'Voodoo' is a Euro-American term used to describe (often derogatorily) several closely related religions practiced on both sides of the Black Atlantic. In West Africa, the Fon of Dahomey (now called Benin) worship a heterogeneous pantheon of spiritual beings called Vodun whom they encounter and manifest in trance-possession. The Kongo people of Central Africa attribute similar supernatural powers to their nzombi (dead), and to a complex pharmacopoeia through which the powers of the dead can be engaged. Convulsed into new societies by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Fon, Kongo and related African peoples pooled those beliefs they held in common—the agency of intermediary spirits; the liturgical efficacy of dance and music, especially drumming; the sacral power of images and spirit infused medicines; the benign orchestration of a distant god—into a number of related syncretic religions: Santeria in Cuba; Candomble in Brazil, Shango in Trinidad and, most notoriously, Vodou in Haiti.
Vodou's paradigmatic reputation is closely entwined with Haiti's unique history. Once slaves to France's richest colony, Afro-Haitians rebelled in 1791 and by 1804 established the world's first Black republic. The success of their audacious Revolution is often attributed to Vodou, which had continued to evolve and grow during the colonial period, adapting itself to the existential realities of the New World. African captives who had been forcibly baptized into the Roman Catholic Church admired much of what they encountered, particularly in the cult of the saints. Runaway slaves were introduced to new gods and rituals by Taino shamans surviving in the hills; as those slaves who remained in
the towns admired and appropriated the Free Masonic rituals of their French masters. By 1804 elements from these alien traditions had already worked themselves into the house of Africa's gods, one of the greatest and most consistently underrated events in world religious history.
Traces of Vodou's eighteenth century assimilations may still be noted in the continuing popularity of Poule Noire, Dragon Rouge and other French occult traditions whose charms and curses are readily available in Haitian chapbooks; in the Tarot and Crystal divinatory systems used by Vodou necromancers; and in a demonology of werewolves, changelings, and zombies appropriated from superstitious colonials and now deeply embedded in Haitian folklore. However, the most important appropriations from the colonial period remain those from the Roman Catholic Church and the Free Masons. Every significant lwa (divinity) is reified by the image of a corresponding Catholic saint, often adopting the same iconography, prayers and feast days. Likewise, Masonic paraphernalia was quickly absorbed into Vodou ritual. Symbols such as the AllSeeing Eye, Skulls and Bones, and Crossed Compasses pervade its sacred arts. Oungans (priests) greet each other with elaborate Masonic handshakes, hardly surprising since most have also been initiated into the secret society, as are two of their lwa patrons: Ogou, generalissimo of the pantheon, and Baron Samedi, the divine undertaker who wears the funereal garb of the 32nd degree initiate.
This process of assimilating from parallel religious traditions continues to mark Vodou practice. Many oungans and manbos (priestesses) have been influenced by the writings of Haitian philosopher Milo Rigaud, whose 1953 book The Secrets of Vodou (Le Tradition Voudoo et le Voudoo Haitien) bears the hallmarks of New Age philosophy (see New Age Movement): the assumption of a universal solar mythology, gnosis, alchemy and secret language. For New Age seekers, these are 'keys' which unlock the hidden meaning of Vodou, including the true identity of the lwa, who at some dark level are manifestations of the same universal pantheon to be found in the Tarot, the Kabbalah, the Vedas, and the revelations of Mme. Helena P.Blavatsky (see Blavatsky, Helena).
It would be easy to dismiss Rigaud's book as a theosophic farrago (see theosophy), but that would be a mistake. The book continues to be an extremely influential source for modern Vodou myth making, especially among the various foreign writers, artists and film makers who discover and incorporate Vodou's traces into their own lives and works. First and foremost among such partisans is dance ethnographer and film maker Maya Deren, whose 1953 book, Divine Horseman: The Living Gods of Haiti, is a ringing Jungian defense of the religion (see Jung, Carl), as well as a source of inspiration for writers as diverse as Russell Banks (Continental Drift), William Gibson (Count Zero) and Wade Davis (The Serpent and the Rainbow). These artists seem to share in sentiments expressed by Alfred Metraux, another famous ethnographer, who described Vodou as 'the paganism of the West: Many of us go to Haiti in search of our classical heritage, and find in Voodoo the charm of fairy tales. Without compelling us to give up our habits and ties with the present, it take us into a magic realm' (Cosentino, 1995:53).
Vodou apologetics also extend to the scientific avant garde. Thus in the preface to his 2000 book, The Vodou Quantum Leap, physician and poet Reginald Crosley asserts, 'Quantum physics reveals to us that reality has two faces, a visible one and an invisible one. Vodou reveals this hidden face of reality... Vodou accounts of possession, channeling, and zombis all reflect the multidimensional nature of existence.' Likewise
Ronald Derenoncourt, Haitian musician and TV personality popularly known as 'Aboudja', uses Hollywood idioms to explain trance possession as a manifestation of Einstein's physics: 'In Vodou, we consider a human being like a starship. You are a starship and your energy is the captain. You can put yourself in a state where another energy can take control within you. It's the same thing when a person is possessed by a lwa. It's like a hit—plaaak—it makes a plaaak and then it goes, leaving you with an open mind' (Cosentino 1995:27). Employing this sort of discourse, Vodou morphs once again from its African roots to its New Age destiny.