THE |
|
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects. |
To: soc.culture.haiti,alt.religion.orisha,alt.lucky.w From: MamaissiiSubject: Re: Saint-Mery on Voodoo c. 1772-80 (part 1) Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2000 13:52:41 GMT "However since he is a practitioner, I would advice him that knowledge comes from practice much more than through readings." This is correct. One of the biggest problems that becomes more pronounced in "cultures of the pen," is that more credibility and weight is given to those who can demonstrate their knowledge of Vodou via the written word as oppose to their actual legitimacy as practitioners of the tradition. Though I cannot speak for Haitian Vodou, Dahomean Vodoun is not a tradition in which its sacred knowledge can be transmitted publicly. Not because its practitioners are illiterate, incompetent or incapable, we simply know that it is impossible to learn the Vodoun via books. More importantly, it is taboo to speak secrets, write books, or to create public websites revealing sacred knowledge. It simply will never happen. We are bound by powerful oaths which we do not violate. To do so would hasten the departure of our Spirits, and suffer the wrath of our Ancestors which is often severe. As a result, most (not all) of what is written, (often by Western anthropologist, ethnologists) though woefully inaccurate as far as its interpretative value, often detailing sensationalistic and morbid accounts to satiate the Western palate; unfortunately becomes the burden that we must carry in order to honor the Law of Secrecy. More challenging, is those of us born in America, a culture in which information is demanded in order to do our work, or claim "legitimacy," we must painfully suffer through many of these written accounts to offer at least very basic information for the general public such as I have aattempted to do. We do this at great sacrifice and criticism from other ATRs who freely display publicly all the secrets of their tradition to either impress other practitioners, or under the pressure of claiming respect and legitmacy. A dangerous and irresponsible pattern by our standards. Only genuine practitioners of Dahomean Vodoun know that "book" info. (that offered to anthropolgists and others) is permissible for general consumption. This is all one needs to know. In truth, When the (Dahomean) Vodou wants you to know them, they will come to you, and one must suffer, suffer, suffer for the knowledge. It is in this respect that we allow the misconceptions that are written, for it further acts to coneal and distance ambitious seekers away until they are rightfully called to know. Only under the most dire of circumstances do we come out to correct with specific facts glaring inaccuracies, whose perpetuation would either threaten our personal safety, or prevent us from practicing our tradition entirely. Truly, we have no time to debate and offer up an intellectual discourse of our tradition. It only brings us suffering to do so. And though many of us might prove somewhat articulate, we are not trained as "talkers", but rather as "doers". Talking too much is not good. This is why we still must rely upon good, non-baised writers such as Rosenthal, Aliplini, Hazoume, Pliya; the websites of Soutini (which I like very much), other scholars to present our traditions in as balanced a fashion as possible. They can speak many things that we are not allowed to say. I suspect that in spite of all the information available of other African religions, ours (Dahomean Vodoun) will perhaps always remain cloaked in secrecy, which is fine with us. However, more importantly for us today, is the right to practice here in America free from bias and overt discrimination. Good disucssion. Mamaissii Vivian http://www.mamiwata.com Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.
The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org. |
Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site. |
The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories, each dealing with a different branch of religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge. Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit: |
|
interdisciplinary:
geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc. |
SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):
OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST
Southern
Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo,
including slave narratives & interviews
|