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oio11The Truth about Voodoo most will not tell you truthfully
Fact: Voodoo was not "brought" to French Colonies. It was brought by the French and Scottish Colonists to their African Slaves and included elements of Romany culture. It is a French Word. Vodou pronounced as "v oʊ d uː in French. It was also written as Voodoo in English. It is Not and never was an African Word. It is also rooted in the Norse Germanic sources for the Supreme God or Ruling God called such as Vodan/Wodan, and simply meant in origin "spirit."
Its earliest known sources only date back to around the 1800's as Voodoo while Hoodoo is found to originate from Pictish Scotland and dates back to around 300BC-300AD. Its original meaning includes "haunted and enchanted." It also picked up a lot of Ramony rituals and well documented many of them are from India's subcontinent and features from dharmic religions. It also picked up many aspects of Celtic, Pict, Germanic, Norse, English, Dutch, French, Icelandic, Scandinavian, Russian, Slavic:)) and many other fragments of customs along the way over several centuries.
Fact: Witchcraft also at one time included other terms including Warlockcraft as well as Witchery and Warlockery. It was not until the 1600’s that anything also called sorcery, the black arts, forbidden arts and Necromancy became generalized under the term of Witchcraft as a generic catch all and was a main product of Heinrich Kramer and his fictitious torture manual targeting women out of his own clear and perverse hatred of women and their Witches Craft, as he defined it in the infamous book called the Hammer of the Witches.
Heinrich Kramer did not invent or created the word "Witch" but he did come to re-define it to mean: "the wicked that follow Satan." He was not actually supported by the Church at this time since by this time believing in the existence of Warlocks and Witches or anything of folklore for that matter was deemed a heresy in itself because by this time the historic Warlocks and Witches became no more than mythic elves and fairies with demonic tendencies including seen as themselves a sort of Incubus or Succubus.
Half Truth Teaching: Many claim Voodoo is named after a God named Vodun or Vudun, Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, and simply means "spirit" in the Fon and Ewe languages. If true than why do you not find the supreme God of Voodoo called Vodun? It is because it is a fiction, based on assumption, and run with out of ignorance. Voden, Vodun, etc does mean "mind", "soul" or "spirit," but in the European sources of the language unless all are ready and willing to accept that the old Silk Road shows the travels of the beliefs were even further widespread than the racist morons on all sides somehow have an issue with for really no damn good reasons.
Full and Truthful Teaching: This is clearly an outright lie as it is clearly directly taken from the many European names from which we get today's name God for the Supreme Being, from such as Vodun also spelled Wodun, as well as Vodan, Wodan, Wotan, Gottan, Gotten, Goatten, Goedin, Godan (shortened in modern times as simply God) Othinus, Othin, Odin, Oden, Noden, Nodhin, Wode, Wude, Wute, Wudes Heer, Wuden Hern, and many more related dialectic roots. Many of these figures early on were once separate figures, some were once historic figures named after the Highest, but in time became identified as one and the same.
He was also called such as Vafud, Vegtam (Wanderer),Gangler (“Traveller”), Ómi (“Noisy one”), Vidforull (“Far traveller”), or, as in Saxo, Viator Indefessus, “Unwearied Traveller.” His appearance as the classic Warlock is also not to be overlooked as he is called Sidhottr (“Customary Hat”) for Sid means Tradition or Customary and Hottr means Hat, Harbard (“grey beard”), and Skidskegg (“long whiskers”) in that whiskers also applied as a term for a beard. His connection with Death is also well known as such names included drauga drottinn (The Lord with ghosts), hanga drottinn (Hanged Lord), hanga tyr (Hanged Victory) and hanga-god, (God of the Hanged).
Hanging was not always for reasons of execution as it later came to be but was also used as a ritual to come close to death and experience the spirit world since he is also God of the afterlife as Val-fadir, (Grave Father) which is curious since Alföðr literally means All Father minus the "V." Also considering that in Voodoo in many sources the central shrine is a pillar or Tree as the central principle where one "meets" the spirits and holds council with them, the links are only brought into greater clarity.
In many sources of Voodoo it is presented that the "Mambos" or female priesthood are the ones to whom the spirits come to first and as such also called by the "Houngans" or male priests to the ceremonies. This is also a similar trait in many sources of female messengers and servants of the All Father. This would also mean his primarily female servants names as Valkyries does not actually mean Choosers of the Slain as much as more literally Val= Grave and Kori = Chooser, and therefore more literally means Grave Chooser. Valr, also evolved into the modern word Valor which means Courage in the face of Death or overwhelming odds.
In this sense Valkyries can also mean the Courageously Chosen or Chosen by Courage since this also fits the stories that Valkyries were seen as the Chosen ones from ancestral women who lived and died by honor, as warriors and noted for their Valor with the whole death before dishonor mentality and servants of Vodan himself. As his messengers they also were called Wish-maidens, because they fulfilled Odin’s wishes about the slain and the spared. On one occasion in the tales Odin, as god of the dead, acted as ferryman of the dead to the Other World under the name Harbard (Grey Beard).
Vooodoo is also often connected specifically with various forms of ritual magic as is the God under the name Vodan, when he is named Aldenn Gautr, “Elder Enchanter" not as some called it the Enchanter Old, since Gautr means Enchanter, Aldenn means Elder, Proof is because the word Forn means Old and the name was not Forn Gautr. But this should also catch one's attention if they have paid close observation of what has been stated so far.
Remember they claim Vodun is from the Fon Language. Forn and Fon both means Old. It again is not African in Origin. But this is among the many issues how many tend to simply put a generic spin and move from the precise meaning and their true roots that throws off the original context, sources and information that most simply take at face value. Their statements are purely political, and the rest simply regurgitate the same misinformation they have taken to be true without looking at the sources or facts of the information.
Voodoo's Baron Samedi and Norse Germanic Odin:
When we look also how her male companion Baron Samedi also is embraced in Voodoo and one takes only a little time to seek it out, this figure also takes on Vodan's aspects and the name given to him is Mr. Saturday which is what Samedi means literally from the French and also embraces the role as a sort of Grim Reaper. It is well known that the so called Angel of Death as the Grim Reaper usually applied in most cases with Samael as the ruling Angel of death and sometimes considered Satan (as most Ruling Pagan Gods were) was a spin off the name Grimnir, which literally means Hooded One, and Masked One.
Even the slang word of Scottish Hoodoo which applies to Haunted and Enchanted can also be taken to mean "Hooded" and some sources in Scottish also indicate that this is factual. Like Odin he is the God of Magic, Life, and Death to name a few and has similar traits, including chasing after mortal women for various reasons, many times to sire a hero, and other times to take something from a woman such as magical knowledge or a child to raise on his own to fulfill some needed role.
Both also can appear under many forms and many names as a secret traveler, but when such gives a gift it always comes at a hefty price. "God of Voodoo" is the God Vodun, which is the French form of the Norse and Saxon Vodan/Wodan and the modern English and Icelandic Odin, to name but a few of the diverse dialectic expressions and only shows how "one primary figure" was seen in many ways. It is also not too unlikely that a once historical figure credited with such feats and stories was also named after the Highest One and over time the Divine figure and the human figure became blurred over time.
Consorts of the God:
In any case the, which we find between the more Celtic/Scottish Goddess Brigit, and the Catholic Saint of the same name who was herself a pagan woman that adopted Catholic religion and elevated to a saint status, and over time the Goddess whom she was named after and the actual figure became identified as one and the same, and also adopted in "Voodoo" as Goddess as well in hybrid form. But she was not the only one in some Voodoo sects, but was nonetheless also adopted as the Three Brigits and is of Scottish roots and she has as such three rings. She is often identical to that also of the Goddess Jord The second one is Erzulie Freda taken from that as a form of another consort of Odin called in old Saxon by the name Fri, Freya and Frigg, Frigga, as well as Frua.
As such she also has several forms and is seen as bisexual and wears three rings symbolic of her many forms in union with the Three primary forms of the same God, but also represents she is one of His Three Wives whom she is also seen as co-married to as well. The Third is sometimes called La Sirène who is also matched to the consort of the God under her name as Rinda, also at times called Randa, Ran, and Rada. She also has Three Rings.
Fact: It is also well documented that some Scottish and other European women and men taught their house slaves and bond servants Hoodoo poppet magic and folk medicine as well as Folklore at the same time Catholic priests were teaching the house slaves about God the Father, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Virgin Mary, and Saints. In turn many of the Bond Servants and Slaves had made similar comparisons to their remembered native roots and oral traditions that helped them maintain a certain sense of identity.
Some also retained a bit of knowledge of their pre-Christian beliefs and continued to pass these basic concepts down as folk traditions. The end result was the slaves combined the words Hoodoo and French Vodun to get voodoo. It is also well known that since the word Voodoo is modern but the ancient Scottish word Hoodoo is not can be proven by 2000 years of history in such place names as "hoodoo mountain", "hoodoo gorge", "hoodoo rock", "hoodoo valley", and the hundreds of other places in Wales and Scotland. Voodoo is therefore a hybrid of French and Scottish words and slang along with many related and blended European roots.
