Fascinating story about the re-emergence of voodoo in Haiti. Excerpt:
Haitian voodoo became mixed with Catholicism, probably as a way for slaves to hide it from their masters – most of whom forbade the practice. Voodoo spirits were, and still are, associated with painted images and statues of the Catholic saints, concealing the original intent of the vodousiants' worship.
Voodoo was officially sanctioned as a religion in 2003 by ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, himself a former Catholic priest. There is a formal commission known as Conavo to help correct what some adherents say are misconceptions about voodoo: the obsessions with zombies, voodoo pin dolls and sexual orgies, fed by Hollywood and popular culture.
According to the story, voodoo's black magic aspects are less than 5% of the voodoo practice. The black magic exists, mind you, but it's a small part of voodoo. The voodoo holy man that the story revolves around keeps a skull on his belt. . . But it's not a malignant religion.
It would be kind of like a Christian church that preaces love of Satan only three Sundays out of the year. The rest of the time, it teaches love of Christ. The Satan worshipping is only 5%, you see, so it's not logically inconsistent with Christianity. In voodoo, they spend only 5% of the time sticking pins in dolls. The other 95%, they're filled with good works.
No religion is perfect, of course, but most of the imperfections are found in the actual practice. Logically, theoretically, the religion mostly holds together. It just comes apart when the good belief structure is placed into the hands of man. In voodoo, the belief structure itself seems hopelessly flawed.
No matter, it's rehabilitation time. Everything is getting rehabilitated these days. The Wiccans want everyone to know that their witchcraft is good witchcraft. The Satan worshippers want everyone to know that their god has been maligned over the years. A handful of Greeks want to rehab Zeus and Co. There are many more ancient religions out there. I can't wait to see what gets rehabbed next. It's not hard to do. You just need to (i) say you're now a practitioner of X, and (ii) say that the negative aspects of X are merely distortions by The Man (usually, the Catholic Church over the ages). You don't need proof. Just say it. You'll get great press coverage, and no one is going to be able to gainsay you because they're too busy watching TV, and the background metaphysics and/or historical knowledge necessary to scoff at them effectively can't be found outside of a few religious enclaves.
Aside: For the heck of it, I searched for information about voodoo. I found this apologetics site, which claims voodoo is a derivative of the world's oldest religion. This part cracked me up:
Music and dance are key elements to Voodoo ceremonies. Ceremonies were often termed by whites "Night Dancing" or "Voodoo Dancing". This dancing is not simply a prelude to sexual frenzy . . .
Sure, the sexual frenzy is there, but there's more to it! Sounds like a boyfriend trying to convince his girlfriend to have sex: "I love you. We'll be one. Let me show you my love. It's not the sex. It's the love and combining of our spirits."
If you're into the negative 5% of voodoo practice, incidentally, there are on-line resources to help you get started. This site, for instance, has lots of neat stuff. They even have a New Orleans Revenge Doll Kit for $34.95 that comes with a disclaimer: "The special ritual included with this doll is a very serious matter. You choose what kind of curse you want to put on a person ... use wisely. In doing this or any other kind of revenge spell, you should always be sure to ask that the person only be hurt as much as you were, NOT MORE."
What sage advice. But who are you asking to bestow the curse?
I also found lots of sites with voodoo dolls. I liked this doll. He's called "Mister Man." I like him because he's so plain, like a powerful man. He's expensive ($65.00), but I bet he dominates the spiritual world with all that virility.
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