Kenaz Filan Interview tonight on KAPS Paranormal Radio

I will be appearing on KAPS Paranormal Radio tonight at 8pm Eastern time.  I'm looking forward to chatting with Dave and Tom and fielding questions from interested listeners.  They are taking calls at 248-545-SOUL and have a chat room for those who wish to send their messages online. Talk to you soon!

Still More Demonic Stuff II: Good, Evil, and Goetia

The Goetia discussion continues throughout the Blogsphere, and since comments I made have come up in a few posts, I thought I'd respond here.

On his blog Balthazar commented:

The idea that all Goetic spirits are inherently corrosive and non-human seems a bit heavy handed coming from a Vodou practitioner. The same allegations have been made about the Lwa, many of whom are quite dangerous and unpredictable in their own right - and have been demonized for that very reason - either by protestant or evangelical observers citing that as evidence of their inhuman, corrosive nature. Calling them demons. Are the Lwa in fact demons, or would it be more correct to say that some people are more skilled at handling them than others?

What's more is that the spirits of the Goetia are quite frequently forms of older pagan spirits who remained useful but because they didn't fit into the oppressive theological hegemony of the time were made into demons - because presumedly all pagan spirits must necessarily be demons. Sound familiar?

I find this comment interesting because I specifically avoided using the words "demon" and "evil" to describe the Goetic entities.  I agree with Balthazar that these terms obfuscate rather than clarify: they are generally used as shorthand for "other people's gods" and "things I don't agree with," respectively. If that wasn't clear enough in my first post, hopefully this will remove any confusion.

However, I will note that for centuries the Goetia has been considered the "Book of Evil Spirits." The person who first compiled this book considered them to be evil: the people who worked with this book considered them to be evil. I think it is worthwhile to question why they considered these spirits to be demonic while referring to other spirits as angelic. There are certainly many grimoires which teach you how to summon archangels, angels, planetary spirits and other entities which are not classified as "demons." Why did these magicians, who presumably had experience working with angelic magic, decide that the Goetic entities were "evil spirits" and "demonic?"  Writing that off as mere superstition and bigotry on their parts is an easy gloss over a difficult question.

There is a long tradition of the lwa being served as benevolent protectors. There is an equally long tradition that some lwa are not so benevolent and should be approached with caution.  I don't "demonize" Marinette Bwa Cheche or Linglessou Bassin-Sang (Linglessou Bucket-of-Blood) when I advise that they should only be petitioned by or with the aid of experienced practitioners, and only for a damned good reason.  They serve a vital role within the Vodou tradition, but they are still dangerous. Spiders and bacteria are an important part of the ecosystem, but I'm not going to snort anthrax spores or drop Black Widows down my shorts to prove my oneness with nature. 

Balthazar makes another, very interesting observation:

Demonic obsession gets mentioned a lot in this discussion. Well, I know a lot of people who are obsessed by the Holy Spirit - to the extent that the other day I had to deal with a DNS poisoning issue with this blog, which kept redirecting the URL to some evangelical ministries website, assumedly devised by some righteous holy hacker. I also had to deal with a spiritual attack from the self same bunch waged most likely with imprecatory prayer. Talk about obsession. Lord only knows why my little blog would provoke such an effort - I wasn't going to give them any air time, for fear of encouraging their bigoted shenanigans but it seems appropriate to mention. I am not going to even go into the religious nut-jobs who kill, beat and maim for Jesus. Is the Holy Spirit a corrosive, inhuman demon?

This is a very important point. If we are going to talk about Goetia (or possession work), we need to discuss the nature of obsession and oppression.  I will be discussing this in further detail in my next post: in the meantime I thank Balthazar for his input.  I am impressed by how this discussion has produced a lot of intelligent and informative material. While there are obviously disagreements among various practitioners, they have been presented politely and rationally: we may not all come to complete agreement but I think we can all learn something from each other.

Time for Magic to Change: a Conversation with Shawn Melcic

I recently received an e-mail from Shawn Melcic concerning my recent interview in Mystic Wicks magazine.  With his permission, I wanted to share that exchange here:

I recently read your article in MysticWicks Magazine and I wanted to applaud you.  Most people anymore are content to say that they're pagan, barely examine it, and all of a sudden they are a high priest or priestess.  We do need another group like the Golden Dawn to actively engage people and teach them something valuable about what it is they believe.

