The section is labeled Haitian Vodoun, obviously, from Koetting’s dabblings with the Lwa. However, as a Conjure, I can say that what he tangled with is a different beast entirely. He only scratched the surface.
Vodoun falls under the same family as Santeria, Conjure, Hoodoo, Palo and the like. They are derive from the African Congo religions that stretch all across the continent. Due to the American slave trade, the beliefs of the African people had spread to the carribean islands (where we get Vodoun), which then migrated from south America to mesoamerica (Santeria, Brujeria), then finally resting in the southern U.S. (New Orleans Voodoo, Hoodoo).
So many cultures blended together that at times its hard to tell the difference between these magical paths of spirit work at times.
For example, there is a common figurehead in Hoodoo that we use for protection. His name is Black Hawk, a native American who was accepted by a primarily African American collective. Because of his warrior spirit, southern conjures/root workers accepted him as their own.
As well, it is not uncommon to see one spirit who shares the same role in mutiple cultures. Like Papa Legba. Some know him Ellegua and others know him as the Man in Black who makes deals at the crossroads.
And Don’t be suprised either if you see Root worker calling in angels like St. Michael then invoking the spirit of a Ancestor. All in the presence of SantiSima Muerte.
Unlike western magick, folk traditions go hand and hand with folk rituals. This is what gives magical systems like these their juice. We don’t summon spirits like knights in a castle, and we don’t have to physically see them in order to cause change. It’s a mutual respect. Often, the spirits you bring forth as a practitioner of folk magicks are people that never truly left this plane.
As a Conjure, working in the cemetery is a MUST. However, no need to be digging up Graves for some necromancy or ritual circles and candles galor. We give the dead a cigar, a shot of whiskey, pennies as offerings and in return, I take dirt from the graveyard. That dirt now is a link between myself and that graveyard, so, if I need help I can use the dirt to invoke spirits. Or, for example, I need protection, I’d get some top soil from a police department. Odd right? Results all the same.
Hence why Koetting was so surprised at the knowledge DePrince shown him.
But this doesn’t mean we don’t summon the demonic though…I myself just recently made a pact with Lucifer.
So, to conclude, Haitian Vodoun is a wicked powerful system but there is far more dark magick waiting to be revealed if one simply looks past those islands and focus on just Folk traditions instead. But this is just my little howl.
The Wolf lives on…
