This list was inspired by my research for Unsympathetic Magic
- Vodou is one of many syncretic religions that arose in the New World during the 17th-19th centuries. A syncretic religion is a belief system that combines two or more spiritual ideologies into a new faith. Examples of some other syncretic faiths are Santería (Cuba), Candomblé (Brazil), Brujería (Mexico), and Shango (Trinidad).
- Haiti is the birthplace of Vodou, which is a syncretic faith derived from various West African religions and the Roman Catholicism of the French slave-owners of 18th century Haiti—which European religion was usually forced on the African slaves, and ultimately became incorporated into their New World religion.
- Creole, a dialect of French, is the vernacular language of Haiti and the traditional language of Vodou. Being a dialect rather than a formal language, spelling in Creole is uncodified. Therefore, when researching Unsympathetic Magic, I found up to ten accepted ways of spelling various words, phrases, and names. (Ex. voodoo, vodou, vodoun, vaudau, vaudaun, vodu, vodun, etc.)
- As the religion of slaves—people who weren’t taught to read or write—Vodou developed as an oral tradition. There is no foundation text (such as the Koran or the Bible) in Vodou, no written doctrine, and no centralized authority. Customs, rituals, and beliefs are transmitted orally by successive generations of houngans (priests) and mambos (priestesses).
- Until recently, Vodou was dismissed as a superstition rather than respected as a religion. This is mostly due to racism (Vodou is practiced primarily by people of African heritage), but also partly due to outsiders’ misinterpretations of a religion which has no written doctrine. It is estimated that today, there are about sixty million followers of Vodou worldwide.
- Despite the popular concept of Vodou as a religion of curses, black magic, and zombies (all of which are exploited mercilessly in Unsympathetic Magic), the majority of rituals and practices in Vodou are about raising luck, seeking blessings, and ensuring good health.
- Since the slaves who developed Haitian Vodou couldn’t read or write, they developed a highly visual iconography for their religion. Symbols that are often depicted in movies and sensationalist literature as “curses” are actually just “vevers,” the beautiful symbols developed by a non-literate people to identify and invoke the spirits (including spirits of love, prosperity, and protection).
- Catholic imagery also plays a major role in Vodou, with various saints doubling as Vodou spirits; and Vodou altars often have a crucifix on them, along with (for example) spirit bottles, offerings of food and tobacco, silk scarves, dolls representing the spirits, stones, candles, divination cards, etc.
- New Orleans Voodoo arose from similar roots as Haitian Vodou—West Africans enslaved by French Catholics; and there was some contact between Haitian slaves and mainland slaves, since there was contact among their masters. There are more similarities than differences between Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo, but the differences do exist (and are touched on in Unsympathetic Magic).
- Vodou spirits are known as the “loa” (which can be spelled various ways). The loa are a variety of gods, spirits, elements, and the departed. Probably the most “important” loa is Papa Legba. He guards the crossroads between the spirit world and the physical world, so a worshipper must petition him at the start of a ritual or ceremony, asking him to open the gateway between the two worlds.
- The crossroads is a key symbol in Vodou, representing the place where the physical world and the spirit world intersect, and also the place where good and evil intersect. Vodou is practical about human nature, acknowledging that good and evil impulses both exist in everyone and are just part of life, rather than viewing evil as an outside influence or something to be “cast out.”
- There are various “families” of loa in the Vodou pantheon. The three most prominent are: the Rada, who are benevolent spirits (and the ones most often summoned or petitioned); the Petro (angry, violent spirits, some of them genuinely evil; in keeping with Vodou’s view of human nature, most Rada spirits have a Petro “aspect” or counterpart); and the Gédé, who deal with death and the dead.
- Zombies originate in Haitian Vodou and folklore. Contrary to the popular film-and-fiction image of them, zombies don’t eat brains. They don’t eat anything. Because they’re, you know, dead. They’re also not violent unless specifically ordered by their creator to commit violence. They cannot act independently or react to circumstances; they are strictly the obedient slaves of whoever raised them from the grave.
- In Haitian belief, a zombie is not a monster, it’s a victim. Haitians don’t fear zombies, they fear becoming zombies. In sociological terms, zombiism is a metaphor for slavery. In the context of a religion founded by slaves, slavery is the worst thing that can happen to a person. Hence, the fear of being raised from the grave as the living dead, for the sole purpose of being a sorcerer’s undead slave.
- Pharmacological theories of Haitian zombiism are discussed at length in The Serpent and the Rainbow by ethnobotanist Wade Davis, whose interest was attracted by the real-life zombie case of Clairvius Narcisse.
- One of the most famous Vodou loa is a Gédé loa: Baron Samedi, the Lord of Death and guardian of cemeteries. His vever (symbol) incorporates a cross (representing the crossroads between life and death) and a coffin (representing… you know). Baron Samedi is usually portrayed with a skull painted on his face, wearing a top hat and a frock coat with tails.
- As the Lord of Death and guardian of cemeteries, Baron Samedi oversees the process of changing the dead into zombies. If you (or the sorcerer whom you hire) want to raise a zombie, first you have to petition Baron Samedi and persuade him (ex. with generous offerings) to allow it.
- If you want to raise a zombie or curse an enemy, you don’t go to a houngan (priest) or mambo (priestess) for that; they don’t deal in black magic. You go to a sorcerer—a “bokor”—when you want to mess with the dark side. Max and Esther’s adversary in Unsympathetic Magic is a mysterious bokor who’s terrorizing Harlem.
- It’s a sacrilege to invoke the Petro (angry, violent) loa in the same ritual space where the Rada (benevolent) loa are invoked; you go to a separate place to call upon the Petro. And as Esther Diamond discovers in Unsympathetic Magic, the ritual objects, the vevers, and even the colors used are different in a Petro ritual.
- During a Vodou ritual, worshippers invite the loa to possess them. As we see in Unsympathethic Magic, a Vodou spirit trance can look frightening to the uninitiated, but it’s actually a sign of great favor and blessings from the spirit world. Vodou loa also enjoy indulging in physical sensation when they manifest, including drinking lots of rum.
