Voudou is a spiritual counter to the institution of slavery. For humanity to advance, the keeping of slaves (a world-wide practice) needs to be globally outgrown. In the Diaspora, the forced culmination of cultures, namely African, European, and Native Islander created a perfect storm. All three cultures had a societal elite who engaged in selling their people as slaves. All three cultures had people who experienced the horrors of this trade. All three cultures came to mingle on the Island of Hispanola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) and right next door the Island of Puerto Rico.
The spiritual practices of each culture came to bear against one another. But instead fighting for dominance, an act of divine intercession occurred. All three divinities merged and found that cooperative action is best of the survival of their respective people.
In my lineage of Voudou, there is a story which best describes this situation. Other houses have the iconography, but they do not seem to know the story. Out of love and respect for Voudou, I will share the story to once and for all erase the notion Voudou is only for certain people. In Dominican Voudou and Puerto Rican Voudou, the image of Our Lady of Charity hovering over three men in a boat is a prevalent one. But ask who those men are, and you likely will draw blank stares and cryptic answers.
They are the Three-Johns. Black John, Indio John, and White John. Representatives of the Africans, the Natives, and the Europeans cultures. They find themselves all in the same boat as slaves. None of them asked to be there, none of them want to be there, and none of them particularly like one another. The only thing they share is the desire to go home. All three men are paddling in a different direction, each towards their respective homeland.
A storm blows in, and the ocean gets choppy. Each John rows harder and harder, but still, the boat goes nowhere. Each John begins to pray in their native tongue for divine intercession. A woman appears above them, and the storm calms. Black John sees her as Yemaya. Indio John sees her as Attaberia, and White John recognizes Mother Mary. None of them are wrong.
Our Lady of Charity tells the Three-Johns they can never return to the world they once knew. However, they could go home in the New World, but only together. The skies clear, and the New World, the shore of the Americas lay insight. They begin to paddle in the same direction not just as three men but now as three brothers.
New Word Voudou was born, one-third African, one-third Indio, and one-third European. Anyone saying that New World Voudou is only for certain people is ignorant of the religion. They do not speak for the Loa, The Cemis, the Saints or any of the 21 Commissions of Spirits. No way do they speak for God! New World Voudou belongs to the New World and all its people. There is no chosen race, and there is no chosen one. God's chosen people are all people.
God, PapaBon Dios, or Papa Bondye is a mystery which is simply beyond human comprehension. Therefore God delegates power, in a descending hierarchical fashion, to beings who we can comprehend. In New World Voudou, there are three beings, or Loa, which are the closest to God that humans can understand and to us appear directly under God. All three Loa have direct ties to the sun of our solar system and operate on a cosmic level.
They are:
Gran Solier is the light of the sun.
Gran Toro Sentao is the heat of the sun.
Gran Simbi Rey Del Agua also known as King Monlinu, is the sun's light sparkling on the waters.
Only in the most exceedingly rare circumstance would they directly intervene in human affairs. It is a near certainty they would not directly communicate with humans either, as humans are not advanced enough to make sense of their language. These Loa speak through other Loa. Loa who have the ears to hear them and the tongue to communicate to humans. That is not to say Gran Solier, Gran Simbi or Gran Toro are not reachable by prayers, it just goes chain of command and similarly back down.
We can see the Three Brothers, the Three Johns, as a microcosm to the macrocosm of Three Gran Loa.
Gran Solier-White John-European Culture
Gran Toro Sentao- Black John-African Culture
Gran Simbi Rey Del Aqua- Indio John-Indo Culture
It is through the will of God and transmissions of there three powerful Gran Loa that New World Voudou came into being. Going a step further, we can see the difference between these transmissions as the crystallized up the material plane, each with the same mission, but in its specific way.
Gran Toro Sentao |
Gran Solier |
Gran Simbi Rey del Agua |
These three specific transmissions of New World Voudou allow the religion to serve as many people as possible. Each person has a unique frequency and will better resonate with one of the three transmissions of New World Voudou over the others. All three serve as launchpads for spiritual growth and evolution, and all three are open to all peoples.
I am a priest of Puerto-Rican Voudou, Sanse, 7 Loa, and 21 Commissions under God. My First Godfather with whom I spent 20 years was a Houngan Asogwe, highest level priest of Haitian Voudou. He died in 2009, and due to political turmoil in Haiti and travel bans by the State Dept, I was never able to Kanzo, or initiate into Haitian Voudou, in Haiti. My Godfather walks with me as a power Ghede Loa, a mentor, advisor, and protector. Through his influence, the spicy flavor of Haitian Voudou blends beautifully with the powerful Puerto Rican line of Voudou I have inherited.
The Loa love humanity, despite our faults and flaws, they see the depth of love we are capable of. God is the master of us all, a master which gives us the ability to change what we do not like and learn from our sufferings. When a man screams at God, "how could you let this happen," God cries back, "how could you let that happen." We are not powerless, and we are not meant to be victims. God's power and divinity run through us all. We create a heaven or a hell on earth, individually and collectively, with each movement and with each breath.
The Loa says the more we recognize God in each other, the more we can come to know God, both individually and collectively. If God's mission is that we all go to Heaven, it cannot be accomplished until we all see God in each other. Each of us builds Heaven for ourselves, individually and collectively. Thus we are all in Heaven with God, eventually.
New World Voudou is a rare treasure, like the Christian Jesus, it was born in the most humble and expected of places. Just as the Christian Jesus, New World Voudou has been hated and persecuted by the ruling powers of the day. They fear New World Voudou's proven power to not only sparkle revolution but topple tyrants. New World Voudou is not a slave religion. New World Voudou is a religion of former slaves, slaves who ripped their freedom back and even served the hand which held it from them.
The Petro Loa were essential in the most successful slave revolt in modern human history. But that was just Haiti, the entire earth and all her people suffer under the rule of elite slave masters. The Loa are ready to begin a campaign of a global slave revolt. No matter what transmission of New World Voudou resonates with you best, I hope I see you on the front lines. There is a battle for total human freedom and spiritual evolution, and just like in Haiti, the Loa mean to be victorious.
*Be sure the check the date of this blog post because you are certain to hear what I just posted from others who steal from my blogs in an attempt to gain even a modicum of credibility...and honestly can you blame them?
Ayibobo
Papa Machete que gana todas las batalas
The Machete leads the way and defends all who follow.
Papa Machete gue gana todas las batalas. |