I’ve been desiring to sing voodoo’s praises. To me Voodoo isn’t that different than ayahuasca when it comes to spirits. Plants and trees and animals and ancestors are all considered voodoo spirits as far as my awareness goes. Then there’s the pantheon. I’ve been thinking about whether or not to post about it on here, and decided to do it. It’s been a pretty big part of my spiritual life lately. And it’s been a mixed bag. Voodoo itself is beautiful, yet the fears of it are kind of scary maybe. Kind of like when people perceive Wicca and other traditions like that to be evil. I thought about what I named this thread at first and went back and changed it because of my own fears ad because I was a bit drunk last night when I posted this. It’s was kind of over the top for a title probably if anyone saw it, yet that’s how much I desire to express its beauty. Where I live the collective psyche is pretty Christian and a bit Islamic and a bit Jewish, Buddhiist, and Hindu, around others. for the most part, yet voodoo is all over as well, although more hidden maybe. How does one express what is hidden and what a lot of people fear? How does one be spiritually real with religions religions who don’t always get along yet are all a part of one’s soul? At any rate maybe the fears of voodoo are because of how it’s been portrayed in the media combined with the demonization of it along with other nature based spiritualities. It seems a lot like ancient mythology actually.

I’ve been watching the reaction to the corona virus where I live, and the government’s reaction, and it makes me wonder what if everyone knew about things like voodoo, or wicca, or shamanism, or mythology, what would the world be like then? Would people respond in the same ways? Maybe the response would be grounded in earth medicine.

I’m actually considering creating a series of threads about the various spiritualities I’ve encountered since the start of my spiritual awakening. It’s something this soul desires to express.

Some branches of the Santo Daime church are heavily inspired by Umbanda and other systems of candomblé, afrobrazilian rites. They are close to voodoo and most of the orixas, the spirits of the natural world, are the same.
They call it Umbandaime, but in almost every churches, Umbanda plays some role.

This is a quite interesting combination - a friend of mine assisted to some candomblé-ceremonies in Brazil under the influence of Ayahuasca. He said that he could literary see the spirits, the people got possessed by.

Thanks for this. One of my greatest challenges for the past couple of years or so has been to unify ayahuasca and voodoo in my spiritual experience. There was a belief in me that they wouldn’t go together, or couldn’t, or didn’t like each other or whatever. A dualistic sort of separation one could say, although I could sense their love for each other.

To see that Santo Daime is both in some sense caused me to feel a huge relief.

And it wasn’t just Voodoo and Ayahuasca who seemed dualistically opposed in me. Christianity and Islam, Judaism and Islam (although that one has healed quicker), Republican and Democrat, Pakistan and India, Serbia and Bosnia, Albania and Serbia, Turks and Greeks, Sunni and Shia, Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Pagan, Islam and Paganism, Judaism and Paganism, Vegans and meat eaters. The list probably goes on.

A really challenging one is Christianity and the Goddess religion or spirituality, and interesting too because I came to be aware of the Feminine like that later in life that most other names on my list of dualisms.

I guess back in the day that was my normal mode of classifying these seeming opposites. But as I awakened, I realized that the separations seem in some way language based, and on deeper levels don’t exist really.

Yet on my way to integrating my awareness of the artificialness of the dualities, I’ve had several episodes of what I would describe as Kundalini Syndrome. It reminds me of something I read by a person who went mad when their kundalini awakened. It would seem as if the energies of religions and mythologies and ideologies were fighting each other through the dualistic matrix in my mind, and causing scenarios where I couldn’t really stop talking to myself (a similar phenomenon is something I call “talking it out”, which has been very healing) Perhaps they were really coming through the role playing part of me, or perhaps the strife was all the role playing part of me, yet it seems as if Spirit was coming through and healing those parts of me.

this video is a well filmed exemple of such an umbandaime ceremony, made by the fraternidade kayman, in bela horizonte, brasil.

The experiences in yoruba- and orisha-based spiritual traditions
like voudou, santeria, candomble, umbanda, Palo are really awesome
to look at from a psychedelic point of view. The direct experiences
Of these spirits and divinities induced by plants shows how universal
these imageries are. I experienced ogum and other orishas directly under
the influence of ayahuasca. There is no doubt that there is a lot of truth
in these systems - and they integrate perfectly in the collective inconsciousness,
even for people without African roots, that's to say: roots far beyond our reach,
but the ancestors are there of course.
Also voodoo and other work-traditions like conjure have a quite pragmatic approach.
It's about your feelings and intentions and there are sometimes far less dogmatism
than in other mindsets (even if they can be highly complicated sometimes).

Anyway, I feel at home in the African universe and I think that there
is a lot of truth to discover - especially Ifa is quite something.

