For the purpose of clarifying thc roles of all the mysteres, it will \llffice to present several traditional interpretations of the important IlIndamental loas of the Voodoo Cult. These roles show the reasons why the Haitian Voodooist considers the gods vitally inseparable from himself.
Silibo Vavou, or Schibhlo Vavau
Marassah
Danbhalah
Erznlie adorning herself; science; omniscience; prescience:
the holy spirit of initiation. The sun as magic regency of the
sky through birth and rebirth. The return of animal or hossale
70
agou Fer
Can-zo
The Rada Mysteres Sim'bi Y·An-Pba-Ca The Nago Oyo Mysteres
Agoueh R Oyo
Guede Houo'sou
Quebiesou Dan Leh
Baya-coll,
Otl
Ye-ch-ou Bha Ya Chou Bha-ca. or Ba-KaSECRETS OF VOODOO
( uninitiated) matter to the sun through initiation. Logic; reason; wisdom; philoso
phy; armed and intelligent in tercession.
The power which directs the raw or bossale matter towards the solar regions.
The loas of intelligence. The cosmic culture. The voluntary and conscious re
flection of initiated matter in the high atmosphere of the ce lestial constellations through Erzulie; that is, by the principle of the Virgin taken as the "ma gic mirror" (Agoueh Tha Oyo ) . The will t o be reflected magically in the ritual waters ( Agoueh Tha Oyo) or in the abyss rep resented by the socle of the center-post.
The ground of the oum'phor and the assonj the Virgin and Child; the moon and the sun. Supreme justice, or the thunder
stone of the bagui; the religious morality of the oum'phor. Cosmic work of the day and the
night (Je-sus ) .
The science o f talismans. o r teles mafic Voodoo. representing magically the two cosmic priest hood"
(:ODS AND GODDESSES 71
BHA = Orient K.A = Occident
Sun Moon Man Woman
( Legba) (Erzulie) The Mavangou Mysteres The loas of necromancy. HOWl'gan The guardian of the magic powers
of the sun.
Houn'gulmicon The ritual prayer and its caba- listic effect: stellar mercy.
Oum'phor The Holy City: Jerusalem; the
Zodiac; the twelve cabalistic abodes of Erzulie; the gates of Zion; the secrets of the astral light.
Legba ( Master of the Cross- Geometric separation of the caba-
roads) listic matter represented by
the ritual water, which pro duces the magic possibilities of the visible phenomenon; prac tical consolidation or central ization of the dispersed powers of astral space; geocentric util ization of the stellar atmos phere.
Africa The galaxy which governs the
holy spirit: the geometric and spiritist system of the sun, rep resented by the mystere Legba Ali-Bon Ati-Dan I-bo Lo-ko. Ati-Dan I-Bo Loko The tree-principle; the tree of
good and evil; the center-post of the peristyle.
72 SECl\ETS OF VOODOO Guede :\i-Bo, or Ra Nibbho The risen Christ; the rising sun; the vertical line of the center post; the oriental Voodoo priest hood.
These orthodox interpretations reveal that despite all deformations of the magic formulas of origin, the causes of whieh are due to the particular psychology of certain sects and tribes, Voodoo is never theless based upon the great supernatural loas whose duty is to bring the material body back into the higher atmospheres through initiation and rituaL
These symbolic identi6cations have such value as to predominate universally among Voodooists. It is therefore useless to attempt to separatl' the Congo mystercs from the Anmine, the Anmine from the Pethro, or the Rada from the Nago. Between these "rites" or "nations of loas," all that matters is the difference in the manner of applying the science of magic; for nothing of a scienti6c nature can exist apart from these great basic loas. Thus, the "nations of Africa" (because Africa conceals the galaxy which governs the Holy Spirit) have, each of them, a hidden significance which, in the Voodoo frame of refer ence, is a scientiflc universality that differs from tribe to tribe. How ever, from the purely "national-scientific" or "tribal-scientific" level to the purely aesthetic and moral level, the differences between the rites an' confirmed. For example, the Rada rite is, as a rule, more moral than the Pethro, since the Rada is traditionally the rite par ex cellence that governs the moral aspects of the sky under the fonn of the mystere Ai-Zan A ViU-Ketheh. The mystcres Ai-Da We-do and Da-nbhalah we·Do arc the visihle manifestations of Ra-Da, the ser pent, in the oum'phor.
The ethical differences in the ruling position of the serpent Da-n are therefore placed in relation to the basic rites of Voodoo thus:
RAOA NACO CONGO PETHRO IBO MINE, OR AN-MINE
The Star, or Upper Air Metal
Water
Fire The Word The Earth
,:005 AND GODDESSES 73
However, each rite, having inherited the tradition in its entirety, is in itself a complete magic system of such a kind that it contains Ihe entire body of symbolic significations. The only difference is that " ach rite reveals to its own initiates, by its own system of symbolism, its own individual character and the individual cosmic temperament ul the African "nation" with which it is identified.