Fact: Hoodoo as a name of a practice can be found in Britannic documents dating as far back as 300BC. The word Voodoo does not exist in any document prior to the 1700's and is a Mix of the Scottish Hoodoo and the French Vodu.
Fact: Many of the "Catholic Figures" came from European Folklore and pre-Christian Deities reformed as "saints." Some of them were assimilated by African slaves who found a Christian Saint with similar characteristics of their African deities known as an Orisha.
Fact: A Witch Doctor was not a generic term for a male or female member of a coven as Warlock was the male term and Witch the female.
Fact: A Witch Doctor was by translation to mean: "hunter of witches or one who drives out witches and their so called black magic." Though primarily male, some were female as well but they were themselves neither Warlocks or Witches.
Fact: A practitioner of Hoodoo or Sidutru is CORRECTLY called a Warlock or Witch meaning the same as Enchanter or Enchantress.
Fact: A Warlock in "Voodoo is the same as a Houngan, as a Witch is the same as a Mambo and a Witch Doctor is regarded in many cases the same as an infamous Bokur.
Fact: Some of the European Warlocks and Witches maintained some of their own traditions and shared them with their African Kin and were Not as racially motivated as many people of the time, and as such also found in African cultures similar expressions of deities and rituals they felt were more in common than different, just as many African religious leaders adopted many of the occult studies on their own as a way to reclaim some of their lost culture being systematically taken from them by slave masters and imposed religion.
Fact: It was mostly among the British that the term Witch Doctor was applied to the cultures they deemed "Backward, Primitive, Superstitious and Ignorant" and applied such usage rather insultingly for African, Indonesian, or South American and generic to North American Indian tribes and their spiritual practices, along with the term Shaman, which had nothing to do with these cultures, counter to what such cultures and their people called their spiritual leaders and healers as a catch all set of terms. The term witch doctor was not used in relation to African tribes until the late 1800's. In short they had no care for specific accuracy and big on sensationalism to get "money" and fame as "know it alls" among their Victorian Snobs and peers,
Fact: Less noble occultists often used "slaves" to become hosts for spirit possession considering them expendable in their black arts, some of which included cruel medical experiments also well documented, but Occultists took most of their concepts from the Kabbalah and Eastern Mysticism.
Fact: When such was brought to the America's it picked up even more spirituality from Native American sources such as Medicine Traditions and belief in Sacred Spirits of Nature, Totemic concepts, the Great Spirit, and the Ancestors. Along with this also came the term Vi and Vé from Norse roots meaning "Vi = shrine or sacred enclosure and Ve = practice" was taken up to become the Vévé or beybey, and seen in Voodoo to act as a "beacon" for the spirits as their personal symbols or Sigils including such as Runes.
Fact: Working the sacred things and "conjuring" required Three Facets to the shared traditional mixes, namely "inspiration that came through manic or prophetic knowledge, The will that expresses desire or internal thought that leads to action, and Spiritual power residing in the external world, and in sacred objects as sort of ritual batteries of power.
Like so many other cultures, by doing this, the slaves of the time were able to covertly worship their old and reformatted gods while outwardly appearing to have accepted Catholic Christianity and also gleaned some of the occult knowledge along the way developing their own form of a powerful religion as a result. The religions known as Santería, Candomblé, and Vodou, are all syncretic New World Religions born on the backs of slaves adapted from European sources and their own diverse native roots into hybrid regional forms to maintain some form of culture and mutual support.
This also means many unrelated "African Religions" prior to the slave trade became merged after the slave trade began and many were sold into slavery many times from their own people and African tribes seeing such as a means to seize land of rivals by helping Europeans take them away and even get paid themselves for slaves brought to them. Though this is not often taught it is a fact that many African tribes enslaved other African tribes themselves and sold them into slavery.
Europeans did not simply come in and dominate Africa and conquered everyone. Also not all African slaves were from the same tribe and likewise had different beliefs, and not all of them were adults and often had no solid formed roots with their people and accepted the religion given to them as it was given. It was only much later that "Voodoo" began to Africanized in a mixed theology but also took in the distinctions of the cultures around them. For example in Mexico the Voodoo there is different because it drew in such source material as from the Incas and Aztec sources that carried over into Catholic Mexican and South and Central American roots.
The Voodoo of the North American sects took from the native Traditions carried into European culture along side the various forms of Christianity from North American tribes and its concepts of the Great Spirit and Totemic symbolism in its form found in such locations as New Orleans Creole. In Haiti, it became significantly distinct and more fluently Creole African rooted and was one of the only Slave Colonies to have successfully overthrown their slave masters and were able to further develop their own culture.
Similarities and Differences of Voodoo and Classic Witchcraft
"Spirit Possession."
In many of the trails against the accused Warlocks and Witches there was the inclusion of allowing members to be willingly possessed by demons (which were actually ancestor spirits and deities of a rather wide variety) and speak to the demons through the one possessed. It also matches Voodoo where the Houngan tends to call forth the spirits and the Mambos become possessed by them as mediums and through the witnesses are communicated with before these generally benevolent spirits move on and leave the mediums often times dazed and exhausted. It is not specific to European or African customs either. All ancient cultures held this practice and belief that their gods and goddesses, ancestors and other spirits can possess and therefore incarnate through the still living, including animals. In most cases it was for benevolent reasons, but many forced themselves on to unwilling hosts and it is these few that ancient banishment rites are well documented.
"Wild Sexual Dances."
In many reports and trails against such accused came the stories of wild naked dances in which from the exhaustion while "possessed" the people would bark, howl and make animal like noises and tear off their clothing and dance about wildly and naked which sometimes inspired sexual arousal and sometimes could break down into an orgy. In most Voodoo rites the same sort of dancing occurs and the clothing removed because of the restrictions and the heavy sweating that occurs as many would seek to dance themselves into a trance to make it easier to communicate with the spirits and deities which also sometimes communicated with sounds like that mimicking animals such as the hiss of snakes, the howl of wolves, the bellowing of a bear or the roar of a lion as totemic forms of the spirit messengers of the highest ones. It is true some of the figures are seen and known to be sexual in nature but in most cases orgies do not actually occur, but nudity does. This is not however an expected aspect of "Tradition."Other cultures in hot climates also tend to have few articles of clothing and some have none at all for the simple fact that such clothing craft was unknown to them till it was introduced (and in many cases forced to wear).
"The Devil's Mark."
The Devil's Mark indicated that an individual was a Warlock or Witch. It was noted in the 15th to 16th century that it was believed to be the permanent marking of the Devil on his initiates to seal their obedience and service to him. He created the mark by raking his claw across their flesh, or by making a blue or red brand using a hot iron. In Voodoo many times similar Tattoos or ritual Scar creation is produced to indicate membership and rank within the culture or traditions and the Blue tended to be for men and the red for women. Many cultures have used ritual markings through tattoos and scars for this purpose but also used them as methods for treating pain. As a scar such would naturally have no pain and depending how thick or deep it was, would not bleed when poked or cut on the surface. This was used in such trials to prove one's occult association.
"The Foul Feast."
The sick part of the trials was to proclaim the eating of dung, corpses of the dead and aborted babies and infant sacrifice. In reality These feasts tended to not have human sacrifice or such gross meals as this was Church propaganda. However, animals including chickens and cattle were and are sacrificed, the blood drained and offered to the spirits, used also as part of purification rites as protective blessings and the portion of the animals offered in a sacrificial fire such as unused portions as the fats and organs that would be thrown away, and serve as a community meal in celebration where while the spirits were within their hosts could enjoy the food and drink prepared for them in their honor.
This is noted in many ancient cultures which Voodoo also retains to this day and some other sects that practice native traditions still in part perform. But overall aside from the gross aspect feasts did occur as part of worship services and celebration of the good will of the spirits that chose to come and speak to them. Today, many in Urban cultures tend to no longer do this and any meal sources are regarded as a blessing and many times Wine instead of blood is used to carry on with the basic concepts behind the rites.
Important Fact to not be overlooked:
Many of their European used slaves to practice occult arts and would teach them what was needed to assist these slave owners needed them to perform that their fellow "white clergy" would be against, and most would not as easily be drawn into participation with because of its occult concepts. This included not only mix with Catholic religion and the Saints but also European mysticism, Freemasonry, Kabbalistic strand of later Satanism that also formed around this period of the 1800's and other influences such as old Grimoires and Hermetic occultism and all the generalized practices called Witchcraft and also called Hoodoo as early as the 16th Century meaning Conjuring, and was generally of Scottish roots largely in North American Colonies.
Every spirit has his or her own unique veve, although regional differences have led to different veves for the same spirits in some cases. Sacrifices and offerings are usually placed upon them, with food and drink being most commonly used in the West, which is actually closer to the old European traditions. Others are purely symbolic with no attachment to a particular entity. These factors are why veve of Voodoo look so much like many of the diverse symbols drawn from Grimoires, or old books of sorcery and ritual evocations of spirits, because it is from which these have been derived and likewise adapted from to begin with, especially the works of the Goetia or Lesser key of Solomon, which typically include instructions on how to create magical objects and call on supernatural entities such as angels of the Heavens, spirits of the dead in Purgatory, and demons of the underworld or Hell but all under the power of Divine Authority.
