Sarah Charles’ life stopped when Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake two years ago.

She was possessed by fear and anguish thinking about her son who was in Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake.

“I was going crazy not knowing where my son was,” said Charles of Hallandale.

Her anxiety grew as time passed without news about her son.

But there was something that helped Charles cope with her anguish – Voodoo.

“The [Voodoo] ceremonies brought all my spiritual brothers and sisters together and helped us share our pain, making it less severe,” said Charles, 40, who was born and raised in Port-au-Prince.

Although Charles’ son survived, many of her childhood friends did not make it through the disaster: “I prayed to the spirits to find peace.”

The religion of West African origin was the latch for hundreds of Haitians in South Florida, who, like Charles, grieved for their loved ones who died or whose fates were uncertain.

Voodoo mambo, or priestess, Ingrid Llera, was one of them.

“I felt it in every bone and in everything inside of me that thousands perished,” said Llera, who lost her cousin and many friends in the earthquake, which claimed an estimated 300,000 lives. “I felt the sadness very deep down.”

Right after the disaster, the Miramar priestess, along with other 400 people, congregated in Little Haiti to do a bohun –a prayer for the dead.

“A Voodoo ceremony makes you feel as light as a feather,” explained Llera. “That’s where we go for therapy. We don’t go to the doctor, we go to Voodoo.”

In ritual ceremonies, which typically last from several hours to several days, Voodoo practitioners pray, sing and dance to the rhythm of drums.

“A wonderful combination to get connected with the unknown world, which is the spiritual world,” she added. “That’s where we release it all and find strength.”

Since the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, more Haitians in South Florida have reconnected with Voodoo, according to local practitioners.

“They have no choice, but to go back to their roots. It is registered in their DNA, this is who they are, this is where they feel more comfortable, this is where they can forget things,” said Llera.

Llera has also witnessed a interesting phenomenon: a wave of young Haitian-Americans joining the religion of their ancestors.

Jessica Dorelus, 26, is one an example. Brought up as a Christian, Dorelus became a Voodoo practitioner seven years ago.

“I wanted to be more rooted,” she said.

But after the earthquake she was inspired to take her beliefs a step further.

Last March, she became a priestess.

“I felt like I needed to be more connected to my spirits, Mother Earth and nature,” said Dorelus, who lives in North Miami Beach. “In Voodoo, I feel at home.”

But many, alien to the Haitian culture, believe Voodoo is associated with black magic and sorcery as depicted in horror films such as The Believers and The Skeleton Key.

That’s a misconception, according to Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami, Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado.

“People think it’s a religion of spells and curses,” said Gonzalez. “But Voodoo is a religion that has to do with balance and survival. It has helped their [Haitian] culture, and African identity survive in the face of slavery and colonialism.”

Voodoo was brought to Haiti through the transatlantic slave trade, Gonzalez said.

“In Haiti, elements of Catholicism were incorporated,” she said.

As in Catholicism, Voodoo practitioners pray to God, which they call Le Bon Dieu, The Good God, or Le Grand Maître, The Great Master.

But Voodoo is a decentralized religion: “There is no Voodoo authority, and it’s not a textual religion – it is ritual based,” Gonzalez said.

And contrary to Catholics, who pray directly to God, Voodoo practitioners pray to the loa – spirits acting as mediators of God.

However, Christian influence in Voodoo is evident in cases such as Charles’, who practices Voodoo but calls herself a Christian.

That’s common among Haitians, Gonzalez said.

Still, it has caused Charles some inconveniences.

“There are people who look at me differently,” Charles said. “Some think that what I do is satanic. It has become a religious war.”

It’s a conflict fueled by some religious leaders, such as the Rev. Pat Robertson, who demonize Voodoo. A day after the earthquake, the television evangelist from Virginia, attributed the quake to Voodoo practitioners’ “pact with the devil” to overthrow the French 200 years ago.

The stigma around Voodoo is the reason many Haitians practice it secretly, Llera said.

Rev. Jean-Ricot Gay from the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida in Miami says that Voodoo does not follow Christian beliefs.

“That’s not what we teach in the Christian church,” said Gay. “We worship Jesus Christ – our lord and savior.”

But he does not attack Voodoo.

“Christianity is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not about division or about judging,” he said. “Only God has the responsibility to judge our actions.”