“Real Voodoo” — A review

Yesterday I received my copy of “Real Voodoo,” a documentary on Haitian Vodou by Canadian director Sandra Whiteley. I was eager to watch it so, in spite of a busy day of work, sculpting and miscellaneous chores, I decided to stay up later than usual and popped the DVD into my Blu-ray player.

This film runs about 52 minutes and was not exactly what I expected. Unlike two previous documentaries I’ve viewed (A&E’s “Voodoo Rituals” and the History Channel’s “Voodoo Secrets”), Whiteley’s film doesn’t follow an academic format. Instead, it has a more personal feel, as though we are visiting the people of Haiti along with her. It is worth noting that Haiti is personal for Whiteley; it’s the homeland of her husband Jaffa (who is a Vodouisant and featured in the film along with his hauntingly beautiful music).

“Real Voodoo” does not include quite as much ritual footage as Richard Stanley’s 2002 documentary “The White Darkness;” however, this film also lacks the annoying self-promotion present in the Stanley film. Whiteley’s narrative serves to add chronological structure to her footage, and she states at the film’s opening that she is no expert.

She does interview experts, however, including Houngan Max Beauvoir, Wade Davis (ethnobotanist and author of “The Serpent and the Rainbow”) and, most prominently, Mambo La Belle Deesse Jr., co-founder of La Sosyete La Belle Deesse Dereale, whose commentary provides a great deal of insight into Vodou beliefs and practices.

The Vodou interviews and footage are interspersed with those of evangelical Christian missionaries working in Haiti. At first I found this pretty annoying, as they expressed grossly inaccurate (and predictable) opinions of Vodouisants as devil worshipers and displayed their appalling lack of compassion by echoing Pat Robinson’s “earthquake-as-punishment-for-making-a-pact-with-the-devil” comments. But later I realized that Whiteley was making a point, which she does by contrasting these comments to those of the Haitians (both Christian and Vodouisant). It’s doubtful that Christianity can ever drive Vodou out of Haiti. A mambo named Mireille has a son (he looked about 13 years old) who is a student at a Catholic school; when asked how he felt about his mother being a mambo, he expressed great pride in the healing work she performed.

Ironically, it is the missionaries who come off as superstitious. One of them, a man named Bobby Boyer,  describes at length how, on his second day in Haiti, he found a Bible facedown on the floor. It was open to Jeremiah Chapter 19. He then quotes the passage about God proclaiming He will bring evil on this place because the people worshipped other gods, suggesting that God sent the earthquake to tell the Vodou spirits to leave. In contrast, Whiteley’s Haitian friend Nancy (who is also Christian) simply accepted the earthquake as a natural force.

Other post-earthquake problems were manmade. Some Christian leaders blamed the 2010  cholera outbreak on Vodou, when in fact it was caused by U.N. soldiers dumping human waste into a river. This unethical scapegoating led to the brutal lynchings of 45 Vodou priests.

One would think that most Vodouisants would hate missionaries, but this was not the case. At one point  early in the film, Whiteley asks a houngan what he thinks about missionaries. Expecting anger or bitterness, his answer surprised her. The houngan appreciated their presence and acknowledged their importance to the future of Haiti’s children.  This, I felt, clearly demonstrated the pragmatic side of Vodouisants—contrary to being blinded by superstition, they are very cognizant of the world around them and the very real problems they face.

“Real Voodoo” is a glimpse into the lives of real Vodouisants as well as a snapshot of post-earthquake Haiti and the recovery work that still needs to be done. I definitely recommend this film and will be adding it to the Bibliography/Filmography page.

Artwork, service and spell results

One of the ways I serve the lwa and the goddess is through my artwork. For a recent show, I tried my hand at creating busts instead of my usual full body pieces. I am pleased with the results, and apparently others were too, as all three of these pieces sold within a few days. I’ve sculpted both Sekhmet and Papa Ghede before, but this was my first portrayal of Maman Brigitte. Anne sold four of her paintings during the art show reception, which was very cool as she has not shown her work for a while.

I was also happy to learn that both Ghede busts were purchased by a fellow Vodouisant who will likely place them on his Ghede altar.