Comparison to Warlock and Witch and Witch Doctors
The information as show does not stop there into the origins of the terms. The same concepts of Warlocks, Witches and Witch Doctors have the same concepts within the structure of the clergy ideas of the terms used within the Voodoo synchronized occult religious structure as follows:
A Warlock is the same as a hùngan/Houngan
A Witch is the same as a Mambi/Mambo
A Witch Doctor is the same as a Buku/Bokor
The elements of the religion also is the same:
Both the Warlock and the Witch are responsible for the role to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole. The Warlocks are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage and men's health, while the Witch while sharing some of these roles are more geared to women's health and the matters of children. Both are involved as well with counseling in matters of households and over all traditional family values that make the community overall strong.
Structure is in clergy is also different than modern Voodoo:
Old Tradition held a basic concept that the Warlock is attended by Three Witches. It is a long standing fact in Folklore from around the ancient world and such are given many names only specific to the language. In general the Three Witches are universally presented as being the main practitioners and teachers of Divination while the Warlock is the one who is the practitioner of “the voice of callings,” either through chant, poetic song that tells of “legends” and reciting sacred names of the gods and spirits of ancestors.” The simple answer is they would represent the Divine Unity of the One God and the Three Goddesses.
This is an important distinction from Modern Voodoo:
The Warlock is the only one with authority to ordain other priestesses, but the Witch has the authority to ordain priests and priestesses which has some basis in sexuality customs, in which it is considered normal for a Warlock to be purely heterosexual and a Witch to be bisexual but when it come to ordaining a priest (warlock) it is only one the witches will have in common. The same is true of the Warlock that it will only be three witches he will have in common. The other distinction as well is that the Warlock also tends to have the highest authority and the Three Witches serve equal with mutual authority and act as his council.
While this is indeed the case, there is also more to it. Many such sources make it clear as well that in later generations that Warlocks would teach Witches the "Voice of Callings" while the Witches would teach the Warlocks "The Oracles of Divination," which in this shows long ago there was equality being developed among the Warlocks and Witches, in which to be effective in the rites, someone has to sing the sacred songs, someone to ask the questions, someone to be the medium for the inspiration of the answers and someone to record and interpret the meanings.
Within the refined traditions the positions often come forth when the Warlock has called the Spirits into the presence of them where the Warlock is the Speaker, and the Three Witches are The Asker, The Recorder, and The Interpreter, but even this practice is rare and sometimes it is seen that any of them be they a warlock or witch will be given a word of knowledge, but in all cases one is always a speaker, one is always an asker, one is always a recorder, and one is always an interpreter. It is never a stand alone all encompassing function.
Factual Comparisons
Some of the Deities of Voodoo reveal and betray their original origins as being European originally. Baron Samedi means Baron Saturday. He is called a spirit of death and magic primarily and is derived from one of the named titles of Vodan (Odin) under the name of Grímnir meaning the "Masked One." It survives in the same name of the Grim Reaper since the 15th century, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body and to guide the deceased to the next world without having any control over the fact of the victim's death.
Loko is the same as the original Loki derived also from Lokke whose name means (binding) who was confused with another deity, but is the same being associated with spring seasons healers and medicinal plants and herbs. Another connection is also revealed where is both cases he is the expression of the first Vardlok/Warlock/Houngan and also The Woodland Spirit Loca/Loga meaning "life" of the Tree, and from which a Log book is a "life record," also called a journal.
Another Maman Brigitte taken from the Scottish Goddess Brigit and equated as a consort of Baron Samedi/Grimnir but as a counter part as also a spring time spirit of the late spring and early summer but later applied as one protects gravestones in cemeteries if they are properly marked with a cross images like the swastika or solar cross symbols.
The lists of comparison are literally endless but are not "originally indigenous" to the specific African cultures from which many of the slaves had come, but European with which they synchronized the concepts and traditions brought with them. There was also no specific "number" of coven members and the concept of 13 being the structure of such is based solely in the idea of Christ and his 12 Apostles or in reverse the Anti-Christ and the 12 False Prophets.
The Term Coven:
Coven is used by Voodoo as well, having come from European sources which was originally derived from the late 1500's A.D. from the Scottish meaning a gathering of any kind as in the English word convene, and taken from the word Covenant meaning an agreement, deal, or binding promise of things to do and not to do and therefore "The customs and traditions put into practice" among the people including a family, relatives and kinsmen.
Witches Mark and Voodoo Scarification
Another traditional report if Medieval tradition was to find a witch was to look for a "Witch's Mark, or Devil's Mark." This mark indicated that an individual was a witch or warlock and pledged themselves into worship and service of the "Black Arts." Part of this lore which everything Pagan was "evil," The Witch or Devil's mark was believed to be the permanent marking of the Devil on his initiates to seal their obedience and service to him.
He created the mark by raking his claw or blades across their flesh, or by making a blue or red brand using a hot iron more often a needle such as used in the creation of tattoos. Endorphins can be released in the scarification process that can induce a euphoric state. This state is often the point that one may have hallucinations and others believe a spiritual/psychic experience because such can also lead to a hypnotic trance state.
The Connection with the cousin tradition of Voodoo is Clear when compared to the rites of ritual scarification. These extremely painful episodes are carried out upon "advanced members of the religious hierarchy as a sign of their status. Like the Witch's or Devil's Mark, such as these in the Voodoo tradition marking the priesthood were an instant form of visual recognition for the higher ranks of the tradition. Likewise this priesthood and priestess-hood was held in high regarded in high respect in such pagan communities just as much as it is in many of the voodoo communities.
Where in the European Witchcraft tradition the "mark" was given to the new witch or warlock of the tradition by a Priest as being the host and incarnation of the God (Devil for the Christian writers) in many voodoo communities it is only the women or priestesses as host and incarnation of the Goddesses that apply the marks.
However this tends to vary from group to group. The other fact is that these scares are often raised on purpose. this mark in Medieval descriptions match the form as such are often described as having a "wart-like" appearance. Any raised scar can also occur as to have a wart-like appearance called Keloids which are raised scars.They are also related as well to the old symbolism of the Wounded Healer. The basic concept being that a healer is not going to understand the sickness or suffering till they personal experience it, survive it and learn how to treat and cure it. Kinda brings a better perspective on the whole corpse on a cross thing don't it.
On the other hand it is also a concept from ancient cultures such as shamanism in which it was seen that before a healer could heal the healer had to suffer the illness or wound and heal themselves of it. It is then the scars left by the illness or injury that the healer overcomes so that through the experience of the sickness they know how to heal it in others. It is the very core concept behind the description of the "Wounded Healer." The archetype of the south is the healer; power animal, the snake or serpent. Shedding the past like a snake sheds it’s skin, the leader releases the ghosts that haunt them and steal the company’s life force and like a snake ready to strike swiftly at what threatens them. Snake Symbol also is strong as a power symbol in the ways of Warlocks and Witches as well as that of Voodoo, and all cultures where healers are key figures.
The Black Sabbath and Private Ceremonies
The links between Voodoo and Medieval Witchcraft does not stop there either. In Medieval Witchcraft the Black Sabbath was a main feature where the worshipers would go off from the influence of the church and prying eyes to hold their gatherings in secret often performing circle dances. Voodoo has the same tradition and many times the circle dances mentioned are more like those of "spinning in place," similar to the Turkish whirling Dervishes "ones who opens the doors, I.E. to the Spirit world."
Both were called the “dancing religion” because of the technique of inducing spiritual possession via the rhythms and manipulations of the dance. Each drum beat, each rhythm, is a signal to a different spirit to attend the convention. While spirits are not confined to time or place, there are certain things that only mortals can experience; singing, dancing, eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations. The spirits are called in to take possession of the humans and in doing so be compensated for their spiritual powers and interventions by indulging in the human experiences.
In the reports of Medieval Witchcraft the "Devil" possessing the High Priest would select Three witches to be incarnations of his "brides" and the rest would open themselves to being possessed by the demons. In Voodoo ritual possession by the gods and spirits is also sought as a form of communion and seen as a way for people to more directly interact with their deities and ancestral spirits for more positive rather than malicious intents. Neither Witchcraft nor Voodoo separates the sacred from the secular since everything in life, like every day of the week is an interaction with the spirits.
Aspects of these ceremonies that match
One factor is that often those who seek contact with the spirits allow themselves to be hosts of the spirits in question and when priests or priestesses go into a trance and receive the spirit into their bodies, it is believed that the personality of the spirit takes over for a time and that of the willing host more or less becomes repressed and is in their own mind asleep. In some cases a single spirit may spread its power into all who are present. In this trance they will dance and interact for a long period of time. the ritual drummers and musicians will continue to play to help keep things moving along.
It is not uncommon for a fair amount of food and alcohol to be consumed by both the dancers and the musicians.