Personally, I think some of these new groups may arise from the Internet. They may be mailing lists or invite-only forums, but they will be closed and selective. Instead of gaining degrees through ceremonies, one will gain credibility within these groups by contributing intelligent and worthwhile material.  (Of course this will lead inevitably to schisms and new forums developing: ultimately this will be a Good Thing, as it will result in cross-pollination like we saw with the various G.D. and O.T.O. spinoffs).

There are also a few of the old-model groups doing some good, solid work. Ivo Dominguez, Jr.'s Assembly of the Sacred Wheel comes to mind, as does the Universal Temple of Spirits and Raven Kaldera's Kingdom of Asphodel. There are definitely serious teachers out there. Unfortunately, they generally don't proselytize and they expect their members to make serious efforts and put the theory into practice. This means they don't get quite so much attention as the "Become Enlightened in Ten Easy Lessons" people. But this is fine, given the nature of our path. Mystery religions have never been mass movements: they are aimed at a limited number of people who are willing to do what it takes to encounter the Divine.

The question, however, is who is going to do it and when?  Better yet, what would be required to do so without getting beaten down by the mighty hand of government?  What would we need to do in order to visit a real life temple to a goddess on pagan soil?  You have my attention... now where do we go from here?

I think the dangers of government intervention are greatly exaggerated. A few dozen folks discussing magical and spiritual topics aren't likely to catch the attention of Homeland Security.  And we have a number of Pagan festivals which create Pagan sacred space for attendees: I think the secret will be to keep them going.  (And, of course, the best way to do that is to go to as many festivals as you can manage and afford! It's not just fun -- it's a spiritual mitzvah!)

That Old Black Magic: the Lesser Key of Solomon

There has been some Goetia discussion on two of my favorite blogs, with Jason Miller and Frater Rupus Opus offering commentary on their work with the Lesser Key of Solomon. Since it was sparked by a comment I made in my Amazon review of Jason's excellent Sorcerer's Secrets, I thought I should chime in with my tuppence.

I agree that using terms like "good" and "evil" only serves to muddy the water. I prefer the Vodou lingo of "hot" and "cool" spirits. By that definition, Goetic entities are definitely hot. They are fast-acting, strong and close to the material plane: they can also be difficult to handle and have a tendency to turn on the summoner if they sense weakness. There are plenty of djabs which behave in this fashion, and plenty of practitioners who are able to work successfully with those djabs.

In my experience I have found that Goetic entities are, for lack of a better word, corrosive. If the proper shields and protections are not in place, the magician can experience negative effects.  From an alt.magick post I made in March 1995:

In January of 1991 I had a Goetic working backfire on me. I had worked with this particular entity (Furcas, aka Forcas) before and had always had positive results. This time I summoned him with a somewhat more negative intention: to cause grievous bodily injury to a person who had ripped me off for a substantial sum of money.

No, I wasn't found with one toe outside my "Ritual Circle" and my head twisted 180 degrees. And yes, I did get some results. The person who ripped me off had several ribs broken in a gang attack, lost his girlfriend, and went from being a promising musician to having all his guitar equipment stolen.

What happened was the Furcas energy or entity "bled over" from magickal space (i.e. the ritual) and started obsessing my personality. (I see the Goetic demons as constructs within the collective unconscious; others may disagree with me). Several very close friends refused to have anything to do with me, as they said I had become "hard" and "mean." (I found stuff like Faces of Death unutterably funny, for example). I became fascinated with Richard Ramirez to the point where I stuck up a picture of him in my apartment (the one where he's holding up the pentagram drawn on his hand). I also remember a profound feeling of disassociation. There were times when I would look into a mirror and not recognize the person looking back.

In a couple months this went away. To this day I still haven't regained some of the friends I lost, though (not that it matters at this point) and still feel like there's emotional "scar tissue" in certain points of my psyche. Not as spectacular as a dragon summoning killing a dozen people, true... but that's the best I have to offer.

(I should note that I now see the Goetic entities as indepenent and sentient entities, not constructs. Other than that, this post remains a pretty accurate description of my experience with Furcas).