A humorous followup to some prosperity candle work I did with Sekhmet about a month ago: A  couple of the people in my spell group reported some nice financial windfalls and I was wondering why my spellwork seems to be more effective for others rather than for myself. Anne and I have been struggling a bit financially and I was hit pretty hard with a major dental bill early in March. We won’t get paid for our art show sales  until mid-May. So a few days ago at dinner I was complaining a bit about my spell results (which was not cool of me in light of the art sales). After dinner, when I went online to check my email messages, I was surprised to see a PayPal notification that a friend of mine had prepaid for a commission that I haven’t even started yet.

I laughed but also felt a little sheepish. I need to be patient, and also appreciate what I have already received. I also have this feeling that any money I receive will be through my own efforts, and not some random windfall. This is not a bad thing, though, as money is a strong motivator to keep me producing artwork. This doesn’t fit the romantic stereotype of the emotionally driven artist, but it’s the truth.

 

Saturday spirit work: Sekhmet and the Ghede

For the past week and a half I’ve had problems with my left eye, possibly due to worsening allergies. My eye was so dry that it’s been causing problems with my contact lens to where I could only wear them for a few hours a day. It was getting so bad that a couple of days ago I asked Sekhmet for healing assistance. I also asked Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte for their assistance as well, and used Shannon Knight’s healing meditation that I learned from her Intuitive Bootcamp workshop.

Yesterday there was a marked improvement with the eye. I was able to wear the lens without any problems all day at work, and today I’ve been wearing it all day without incident. I feel almost normal. And very blessed.

I thanked the goddess Sekhmet, and today did the first exercise from the book that my friend Angel recommended to me, “The Goddess Sekhmet: Psycho-Spiritual Exercises of the Fifth Way” by Robert Masters. I had to focus on images of the goddess in order to internalize her and make it easier to call up her image later without having to use external props. I found this exercise very pleasurable (I enjoy looking at her). It was also not difficult, as she has already popped into my mind a few times without any assistance from me.

When I work with Sekhmet, I like to draw a card from the Cartouche deck. Today I got Hathor, which was fitting, as she is an aspect of Sekhmet. The card emphasized fortitude, which I need right now to implement various changes in my life. I then lit some incense for her.

Drawing the Hathor card makes me think back on my last session with my animal communicator/medium friend, Tracy Ann. In my notes from that session, I wrote:

“[You] have that wild magic. Wild magic running through veins. You understand that. Are able to call it as well. Start practicing that. If it starts to feels too heavy, call on feminine energy.”

Regarding the feminine energy, Tracy sees letters. A name?

H E R M O T PH E

(You can read about the full session here.) It is sometimes difficult for mediums to decipher words and names clearly, and I am now wondering if the name that Tracy was receiving was Hathor. A possibility.

After working with Sekhmet, I went over to my Ghede/ancestor altar and lit candles for the Baron, Maman Brigitte and the ancestors, thanking them for their healing assistance. I also presented the Baron and Brigitte with a gift: a small metal African sculpture depicting a man and woman in the act. It’s stylized and artistic, but I figured they would appreciate the ribald nature of the piece.

In closing, I’d like to share this cool Sekhmet video I found on YouTube.

Shrine Redo

Our recent move was a major one, and we are still not finished unpacking. But I did finally get my shrines set up, and here are the pictures I’ve been promising to post.

Anne’s mother gave us a beautiful wood cabinet that is perfect for this purpose. It has doors that I can close to protect the shrines from the mischievous paws of Luna, my younger cat.

The cabinet...2 shelves and opening doors

The top of the cabinet belongs to Papa Legba. In the background is his spirit box made for me by my friend Slinky. To the right is a seven-day candle that I painted with his veve (not too bad for a first attempt). To the left is a small statue of a dog.

The top of the cabinet is dedicated to Legba

Over the summer, I went to an artwalk in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. There, I purchased a beautiful handmade cane for Legba. I’d been wanting to buy him a cane, and when I spotted a collection of handmade canes at the Belltown Barber, I was very excited. A local artist makes them (I’m embarrassed to say that his name has slipped my mind, but I will add it here when I find out*) and I could not believe the price was only $20. It took me a while to choose one as there were several that I liked, but I finally decided on the one below. At first I simply had it in Legba’s shrine. But then, as it turned out, the right-side door of the cabinet won’t stay open, so I’ve taken to using his cane to prop it open, which seems entirely appropriate. After all, it is Legba who opens the door to the spirit world and keeps it open for us to commune with the lwa.

Legba's cane, holding open the door

Inside the cabinet, the top shelf is dedicated to the Rada lwa who walk with me. From left to right: La Sirene, Met Agwe, Erzulie and Ogoun.

