A Hoodoo/ Voodoo perspective of working with spirits ( ramblings )

[supremecoyote]

In Voudon and Hoodoo You can't begin to work with spirits ( gede/ Lwas/ Orishas ) if you haven't properly established a spiritual connection with your ancestor spirits first and spirit guides ( example: guardian angels), ancestor spirits are your defense in the spirit world against tricksters/ evil eye/ and even angry lwas and orishas ( in worst case scenarios ) but use your discernment and divination because not every ancestral spirit has your best interest or can help you. Talismans, amulets , and mojo bags can't really help you either if you don't have a solid spiritual council. Your altar is the equipment, you are the conduit of energy , and your spiritual council are the " lab assistants " that make sure everything is in check while you do ritual work.

This is controversial but many believe you need to be initiated to work with Lwas or Orishas via a Babalow or Baron. However some practitioners don't think you need to. That journey is up to you to decide. I personally am on team make an educated decision within your skill set and understanding of the african occult. Vodou, IFA, and sanitaria are closed practices, and I wouldn't recommend dabbling in those practices without initiation. Gede and Lwas are incredibly intense. Hoodoo is just eclectic folk magick, and does not require initiation but it's highly advised you don't play with these spirits if you don't have blood line ancestry to Africa or the Caribbean.

 

[MorganBlack]

Goetic Magician / Brujeria / Haitian Vodou here. My house is out of Haiti. Very good to have you here.

Agreed on many fronts. I think so much in the New World spirits traditions are now overlooked gems in the practices of sorcery. (Less so in the 1990's when I began)

The oaths make it very hard to share, the world view is so different than modern magic cosmo-conceptions, it makes it very hard to talk about these things without either giving away to much, or seeming totally insane to suburbanites. Vodou, Palo, Makaya, and others are isolated away from the bigger world-level conversations, but also it's not my call.

I keep meaning to make a mega-thread called ' New World Sorcery Practices' to start conversations there ideally to find ways to communicate , but it will also have to somehow take place all without giving away any secrets.

It's a Catch-22. We want to share, but ATR forums threads usually break down into what appears to be posing and LARPing becasue of the internal rules they have to abide by.

 

[supremecoyote]

I practice a mix New Orleans Vodou / Indigenous shamanism / Brujeria which I guess would make it "Hoodoo" by it's eclectic Nature. Honestly working with these types of spirits full time, larping is the last thing you want to do. The Lwas / Orishas and Gede are just as intense and dangerous as enochian / solomonic angels and Goetia. There's plenty of shared synchronicity between them that I feel gets overlooked by outsiders. The culture of ATR is unfortunately seen as an " exotic curiosity" by many vs being respected as a serious practice comprised of revered ancient spirits of the Old World outside of western esoterica. Lwas and Orishas have been documented as far back as the 15th century Africa and 18th century Haiti. I honestly don't mind the gate keeping to preserve our secrets from those who could possibly be very irresponsible with the knowledge found in ATR. But I do wish there was ways to have more forums to discuss it !

 

[MorganBlack]

No argument from me, sister!! Totally agreed!

I keep hinting at this here, the way New World spirit traditions bring them down, totally hard hitting.

And then in Makaya the demons of Goetia are worked with 'in the House, ' I know another Vodou house where King Lucifer is lwa and heads up the line of 'Hebrew' spirits, as they call them.

Ok, I will step back and let you talk, I just wanted to say, welcome.

 

[supremecoyote]

wait actually can you shoot me a pm , because I'm very interested in discussing more about this vodou house with King Lucifer and the Hebrew spirits ! And thank you for the welcome

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 5:44 PM

In Voudon and Hoodoo You can't begin to work with spirits ( gede/ Lwas/ Orishas ) if you haven't properly established a spiritual connection with your ancestor spirits first and spirit guides ( example: guardian angels), ancestor spirits are your defense in the spirit world against tricksters/ evil eye/ and even angry lwas and orishas ( in worst case scenarios ) but use your discernment and divination because not every ancestral spirit has your best interest or can help you. Talismans, amulets , and mojo bags can't really help you either if you don't have a solid spiritual council. Your altar is the equipment, you are the conduit of energy , and your spiritual council are the " lab assistants " that make sure everything is in check while you do ritual work.

This is controversial but many believe you need to be initiated to work with Lwas or Orishas via a Babalow or Baron. However some practitioners don't think you need to. That journey is up to you to decide. I personally am on team make an educated decision within your skill set and understanding of the african occult. Vodou, IFA, and sanitaria are closed practices, and I wouldn't recommend dabbling in those practices without initiation. Gede and Lwas are incredibly intense. Hoodoo is just eclectic folk magick, and does not require initiation but it's highly advised you don't play with these spirits if you don't have blood line ancestry to Africa or the Caribbean.

Hot take: LHP / RHP doesn't exist here . Magick and the Spirits we work with are neutral. It's up to you as the conduit how you want to direct your energy. Lwas, Orishas, gedes, Angels and Demons.... maturing is realizing they're all the same thing, we as humans just have to put names and a moral compass on them so that we can understand them. Different Spirits just operate on a spectrum of different frequencies ( High / Low ). Ascension/ descension is objective to your personal world view. That being said, understand that every action has a reaction, and you're responsible for your actions and the reaction from a granted petition.

