning Man , I have witnessed countless participants communing, dancing and "riding" with ally spirits, all dressed in mythic drag. I love the grand permission festivals like Burning Man and Mardi Gras afford fledgling urban shamans like myself. 

Wandering these festivals, you encounter a vast sea of masks; winged, horned, and horny revelers in pursuit of ecstatic moments where we are afforded glimpses behind and beyond the veil of this world, sublime moments afforded only to those willing to "ride with the allies."

What a relief to get to be someone else for a bit, to surrender the restrictive scripts of ego and identity for moments of revery, communion, and transcendence.

Barron Scott Levkoff is an event producer, character actor, and experience designer working out of San Francisco, California. Check out the magic at barronscottlevkoff.com  and mysticmidway.com.

All text and photos by Barron Scott Levkoff.