Top shelf: the Rada lwa

La Sirene and Met Agwe.

Erzulie and Ogoun. To the left of Erzulie is a beautiful veve candle made by Slinky.

Closeup of the lovely Erzulie spirit doll from Studio Nocturna (see link on the right under Supplies and Stores).

A new Ogoun spirit doll, also from Studio Nocturna.

The new Ghede and ancestors shrine (faces in photos blurred for privacy reasons). The painting on the right is by artist Jessica Van Hulle, and is a steampunk version of Brigitte.

Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte. Figure was special ordered for me through Gargoyles Statuary.

This painting is by Seattle artist Don De Leva, purchased at Gargoyles Statuary. I saw it and immediately thought of the Baron, and had to buy it.

And last but not least, a statue dedicated to the late beloved Puck, which sits beside the urn containing his ashes.

Normally, the statue sits inside of Puck’s old dish, but I haven’t been able to find it since the move. I do remember packing it, but it was one of the last things I packed and I was in a hurry, so likely it is mixed in with things where it doesn’t belong. It will turn up sooner or later.

On a final note, Mambo C is planning another Fet Ghede this November. I am really looking forward to it! I’ve always loved this time of year.

* The artist who created Legba’s cane is named Steve Mills.

Assembling the pieces: The falling mirror, the tarot and the lwa

Mirror

Last month I mentioned that I came home from work to find La Sirene’s mirror had fallen onto the cats’ water dish, leaving the dish shattered but the mirror unscratched. Over the last few days, I’ve been wondering if I’ve been trying too hard to find meaning in that incident. Initially, I’d thought that either La Sirene or one of the other lwa whose shrine shares that shelf was displeased with me. Now I’m thinking that maybe I should look at things with a more literal eye.

The mirror, which has a mermaid relief molded into it (her tail forms the handle), tumbled off the shelf into the cats’ water dish. Is it possible that  she was simply trying to request I place some water in her shrine?

A rather simplistic interpretation, but possibly the right one. I am notorious for trying to read too much into things. My friend Angel had suggested I place ocean imagery on the mirror, which is another idea. Or possibly this idea is a variation on the same theme. On that note…*gets up to fill a small glass with salt water for the shrine*

Lwa

I’ve  been thinking about Agwe a lot lately, and wondering if he is the one who appeared in my canyon dream and beach vision. I’d initially assumed it was Legba because of the dogs that accompanied him, but the dream figure did not resemble Legba at all physically (Legba is an old man, this man was a youngish man, physically fit, with brown skin and short black hair).

A description of Agwe from the Gade Nou Leve Society page:

Agwe is visualized as a very attractive light-skinned mulatto man with green eyes. His wives include the mermaid LaSirene and the coquettish Ezili Freda

Both the dream and the vision involved water. I think I may try Houngan D’s advice soon, and meditate on Agwe’s shrine before going to sleep, and then record my dreams.

Tarot

I did a Celtic cross tarot reading for myself last Friday to see if I could identify my own met tet. I don’t think I was successful, but still had an interesting reading with the Buckland deck. Cards and my interpretations are listed according to their position in the spread:

• Significator: 6 of Chivs (knives or swords). I am at a stalemate. I want to move ahead, but past problems need to be dealt with.

1. Forces around me: #2, the High Priestess. It’s the old woman with the pipe again, who seems to correspond with a spirit that Angel saw near me. I am not sure if she is Brigitte or Erzulie in this particular reading, but her presence indicates that there is guidance at hand. I must be open and patient.
2. Obstacles: #19, the Sun. This is a positive card, but because of its position in the spread, I think it indicates caution. Perhaps a reminder that spiritual release is at hand, but to proceed carefully since I am dealing with forces that I do not fully understand.
3. Ideals/goals: 7 of Chivs. To be confident in myself, I must be willing to take risks. The rewards are great, but some loss may occur.
4. The basic self, deep thought/feelings: #18, the Moon. I have some psychic potential, but struggle with barriers.
5. The past: #8, Strength. This card was reversed, and while I don’t always think reversal is important, in this case I found that the reversed characteristics of the card accurately described my mistakes of the past: weakness, lack of faith, tyranny, domination of the material, failure.
6. Immediate future: 3 of Koshes (wands). My goals are in sight but not yet attainable. But the tools I need are at hand.
7. The querent’s self: #17, the Star. A desire for introspection and self-analysis. Work to overcome spiritual barriers–help from the spirits is at hand.
8. Close friends/family: 8 of Bolers (coins). Possibly indicates the presence of skilled but busy teachers or mentors. Pursue them as needed.
9. Hopes and fears. #12, the Hanged Man. I am afraid of being “tied up” by the past or by limitations beyond my control. Possibly indicates frustration at my living situation (I live in a very tiny apt.).
10. Final outcome: 10 of Chivs. The imagery of this card can be alarming at first because of the knives and the blood:

