Voodoo witch doctors have threatened to summon ancient spirits to punish an author who has spilled some of their darkest secrets.

Ross Heaven, 43, from Newhaven, has received a string of spooky threats from members of the Haitian cult Roots Without End.

The writer, a practising shaman, has been accused by the cult's enigmatic leader Mambo Racine of revealing secrets about ju-ju rituals in Vodou Shaman, his new manual on healing rituals.

He has cancelled appointments at his healing practice, fearing reprisals - but was happy to pose for photos in The Argus.

Voodoo priests claim to be able to revive the dead and control them as zombies, like the evil Kananga in the 1973 James Bond film Live And Let Die.

Mr Heaven said: "I am taking the threats of punishment very seriously because I'm well aware of the fanaticism of some of voodoo's followers.

"I have received several threatening emails from Mambo Racine's followers."

Mr Heaven was initiated three years ago into voodoo by Racine - a former schoolteacher and UN human rights observer who grew up in the United States with the name Kathy Grey.

Initially the pair enjoyed a close relationship. Racine, whose full voodoo name is Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Dagine, described Mr Heaven as her "initiatory son" and heaped praise on his previous books.

But the relationship turned sour - and now he has been branded a "blabbermouth".

Mr Heaven said he had since received a number of emails from members of The Roots Without End Society, which has 1,000 followers worldwide, saying he would "get what was coming to him" and be punished by the lwa, voodoo spirits.

An American follower told him: "Everything you wrote is trash. Don't think you will be able to make it to the United States. If you ever do, I will meet you."

Racine divides her time between her native United States and her congregation in Jacmel, Haiti. She lectures on voodoo at colleges and universities in the US.

She recently wrote in an internet forum: "Some (voodoo priests) will beat blabbermouth initiates severely, with the assistance of other initiates.

"And the physical punishments that a blabbermouth in Haiti might receive are actually the least of his or her worries - the social ostracism, scorn and repudiation heaped on such a person is so severe they often move away from where they were living."

Then apparently referring to Mr Heaven, she says: "I am reposting this information because recently an initiate of my house, seduced by the profits he hopes to make from publishing a book, has blabbed."

Mr Heaven, who lives with his pregnant wife Saffron and 12-year-old daughter, Millie, said: "There are followers in London, which is not very far.

"I haven't told the police. Until some physical action happens, there's nothing to report."

Mr Heaven said he would hire bodyguards for any public appearances to promote his new book, published this month.

He said: "I am a prime target now. We are talking about physical punishment and veiled death threats."

Racine said: "When a person becomes an initiate in voodoo, there are certain things they swear, on point of death, never to reveal.

"Ross took these oaths of secrecy as well. But in his book he violates all his oaths and reveals things he swore never to reveal.

"It is generally believed among voodooisants that the life of a person who breaks their oaths will be short, unhappy and filled with sickness and misery.

"It has nothing to do with me personally. This punishment is the work of the God and of the voodoo lwa or spirits since the initiate has sworn before God and the lwa, under pain of death, not to break these oaths.

"It's a bit idiotic of Ross to enter an ancient tradition which requires secrecy, reveal these secrets and then go screaming across cyberspace complaining that people are angry with him.

"I have been very disappointed in Ross, in his shameful behaviour and in his bizarre statements on a variety of internet forums.

"Despite all this, I personally do not seek to do him any harm, as I have repeatedly made clear to him in private emails and public statements.

"But these things are in the hands of God and of the lwa. I would not want to be in his shoes right now."