Because some spirits will at times slip into people without them aware of it, most these rituals were performed as private ceremonies because it is believed one not properly trained or understanding what is going on might become lost and the spirit taking hold may be a malicious one that won’t give the body up any time soon and may than go off and do bad things while in the now victim's body. It is also why some present are also called Keepers of the Ceremony because they wear many charms as signs and as tools and means by which to not accept being possessed and to make sure no onlooker or someone who might wonder in become such a victim and ready to perform the necessary exorcisms of any unwanted spirits.
Reported Feasts, Drinking and Orgies Partially Match
In Medieval Witchcraft it is said that there were feasts and heavy drinking, laughter and at times open acts of sexual contact coming down to be a orgy occurred. in some sects where the Ghede Spirits come and take possession of people sex can in fact occur as a desire of the spirit in question, so this is also another match with the reports of feasting, drinking and music along with orgies though likely exaggerated. However, where there are deities worshiped for their powers over life, death and resurrection, it is not too uncommon for sexual activity to occur both for the religious and sacramental but also for the pleasure of it. This is often represented the most with the figures of such cultures bearing erect penises.
Animal Sacrifice Matches
Medieval witchcraft states of animal sacrifice; this may be a any numbers of animals that provide food and clothing as well as material for art and tools, but the most common of such animals are often livestock such as cattle, goat, sheep, chicken, or even a common dog. Others may include such as snakes and other birds and such things as animal eggs. If the ritual in this case calls for such animal sacrifice, with more often the animal being a hunted or herd animal, they are usually humanely killed by slitting their throat and blood is collected in a vessel such as a large bowl, jar, or similar apparatus. The possessed dancer may drink some of the blood and many times the blood of the sacrificed animal may be sprinkled on the participants. This is also what occurs in voodoo. Often the sacrificed animal becomes part of the feast so that the spirits and the worshipers have more or less shared in the sacrifice.
The Purpose of Animal Sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is a method of consecrating food for consumption by followers of their gods and ancestors. In areas where the general sense is an unnecessary act, many have turned to an alternative method of purchasing meat from a store or slaughterhouse and take the blood and pour it out as part of the ritual and then after dedicating the meat to the gods and ancestor spirits cook and consume the food in the communion. The animal is not simply slaughtered just to be slaughtered. However, those in farming communities tend to still perform the ritual sacrifice of such animals today and some may include as part of the ritual a thanks to the animal spirit for its sacrifice and ask the gods and spirits to help the animal to be reborn healthy and strong in its new incarnation, showing a form of respect for life with the understanding that the animal gave its life so that others may live and thank the gods for providing the animal itself to sustain them.
Human Sacrifice Does not Match Entirely
The inclusion of human sacrifice is not common to many of the medieval reports of Witchcraft or that of Voodoo, however this does not discount some may have occurred in some cases and incidents of those performing evil arts in both Witchcraft and Voodoo are shunned often by other groups as a corruption of their faith and traditions. However there are a few reports that some did in fact do so and even performed acts of ritual cannibalism. There does however occur plenty of samples of "Sanctioned" sacrifice of people to the Judea-Christian Hybrid God and their Bible.
This of course may have been exaggerated in medieval times to paint the whole feast and pagan practices as horrific and diabolical in service to an evil being. However it must also be noted that in the early days of Christianity Christians were likewise accused of such as a mystery cult in the Old Roman Empire where it was said they selected a victim, ritually crucified them, killed them, drank their blood and ate them as a communion. The reality is there is no religion that has not on some level or under some cloak committed some form of human sacrifice at some point, be it the ritual killing of "undesirables," perceived cultural criminal, and even those who believed their own ritualized murder as an act of sacred suicide, of which there are many examples even within their own texts.
Symbolic Cannibalism of a Divine Body
There is however symbolic cannibalism in the Christian communion where they use wine to represent the divine blood and bread to represent the divine body and by consuming the body and the blood they spiritually take divinity into the community and therefore become one in essence through the divine blood and flesh of the Christ that died in their place for sins that keeps them away from their idea of God. It’s all part of the idea of consuming the sacrificial animal body where the energy and blood goes to the spirits and the flesh and bone goes to the participants and in this they become one in the shared essence of the sacrifice. Therefore to "eat a god or goddess" some essence or power of that god or goddess becomes part of the people.
Distinction of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
In Voodoo the creator God and Three Goddesses of Fate is viewed as not beings who involve themselves directly with human beings or affairs. In most Witchcraft traditions; The God and Goddesses, though remote, at times will involve themselves if properly approached, just not always. In Voodoo the lesser gods and spirits are more directly and more extremely involved with us. In Medieval Witchcraft the spirits only involve themselves when the feel like it or are properly compelled to do so be it for good or bad reasons, and usually with their own agendas. In Voodoo the general view is more pantheistic in that everything in the natural world is believed to be part of God. This differs in Medieval Witchcraft which sees all things connected by the same power that comes from the Divine, but is distinct from it. Both do agree all things in nature therefore contain sacred and divine power, with some places having a natural higher intensity as sacred places than others.
Agreements of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
Both agree that the spirits they can join us in conversation, dancing, even eating, drinking and smoking and, in many cases during ceremonial gathers do. However, In Voodoo it is believed the spirits need a person to enter to directly interact with us. In Medieval Witchcraft, this is only partly true in the sense it may be easier for some spirits, but others can appear visibly outside the people and exist very well independently and for a time assume some physical form. Both also agree on one main point. This is essentially to not piss them off. So sacrifices and offerings are made to them and their advice or direction is considered best heeded and listened to carefully less one risks such anger or discontinuation of their willingness to help or interact with people.
In Voodoo and Medieval Witchcraft the will of the spirits can be seen in everyday occurrences and events. When good things happen, it can be assumed that their will is being followed and/or what they have been asked for has been given and they have been appropriately thanked. When bad things happen, the opposite can be inferred. But Medieval Witchcraft also believes the personal efforts of the community in the everyday can also be embraced and that the spirits simply allow it to be. So the spirits are not always as involved as some think.
Another Distinction of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
Medieval Witchcraft unlike many of the concepts of Voodoo also believes there are many beings or spirits who just do not care about anything to do with the earth or humans or anything in it, and are more the random traveling type who generally prefer to be left alone and not bothered, and if bothered rarely act compassionately. Voodoo acknowledges this may be true for a few but most spirits are far more present and involved.
Serving or being Served?
Both Medieval Witchcraft and what we understand of Modern Voodoo was the idea of serving the gods and spirits. In Modern times it is generally put that Modern Witchcraft makes the spirits serve them and in Voodoo still the duty of humans to serve the Spirits. In both cases its wrong. The actual reality is the deal between the Spirit World and that of the Human World is they serve and help one another. In many cases one must earn the right to call on them often through intense initiation rites, and in other cases the spirits simply choose who will represent them.
On the other hand, some are able to repel and therefore Send Away unwanted presences because they themselves possess a powerful inner spirit of their own and may have the power to call on the service of lesser or minor spirits to aid them or serve them, but when it comes to the other more powerful beings, one must show why such should help and if they do its often for a price, which can be a hefty one to say the least.
Therefore in various sources of Witchcraft and in Voodoo sects the general thoughts on the matter are diverse. For Three Covens its concluded all things are true but its best to respect the spirits that deserve it and deal with trouble makers if they show up. And it is generally advised that it is best to simply leave the spirit realm alone and not mess with it unless a truly dire or deep need is present and all other means to gain aid has been totally exhausted.
Synchronizing and Not Synchronizing
There are some also basic fundamental differences between Voodoo and the Old Crafts. One of the main factors is it did NOT merge with Christianity, and it tended to maintain the old beings as simply ancestral spirits. Also rather than hold onto a mass variety of diverse deities it simply retained the One God and Three Goddesses in their primary and fundamental structure which Catholics later called a perversion of their own Trinity doctrines even though as it has been shown it is fundamentally distinct.
Also contrary to what most believe, the religion also avoided as much Occult roots as possible and retained more of the generally called Shamanistic practices of old, though it is not Shamanism specifically, it did keep this process of development in the manner of folk charms and symbolism, and some old medicinal lore often only applied as "wives tales" and home remedies, and elements of the beliefs continued on in old Fairy Tales. As far as spirits are concerned there was retained a general belief in fairies and elves for the most part along with spirits of ancestors, while preserving the essentials of the primary pantheons. Many of the different families that held this simplified structure also kept such to themselves as more or less family traditions and it was not something you could become initiated in, but rather inherited.
You were born into it or married someone from this tradition, and often the information was passed from father to son down the line while information for the women was passed from mother to daughter. Only when there was an only child or no children of their own, would it be passed on to the children of a brother or sister, or their grandchildren. And if there was only one heir, the information from both sides would be passed to them as it was able to be retained. If there was no successors of any kind the information would go with them to the grave.
But most often such would certainly not write such things down even then for fear of being persecuted, especially by members of their own families that had come to adopt such as Christianity. This did not mean they did not celebrate the holidays with everyone as everyone else did, nor did they try and rename them under their own terms, but simply looked at such with a different reverence, sometimes introducing or reintroducing old folk customs as something their families could still at least hold to. Otherwise the rest remained silent, some parts lost over time and some things to be rediscovered. This is the true origin of so called Family Traditional Crafts or Covens.