The death is not literal, however. For me, I think it indicates the death of one way of thinking or one self-image–a death that will enable me to move on. Also perhaps letting go of faces and events of the past. Or the balancing of energies through the pain of letting go and patience. The watchfulness of the bobby (or police constable) indicates that it is all right to remember the past, but in a more detached way. This will likely be difficult for me, as I tend to obsess over past mistakes.

My friend Angel had suggested I place ocean imagery on the mirror, which is another idea. Or possibly this idea is a variation on the same theme.

Dreams, shrines and conflicting energies

Last night I dreamt that the British actress Lesley-Anne Down had just arrived in the U.S. as a penniless immigrant. (In the dream, she was not a famous actress.) I was in the lobby of a homeless shelter for men, located in the Georgetown area of Seattle. I was trying to get the employees there to help me locate a women’s shelter. They handed me a phone book, but the listings were in some sort of crazy semi-alphabetical order that I could not make any sense of. Finally, one of the employees told me there was a women’s shelter in Greenwood. In the dream, I thought I knew where it was, even though I know of no such shelter in real life.

I left the men’s shelter and went out to the white car, where my friend Steve and Lesley-Anne were waiting. Steve is single, so I was hoping that he and Lesley would hit it off. However, when I got into the car, Steve was visibly upset and I found out that Lesley talked him into turning himself into the police for some minor offense. (I can’t remember what it was, but possibly a hit-and-run with minor injuries. Note that this type of irresponsible behavior is extremely uncharacteristic of the real-life Steve.) In the dream, the offense happened some time ago and was over and done with, and I told him that I thought it extremely foolish to turn himself in. But he seemed to feel that he needed to do it for his conscience.

When trying to make sense of this dream, I thought back to Mambo C’s tarot reading, and the conflicting male/female energies in my life. The dream may be expressing my own conflicts between objective efficiency (potentially ruthless) and subjective morality (which has the potential to make me indecisive, vulnerable and obsessive over the past). It’s tricky sometimes to find the middle road.

I’m still making adjustments to my shelf that holds the shrines for La Sirene, Agwe, Erzulie and Ogoun. At the back of Agwe’s shrine, I placed an image of a whaling boat (although I do not think of it as such) with a crew full of either dogs or wolves that was part of an Inuit art calendar.  The artist is Pudlo Pudlat [Canadian Inuit, 1916-1992]; the title of the piece is “Animal Whalers II.” I like this image a lot, and once I added the word “IMMAMOU” in white paint, it fit in perfectly. I am not really satisfied with the sea turtle as a representation of Agwe, although I do like the turtle and it will remain in the shrine. I spent the week searching online for an affordable Neptune or Poseidon statue that would fit on my shelf, all to no avail. There was one interesting ceramic statue of “Prince Neptune” on Etsy that I liked a lot. It was affordable, but turned out to be a bit too large for the available space. In the end, I found a nice Neptune bust on eBay that is meant to be placed in an aquarium. It even has a gold crown and some blue/green jewels on it. I don’t know why I didn’t think of aquarium figures before. They are both the right size and affordable.

I want to get something larger for Erzulie, but I am not sure what yet, either a figure or a larger image. I saw a couple of things online that I liked, but have not yet made a decision.

I came home from work one day last week to find La Sirene’s expensive mermaid mirror had tumbled off the shelf onto the cats’ ceramic water dish below, breaking the dish in two. I am a bit puzzled as to how the mirror fell down. I had it balanced upright (handle down) so that La Sirene could see her own reflection, but it had been leaning towards the back of the shelf and should not have fallen forward.

My first thought was that Luna, my younger cat who likes to mess with everything, had gotten up on the shelf and knocked the mirror down. However, on close examination, I could not find anything else that appeared to be disturbed. What’s also interesting is that the mirror itself did not sustain any damage whatsoever: no chips or scratches, much to my relief.

