Concerning Vodou and breaking with tradition.

So the other night I was conversing with a Warlock acquaintance of mine who lives down south. Whilst of Jewish extraction, he emphasises that he does not regard himself as a religious person. He practices Witchcraft and has been raised by a Spiritualist trance medium and attends spiritualist circles on a weekly basis. He has recounted quite a few of his exploits in the spirit world with me, he seems to have had a lot of experience in talking with spirits of almost every kind, from the departed, to angels, deities from many of the worlds' traditions. To be honest, from what I hear about spiritualism, to me, it sounds too convenient, too easy. They appear to work from a perspective that everything out there in the universe wants to communicate with them, and at the drop of a hat they appear to be able to enter into long conversations about metaphysical matters with Gods, spirits, the dead etc

Personally I have always felt that if connection or alignment is desried with a particular spiritual entity, then, at first at least, a lot of work must be done. Not only is there the academic research, reading all the books and material you can get your hands on about the entity in question, I also believe that the connection takes time and effort, usually in the form of ritual work. If a deity is being sought, I would take the time to collect a few items sacred to that deity, build a shrine, utilising images or particular iconography if there is any available (even if it's just a case of printing out an image off my computer if I don't have the financial resources to buy a statue or picture... oh the joys of google image searching!) I usually strive to present offerings of flowers, fruits, food, incense, oils - whatever is most suitable.

My spiritualist Witch friend appears to have a much easier time of it. He reads the books, then quietly sits down and begins talking to them. It can take a few attempts he tells me, but still, the communication usually ensues.

To each their own I suppose, and I don't doubt that some success can be reached this way, but as we were chatting that night, I found myself contemplating issues of respect for the entity in question. Some entities don't demand much, I will grant you that. The position of my friend is that as he is a magickal practitioner, and is not approaching these beings within a religious framework, then he is transcending the system. He told me that for him, a big part of magick is about this transcending of outer cultural trappings. So for example, if a communication with a Hindu deity is desired, there would be no puja ceremony, just a calling out to them with a sincere heart. I feel that this begs the question that if an avoidance of the traditions and rituals of a culture is craved, then why bother attempting to address the deity at all?

Ultimately, how much effort we put into our work with deities is up to us as individual practitioners, and I think it is fair to say that most occultists find that the more work that is put in, the more rewards and success from the ritual one reaps. My personal view is that if one is to call on a deity from the ancient world, for example, one of the Olympians, or possibly a Roman deity, one of the Neteru, or a Norse deity, then an adaptation of the resources is necessary. Reconstructing the elaborate rituals some of these deities will have enjoyed in the far past is for most of us impossible. Either due to us not having enough information, or the time and resources. Some of the sacrifices that would have been made, and particularly the scale on which that they may have been performed, is a downright impossibility. Again, often down to time and resources (and sometimes legal issues - last time I checked, it was illegal to perform human sacrifice!) the rituals many pagans and occultists perform in their homes for deities will of course be scaled down and greatly adapted from what we know went on in the homes and temples of their devotees of yore. The point however, is that any practitioner worth their weight in pentacles, will have made the effort to do the study and put in the time and thought and energy into whatever ritual was being performed.

Now, working with entities from LIVING religious traditions is, for me, a slightly different matter. If you want to serve a deity or a saint or some other entity from a tradition which is alive and well in the world, then why not consult a member of that religion? If you really want to experience the goddess Lakshmi for instance, then why not take the time to go to one of her temples if there are any Hindu temples in your country? or find a Hindu devotee of Lakshmi and ask him/her some questions? If serving the Lwa is your desire, then why not seek out a Mambo or Houngan and actually research and ask questions about Haitian Vodou and practice the tradition as it has been practised and continues to be practised? A disregard for how things are done and a disinterest in the tradition that one is, let's face it, RAPING, really get's my back up.