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Fact: Voodoo was not "brought" to French Colonies. It was brought by the French and Scottish Colonists to their African Slaves and included elements of Romany culture. It is a French Word. Vodou pronounced as "v oʊ d uː in French. It was also written as Voodoo in English. It is Not and never was an African Word. It is also rooted in the Norse Germanic sources for the Supreme God or Ruling God called such as Vodan/Wodan, and simply meant in origin "spirit."
Its earliest known sources only date back to around the 1800's as Voodoo while Hoodoo is found to originate from Pictish Scotland and dates back to around 300BC-300AD. Its original meaning includes "haunted and enchanted." It also picked up a lot of Ramony rituals and well documented many of them are from India's subcontinent and features from dharmic religions. It also picked up many aspects of Celtic, Pict, Germanic, Norse, English, Dutch, French, Icelandic, Scandinavian, Russian, Slavic:)) and many other fragments of customs along the way over several centuries.
Fact: Witchcraft also at one time included other terms including Warlockcraft as well as Witchery and Warlockery. It was not until the 1600’s that anything also called sorcery, the black arts, forbidden arts and Necromancy became generalized under the term of Witchcraft as a generic catch all and was a main product of Heinrich Kramer and his fictitious torture manual targeting women out of his own clear and perverse hatred of women and their Witches Craft, as he defined it in the infamous book called the Hammer of the Witches.
Heinrich Kramer did not invent or created the word "Witch" but he did come to re-define it to mean: "the wicked that follow Satan." He was not actually supported by the Church at this time since by this time believing in the existence of Warlocks and Witches or anything of folklore for that matter was deemed a heresy in itself because by this time the historic Warlocks and Witches became no more than mythic elves and fairies with demonic tendencies including seen as themselves a sort of Incubus or Succubus.
Half Truth Teaching: Many claim Voodoo is named after a God named Vodun or Vudun, Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, and simply means "spirit" in the Fon and Ewe languages. If true than why do you not find the supreme God of Voodoo called Vodun? It is because it is a fiction, based on assumption, and run with out of ignorance. Voden, Vodun, etc does mean "mind", "soul" or "spirit," but in the European sources of the language unless all are ready and willing to accept that the old Silk Road shows the travels of the beliefs were even further widespread than the racist morons on all sides somehow have an issue with for really no damn good reasons.
Full and Truthful Teaching: This is clearly an outright lie as it is clearly directly taken from the many European names from which we get today's name God for the Supreme Being, from such as Vodun also spelled Wodun, as well as Vodan, Wodan, Wotan, Gottan, Gotten, Goatten, Goedin, Godan (shortened in modern times as simply God) Othinus, Othin, Odin, Oden, Noden, Nodhin, Wode, Wude, Wute, Wudes Heer, Wuden Hern, and many more related dialectic roots. Many of these figures early on were once separate figures, some were once historic figures named after the Highest, but in time became identified as one and the same.
He was also called such as Vafud, Vegtam (Wanderer),Gangler (“Traveller”), Ómi (“Noisy one”), Vidforull (“Far traveller”), or, as in Saxo, Viator Indefessus, “Unwearied Traveller.” His appearance as the classic Warlock is also not to be overlooked as he is called Sidhottr (“Customary Hat”) for Sid means Tradition or Customary and Hottr means Hat, Harbard (“grey beard”), and Skidskegg (“long whiskers”) in that whiskers also applied as a term for a beard. His connection with Death is also well known as such names included drauga drottinn (The Lord with ghosts), hanga drottinn (Hanged Lord), hanga tyr (Hanged Victory) and hanga-god, (God of the Hanged).
Hanging was not always for reasons of execution as it later came to be but was also used as a ritual to come close to death and experience the spirit world since he is also God of the afterlife as Val-fadir, (Grave Father) which is curious since Alföðr literally means All Father minus the "V." Also considering that in Voodoo in many sources the central shrine is a pillar or Tree as the central principle where one "meets" the spirits and holds council with them, the links are only brought into greater clarity.
In many sources of Voodoo it is presented that the "Mambos" or female priesthood are the ones to whom the spirits come to first and as such also called by the "Houngans" or male priests to the ceremonies. This is also a similar trait in many sources of female messengers and servants of the All Father. This would also mean his primarily female servants names as Valkyries does not actually mean Choosers of the Slain as much as more literally Val= Grave and Kori = Chooser, and therefore more literally means Grave Chooser. Valr, also evolved into the modern word Valor which means Courage in the face of Death or overwhelming odds.
In this sense Valkyries can also mean the Courageously Chosen or Chosen by Courage since this also fits the stories that Valkyries were seen as the Chosen ones from ancestral women who lived and died by honor, as warriors and noted for their Valor with the whole death before dishonor mentality and servants of Vodan himself. As his messengers they also were called Wish-maidens, because they fulfilled Odin’s wishes about the slain and the spared. On one occasion in the tales Odin, as god of the dead, acted as ferryman of the dead to the Other World under the name Harbard (Grey Beard).
Vooodoo is also often connected specifically with various forms of ritual magic as is the God under the name Vodan, when he is named Aldenn Gautr, “Elder Enchanter" not as some called it the Enchanter Old, since Gautr means Enchanter, Aldenn means Elder, Proof is because the word Forn means Old and the name was not Forn Gautr. But this should also catch one's attention if they have paid close observation of what has been stated so far.
Remember they claim Vodun is from the Fon Language. Forn and Fon both means Old. It again is not African in Origin. But this is among the many issues how many tend to simply put a generic spin and move from the precise meaning and their true roots that throws off the original context, sources and information that most simply take at face value. Their statements are purely political, and the rest simply regurgitate the same misinformation they have taken to be true without looking at the sources or facts of the information.
Voodoo's Baron Samedi and Norse Germanic Odin:
When we look also how her male companion Baron Samedi also is embraced in Voodoo and one takes only a little time to seek it out, this figure also takes on Vodan's aspects and the name given to him is Mr. Saturday which is what Samedi means literally from the French and also embraces the role as a sort of Grim Reaper. It is well known that the so called Angel of Death as the Grim Reaper usually applied in most cases with Samael as the ruling Angel of death and sometimes considered Satan (as most Ruling Pagan Gods were) was a spin off the name Grimnir, which literally means Hooded One, and Masked One.
Even the slang word of Scottish Hoodoo which applies to Haunted and Enchanted can also be taken to mean "Hooded" and some sources in Scottish also indicate that this is factual. Like Odin he is the God of Magic, Life, and Death to name a few and has similar traits, including chasing after mortal women for various reasons, many times to sire a hero, and other times to take something from a woman such as magical knowledge or a child to raise on his own to fulfill some needed role.
Both also can appear under many forms and many names as a secret traveler, but when such gives a gift it always comes at a hefty price. "God of Voodoo" is the God Vodun, which is the French form of the Norse and Saxon Vodan/Wodan and the modern English and Icelandic Odin, to name but a few of the diverse dialectic expressions and only shows how "one primary figure" was seen in many ways. It is also not too unlikely that a once historical figure credited with such feats and stories was also named after the Highest One and over time the Divine figure and the human figure became blurred over time.
Consorts of the God:
In any case the, which we find between the more Celtic/Scottish Goddess Brigit, and the Catholic Saint of the same name who was herself a pagan woman that adopted Catholic religion and elevated to a saint status, and over time the Goddess whom she was named after and the actual figure became identified as one and the same, and also adopted in "Voodoo" as Goddess as well in hybrid form. But she was not the only one in some Voodoo sects, but was nonetheless also adopted as the Three Brigits and is of Scottish roots and she has as such three rings. She is often identical to that also of the Goddess Jord The second one is Erzulie Freda taken from that as a form of another consort of Odin called in old Saxon by the name Fri, Freya and Frigg, Frigga, as well as Frua.
As such she also has several forms and is seen as bisexual and wears three rings symbolic of her many forms in union with the Three primary forms of the same God, but also represents she is one of His Three Wives whom she is also seen as co-married to as well. The Third is sometimes called La Sirène who is also matched to the consort of the God under her name as Rinda, also at times called Randa, Ran, and Rada. She also has Three Rings.
Fact: It is also well documented that some Scottish and other European women and men taught their house slaves and bond servants Hoodoo poppet magic and folk medicine as well as Folklore at the same time Catholic priests were teaching the house slaves about God the Father, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, Virgin Mary, and Saints. In turn many of the Bond Servants and Slaves had made similar comparisons to their remembered native roots and oral traditions that helped them maintain a certain sense of identity.
Some also retained a bit of knowledge of their pre-Christian beliefs and continued to pass these basic concepts down as folk traditions. The end result was the slaves combined the words Hoodoo and French Vodun to get voodoo. It is also well known that since the word Voodoo is modern but the ancient Scottish word Hoodoo is not can be proven by 2000 years of history in such place names as "hoodoo mountain", "hoodoo gorge", "hoodoo rock", "hoodoo valley", and the hundreds of other places in Wales and Scotland. Voodoo is therefore a hybrid of French and Scottish words and slang along with many related and blended European roots.