I am sorry to mix my ideas about a lot of different traditions all together,
but me, as an outsider, see more the common points than the differences.


Recently I started to listen to Ella andall, a orisha-conscient singer from trinidad-tobago
It's really soulshacking, powerful spiritual music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d3vr20xp8Ro

these traditions have a lot in common for sure, especially the afro american religions, that have the same roots in africa. such as for example santeria in cuba and candomblé in brasil, that share a lot together because of it's common yoruba origin , which is to a certain extent the case of haitian voodoo, where god such as ogum are worshiped. and cuban palo and brasilian quimbanda have the common bantou congo heritage, and from what i read about palo, they seem to have a lot in common. i also think that psychedelic can put you in contact with any kind of traditions. like this sufi guy from the fatimiyah order said in an interview, every religion is a matrix, and under ayahuasca you can just drift from a matrix to an other,it can put you in contact with every divinity from the past, the present, and why not from the future. and then you see archetypes,and make connections between space and time, like for exemple the similarities between exu and pomba gira and left hand Hindu deities like shiva and kali, or babalon has she appears in western occultist experiment and how she is so related to pomba gira, especially maria padilha.

what is certain also is that plant based trance have a great affinity with mediumship, and these religions being religions based on possession, the use of ayahuasca really helps to get into it, especially for westerners like us that are less used to altered state of consciousness . because possession trance is a disjonction between the body and the mind, your body get to be under the control of an other entity. and psychedelic can work as to amplify this disjonction, because your consciousness is caught in visions, and at this moment the entity seize your body.

about the pragmatic side, i think as well that this is one beauty of these religions, and it is something that makes it very useful in a psychedelic experience. it is very magic orientated, not to say that a complex metaphysic do not exist, or that there is no transcendental side, but that it is turned towards the manipulation of reality. these entities are advisors, guardians and healers, they are here to do work, and not to be merely object of contemplation, in a way that is very comparable to the spirit shamans deal with, although those people work less frequently with possession. and i personally think that when you venture far away in hyperspace, and for a long time, you gonna need allies. maybe that is even more important in places like south america and africa where assault shamanism and these kind of spiritual attack are more frequent, but i think they can be helpful anywhere. these spirit comes to help you, they protect your space so not any kind of energy or entity would enter during the ceremony, they can take over and give assistance if someone needs to be healed or help in some way. not less importantly, they work as teachers, teaching you to do the work they do, to turn a little bit spirit yourself, so that you to can learn how to do magic.

but of course, and this is the eternal question, not every one can, or maybe should get to a foreign country to get initiated to voodoo or to a traditional shamanic system that work on structuring the hyperspace so that a traveler would have guardians, and would be able to consciously use the hyperspace to do some work on the here and now, such as healing . and there are definitely, in these delicate process of initiation, limits to what one can do by himself, because one must have a body that is well prepared,in a very material way, so that he can be able to make certain connections,and that these connections would not turn against him. but i do believe that we must find ways to navigate these experience not just as simple travelers, but as cosmic diplomats and hyperspace doctors, in the same way nganga and shamans are doing. we must learn to work, and our task in the west is more difficult, because we lack maps, but then again, maybe the tools are just meant to find the seeker

A remarkable aspect of so-called left hand practices like quimbanda and palo is their
Strong relationship to European witchcraft. It is part of these traditions as orisha-worship is. I dreamt about late Renaissance grimoirs while working on the aspects of pomba gira - and here is everything: animal sacrifice, crossroads, magical objects.

We do have a tradition in Western occultism but it was infiltrated and officialized by aristrocrate shitheads - even the crowleyan system is full of interesting stuff but I wouldn't deal with most of the people who are in it.

But witchcrat is a tremendous thing - here we have a folk science, a root science which was easily adapted by our folks of African origin. But nowadays nothing left here in Europe apart of wicca-wannabe's and thelemetic ubermensch-nazis.

But our tradition is rich in magic. I think of Austin osman spare and his zos kia cult as well as Burroughs, gysin and orridge to name some contemporary ones. Magic is alive and we, in voodoo and candomble and ayahuasca can find models to bring the ancient wisdom back to our daily lives.

This discussion brings to my mind an old but still very relevant thread from years back.

A warning to my fellow psychonauts regarding hyperspace entities

I believe DMT does open up the spiritual dimensions that usually are hidden to common person. It's quite incredible to get first hand experience of something most people won't believe exist.

I am also pretty convinced that you can get into deep trouble if you enter into pacts or agreements with entities whose intentions you don't really know. Whatever power or rewards they offer, it comes with a price.

If you have benevolent intentions you attract benevolent energies, but even then it's good to exercise discretion if things seem fishy.

Best things come slow and peacefully.

Yeah, reminds me a lot of the gnostic archons. Or the devas in India.

