What is Voodoo?
79Is Voodoo Satanic?
I must say first and foremost that I am no scholar or theologist. I am speaking from the heart, and will accept any correction that is given within reason. I am simply here to state facts and research data that I have found and you will find on Wikipedia and in your Google search engines.
First of all I want to say that I was raised to believe that anything outside of the 'Basic' Christian religions (Baptist, Protestant, Catholic and Lutheran) was 'wrong' or a 'cult' or 'occult'. How crazy is that in a country formed on the basic principle or Freedom! Let freedom ring!
In this day and age it is easy to see why people were scared of what they did not understand. They did not have the fabulous tools we have now and could not leave their families to check out every possible threat, so they told us to stay away from things they did not understand.
We are older now, and we should know better. In every facet of existence there is room for a bad egg, rotten apple, dark side. I am sure that the recent advances in technology has given us the news more quickly than ever in history. So now we can really seek truth, instead of repeating the stories of the sadly misinformed.
Voodoo, or more precisely Haitian Vodou is a combination of West African religion and Catholicism. That does not sound Satanic to me, so I dug deeper.
As it turns out, they believe in a single creator God, the same a the aforementioned 'Christian Religions' I was raised with. The name "Vodou" literally means Good God... ( another translation is Divine Creation) Not Satan.
Further research reveals that they believe God will not answer them or even hear them directly, but that they must have a mediator (Hmmm, sounds kind of familiar). They pray to their mediator ( then they are " in the blood") and some may become possessed ( Can you say "slain in the Spirit"). Wow, things I have seen happen in the Christian Church are a part of this religion.
For those of you who are not religious, a minor side point. It is the Christian belief that we are too sinful for God to even look upon us, and so we must confess and be forgiven. In some religions and religious songs we ask to be covered in the blood of the lamb, or Jesus so that our sins are washed away, or forgiven. Only then can our message reach God. In some religions we must go to our Preist or Rabbi to be our mediator. As I said, this is all so familiar.
Perhaps you have seen people praying and "speaking in tongues" or seen video of them shaking and falling into the arms of a church elder. This is called being in the spirit, or slain in the spirit. Sometimes people are healed or receive a prophecy because of this event. But it is seen as Christian and not Satanic... How strange that our language or physical appearance or geographic location could determine what is sacred and what is Satanic.
Don't go sticking pins in Me!
Before you go bringing up voodoo dolls and hoodoo of the south, remember that much of our information came from movies designed to make money by tantalizing or scaring us.
Remember also that the only way to keep us segregated from each other is to make us too afraid of one another to ask questions. If you ask a Haitian if they worhip Satan, or something they might say yes because it was too stupid of a question to answer.
But if you ask a Haitian to explain his religion to you, because you want to learn more about him and his culture and his people, well then, you might get a completely different answer.
Now, I hope, and pray that if there are any Haitians who read this they will answer for I have known many Haitians, and the beauty and innocence of these people is for me as breathtaking as the sight of the Purple Mountain Majesty I saw when driving out west. We turned a bend, and there is was, and we had to stop the car because we finally understood what that meant!
These people are longsuffering and patient and kind and loving. How could anyone ever call them Satanic?
Update: Feb. 7 2010
There was an ad on my page and I called the 800 number to speak with Papa Jorge. I also checked out his site ( I did not click on it but entered it in a new widow from my browser). He was a wealth of information. When asked he told me that yes there is a sect of Voodoo that is satanic and should be avoided. The Haitians do not involve themselves with that type of Voodoo.
Not all Voodoo is Satanic, there is good and bad in every religion. He said that God has armies and Satan has armies. It is up to each of us to decide in whose army we choose to belong.
Voodoo is a religion, just like the many others that seem to cause so much debate in the world, and the true head of the religion is God.
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James you are My very first comment! I have checked out some of your topics and hope to get to reading tomorrow. This is why I posted my RESEARCH. I want input. No I know not all haitians practice Voodoo, and the type of stuff you are talking about is like the MYTHS I found. So PLEASE tell me your sources. I want to know if I am wrong. And thank you so much for reading my blog.
wow, Faybe, i didn't know any of that about voodoo, you're right, many of us get our views on things like this from the movies. the similarities are interesting also. i always thought voodoo was sticking pins in dolls and whatnot. now i know better. thanks for this informative and unique hub!
