The example of Makandal and the ghost of John Brown
I have received numerous asks and messages seeking input about what kind of spiritual work or magic I think will be effective against the current political regime in the United States and what folks should be doing to work against a fascist federal police force in the streets. I haven't answered those not because I feel or am apolitical in this current political weather (far from it), but because I do not know that what I can say will be received in the spirit I wish it to be heard in or that folks won't trip over pieces or what I have to say and miss the bigger picture. But, as always, I can't control the intake folks have from my output. I do ask, though, that you read with an open mind and a heart for community.
With that being said, the time for spiritual work and/or magic to address the current occupying regime in the United States is past. Far past, honestly. If spiritual work was going to undo any of what we are seeing right now, it needed to begin when Reagan was in office (may he rest in pieces), as that is when the building blocks for what we are currently experiencing were put in place. I do not believe any individual or small groups effort can bring about any changes in the executive branch, its supporting framework, or the other branches of government, and I believe it is misguided to ask our spirits and ancestors to go to work or go to war on our behalf with those powers.
My 'why' on this is based in some of the basic instruction I received in spiritual work, way prior to my involvement in Haitian Vodou. One of my first teachers explained how we leverage magic against large causes and ingrained social ideas like this: a record album is made up of grooves that play songs, and the favorite you have on the album is played over and over and, over time, the groove deepens and it is harder for the needle to move out and on to the next song.
The spiritual world works similarly; the more investment an idea/situation has, the deeper the groove of that particular 'song' becomes and the more work necessary to undo and/or address it. This plays on work at all levels, from personal to collective.
The United States as a country has been playing its favorite song, 'Colonialism, Capitalism, Racism Hell Yeah', nonstop for 250 years, with the volume turned all the way up to 11. The groove this has created in the spiritual and social fabric of this country makes the Grand Canyon look like a drop of water on your bathroom floor. The investment in the ideals of colonialism, capitalism, and racism are the roots of this empire, and the sitting government and the majority of the population has been perfectly fine with that, for all of our collective existence. Certainly there have been times where the fire of liberation has burned brightly, but without collective or, at the very least, majority involvement, that fire cannot burn to logical end of liberation for all and a reckoning with the past of a country built on the backs of enslaved Africans and the bones of murdered Indigenous communities.
The groove of this reality has birthed a huge network of affinity ideals; the US has been a hotbed of White nationalism for ages and the Seven Mountains brand of Christofascism has been the giant in the shadows. What spiritually stands behind this reality is massive and malevolent and consumes lives with impunity. Our individual and small groups efforts, while virtuous and brave, are like tossing a bucket of water at a raging forest fire. It's simply not possible to meaningfully effect what the guiding spirit of the United States is, and aiming at household-name individuals in this system is like trying to take out the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with a hairband and a wish.
To be abundantly clear, we are at the part of the timeline where Anne Frank went into the attic. We as a society didn't act in time to avoid this. We tried to play by the rules while overlooking that liberation is never a process that is successful when trying to comply with the colonial systems. We are watching the US government endorse summary executions in the streets while kidnapping our neighbors and disavowing constitutional rights that were never going to protect us. They are killing white citizens now, imagine what they are doing to our immigrant neighbors in the concentration camps that we try to avoid looking at.
Instead of attacking the fascist juggernaut and hurting only yourself, my suggestion is to turn all your magical and spiritual efforts towards building community. Community, affinity groups, and mutual aid that are not attached to social media (which are data gathering honeypots for a regime bent on social control) are the way we survive to see the empire fall and a new world emerge. We will not all see the finish line, as the violent machine we see in the streets will continue to claim lives, but is our responsibility to do our best to get there for each other, for those of us who do not make it, and for our descendants.
This is a core principle of Haitian Vodou, in that the lakou is the center of life, and in many/most African and African Descended religions, in one form or another. Our spiritual ancestors have lived under what we are living under now, and their experiences are passed down in our communities for us to learn from and support each other with. If your community is not mobilizing for mutual support and survival, its time to ask why.
For vodouizan, we are in a unique position. Haitian Vodou communicates and embodies a particular political outlook that does not allow for us to be willing participants or passive observers in the subjection others. Haitian Vodou embodies the Haitian revolution which, within our temples and under our tònels, is not finished. We have a spiritual obligation to side with those who are being harmed and not bend to colonial occupation of our lives or our souls. The resistance in Minneapolis is directly connected to the resistance in Gaza and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia and Iran and Ukraine and Haiti. The threads are the same and our participation in a religion born out of revolution is our agreement that we will not look away, even when it is deeply uncomfortable.
Manbos and houngans and sèvitès, we were made for this. How many pieces of our ceremonies talk about going to war? How many ceremonies have us participating in acts that address the spiritual implications of the Middle Passage?
We must embody the example of Makandal, who execution was a flash point for the resistance that began the Haitian revolution. Our magic is the poison to a broken world as his magic was the poison that protected the enslaved against the colonizers. We have the skill, the knowledge, and the license to spiritually feed our communities and build each other up, so we must do it. We cannot sit and ring our hands and bemoan the world we live in.
Along with Makandal, we must resurrect the ghost of John Brown, a homegrown US hero who asks us to not be bound by the idea of caution. Caution is a tool in the hands of the state/colonizer that tells us that we must move forward within their rules and appease the colonial beast of we are going to make progress. While I can't direct folks to engage in violent acts of resistance like our guy John Brown, I can say that in a reality where the regime is telling us we have not seen the truth with our own eyes, the most important resistance is internal.
So, invest in your own liberation and survival and the liberation and survival of your communities. Ask your spirits and ancestors to protect you and your community, and to give you and your community the strength to survive a failing empire. Hold onto the hope that the seeds of your community will blossom into a tree that shelters others and that the practice of liberation within your community will fan the flames that will free us all.
I would additionally suggest lending support in whatever way possible to our comrades who are imprisoned in our concentration camps suffering under god knows what deprivation and torture. It is our shame that we did not burn these places to the ground when they were being built or renovated.
I will say I have not been surprised at all to see houngans, manbos, and other vodouizan from the US on social media sympathizing with the extralegal police force, agreeing with the latest execution of an individual by these modern day slave catchers, and even saying that protestors should be complying with a rogue police force. I will say with my whole chest that believing this and claiming affinity with and loyalty to the revolutionary spirits and enslaved spiritual ancestors who murdered their enslavers is at odds. You can't have both. You cannot support White nationalism and serve Black gods. You are failing the promises that you made.
Finally, if there is anyone reading this who is somehow a member of that extralegal police force and claims affinity with the lwa: quit now and save your soul. You are on the side of the colonizers and the oppressors and you are directly harming the culture bearers of the spirits you want to help you. No one is forcing you to do this; you are not conscripted and there are other jobs.
If you insist on continuing to participate in this farce of a job, know this: your descendants will pay for your inhumanity and your ancestors will forget you. There will be no one to save you when you come up against consequences, and any lwa who may have listened to your prayers and requests will turn their backs. There is no atonement possible for waking up everyday and choosing harm.
For the rest of my readers: may the lwa protect you and keep you fed. If you are hiding, may all eyes pass you over and may each breath lead those who may seek you to forget your name and overlook you. If you are in the streets, may Ogou accompany you on all sides and give you the insight on when to stand firm and when to retreat. For those who can't go to the streets, light your lamps and knit your communities together. I am with you all in spirit and in prayer. May our solidarity carry us to the new world waiting to be born.