My personal feeling is that Goetic entities (I'm deliberately avoiding calling them "demons" because I realize that is a loaded term that contains a lot of Christian baggage) are not just non-human but non-mammalian. David Cronenberg's line about "insect politics" comes to mind.  They are not capable of mammalian emotions like bonding and nurturing: they aren't going to become our friends and they see attempts to negotiate as signs of weakness. The only language they understand is power: the only way to deal with them is to force them to do your bidding.  And once you've done this you had best watch your back, since they have long memories.

Others may have had a different experience than mine and may have established a different relationship with the Goetic entities. All I am going by is what I have seen and felt. As I said in the original review of Jason's book, we can agree to disagree. When it comes to magic, there are no experts: there are only those who have come to the Temple by their own path.

Evangelical Christianity: the Blood of Jesus Washes Over Haiti

Continuing our discussion of the Evangelical movement in Haiti, this is an excerpt from my latest book, Vodou Money Magic, concerning the history of Haitian Protestantism and Evangelical Christianity.

*****

Poverty is not the reason for rapid church growth in Haiti. One of the more important factors is voodoo. This mixture of Christian and pagan beliefs produces a fear of the spirit world. Christ's message is one of freedom from the powers of darkness.

The Haitian church is also a very alive and aggressive church. There is a big emphasis on effective prayer. Lively congregational singing and special music are important parts of the services. A large percentage of church members are very active witnesses for the Lord. Local churches feel a heavy responsibility for planting sister churches in nearby villages

         – Howard Culbertson, missionary to Haiti, 1987

      In 1817 Alexander Petion asked the Methodists to establish a primary school in Port-au-Prince. By the mid-nineteenth century, there were a number of Protestant missions in Haiti.  Staffed largely by African-American missionaries, they could be found throughout the Haitian countryside. During the 1915-1934 occupation, Haiti came under the direct control of the United States.  America had long been a majority Protestant culture, with a long history of anti-Catholic sentiment.  It was also a country in the grip of the revival movement, with preachers like Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple McPherson pulling in bumper crowds throughout the nation.  Still, their efforts bore little fruit.  In 1930, during the occupation’s final years and after a decade of missionary efforts, only 1.5% of Haiti’s population identified as Protestant.

      1950 marked a turning point for the Haitian Evangelical movement.  That year Paul and Mary Orjala, young Nazarene missionaries, first arrived in Haiti.  The Orjalas would remain there until 1964, establishing and conducting a Bible Training School (Séminaire Theologique Nazaréen d' Haiti in Port-au-Prince) which would prepare a generation of native-born Haitian evangelists. Today 70% of the Nazarene church membership of the Caribbean Region is in the country of Haiti.  There are over 100,000 Nazarenes living in Haiti – more than that of any other country in the world with the exception of the United States.

      That same year Radio 4VEH, "La Voix Evangelique d' Haiti" (the Evangelistic Voice of Haiti), began broadcasting in Vaudreuil in northern Haiti. Under the Rev. G.T. Bustin, the East and West Indies Bible Mission (now the Evangelical Bible Ministries) offered broadcasts in French, Spanish and Kreyol. Where the Catholic clergy spoke French, these ministers offered messages in the language of the local population.  They began to attract a growing following among the poorest of Haiti’s poor.  Other radio ministries would follow: today Evangelical groups control 7 of Haiti’s radio stations.

      After he came to power in 1957 Papa Doc Duvalier sought a counterbalance against the power of the ever-troublesome Catholic Church.  Toward that end, he welcomed Protestant missionaries.  Because their visas could be revoked at a moment’s notice, foreign pastors generally sought to avoid political entanglements. Under the Duvalier regime, missionaries had a great deal of freedom to build schools and engage in aid projects: so numerous were these groups that by the 1970s any White man traveling in the countryside was likely to be called “pastor” by the local populace. Alarmed by the growth of Protestantism among the poor, many of Haiti’s Catholic leaders began distancing themselves from the ruling party while others became part of a growing Catholic populist movement.