Thank you Cosette, I am so excited you took the time to read. I was inspired by your Blog about Haiti, and poor Pat Robertson sticking his foot in his mouth again.
Faybe Bay, My knowledge of the practice of voodoo is from observations from the immediate environment where i once lived in West Africa. The practice is so entrenched in the society that it dictates the direction in political, economic and social life. So that during the period of election, massive kidnapping of humans for rituals becomes rampant; children are buried under business complexes as recipes to spiritually boost the performance of Businesses; It is a bullet proof for criminals. The practice is also seen as a tool to guarantee promotions and appointments.
One evening; you see the corpse of a roaming Lunatic at the roaside, the next morning, the head has been chopped off. The list is endless.
James,I respect your comment. My research is about Vodou, the Haitian amalgam of the Catholic faith and Western African Voodoo. Perhaps you missed Pat Robertson's faux pas when he said that the Haitians brought the earthquake on themselves due to their religion.
Faybe, I heard about such comment but Never had the time to get the detail. But he might be right considering that the practice of voodoo in West Africa is usually followed by some form of catastrophe. For example, the "bullet proof voodoo" is widely believed to attract gunshots. The images of the aftermath of the Haitian Earthquake, coupled with the Extreme spiritual practices that are associated with many Haitians, tend to point to the direction of an Affirmation.
Although am not well armed on Haitian Vodou, your Article could stimulate the research.
Wow. Didn't know all this about voodoo. Supposedly, there's a voodoo sect near Savannah!
Habee I am honored you read this, as I once asked you for advice and you told me to write what I am passionate about. I am passionate about the diversity of the human race and education that brings a change. I believe God wants us to learn from each other, we can't if we are scared of one another.
James, thanks for coming back. I was worried my stubborn stance would alienate you. A very religeous friend of mine once told me that it is not God who punishes us in this life, He has already told us that we have until Judgement Day. We punish ourselves and each other in this life. Not helping a man who has different beliefs, because you don't understand his beliefs... I was raised to be a good samaritan. Who by the way, no one liked at the time. When I see injustice I will try to fight it. Knowledge is power. When people are deprived of knowledge they are weak, with it thay are strong.
In my research I looked up the Pact with The Devil, Pat Robertson spoke of. I had no idea the Virgin Mary was in league with him. Apparently in the nineteenth century people who didn't understand catholicism thought that to be true. There are still some publications to that effect, you know. Check out Habee's blog on cats and the plague. People had some dim views of cats as well for hundreds of years, and that got a lot of people dead.
I'm just curious, In helping a mother, wife (or others), what are you looking for in return? Is it a fee of some sort? Please reply ASAP!!!!
~Thank You
Isis71, I charge no fee. if you e-mail me, via hubpages, I will respond. There are a variety of ways a person can earn money on line, without compromising their principles, and come out of this economy stronger.
thankyou for posting this. Helping others to gain their own insight is a very positive thing. If somebody has heard negative facts about vodou, the chances are that they are not going to research it. Based on actual experience i have learned that the practice of Haitian Vodou is not evil or Satanic.
However, sadly it can be. Much like in existance there are christians and satanists. Satanists are sadly still christian, as without the christian faith there would be no satan... and so while they are a small sect of christianity, they still are a part of it. Much is the same in the negative use of Vodou. Human sacrifices are more an offering to the more extreme and evil spirits, aka demons... such as the rulers of Kriminal and others of the minor Lwa.
Nice info on this hub . I am glad to read.
James Agbogun Level 2 Commenter 2 years ago
Voodoo has no point of intersection with christianity as the content tend to assume. Voodoo is an affiliate of a range of awful religious practices that originated from West Africa.
Human organs, Human Blood, Human bones from decayed corpse; are all ingredients for the recipe. Children, Handicaps, Albinos, pregnant women; are some of the victims of the practice. Such practice leave corpse with missing organs on the street, It increase the rate of kidnapping and murder. Also, one cannot claim that all Haitians are voodoo practitioners.