I am not sure what this means, if anything. I do not want to be one of those people who reads metaphysical meaning into every single event. So my list of possible theories are:

• The mirror managed to fall somehow in a way that I did not anticipate. Mundane and entirely possible.
• La Sirene is irritated at me about something, perhaps because she is sharing her shelf with 3 other lwa. One of them is her husband, but perhaps she isn’t pleased about sharing with Erzulie or Ogoun. I hope this isn’t the case, as I really have limited space, although it might explain why the mirror didn’t sustain any damage.
• La Sirene is irritated at Luna for attempting to disturb the shelf and the mirror fell to scare the cat away.
• Erzulie is unhappy that La Sirene’s shrine has nicer things in it (including offerings and a better avatar) and threw the mirror.  I am working on improving Erzulie’s area, but it’s not going to be immediate.

I am not sure which of these is true, so have resigned myself to once again wait and see what happens next.  In the meantime, my studies continue. I also want to set up a shrine area for the Ghede. I’m waiting for a skeletal bride/groom figure to arrive that I ordered from Gargoyles. I also put a partial payment on an original painting that I fell in love with at  Gargoyles last week. The painting is a portrait of a skeleton guy wearing a suit and tie. A crown floats above his head and between his grinning teeth he holds a lit cigarette. I laughed and thought of the Baron when I saw it. It should make a nice counterpiece to the steampunk Brigitte print I recently ordered from Etsy. I can’t wait for it to arrive.

http://www.gargoylestatuary.com/

Anticipation and a possible answer

This morning Mambo C and I finally set a date to meet on Wednesday afternoon. I am very excited and a little nervous. Excited because I have so many questions. Nervous because this is very important to me. Not too nervous, though. I have a very positive impression of the Mambo from her emails.

Also, I may be a little closer to verifying the identity of the old woman spirit who my friend Angel sensed near me. On Sunday I tried one of the simpler readings with the Buckland tarot deck: the 12-card astrological circle spread. My question was about the identity of the old woman.

I’m not going to describe the entire reading here, as that would be tedious for me to write and for others to read. But here are what I consider the significant highlights:

Th first card represents the querent (in this case, me). It was the 4 of Chivs, which indicates a “colorless” person with deep desires that, along with his feelings, he keeps well hidden.

The third card represents education, communication, and short journeys. It was the Knight of Koros (Cups), which can indicate a message, invitation or proposition. I was recently invited to a Fet Gede, which could mean significant progress in my Vodou studies.

The ninth card represents religion, philosophy, spirituality, long journeys. It was the Hierophant, reversed, which can indicate unconventionality, unorthodoxy, and openness to new ideas. I have never really been a conventional anything, so it will be interesting to see how this Vodou journey turns out. Some practitioners I’ve encountered tend to be rather rigid in their beliefs, and I am very non-rigid. In the Buckland deck, the hierophant is portrayed as a blacksmith shoeing a horse. This is interesting because, in Vodou, a possessed person is referred to as a horse. When a lwa possesses a person, they are “riding the horse.”

The twelfth card represents secrets, secret friends, secret enemies, and is also the last card in the spread, which I take to represent the answer to the question. It was number 11 of the Major Arcana, Justice. In the Buckland deck, justice is represented by the Romani kris, the Gypsy Court of Justice. I didn’t really see how this related to the identity of the old lady, but I’m learning to step back and wait when things do not immediately make sense.

This morning I was reading a Vodou discussion board, where one of the members referred to Baron Samedi as a judge. In Kenaz Filan’s The Haitian Vodou Handbook, the Baron’s wife Maman Brigitte is described as “the consummate judge, and those who have been wronged will often go to her cairn of stones seeking justice.” In the Buckland tarot, the High Priestess (which so closely resembles the spirit that Angel saw) is described as “the arbitrator of disputes,” in other words, a judge. The name Brigitte is similar to the impression that Angel had of the old woman’s name (see post “Lwa connections“):

Angel:  It’s almost like Rita.. but not.. just has that sound in it . . .  I think there is a sound before that. Something ITA . . . the name definitly had that ITA sound. Or RITA. Not sure and something in front of it.

I’m not feeling one hundred percent certain that it was her, but it’s possible. This may turn out to follow the general pattern of my connecting with the lwas: They make contact, either I or someone close to me correctly guesses their identity, I second-guess the information, and then it turns out to be correct. Time will tell, but I do have a sort of pre-existing fondness for the Baron and his wife. At this point in time, I’m not sure how many model skulls and skeletons I own.