Fact: Hoodoo as a name of a practice can be found in Britannic documents dating as far back as 300BC. The word Voodoo does not exist in any document prior to the 1700's and is a Mix of the Scottish Hoodoo and the French Vodu.
Fact: Many of the "Catholic Figures" came from European Folklore and pre-Christian Deities reformed as "saints." Some of them were assimilated by African slaves who found a Christian Saint with similar characteristics of their African deities known as an Orisha.
Fact: A Witch Doctor was not a generic term for a male or female member of a coven as Warlock was the male term and Witch the female.
Fact: A Witch Doctor was by translation to mean: "hunter of witches or one who drives out witches and their so called black magic." Though primarily male, some were female as well but they were themselves neither Warlocks or Witches.
Fact: A practitioner of Hoodoo or Sidutru is CORRECTLY called a Warlock or Witch meaning the same as Enchanter or Enchantress.
Fact: A Warlock in "Voodoo is the same as a Houngan, as a Witch is the same as a Mambo and a Witch Doctor is regarded in many cases the same as an infamous Bokur.
Fact: Some of the European Warlocks and Witches maintained some of their own traditions and shared them with their African Kin and were Not as racially motivated as many people of the time, and as such also found in African cultures similar expressions of deities and rituals they felt were more in common than different, just as many African religious leaders adopted many of the occult studies on their own as a way to reclaim some of their lost culture being systematically taken from them by slave masters and imposed religion.
Fact: It was mostly among the British that the term Witch Doctor was applied to the cultures they deemed "Backward, Primitive, Superstitious and Ignorant" and applied such usage rather insultingly for African, Indonesian, or South American and generic to North American Indian tribes and their spiritual practices, along with the term Shaman, which had nothing to do with these cultures, counter to what such cultures and their people called their spiritual leaders and healers as a catch all set of terms. The term witch doctor was not used in relation to African tribes until the late 1800's. In short they had no care for specific accuracy and big on sensationalism to get "money" and fame as "know it alls" among their Victorian Snobs and peers,
Fact: Less noble occultists often used "slaves" to become hosts for spirit possession considering them expendable in their black arts, some of which included cruel medical experiments also well documented, but Occultists took most of their concepts from the Kabbalah and Eastern Mysticism.
Fact: When such was brought to the America's it picked up even more spirituality from Native American sources such as Medicine Traditions and belief in Sacred Spirits of Nature, Totemic concepts, the Great Spirit, and the Ancestors. Along with this also came the term Vi and Vé from Norse roots meaning "Vi = shrine or sacred enclosure and Ve = practice" was taken up to become the Vévé or beybey, and seen in Voodoo to act as a "beacon" for the spirits as their personal symbols or Sigils including such as Runes.
Fact: Working the sacred things and "conjuring" required Three Facets to the shared traditional mixes, namely "inspiration that came through manic or prophetic knowledge, The will that expresses desire or internal thought that leads to action, and Spiritual power residing in the external world, and in sacred objects as sort of ritual batteries of power.
Like so many other cultures, by doing this, the slaves of the time were able to covertly worship their old and reformatted gods while outwardly appearing to have accepted Catholic Christianity and also gleaned some of the occult knowledge along the way developing their own form of a powerful religion as a result. The religions known as Santería, Candomblé, and Vodou, are all syncretic New World Religions born on the backs of slaves adapted from European sources and their own diverse native roots into hybrid regional forms to maintain some form of culture and mutual support.
This also means many unrelated "African Religions" prior to the slave trade became merged after the slave trade began and many were sold into slavery many times from their own people and African tribes seeing such as a means to seize land of rivals by helping Europeans take them away and even get paid themselves for slaves brought to them. Though this is not often taught it is a fact that many African tribes enslaved other African tribes themselves and sold them into slavery.
Europeans did not simply come in and dominate Africa and conquered everyone. Also not all African slaves were from the same tribe and likewise had different beliefs, and not all of them were adults and often had no solid formed roots with their people and accepted the religion given to them as it was given. It was only much later that "Voodoo" began to Africanized in a mixed theology but also took in the distinctions of the cultures around them. For example in Mexico the Voodoo there is different because it drew in such source material as from the Incas and Aztec sources that carried over into Catholic Mexican and South and Central American roots.
The Voodoo of the North American sects took from the native Traditions carried into European culture along side the various forms of Christianity from North American tribes and its concepts of the Great Spirit and Totemic symbolism in its form found in such locations as New Orleans Creole. In Haiti, it became significantly distinct and more fluently Creole African rooted and was one of the only Slave Colonies to have successfully overthrown their slave masters and were able to further develop their own culture.
Similarities and Differences of Voodoo and Classic Witchcraft
"Spirit Possession."
In many of the trails against the accused Warlocks and Witches there was the inclusion of allowing members to be willingly possessed by demons (which were actually ancestor spirits and deities of a rather wide variety) and speak to the demons through the one possessed. It also matches Voodoo where the Houngan tends to call forth the spirits and the Mambos become possessed by them as mediums and through the witnesses are communicated with before these generally benevolent spirits move on and leave the mediums often times dazed and exhausted. It is not specific to European or African customs either. All ancient cultures held this practice and belief that their gods and goddesses, ancestors and other spirits can possess and therefore incarnate through the still living, including animals. In most cases it was for benevolent reasons, but many forced themselves on to unwilling hosts and it is these few that ancient banishment rites are well documented.
"Wild Sexual Dances."
In many reports and trails against such accused came the stories of wild naked dances in which from the exhaustion while "possessed" the people would bark, howl and make animal like noises and tear off their clothing and dance about wildly and naked which sometimes inspired sexual arousal and sometimes could break down into an orgy. In most Voodoo rites the same sort of dancing occurs and the clothing removed because of the restrictions and the heavy sweating that occurs as many would seek to dance themselves into a trance to make it easier to communicate with the spirits and deities which also sometimes communicated with sounds like that mimicking animals such as the hiss of snakes, the howl of wolves, the bellowing of a bear or the roar of a lion as totemic forms of the spirit messengers of the highest ones. It is true some of the figures are seen and known to be sexual in nature but in most cases orgies do not actually occur, but nudity does. This is not however an expected aspect of "Tradition."Other cultures in hot climates also tend to have few articles of clothing and some have none at all for the simple fact that such clothing craft was unknown to them till it was introduced (and in many cases forced to wear).
"The Devil's Mark."
The Devil's Mark indicated that an individual was a Warlock or Witch. It was noted in the 15th to 16th century that it was believed to be the permanent marking of the Devil on his initiates to seal their obedience and service to him. He created the mark by raking his claw across their flesh, or by making a blue or red brand using a hot iron. In Voodoo many times similar Tattoos or ritual Scar creation is produced to indicate membership and rank within the culture or traditions and the Blue tended to be for men and the red for women. Many cultures have used ritual markings through tattoos and scars for this purpose but also used them as methods for treating pain. As a scar such would naturally have no pain and depending how thick or deep it was, would not bleed when poked or cut on the surface. This was used in such trials to prove one's occult association.
"The Foul Feast."
The sick part of the trials was to proclaim the eating of dung, corpses of the dead and aborted babies and infant sacrifice. In reality These feasts tended to not have human sacrifice or such gross meals as this was Church propaganda. However, animals including chickens and cattle were and are sacrificed, the blood drained and offered to the spirits, used also as part of purification rites as protective blessings and the portion of the animals offered in a sacrificial fire such as unused portions as the fats and organs that would be thrown away, and serve as a community meal in celebration where while the spirits were within their hosts could enjoy the food and drink prepared for them in their honor.
This is noted in many ancient cultures which Voodoo also retains to this day and some other sects that practice native traditions still in part perform. But overall aside from the gross aspect feasts did occur as part of worship services and celebration of the good will of the spirits that chose to come and speak to them. Today, many in Urban cultures tend to no longer do this and any meal sources are regarded as a blessing and many times Wine instead of blood is used to carry on with the basic concepts behind the rites.
Important Fact to not be overlooked:
Many of their European used slaves to practice occult arts and would teach them what was needed to assist these slave owners needed them to perform that their fellow "white clergy" would be against, and most would not as easily be drawn into participation with because of its occult concepts. This included not only mix with Catholic religion and the Saints but also European mysticism, Freemasonry, Kabbalistic strand of later Satanism that also formed around this period of the 1800's and other influences such as old Grimoires and Hermetic occultism and all the generalized practices called Witchcraft and also called Hoodoo as early as the 16th Century meaning Conjuring, and was generally of Scottish roots largely in North American Colonies.
Every spirit has his or her own unique veve, although regional differences have led to different veves for the same spirits in some cases. Sacrifices and offerings are usually placed upon them, with food and drink being most commonly used in the West, which is actually closer to the old European traditions. Others are purely symbolic with no attachment to a particular entity. These factors are why veve of Voodoo look so much like many of the diverse symbols drawn from Grimoires, or old books of sorcery and ritual evocations of spirits, because it is from which these have been derived and likewise adapted from to begin with, especially the works of the Goetia or Lesser key of Solomon, which typically include instructions on how to create magical objects and call on supernatural entities such as angels of the Heavens, spirits of the dead in Purgatory, and demons of the underworld or Hell but all under the power of Divine Authority.