      Unlike earlier crusades, this one appears to have taken root in country:  today we see an ever-increasing number of Evangelical Protestants within the Haitian and Haitian-American community.  Because the mythology of Evangelical Christianity is more dualistic than Haitian folk culture, they can only explain uncanny healings or possessions in terms of "devil worship" and "Satanism." As a result, they are often openly hostile to Vodou.  Many see it as bondage to the forces of darkness and a major cause of Haitian violence, injustice and poverty.  By bringing the Good News to their fellows, they hope not only to save souls but to save their country.

      There has been self-righteous clucking in the usual quarters about Evangelicals perpetuating acts of “cultural genocide” against Vodou and its practitioners. The relationship between Evangelicals and Vodouisants is certainly more tense than the relationship between Vodouisants and the Catholic Church.  A member of our société comes from an Evangelical family: were they to discover that she serves the lwa, she would be disowned.  But we should not neglect the benefits which missionary money has brought to Haiti.  Their aid organizations are often more well-funded, transparently managed and efficient than their secular counterparts – when there are any secular counterparts.

      A growing number of  Haitian Vodouisants have decided the protection of Jesus is less onerous and costly than the protection of the lwa and family spirits.  While houngan et mambo pas travay pou un granmesi (Houngans and Mambos don’t work for a big thank you i.e. they charge for their services), many missions offer free health care, education and other opportunities to those willing to profess the faith.  For those converts, Evangelical Christianity offers more powerful and effective magic than Vodou.  Vodou has survived many other challenges to its existence: it will be interesting to see how it responds to market pressure from a hostile competitor which seeks to convert, not just pacify, its target clientele.

Evangelicals and Vodouisants in Haiti

Recently mailing lists and blogs have been abuzz with commentary concerning the Evangelical attack on a Vodou ceremony in Cité Soleil.  Many Pagans see this as yet another attack on alternative religions by the Evil Christian Empire: many Afrocentric thinkers consider it yet another incident of cultural genocide. The truth, as is frequently the case, is considerably more complicated.

In the best of times Cité Soleil is a lawless place. These are far from the best of times. People are seeking desperately to make sense of the tragedy that has taken place. Some Evangelicals have decided that God has punished Haiti for its tolerance of Vodou and so decided to take matters into their own hands. Other Haitian Evangelicals have offered a more nuanced response. From the article referenced above:

One Evangelical priest in the middle-class Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville claimed Wednesday that more than 200 people came to his church to convert after the January 12 quake. "They say that God struck the country," said Sainvoyus Raymond of the First Baptist Church of Petionville, adding that some of those who converted were previously voodooists.

Raymond, however, condemned the attack in Cite Soleil, saying violence should not be condoned and anyone was free to worship in whatever way they chose.

Rejecting claims that voodoo practices in the country were to blame for the killer quake, Raymond said instead that the disaster was God's response to all evil in Haiti, including violence and kidnapping.

Many Pagans would like to turn the Cité Soleil Vodouisants into fellow victims of the New Burning Times and the Evil American Fundamentalist Establishment. But Pat Robertson's ignorant and offensive comments about Haiti were hardly the impetus for this attack.  This was a bunch of poor and frightened people acting out in response to a horrible tragedy. (And it's not just Evangelicals who are scared: Haitian friends of mine have described "Lougawou killings" which sound uncomfortably like African witch-hunts and which owe more to Vodou and Haitian folk religion than to any form of Protestant or Catholic Christianity).

This is not to minimize or justify attacks on Vodouisants or any other kind of mob violence which takes place in the wake of the Haiti quake. But I think it is important to view this in the proper context, and to refrain from using it as a chance to engage in knee-jerk Christian-bashing.

Kenaz Filan Interview on March 14 8pm Eastern Time (KAPS Paranormal Radio)

I will be appearing on KAPS Paranormal Radio on Sunday, March 14 at 8 pm Eastern to discuss my upcoming book(s) and talk about Vodou with the hosts, Dave and Tom of the Kentucky Area Paranormal Society.   You can listen from their website or through CBS Psychic Radio.  Or you can hear the discussion on HD Radio in Detroit (104.3 WOMC-HD3), Boston (104.1 WBMX-HD3) or Seattle (96.5 KJAQ-HD 3). 

I'm looking forward to the interview and hope to hear from some of the people I've been corresponding with online.  You can send in questions via their chatroom or their phoneline, (248) 545-7685.