To: K-list
Recieved: 1999/11/11 09:58
Subject: [K-list] Voodoo
From: Sharon Webb
On 1999/11/11 09:58, Sharon Webb posted thus to the K-list:
Hi,
Since there seems to be some current interest in the subject, I'm enclosing
an article (below) that I did awhile back on Voodoo. The article was
commissioned by Eye On the Web, as was an article I did on kundalini;
however, the companies management changed and the articles commissioned were
dropped due to bottom-line consideration...so...this one was never
published. Too bad, because there was a lot of research in this one...and a
lot of misunderstanding about the subject.
Sharon
-----------------
Voodoo
by
Sharon Webb
A deep fog snakes through the swamp. Dead trees cast eerie shadows in the
light of the full moon. The insistant sound of drumming rises to a frantic
pitch as a wild-eyed woman moves in sensuous dance rhythms. A pin, stained
with blood plunges into a rag-doll...a strangled scream.... And shadowy
figures of the undead...the Zombi...move toward us.
Voodoo? No. Hollywood. Pure Hollywood. Unfortunately, the residue of sixty
years of horror films colors our minds with thoughts of evil and sorcery
when we think of Voodoo.
Voodoo, more properly spelled Vodou, means spirit. And it is largely due to
this religion that the indomitable spirit of Haitian slaves survived the
cruelty of French rule. The captured West Africans were baptised Catholic
and then left largely to their own religious devices. They chose to honor
their African ancestors and the spirits of their heritage, cloaking these
figures at times with the symbols of Christian saints, but never confusing
the two religions.
Under different names, variants of Vodou spread through the Caribbean and
South America. Santeria, Macumbe, and others come from the same roots as
Haitian vodou. The American variant entered the French quarter of New
Orleans and was later brought by immigrants to New York, Chicago, Miami, and
other cities throughout the United States and Canada.
Vodou priests can be male--houngan, or female--mambo. Ceremonies take place
in a temple called a hounfour. A pole at the center of the structure, the
poteau-mitan, is the means where God and the spirits communicate with the
people. Vodou priests are involved in "white" magic which is used for
healing, good fortune, and counseling. They are concerned with the
well-being of their members.
Only the "left-handed Vodun," the bokors, perform evil acts of sorcery. Yet
according to Wade Davis, ethnobiologist and author of The Serpent and the
Rainbow, even the bokors are often concerned with the well-being of their
communities, at times ridding the village of violent, dishonest and
disruptive people through the process of zombification. But a zombi is never
dead, but only drugged into submission and sent many miles away, where he or
she is no longer a menace to the community. Zombification is perhaps the
ultimate in ostracism.
Vodouisants believe in one God---the Gran Met, or Great Master. Gran Met is
all powerful, and omniscient, but he is considered to sometimes be distant
and detached from human affairs. All practitioners honor the loa (also
spelled lwa) who are lesser entities that interact directly with the people.
Mambo Racine Sans Bout, a legitimate priestess of the Vodou offers the
explanation of Luc Gedeon, who initiated her: "The loa are like conscious,
etheric streams composed of an immense number of sentient beings.... Each of
these sentient beings is a microcosm of the entire stream. Therefore, each
being incarnating as a portion of the stream contains and can act as if it
was the entire stream."
The loa make their presence known by temporary possession of members of the
congregation. This practice, called "riding the horse" is somewhat akin to
the phenomena of channeling and facilitated when the Vodouisant enters an
altered state. The ritual opens with an invocation to Legba, the loa of the
gate and crossroads. No other loa may cross from the astral to the material
plane without the permission of Legba. Water is poured at the four cardinal
points and three times before each sacred drum.
The priest or priestess draws a symbolic design specific for the loa being
honored. Candles are lighted within the circle designated by the cardinal
points. The drumming begins with beats at first stately, then later more
rapid and insistant. At least three songs are offered to each loa. Dancing
and rhythmic movement begin and the combination of movement, flickering
candlelight, and persistant polyrhytmic drumbeats place the vodouisant into
an irresistable altered state of mind.
At this point the loa descends and rides his horse--the person chosen by
the loa to possess. The possessed person then takes on the characteristics
of the loa and is often able to perform physical feats impossible to
ordinary humans. Possession by a loa is considered normal and desirable
under these circumstances.
A Professor in the Graduate and Theological schools of Drew University,
Karen McCarthy Brown, sums it up this way: "The moral sense that emerges
from Vodou is one that, if it does not always delight in life's conflicts,
at least accepts them as somehow deeply and inevitably true. Vodou spirits
are characters defined by conflict and contradiction. For example, Gude,
patron of the dead and guardian of human sexuality, wears dark glasses with
one lens missing because he is said to see simultaneously into the worlds of
the living and the dead. This double vision is, no doubt, also the source of
his humor. To laugh is to balance, and like all balancing within Vodou, is
achieved not through resolving or denying conflict, but by finding a way of
staying steady in the midst of it."
#####
New Orleans Voodoo: http://www.duke.edu/~ams7/aas99s/rtha.html
FAQ: http://www.gnofn.org/~voodoo/vodu-faq.html
LePeristyle Haitian Sanctuary---Philadelphia: http://mh101.infi.net/~loa/
Voodoo in New Orleans:
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/6157/Voodoo.html
Sacred Music of Haitian Vodou: http://www.si.edu/folkways/40464rap.htm
Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa:
http://www.si.edu/folkways/40440yor.htm
Voodoo Flags: http://www.egallery.com/flags.html
New Orleans Voodoo temple---a Belief Misunderstood:
http://www.gnofn.org/~voodoo/flyer.html
The Vodou Page (Mamgo Racine Sans Bout):
http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html
The Vodun Religion: http://www.religioustolerance.org/voodoo.htm
Voodoo: From Medicine to Zombies:
http://www.nando.net/prof/caribe/voodoo.html
(Alourdes):
http://www.mat.auckland.ac.nz/~king/Preprints/book/renewal/voices2/vodou.htm
Vodun Information Pages:
http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/voodoo.html#disclaimer
Basic Rituals of Vodun: http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/ritual.html
Calendar of Voodoo ceremonies: http://www.arcana.com/voodoo/calendar.html
Zora Neale Hurston: http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~gallaher/hurston/hurston.html
Charlatans in Vodou: http://members.aol.com/Racine125/charlatan.html
How to Spell V-o-d-o-u: http://members.aol.com/Racine125/spelling.html
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