#voodoo lesson

[revpapaj]

Vodou Lamps and Lights

photos in this post aren't mine

One of the most common things you will see on any Vodou altar is a lamp or candle. They may be there for the purposes of magical work, or as an offering to the lwa, spirit, saints. But why oil lamps. Some religions like Christianity sees it as a symbol of life eternal and Gods wisdom. It is used in religious places like churches and homes and are placed before the icons (pictures,statues etc) to illuminate them.

The lamp represents Life, the LIGHT of divinity, wisdom, intellect, and good works are all manifestations of the symbolic nature of the lamp.

Setting of Lights

This is the most basic type of work performed and it involves burning candles on our altars for your specific purpose.

Vodou Lamps

One of the most common, yet most powerful things we have in Vodou and sometimes hoodoo are lamps. Lamps may be set to honour and serve the lwa, or they may be used to work toward a particular request. Lamps may run for any number of days, but will be prayed over each and every one of those days.

Spiritual oil lamps may be made to invoke any Saint or Spirit for any purpose. Traditionally, practitioners of Voodoo and Santeria would make oil lamps, made from Sunflower or Olive Oil, cotton wicks suspended in oil held inside small ceramic basins, metal cauldrons, hollowed out coconuts etc. Different herbs, roots, oils and other ingredients were also added depending of which saint of spirit was being invoked and the purpose of the oil lamp.

(Now you can use a candle but a oil lamp can be more powerful especially when you're working with more than one Spirit at once)

Lamps Heat

Bear in mind that the longer a lamp or candle is burned and the more heat it produce the more prayer and care it receives. Therefore, a seven day lamp is much more powerful than a one day lamp, and this is taken into account when working for a specific goal or petitioning a spirit.

Lamps in Travay. Travay is the Creole word for meaning ‘work’,

Sometimes a lamp will be prescribed as a part of travay, or as a complete work in and of itself. This type of lamp may contain herbs,powders, oils or other curios to enhance the power of the work. The length of time the lamp burns for is determined when the travay is prescribed, as are any additional elements. This type of lamp will be prescribed as a travay after a reading, if it is required.

Spiritual work or travay is a creative process, that can transform objects and raw materials into spiritual ones. A object for the lwa work their magic. (Basically similar a more power candle spell)

Illumi nasyon

Through an illminasyon we are able to attract the attention of several spirits all at once and petition them for our wants and needs. It is also an extremely powerful form of magic, as the flame burns extremely hot. Usually consisting of at least 7 ti mesh (hand made cotton wicks), these wicks burn strongly and in unison, providing the spirits with a powerful foundation on which to work.

ILLUMINASYON Milokan.

The milokan is where a person can work with all the spirits (working with multiple spirit's) of a persons escort. This type of work is wonderful when you are seeking general assistance, and want to place it in front of all of your lwa. Prepared and then set atop the veve (sigil) all the spirits of your escort are called, heated and invited to work for the outcome of your petition. For this type of work a veve is traced by the Houngan, the introductory prayers of La Priye Ginen are sung and the spirits called.

(The Priye Ginen is the Prayer of Africa. It is sung “to open ceremony”)

Then your petition or prayers added. Once all 7 are correctly prepared, they are placed on a plate to which a combination of oils have been added. This plate is placed in a larger white enamel cavet, which is half filled with water, and sometimes other items as well, and then presented to the lwa with your petition. It is prayed over, saluted and placed on top of the veve where it is left to burn out with the lwa.

ILLUMINASYON PETRO

An illuminasyon Petro is very similar to the Illuminasyion Milocan, except burns hotter, stronger and faster. Despite the name this can be set for all nations of lwa: Rada, Nago, Petro, and even Ghede. However, as it is set without water, there is no cooling influence. The spirits are therefore heated faster, and work much faster towards your goal. (Kind of like working with Saint Expedite for faster working)

After the work is complete you would generally want to offer a service to cool your spirits down. The Petro is prepared in a similar method to the Illuminasyon Milocan, but the plate is not placed inside the cavet with water. (cavet is a This is the most common plate used to burn oil lamps for the Lwas)

Instead it is simply an enamel plate with ti mesh and several oils that relating to the various spirits. A veve is prepared, and songs sung and the lamp is presented with prayers for your petition. It will then be prayed over again, before being left to burn out.

ILLUMINASYON LWA YO

Is presented to a single spirit. This kind of work is in my opinion a common to perform especially in New Orleans, although is often used when one wants to make a contact or an agreement with a single lwa. In this case the veve prepared is for the specific lwa, and after the opening songs of La Pryie Ginen and after Legba, we will continue to sing for and petition this lwa.

The illuminasyon may be prepared either Rada, Petro or Milocan Style, depending on the spirits involved. .

[revpapaj]

Basic Vodou Lesson.

How To Begin:

A of questions people have for me, in this (AMAZING) religion, all revolve around where do I begin my journey into Vodou. I’m a fairly typical American, not born into Vodou and I'm not Haitian, but I'm from and started practicing New Orleans Voodoo. so it made sense to me that our voodoo is a mixture of Congo Vodun and Haitian Vodou that I should take my knowledge and become initiated into to The House Of La-Siren. Some lessons took a while but gave me more appreciation for the religion. (If your looking for a house, Sosyete Nago. I hear is great)

Tradition with respect, knowledge, integrity, and of course safety. Be cautious and discern the real from the fake houses. And If you plain on learning in New Orleans there are a few houses but they don't initiate you too into priest or priestess hood. Only in Hati or the house that I mentioned above.

First Things First: besides what a lot of what you’re going to see online and on the bookshelf , Vodou isn’t a religion you can really practice fully on your own.

There’s no amount of reading that’ll put you in a position of priest or authority, no matter the written material. Same as witchcraft or wiccan you can be self taught but to become a High Priest/Priestess your need to train it's a community practice. in a way is like a bridge that can only carry you half-way to where you want to be.

In today modern culture is full of other traditions where self learning and self-appointed responsibility carry great weight; if that is where you are called, be proud of that… but, it will preclude your involvement in Vodou.

This tradition’s through initiation and the ceremonies built around it the individual is given license to know and license to practice. Vodou as it is practiced is a family structure of initiates who come together as a unit to perform religious services we call fetes (sounds like fets, the second e is silent) The majority of the energy expended by a non-initiate who feels called to Vodou or its spirits really should be directed towards finding a House, a place to begin training in the religion and the process that builds understanding of the individual’s relationship to their own spirits…

The core of why we say a House is a “Vodou family”; This decision is not going to be made by online interaction alone… so when people pushing initiations of strangers where all you have to do is pay a deposit or full payment and you only meet the people when it’s your time to be initiated…. Be cautious. That kind of behaviour neither fits the rules of the tradition nor does it provide *any* feeling of safety or support…

As a non-initiate, you have the luxury of exploring houses (respectfully!) Watch out for while you’re getting to know people so you can keep yourself SAFE.

Kanzo, also, happens in Haiti. If travel is an extreme difficulty and you’re not in an area where Vodou houses of good quality are prevalent, Im afraid this is a bit of a FULL STOP situation.