Comparison to Warlock and Witch and Witch Doctors
The information as show does not stop there into the origins of the terms. The same concepts of Warlocks, Witches and Witch Doctors have the same concepts within the structure of the clergy ideas of the terms used within the Voodoo synchronized occult religious structure as follows:
A Warlock is the same as a hùngan/Houngan
A Witch is the same as a Mambi/Mambo
A Witch Doctor is the same as a Buku/Bokor
The elements of the religion also is the same:
Both the Warlock and the Witch are responsible for the role to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole. The Warlocks are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage and men's health, while the Witch while sharing some of these roles are more geared to women's health and the matters of children. Both are involved as well with counseling in matters of households and over all traditional family values that make the community overall strong.
Structure is in clergy is also different than modern Voodoo:
Old Tradition held a basic concept that the Warlock is attended by Three Witches. It is a long standing fact in Folklore from around the ancient world and such are given many names only specific to the language. In general the Three Witches are universally presented as being the main practitioners and teachers of Divination while the Warlock is the one who is the practitioner of “the voice of callings,” either through chant, poetic song that tells of “legends” and reciting sacred names of the gods and spirits of ancestors.” The simple answer is they would represent the Divine Unity of the One God and the Three Goddesses.
This is an important distinction from Modern Voodoo:
The Warlock is the only one with authority to ordain other priestesses, but the Witch has the authority to ordain priests and priestesses which has some basis in sexuality customs, in which it is considered normal for a Warlock to be purely heterosexual and a Witch to be bisexual but when it come to ordaining a priest (warlock) it is only one the witches will have in common. The same is true of the Warlock that it will only be three witches he will have in common. The other distinction as well is that the Warlock also tends to have the highest authority and the Three Witches serve equal with mutual authority and act as his council.
While this is indeed the case, there is also more to it. Many such sources make it clear as well that in later generations that Warlocks would teach Witches the "Voice of Callings" while the Witches would teach the Warlocks "The Oracles of Divination," which in this shows long ago there was equality being developed among the Warlocks and Witches, in which to be effective in the rites, someone has to sing the sacred songs, someone to ask the questions, someone to be the medium for the inspiration of the answers and someone to record and interpret the meanings.
Within the refined traditions the positions often come forth when the Warlock has called the Spirits into the presence of them where the Warlock is the Speaker, and the Three Witches are The Asker, The Recorder, and The Interpreter, but even this practice is rare and sometimes it is seen that any of them be they a warlock or witch will be given a word of knowledge, but in all cases one is always a speaker, one is always an asker, one is always a recorder, and one is always an interpreter. It is never a stand alone all encompassing function.
Factual Comparisons
Some of the Deities of Voodoo reveal and betray their original origins as being European originally. Baron Samedi means Baron Saturday. He is called a spirit of death and magic primarily and is derived from one of the named titles of Vodan (Odin) under the name of Grímnir meaning the "Masked One." It survives in the same name of the Grim Reaper since the 15th century, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body and to guide the deceased to the next world without having any control over the fact of the victim's death.
Loko is the same as the original Loki derived also from Lokke whose name means (binding) who was confused with another deity, but is the same being associated with spring seasons healers and medicinal plants and herbs. Another connection is also revealed where is both cases he is the expression of the first Vardlok/Warlock/Houngan and also The Woodland Spirit Loca/Loga meaning "life" of the Tree, and from which a Log book is a "life record," also called a journal.
Another Maman Brigitte taken from the Scottish Goddess Brigit and equated as a consort of Baron Samedi/Grimnir but as a counter part as also a spring time spirit of the late spring and early summer but later applied as one protects gravestones in cemeteries if they are properly marked with a cross images like the swastika or solar cross symbols.
The lists of comparison are literally endless but are not "originally indigenous" to the specific African cultures from which many of the slaves had come, but European with which they synchronized the concepts and traditions brought with them. There was also no specific "number" of coven members and the concept of 13 being the structure of such is based solely in the idea of Christ and his 12 Apostles or in reverse the Anti-Christ and the 12 False Prophets.
The Term Coven:
Coven is used by Voodoo as well, having come from European sources which was originally derived from the late 1500's A.D. from the Scottish meaning a gathering of any kind as in the English word convene, and taken from the word Covenant meaning an agreement, deal, or binding promise of things to do and not to do and therefore "The customs and traditions put into practice" among the people including a family, relatives and kinsmen.
Witches Mark and Voodoo Scarification
Another traditional report if Medieval tradition was to find a witch was to look for a "Witch's Mark, or Devil's Mark." This mark indicated that an individual was a witch or warlock and pledged themselves into worship and service of the "Black Arts." Part of this lore which everything Pagan was "evil," The Witch or Devil's mark was believed to be the permanent marking of the Devil on his initiates to seal their obedience and service to him.
He created the mark by raking his claw or blades across their flesh, or by making a blue or red brand using a hot iron more often a needle such as used in the creation of tattoos. Endorphins can be released in the scarification process that can induce a euphoric state. This state is often the point that one may have hallucinations and others believe a spiritual/psychic experience because such can also lead to a hypnotic trance state.
The Connection with the cousin tradition of Voodoo is Clear when compared to the rites of ritual scarification. These extremely painful episodes are carried out upon "advanced members of the religious hierarchy as a sign of their status. Like the Witch's or Devil's Mark, such as these in the Voodoo tradition marking the priesthood were an instant form of visual recognition for the higher ranks of the tradition. Likewise this priesthood and priestess-hood was held in high regarded in high respect in such pagan communities just as much as it is in many of the voodoo communities.
Where in the European Witchcraft tradition the "mark" was given to the new witch or warlock of the tradition by a Priest as being the host and incarnation of the God (Devil for the Christian writers) in many voodoo communities it is only the women or priestesses as host and incarnation of the Goddesses that apply the marks.
However this tends to vary from group to group. The other fact is that these scares are often raised on purpose. this mark in Medieval descriptions match the form as such are often described as having a "wart-like" appearance. Any raised scar can also occur as to have a wart-like appearance called Keloids which are raised scars.They are also related as well to the old symbolism of the Wounded Healer. The basic concept being that a healer is not going to understand the sickness or suffering till they personal experience it, survive it and learn how to treat and cure it. Kinda brings a better perspective on the whole corpse on a cross thing don't it.
On the other hand it is also a concept from ancient cultures such as shamanism in which it was seen that before a healer could heal the healer had to suffer the illness or wound and heal themselves of it. It is then the scars left by the illness or injury that the healer overcomes so that through the experience of the sickness they know how to heal it in others. It is the very core concept behind the description of the "Wounded Healer." The archetype of the south is the healer; power animal, the snake or serpent. Shedding the past like a snake sheds it’s skin, the leader releases the ghosts that haunt them and steal the company’s life force and like a snake ready to strike swiftly at what threatens them. Snake Symbol also is strong as a power symbol in the ways of Warlocks and Witches as well as that of Voodoo, and all cultures where healers are key figures.
The Black Sabbath and Private Ceremonies
The links between Voodoo and Medieval Witchcraft does not stop there either. In Medieval Witchcraft the Black Sabbath was a main feature where the worshipers would go off from the influence of the church and prying eyes to hold their gatherings in secret often performing circle dances. Voodoo has the same tradition and many times the circle dances mentioned are more like those of "spinning in place," similar to the Turkish whirling Dervishes "ones who opens the doors, I.E. to the Spirit world."
Both were called the “dancing religion” because of the technique of inducing spiritual possession via the rhythms and manipulations of the dance. Each drum beat, each rhythm, is a signal to a different spirit to attend the convention. While spirits are not confined to time or place, there are certain things that only mortals can experience; singing, dancing, eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations. The spirits are called in to take possession of the humans and in doing so be compensated for their spiritual powers and interventions by indulging in the human experiences.
In the reports of Medieval Witchcraft the "Devil" possessing the High Priest would select Three witches to be incarnations of his "brides" and the rest would open themselves to being possessed by the demons. In Voodoo ritual possession by the gods and spirits is also sought as a form of communion and seen as a way for people to more directly interact with their deities and ancestral spirits for more positive rather than malicious intents. Neither Witchcraft nor Voodoo separates the sacred from the secular since everything in life, like every day of the week is an interaction with the spirits.
Aspects of these ceremonies that match
One factor is that often those who seek contact with the spirits allow themselves to be hosts of the spirits in question and when priests or priestesses go into a trance and receive the spirit into their bodies, it is believed that the personality of the spirit takes over for a time and that of the willing host more or less becomes repressed and is in their own mind asleep. In some cases a single spirit may spread its power into all who are present. In this trance they will dance and interact for a long period of time. the ritual drummers and musicians will continue to play to help keep things moving along.
It is not uncommon for a fair amount of food and alcohol to be consumed by both the dancers and the musicians.
Because some spirits will at times slip into people without them aware of it, most these rituals were performed as private ceremonies because it is believed one not properly trained or understanding what is going on might become lost and the spirit taking hold may be a malicious one that won’t give the body up any time soon and may than go off and do bad things while in the now victim's body. It is also why some present are also called Keepers of the Ceremony because they wear many charms as signs and as tools and means by which to not accept being possessed and to make sure no onlooker or someone who might wonder in become such a victim and ready to perform the necessary exorcisms of any unwanted spirits.