For sure, the realms of hyperspace are vast, and a lot of spirits can be attracted by faithful youngsters - fresh flesh.
Ayahuasca once showed me, that she can open ALL the doors, and it is up to you what you are looking for.

Therefore I always put a lot of importance on opening prayers and good vibes. Having some knowledge in diverse banishing rituals and self protection and a well grounded agnosticism is a good point to start to explore those things.

Allen kardec gives useful instructions in his books, if you understand his sort of argumentation. There are many, many spirits out (in) there, so let the seeker know where to put his anchor.

But to return to the topic: most of the orishas and spirits from African traditions are, of course powerful, but merely bienveillant. They have things to clear upon the humans and there for are open to mindful address, prayer and offerings. That's what I see.

If, on the other hand, you want to approach those spirits from the crossroads, be careful with your intention and don't follow blindly rituals how we can see them in so many books. This is not for fun.
Like a psychonauts version of ebenister scrooge, you can have trouble to leave the spirits you were calling to.

Some really good instructions can be found in several of Aleister Crowleys Books. The ritual of Abrahmelin for example takes several months of preparation.

But it can always happen upon you, that an entity, let's say Kali, shows up in a session. Being not frightened but respectful and some kind of distant is always a good way to approach those issues. After all, they are just genetic signalsftol the collective unconciousness in your own brain

Interesting topic!

.

that made me think of this beautiful poem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-GonR4S1to

God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is alive; Magic is afoot
God is afoot; Magic is alive
Alive is afoot.....
Magic never died.
God never sickened;
Many poor men lied
Many sick men lied
Magic never weakened
Magic never hid
Magic always ruled
God is afoot
God never died.
God was ruler
Though his funeral lengthened
Though his mourners thickened
Magic never fled
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
Though his words were twisted
The naked Magic thrived
Though his death was published
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe
Many hurt men wondered
Many struck men bled
Magic never faltered
Magic always led.
Many stones were rolled
But God would not lie down
Many wild men lied
Many fat men listened
Though they offered stones
Magic still was fed
Though they locked their coffers
God was always served.
Magic is afoot. God rules.
Alive is afoot. Alive is in command.
Many weak men hungered
Many strong men thrived
Though they boasted solitude
God was at their side
Nor the dreamer in his cell
Nor the captain on the hill
Magic is alive
Though his death was pardoned
Round and round the world
The heart did not believe.
Though laws were carved in marble
They could not shelter men
Though altars built in parliaments
They could not order men
Police arrested Magic
And Magic went with them,
For Magic loves the hungry.
But Magic would not tarry
It moves from arm to arm
It would not stay with them
Magic is afoot
It cannot come to harm
It rests in an empty palm
It spawns in an empty mind
But Magic is no instrument
Magic is the end.
Many men drove Magic
But Magic stayed behind
Many strong men lied
They only passed through Magic
And out the other side
Many weak men lied
They came to God in secret
And though they left him nourished
They would not say who healed
Though mountains danced before them
They said that God was dead
Though his shrouds were hoisted
The naked God did live
This I mean to whisper to my mind
This I mean to laugh with in my mind
This I mean my mind to serve 'til
Service is but Magic
Moving through the world
And mind itself is Magic
Coursing through the flesh
And flesh itself is Magic
Dancing on a clock
And time itself the magic length of God.


and about the other stuff you said about European magic, i really agree with you

yea when i was talking about the importance of proper initiation, it was mainly in relation to these spirits. in brasilian possession practice there is the notion of egum, that are malevolent wandering spirits. and if someone works with spirits without knowing what he is doing, he might end up attracting egum, principally when trying to work with exu, that are spirit of the crossroad, and the crossroad, like the streets in general, are full with egums. that is why such a great part of these practice involve taking bath of plants, you need to be able to wash yourself from parasitic influences that might get stuck inside you. what the afro brasilian people calls egum or kiumbas and the huni kuin calls nissun, parasitic entities that lurk in hyperspace just to feed out of people.

but i do agree that love and a good hearth is essential in these journeys. it is so important to have pure intentions, especially when learning magic, because magic is also power, and you should use that for good. like their is this song from jurema

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jff6BdFq8dw

i swore , i swore ,i swore, i swore in front of the jurema, i swore to never do evil.

these spirits, this magic, it must be used for the good, to heal people, to help them, to serve and protect, not for selfish intention. what you receive in the journey is related to what you put into it. if you do things for selfish reason, then it's going to ends badly one day or another, because stuff always gets back at you. but if you do things out of love, then what you'll get from it is more light, an increase in your capacity to love. it is like what i heard in peru, that a lot of shamans are reluctant to teach, because you can never be sure about somebody intentions, and even the student cannot be sure of how he will handle power before having it.