Kenaz, I have rarely read such an ill-informed polemic piece which can only be sparked by someone, desperately trying to sell mediocre books like Vodou love magic to a naive audience, while posing like a Voudon High priest while knowing obviously very little.I'm not a "Voudon High Priest," nor have I ever heard that term used by any Haitian or Haitian-American. I am a Houngan Si Pwen, initiated in March 2003 at Société la Belle Venus #2 in Brooklyn New York by Mambo Azan Taye (Edeline St.-Amand) and Houngan Si Gan Temps (Hugue Pierre). I leave judgment on Vodou Love Magic to my readers. I will, however, note that commentary on Bertiaux and his lineage is a singularly inefficient way to drum up sales for a book on love spells.
You clearly have no idea of Haitian secret societies and their incorporation of martinist and other concepts which are clearly and strongly present in various lineages of zobop, bizango etc. Even a read of Milo Rigaud’s books, an authority on Voudon, would have explained a lot.I know enough about the Secret Societies of Haiti to know that some of the words which Bertiaux, Beth, etc. toss around as synonyms describe different - and frequently mutually hostile - societies. "Zobop" is not "Sect Rouge" is not "Bizango" is not "Vingblingding" is not "Sanpwel" etc. The fact that these groups are often conflated in OTOA/LCN work raises a red flag for me - as does Bertiaux's conflation of Haitian Vodou (Voudon) and African-American "Lucky Hoodoo." I do have some knowledge of Martinism, since my Mama Kanzo is a Martinist and since I've read a fair bit of Martinist literature in both English and French. I stand by my original statement that I find little Martinism in Bertiaux's work.
All this being said, I am not an initiate in any Haitian secret society, nor am I an initiated Martinist. So it could well be that I have missed the parts which describe naked homosexual Guede oil wrestling or Afro-Atlantean time travel techniques. If this is indeed the case, my apologies to you, Messrs. Bertiaux, Beth and Willis and the OTOA/LCN.
Regarding Rigaud, take a look at his Secrets of Vodou, particularly the part where he describes the various spirits. You'll see among his list "Erzulie La Belle Venus:" Rigaud encountered this lwa at the home of Mambo Edeline's grandfather. And I have no doubt that Bertiaux was heavily influenced by Rigaud's work. (I also provided a link to another possible source in my original post: if you read French, you should definitely check out Her-Ma-Ra-El's book).
To accuse Bertiaux and his school of trying to remove Voudon from the hands of black people is similarly strange as the current head of the OTOA\LCN, C. Willis is black (while you on the other hand are very white :) – also the VGW is full of glowing excitement for African and Haitian Gnosis in various forms and Bertiaux tirelessly attributes all his knowledge to Mstr. Jean Maine, a black Haitian.The comment about "removing Voudon from the hands of black people" came from Adam McGee, not yours truly. I thought he raised many interesting points which deserved further discussion, but those were his words, not mine.
As far as Courtney Willis goes, I have never met the man nor have I seen a picture of him so I have no way of knowing his race. From his name, I'm guessing that he is no more Haitian than I am. If that is the case, his skin color is irrelevant: while the vast majority of Haitians are black, the vast majority of blacks are not Haitian. And as far as Lucien-François Jean-Maine, how do you answer Peter Koenig's essay which discusses the difficulties in confirming the account of the OTOA's lineage?
As I said before, I think Bertiaux's work is an interesting piece of contemporary Surrealism and one which has had a great influence on many contemporary magical practitioners. Like many writers before him, I believe Bertiaux threw in a creation mythos to give his ideas more historical heft. (Would anyone have taken Gurdjieff seriously if he skipped the whole Meetings With Remarkable Men schtick and said "I came up with this stuff while I was selling carpets in some obscure Armenian market?") But I think the evidence for the OTOA/LCN's Haitian lineage is shaky to non-existent, creation myths notwithstanding.
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4 comments:
I'm not really sure you should rule out the possibility that Bertiaux is bullshitting readers for personal amusement at points, either. He has, such as in his responses to the Caliphate OTO and Koenig, shown a great deal of amusement when discussing the "Choronzon Club," amongst other organizations. He clearly takes a somewhat absurdist stance at points in the GVW, and that stance should be recognized for what it is.
I am a curious explorer of any text concerning the spiritual in nearly any regard. However, upon hearing the release of "Vodoun Gnostic Workbook" my first thought was that it would be deeply interesting and informative but was apparently mistaken.
I invesitaged Michael Bertriaux's work and the Vodoun Gnostic Workbook via the link on Facebook. Since the majority of people reading Kenaz's posts are involved in Vodou, they know that Vodou has a few common misconceptions and stereotypes. "Anal orgies" is one of those very stereotypes. This was the major "turn off" to me in regards to this book.
Now, the whole point of me posting is to implement my own thought into the discussion without hostility. If this book was called "Bertriaux's Gnostic Workbook" and relied on the basis of the teachings and took off all of the insinuated (but not displayed) "Vodoun" it would be a stellar thing. All of this leads me to believe that the book fails and attracts harsh words through the title itself.
-D
History tech us that myth is more powerful (and often more inspirational) than reality. I perfectly undertand the urge of debunking myths, but - magically speaking - "surrealism" which you are talking about, is quite powerful tool which can be, I believe, dropped down at one moment as the ladder when you've achieved the top. But what I miss here, talking about Haitian vodou as you present it, is the powerful myth, something fantastic enough to potenciate the mind. Yours texts are really great and nodoubtfully useful, but seems to me, maybe, too reasonable...
But yes, it's needed to say that the thing which Bertiaux is presenting, isn't genuine Haitian vodou, sure. But on the other hand it's needed to say that "Voudon Gnosis" is vivid and virile system. Look at Wicca - it's based on Gardner's and Murray's fiction but it has spirit in it. Or Freemasonry etc.
(please forgive my stiff English, I'm Czech and I usually practise reading only ;-) )
There was a thread on Lashtal where a Thelemite obsessively hammered at the historical accuracy of the OTOA's professed lineage connections to the OTO. Minus than the accusation of racism (with regards to Vodou) the thread basically mirrors this one.
I think it's safe to say that folks working within the Voudon Gnostic current could care less what outsiders think about the origins of their system. If others want to waste their time nitpicking and splitting hairs about about who did what back when - so be it - they're missing the point entirely. I'll go a step further and say that this type of behavior reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of gnosis in general. Magic isn't found in a book. It isn't in the fine print. It's between the lines working on a subconscious level altering the decoder. The petty games of oneupmanship and wars of authenticity belong to the profane world. These are the closed labyrinths would-be magicians lose themselves in; purgatories of inflated ego and self-indulgence; roadblocks to personal gnosis.
So what if the system isn't planted in historical truth? Does it work? Is it inspiring individuals to build their own maps to the godhead? That's what counts.
Voudon Gnosis isn't frozen in time. It isn't a paint by number tradition. What it is is a potent technology for creative magicians who find the symbol set aesthetically appealing and want to contribute to the narrative.
I must admit, if you couldn't already tell, that I'm fascinated by and attracted to this strange and surreal projection of truth, so much so that I'm willing to work through the cryptic language, befuddling complexity, and overall black confusion to find myself in the beams of evolution.
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