Reported Feasts, Drinking and Orgies Partially Match
In Medieval Witchcraft it is said that there were feasts and heavy drinking, laughter and at times open acts of sexual contact coming down to be a orgy occurred. in some sects where the Ghede Spirits come and take possession of people sex can in fact occur as a desire of the spirit in question, so this is also another match with the reports of feasting, drinking and music along with orgies though likely exaggerated. However, where there are deities worshiped for their powers over life, death and resurrection, it is not too uncommon for sexual activity to occur both for the religious and sacramental but also for the pleasure of it. This is often represented the most with the figures of such cultures bearing erect penises.
Animal Sacrifice Matches
Medieval witchcraft states of animal sacrifice; this may be a any numbers of animals that provide food and clothing as well as material for art and tools, but the most common of such animals are often livestock such as cattle, goat, sheep, chicken, or even a common dog. Others may include such as snakes and other birds and such things as animal eggs. If the ritual in this case calls for such animal sacrifice, with more often the animal being a hunted or herd animal, they are usually humanely killed by slitting their throat and blood is collected in a vessel such as a large bowl, jar, or similar apparatus. The possessed dancer may drink some of the blood and many times the blood of the sacrificed animal may be sprinkled on the participants. This is also what occurs in voodoo. Often the sacrificed animal becomes part of the feast so that the spirits and the worshipers have more or less shared in the sacrifice.
The Purpose of Animal Sacrifice
Animal sacrifice is a method of consecrating food for consumption by followers of their gods and ancestors. In areas where the general sense is an unnecessary act, many have turned to an alternative method of purchasing meat from a store or slaughterhouse and take the blood and pour it out as part of the ritual and then after dedicating the meat to the gods and ancestor spirits cook and consume the food in the communion. The animal is not simply slaughtered just to be slaughtered. However, those in farming communities tend to still perform the ritual sacrifice of such animals today and some may include as part of the ritual a thanks to the animal spirit for its sacrifice and ask the gods and spirits to help the animal to be reborn healthy and strong in its new incarnation, showing a form of respect for life with the understanding that the animal gave its life so that others may live and thank the gods for providing the animal itself to sustain them.
Human Sacrifice Does not Match Entirely
The inclusion of human sacrifice is not common to many of the medieval reports of Witchcraft or that of Voodoo, however this does not discount some may have occurred in some cases and incidents of those performing evil arts in both Witchcraft and Voodoo are shunned often by other groups as a corruption of their faith and traditions. However there are a few reports that some did in fact do so and even performed acts of ritual cannibalism. There does however occur plenty of samples of "Sanctioned" sacrifice of people to the Judea-Christian Hybrid God and their Bible.
This of course may have been exaggerated in medieval times to paint the whole feast and pagan practices as horrific and diabolical in service to an evil being. However it must also be noted that in the early days of Christianity Christians were likewise accused of such as a mystery cult in the Old Roman Empire where it was said they selected a victim, ritually crucified them, killed them, drank their blood and ate them as a communion. The reality is there is no religion that has not on some level or under some cloak committed some form of human sacrifice at some point, be it the ritual killing of "undesirables," perceived cultural criminal, and even those who believed their own ritualized murder as an act of sacred suicide, of which there are many examples even within their own texts.
Symbolic Cannibalism of a Divine Body
There is however symbolic cannibalism in the Christian communion where they use wine to represent the divine blood and bread to represent the divine body and by consuming the body and the blood they spiritually take divinity into the community and therefore become one in essence through the divine blood and flesh of the Christ that died in their place for sins that keeps them away from their idea of God. It’s all part of the idea of consuming the sacrificial animal body where the energy and blood goes to the spirits and the flesh and bone goes to the participants and in this they become one in the shared essence of the sacrifice. Therefore to "eat a god or goddess" some essence or power of that god or goddess becomes part of the people.
Distinction of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
In Voodoo the creator God and Three Goddesses of Fate is viewed as not beings who involve themselves directly with human beings or affairs. In most Witchcraft traditions; The God and Goddesses, though remote, at times will involve themselves if properly approached, just not always. In Voodoo the lesser gods and spirits are more directly and more extremely involved with us. In Medieval Witchcraft the spirits only involve themselves when the feel like it or are properly compelled to do so be it for good or bad reasons, and usually with their own agendas. In Voodoo the general view is more pantheistic in that everything in the natural world is believed to be part of God. This differs in Medieval Witchcraft which sees all things connected by the same power that comes from the Divine, but is distinct from it. Both do agree all things in nature therefore contain sacred and divine power, with some places having a natural higher intensity as sacred places than others.
Agreements of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
Both agree that the spirits they can join us in conversation, dancing, even eating, drinking and smoking and, in many cases during ceremonial gathers do. However, In Voodoo it is believed the spirits need a person to enter to directly interact with us. In Medieval Witchcraft, this is only partly true in the sense it may be easier for some spirits, but others can appear visibly outside the people and exist very well independently and for a time assume some physical form. Both also agree on one main point. This is essentially to not piss them off. So sacrifices and offerings are made to them and their advice or direction is considered best heeded and listened to carefully less one risks such anger or discontinuation of their willingness to help or interact with people.
In Voodoo and Medieval Witchcraft the will of the spirits can be seen in everyday occurrences and events. When good things happen, it can be assumed that their will is being followed and/or what they have been asked for has been given and they have been appropriately thanked. When bad things happen, the opposite can be inferred. But Medieval Witchcraft also believes the personal efforts of the community in the everyday can also be embraced and that the spirits simply allow it to be. So the spirits are not always as involved as some think.
Another Distinction of Medieval Witchcraft and Voodoo
Medieval Witchcraft unlike many of the concepts of Voodoo also believes there are many beings or spirits who just do not care about anything to do with the earth or humans or anything in it, and are more the random traveling type who generally prefer to be left alone and not bothered, and if bothered rarely act compassionately. Voodoo acknowledges this may be true for a few but most spirits are far more present and involved.
Serving or being Served?
Both Medieval Witchcraft and what we understand of Modern Voodoo was the idea of serving the gods and spirits. In Modern times it is generally put that Modern Witchcraft makes the spirits serve them and in Voodoo still the duty of humans to serve the Spirits. In both cases its wrong. The actual reality is the deal between the Spirit World and that of the Human World is they serve and help one another. In many cases one must earn the right to call on them often through intense initiation rites, and in other cases the spirits simply choose who will represent them.
On the other hand, some are able to repel and therefore Send Away unwanted presences because they themselves possess a powerful inner spirit of their own and may have the power to call on the service of lesser or minor spirits to aid them or serve them, but when it comes to the other more powerful beings, one must show why such should help and if they do its often for a price, which can be a hefty one to say the least.
Therefore in various sources of Witchcraft and in Voodoo sects the general thoughts on the matter are diverse. For Three Covens its concluded all things are true but its best to respect the spirits that deserve it and deal with trouble makers if they show up. And it is generally advised that it is best to simply leave the spirit realm alone and not mess with it unless a truly dire or deep need is present and all other means to gain aid has been totally exhausted.
Synchronizing and Not Synchronizing
There are some also basic fundamental differences between Voodoo and the Old Crafts. One of the main factors is it did NOT merge with Christianity, and it tended to maintain the old beings as simply ancestral spirits. Also rather than hold onto a mass variety of diverse deities it simply retained the One God and Three Goddesses in their primary and fundamental structure which Catholics later called a perversion of their own Trinity doctrines even though as it has been shown it is fundamentally distinct.
Also contrary to what most believe, the religion also avoided as much Occult roots as possible and retained more of the generally called Shamanistic practices of old, though it is not Shamanism specifically, it did keep this process of development in the manner of folk charms and symbolism, and some old medicinal lore often only applied as "wives tales" and home remedies, and elements of the beliefs continued on in old Fairy Tales. As far as spirits are concerned there was retained a general belief in fairies and elves for the most part along with spirits of ancestors, while preserving the essentials of the primary pantheons. Many of the different families that held this simplified structure also kept such to themselves as more or less family traditions and it was not something you could become initiated in, but rather inherited.
You were born into it or married someone from this tradition, and often the information was passed from father to son down the line while information for the women was passed from mother to daughter. Only when there was an only child or no children of their own, would it be passed on to the children of a brother or sister, or their grandchildren. And if there was only one heir, the information from both sides would be passed to them as it was able to be retained. If there was no successors of any kind the information would go with them to the grave.
But most often such would certainly not write such things down even then for fear of being persecuted, especially by members of their own families that had come to adopt such as Christianity. This did not mean they did not celebrate the holidays with everyone as everyone else did, nor did they try and rename them under their own terms, but simply looked at such with a different reverence, sometimes introducing or reintroducing old folk customs as something their families could still at least hold to. Otherwise the rest remained silent, some parts lost over time and some things to be rediscovered. This is the true origin of so called Family Traditional Crafts or Covens.
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