Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with Met Kalfu?
Met (translates to master, used as a term of respect/honor for lots of different lwa) Kafou (Kah-foo, sometimes spelled Kalfu, or Carrefour in French) is the lwa who owns all crossroads and who is really the living embodiment of the crossroads. The internet and folks not familiar with the larger cosmology of vodou sometimes conflate Legba, who stands at the gate/doorway, or say that Kafou is Legbaâs twin brother or whatever. Met Kafou is most often served in the Petwo rite for most lineages.
My relationship with Kafou has always been sort of interesting. In general, many/most spirits are quiet until they choose not to be, and, in my experience, that is how Kafou has often been for me. For a loooong time pre-kanzo, he was the only spirit who was in my spiritual court that I didnât hear from and I was always curious as to why. My mother told me several times that, when he wanted or needed to speak with me, he wouldâŠand he did.Â
I find him compelling because he inhabits spaces in betweenâthe crossroads are a huge spiritual âyes and..â and both/all/neither all wrapped up in one packageâand my experience being transgender is very much about occupying spaces in between and having feet in both/all worlds, and he walks in all options as the crossroads. I dreamed with him once where he elucidated this and told me exactly where to find him in that sort of in-between place.
He is notoriously difficult to deal with because he works H-O-T and is an exacting spirit in that if he is not served correctly, everything goes to shit. Saluting him incorrectly at a ceremony means that no spirits will comeâthey wonât cross him when he is unsettled. If you arenât right with him, he closes all paths and roads, full stop.Â
As such, like all lwa, folks who donât have guidance from someone empowered to teach them should not be seeking him out. Folks often like to go to the crossroads and Do Stuff, but you wouldnât want someone showing up and dumping stuff on you/your home without knowing who they are AND a person who is not empowered to deal with a/any spirit of the crossroads has no idea who or what will show upÂ
I know Kafou as a master magician and implacable teacherâhe wants it done right and to his specifications, or not at all. Meaning, if you canât/wonât do things as you are taught and instructed, go bother someone else because he has not time for that. He is serious and HUGE. Like, a sprawling spirit. When he is presentâlike, in the air as he does not come down in possession oftenâit is like this massive presence that just unfolds over everything like a thick blanket. He is succinct and to the pointâhe is not going to hang out and chat just to chat, he, like all spirits and especially Petwo spirits, show up to do their work or say what the person needs to hear and then go.
He shows up in dreams in the shadows for meâI get glimpses of him and he follows and watches me do things I have been taught. Sometimes he tells me things, sometimes he watches. He holds a lot of secrets and uses silence to teach in a very specific way, and is one of the more inhuman spirits I have encountered.
I hope this helps� If you have more questions, let me know!