This acquaintance of mine (who incidentally, I have not fallen out with, we just agreed to disagree because we are grown ups like that) was telling me about his experiences with the Lwa (for those that don't know, the Lwa/Loa are the spirits of Haitian Vodou that are served by Vodouisants with ceremonies involving sacrifices, food offerings, intricate dance routines and drumming rhythmns among other things) Now, a couple of years ago I actually was a Vodouisant for a year. I belonged to a small sosyete, a group of people who wanted to practise Vodou and we worked under the authority and guidance of a genuine initiated Houngan (Vodou Priest) My small bedroom in the apartment I was living in at the time, was overrun with shrines - a shrine to my ancestors, a shrine to Papa Legba (whom all Vodouisants must acknowledge as he is the gatekeeper to the spirit world of the Lwa) a shrine to my met tet (master of the head) and one other Lwa whom my group were encouraged to serve. All the shrines were created according to strict instruction, the fabrics had to be certain colours as other colours were not allowed for fear of offending the spirit in question. I cooked specific foods on a weekly basis, I used specific Catholic icons for the different spirits. I was taught some traditional songs for calling on them, a whole load of stuff, it took effort and a sacrifice of my time (and money...buying a meal for a spirit when you are strapped for cash yourself is never fun)

My acquaintance has spoken with many of the Lwa and told me about his experiences with them. He didn't give the Lwa any offerings (again, because he is transcending all of the cultural trappings) or dance or sing for them. His way was much easier and certainly more cost effective! Now most Vodouisants I know would probably say that the Lwa would most likely not show up if no one is singing for them and none of their favourite foods, alcoholic beverages or cigars (yes, really) are on an altar for them, but my friend is confident that he met the Lwa, felt their presence and saw them and spoke to them, on several occassions. He met a Mambo who told him that he had indeed made connection with the Lwa. I can't decide whether I feel cheated. Certainly, some of the things he told me about the Lwa, like the way he perceives them, matched the desciptions of my Houngan and how he told me he interacted with them (well, what he was allowed to tell me about how he interacted with them, as Vodou does indeed hold a lot of secrets)

My acquaintance also told me that he had spoken with the Orishas, again, using similar means (mainly derived from Spiritualist techniques) He told me that he offended a Santeria practitioner friend of his by saying things about the Orishas which his friend could not believe he would know about unless he had been initiated. I'm guessing his Santeria friend was also feeling cheated, he was probably thinking to himself "How can this guy know these things about the Orishas when he hasn't gone through any of the rigorous initiations and he couldn't even be bothered to build proper shrines or leave any offerings, or sing any songs?" The Santeria guy actually accused my acquaintance of having got this information out of a Santero as he could not possibly have known it first hand himself.

Again, my acquaintance's attitude of transcending cultural trappings came into the conversation when I asked him about his disregard for the traditional ritual procedures of the spirits he was seeking contact with. My acquaintance believes that if the initiate of Vodou or Santeria believes that a spirit can only be contacted properly if certain rituals are performed, or that the spirit will punish them if an offering is not given, then this will manifest. He feels that by choosing not to pay attention to these religious ideas (which he regards as quite enslaving to the practitioner) then connection with the spirits can still be gained and insights into their nature can be gleaned. In a sense, he has similarities with the Chaos magicians, in perceiving traditional ritual procedures from cultures as superfluous and unnecessary.

I've had a little think about all this, and whilst I do believe that it probably is possible for a person to contact one of the Lwa or the Orishas in their own way, going through the non traditional back door I suppose you could say, I still feel it is disrespectful to that tradition and indeed may be disrespectful to the spirits themselves. Who knows? They may get offended and decide to punish him when he hasn't presented them with any offerings of food or pretty things (in Vodou the Lwa are notorious for only doing something for the one serving them if a suitable amount of offerings are exchanged in return) My acquaintance believed that the psychic barrier protection methods he was using (presumably coming from his spiritualist background) were enough to protect him from their wilder natures. I hope for his sake that he is right!

In conclusion (and yes I appreciate that this whole entry has sounded like a rant) I just don't like this attitude that some occultists and practitioners have that "I know better" because I think it is patronising and disrespectful. The attitude of my acquaintance that he could work with the Lwa whilst at the same time deny everything of their cultural tradition and not bother to take the time to learn about Vodou properly or go through any training really wound me up! I understand his view that there are probably some ritual procedures which are not necessary, but a total disregard for it really does not sit well with me.