Witchdoctors, Vodu & VoodooUnity Consciousness #197

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African priests, priestesses and spiritual leaders and interpreters by other names have all been cast in a negative light by the negative human forces. By now Africans should know that what an enemy tries to scare you away from, run to it, especially that which has been made the most scariest.

The Vodu spiritual tradition has been cast into a negative light through movies, television and other media. These are the witches against which we must protect ourselves at all times.

In the Haitian religion of Vodu, a person who serves as a leader in performing rituals and ceremonies is referred to as the houngan (male priest) or mambo (female priestess). A common Western-generated misconception about houngan/mambo in the Vodu religion is that they are witchdoctors and practice “magic” against an individual. In fact, houngan's/mambo's role within Vodu culture is to perform rituals and/or ceremonies to prevent or ward off influences that have the possibility of affecting a particular person or the life of loved ones. Traditionally, houngans and mambos do not view themselves as intercessors between followers of the Vodu religion and God. (1)

Vodun/Vodu/Vodou/Vodoun

The word Vodu is traceable to the term Vodun, which refers to the hundreds of immortal spirits and deities that can be communicated with and personal relationships developed. (2)

The word Vodou derives from West African words vodu or vodun, meaning “deity” or “spirit.” The word is used to designate divine and ancestral spirits who are identified with the natural forces of the universe and who participate actively in the lives of their devotees. Like other world religions, Vodou is a system of beliefs that instills in its devotees a need for solace and self-reflection; it is an expression of a people’s longing for meaning and purpose.

Vodou provides an explanation for death, which is envisaged as a spiritual transformation, a portal to the sacred world beyond this life in which morally upright individuals continue to influence their progeny. By extension, Vodou includes a whole assortment of artistic and cultural expressions and the belief in the effectiveness of an elaborate system of traditional healing practices. (3)

More understanding of Vodou & Voodoo is available from a primary source, Mama Zogbe at mamiwata.com, who explains through experience:

The Vodou is an ancestral tradition. All races can learn to honor their own ancestors using traditional African practices, and offer prayer gratuity to the Spirit as a Vodunsi. However the African in the Diaspora has had a special relationship with the Vodou for thousands of years. The Vodou blood came in the blood of the African, and many are even born from direct lineages of these gods. It is they who experience the most profound disturbances in their lives when they forget, either deliberately or through social conditioning/amnesia who they are.

(1) Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, "Encyclopedia Of African Religion," (2009) pp. 318-319.
(2) Ibid., 283.
(3) Ibid., 695.