Getting to Know the Essence of Voodoo

Getting to Know the Essence of Voodoo

Voodoo is the modern-day version of a Haitian religion called Vodou, which was developed under the mantle of French slavery by African-Caribbean slaves working on island plantations. However, it must not be overlooked that whether during its time in “Hispaniola” or after it entered America, it also picked up some Native-American practices and systems of belief within its folds. At its verby heart, that’s a fact of tremendous relevance—relevance— that Voodoo originated from a space where adopting Christianity as their religion was the only way to survive for tribes from Central and Western Africa who may have had diverse practices and rituals, but which originated from the same neighborhood of bodies of religious thought. When such people met other mystic spirituals, such as the Native Americans, growing communication within common spaces of living also led to the syncretic assimilation of their beliefs since many Native-American spiritual systems resonated with African spirituality.

Therefore, as Vodou developed into its current form, it encompassed the root essence of African spirituality and some measures of Native American belief systems as well as that of Roman Catholicism, since they needed to publicly espouse Christianity while inserting their own practices into Christian ways, which would allow their traditional beliefs to survive. However, although the root of Catholicism’s spiritual seed lay in indoctrination and the force of religious text over the lives of its followers, the same in African spirituality lay in the perception and devotion to the order of the universe, the healing of energies by overbalancing positive forces, and the nature of the spirit or soul which led to spirit possession.

Although Voodoo is a deeply personalized religion, given its esoteric and mystical origins spanning millennia, if one is to try and figure out the most important of its teachings to its practitioners, it’s this— there is a definite order through which the world functions, and knowing one’s place and respecting it within that order will bring immense positivity and wholesomeness, not only to the practitioner but to the system itself. Now, this shouldn’t be misunderstood as becoming a mindless zombie to the ssytem–system— another myth attributed to Vodouisant Bokors, or the closest thing the religion can have to chaotic or negative sorcerers at the very fringes of Voodoo society. Instead, perceiving and respecting the system is similar to having respect for the forces above you in the order of things, even if you may not see eye to eye and communicate as such.

Within daily life and practice as an example, Voodoo is in itself a complete way of life instead of just a practical religion, allowing elders to speak before your render your opinion on a topic on which they may have greater experience in life is a reflection of the essence of the religion. Again, don’t equate this to the simple “respect your elders” adage, but rather a deep binding sense of order within the way social interactions are constructed and viewed through Voodoo— the “elders” of “tribes”, even in modern day life, must speak before the younger ones on any matters under discussion because they’ve spent more time on this planet, and so have facets of knowledge or perspectives that youngsters lack. The same goes for the priestly order, with initiated higher ups having the first say than their lower counterparts. If the juniors disagree with their seniors they will get their chance to respectfully assert said opinion once the seniors have finished speaking. Therefore, understanding and respecting this order is part of Voodoo, whether it is your personal or professional life.
 

Source

VOODOO: A Beginner’s Guide to Voodoo ~ An Introduction to Voodoo Religion, Rituals, and Spells
Issendai Bechau