 

[HellenaHex]

You might find The Black Star of Nuit Trilogy by Jack Fox-Williams interesting. He writes about things such as the Black Sun becomes the central archetype—symbolizing “dark luminosity,” the paradox of a light that shines through negation. This alchemical motif is developed across numerous spiritual and philosophical disciplines, drawing from Thelema, Gnosticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Chaos Magic, Jungian psychology, and more. In his books he speaks to those who reject dogma and seek the wisdom that lies at the crossroads of mysticism, metaphysics, and inner transformation. I saw you had an interest in Thelema on another post.

If I may, do you have experience with Baron Samedi? When I lived in Florida I had at least three encounters with him in various forms and to my knowledge I am of Nanticoke, Italian, Irish, Scottish, and Polish decent. I practice an ecstatic necromantic witchcraft and am a psychopomp. I assume my work with the dead would be his only interest with me. But he kept showing up in different styles and temperaments and it was as though he was testing me. The encounters were very vivid and I will never forget the experiences I had with him. At the end of the trial I saw him perched on top of the spire on the cemetery gate and he was smiling at me. When our eyes meet his twinkled. He then smirked and mouthed the words until next time, which I heard like a raspy whisper in my ear and over my shoulder. After that he winked and disappeared from my view as I watched spirits entering the graveyard before I turned and said goodbye to the elderly man and woman who had helped me during the trial (They were spirits and had to go with the others.).

 

[MorganBlack]

Heh. I suspect you are closer to Bawon than I, Hellena Hex. Supremecoyote too.

And I look like him, as Vodouisant will sometimes tell me. Not his skullface version, his Catholic mask self.

My hougan walked with Criminel. A head-hunter. Early on I was like, fuuuuck, what the fuck? Now I get the Dharma aspect of all this, as I think of how these weirding roads play out.

I walk with Bawon, Kalfu and Feray, all of whom during fetes possessed Haitians and came to claim me. They walk with me on very aggressive road I did not know I was on early on, one that oddly looks like the combination of all three of them in my court together. More Bokor than Hougan.

I do not know you but sounds you are on something similar, but in very healing way. But these road often change into another as we travel on them.
.
Anwway, I just wanted to chim in here between sprints of my work. All respect to my Chthonic true sisters. May the spirits and ghost armies always protect you and yours!

 

[supremecoyote]

You might find The Black Star of Nuit Trilogy by Jack Fox-Williams interesting. He writes about things such as the Black Sun becomes the central archetype—symbolizing “dark luminosity,” the paradox of a light that shines through negation. This alchemical motif is developed across numerous spiritual and philosophical disciplines, drawing from Thelema, Gnosticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sufism, Chaos Magic, Jungian psychology, and more. In his books he speaks to those who reject dogma and seek the wisdom that lies at the crossroads of mysticism, metaphysics, and inner transformation. I saw you had an interest in Thelema on another post.

If I may, do you have experience with Baron Samedi? When I lived in Florida I had at least three encounters with him in various forms and to my knowledge I am of Nanticoke, Italian, Irish, Scottish, and Polish decent. I practice an ecstatic necromantic witchcraft and am a psychopomp. I assume my work with the dead would be his only interest with me. But he kept showing up in different styles and temperaments and it was as though he was testing me. The encounters were very vivid and I will never forget the experiences I had with him. At the end of the trial I saw him perched on top of the spire on the cemetery gate and he was smiling at me. When our eyes meet his twinkled. He then smirked and mouthed the words until next time, which I heard like a raspy whisper in my ear and over my shoulder. After that he winked and disappeared from my view as I watched spirits entering the graveyard before I turned and said goodbye to the elderly man and woman who had helped me during the trial (They were spirits and had to go with the others.).

Ahhh thank you for the book recommendation !!! I do work with Baron Samedi ! Hes a very intense Lwa to encounter but I've learned so much working with him and gaining better understanding of life / death, and the crossroads !!! I'm happy to hear that you've had positive experiences with him, and you don't buy into the stigma that he's a malevolent spirit. He is at best, neutral

Post automatically merged: Today at 8:26 PM

Heh. I suspect you are closer to Bawon than I, Hellena Hex. Supremecoyote too.

And I look like him, as Vodouisant will sometimes tell me. Not his skullface version, his Catholic mask self.

My hougan walked with Criminel. A head-hunter. Early on I was like, fuuuuck, what the fuck? Now I get the Dharma aspect of all this, as I think of how these weirding roads play out.

I walk with Bawon, Kalfu and Feray, all of whom during fetes possessed Haitians and came to claim me. They walk with me on very aggressive road I did not know I was on early on, one that oddly looks like the combination of all three of them in my court together. More Bokor than Hougan.

I do not know you but sounds you are on something similar, but in very healing way. But these road often change into another as we travel on them.
.
Anwway, I just wanted to chim in here between sprints of my work. All respect to my Chthonic true sisters. May the spirits and ghost armies always protect you and yours!

funny story about how I know I was walking with Bawon before I was born, my Great Grandfather and my other grandparents are either from Mexico or New Orleans. My great grandfather Clarence was a jazz musician from New Orleans in the 50s, and notable local criminal. He ended needing to escape New Orleans because the law was catching up to him. So he made his way up to the PNW via hiding in coffins in trucks up north. Bawon has already been a protector of my lineage !!! My grandmother ( his wife ) was also said to be a mysterious irish witch and has some lore with 2 of her biological children who went missing and were never found. In New orleans, being a musician means you're magician !!! anyways happy halloween everyone !!!