Voodoo

Who here likes, practices some form of, and/or is interested in Voudoun/Vodou?

heard this program on the radio all about it the other day and i was taken back by how appealing it seemed. i would consider myself spiritual, in a lazy half ass buddhist way, but voodoo is still a bit more 'possesive' than i can handle for now. i do have a soft spot for the music associated with it though.

$1,000,000 to anyone that can successfully place any type of voodoo curse on me and prove it's effects. I'll even throw in some magic voodoo powder to top off your gris-gris bag.

I saw something on Haitian Vodou, trying to find out if zombies were real. They had several verified cases to check over. On one, the supposed zombie had died a second time, so they couldn't check him over, but in a second case, the supposed zombie turned out to be a mentally handicapped man who somewhat resembled the dead man. The dead man's mother so wanted him to be alive that, in her grief, she was willing to believe.

They did some testing, and found out how some vodou priests managed to create "zombies." They would use a toxin from a certain kind of fish (a relative to the fish used in that Japanese dish that sometimes kills people. Pufferfish?) and give that to a person. The person would appear to be dead, and would be buried. About 10% of the time, the victim will have been given the right amount and the priest will be able to break into their grave in time to get them out. The rest of the time, either the toxin kills them or they suffocate in the sealed tomb.

The investigations got started because Haitian tombs are broken into all the time. Families will try to guard their dead relative's tomb for the first few days to keep the priests from stealing the body. After a few days, the body is decayed enough that they are no longer useful. It was all very horrific, what the priests would do to get power over the people. Of course, these are not the regular priests, but the ones who would practice black magic corruption of Vodou.

Why would we want to place any "curses" on you? You're a good father and a good person.

Aye there are good priests and bad priests, just like in any belief system.

I was reading something about that, but I can't remember where. apparently the priests sometimes don't (didn't?) even need to keep them drugged after "reviving" them; the faith of the victims is so intense that they themselves honestly believe that they are dead and have no choice but to obey the priest like a slave. that is some powerful brainwashing right there.

I don't think they redrug them if they happen to get the dose and timing right. The people do think they are zombies. Not the brain-eating, staggering kind, but as proof of power and sometimes to serve the priests or at least build thier reputations.

Taught a mini-course on Hatian voodoo for a professor in college one year.

I hope I didn't make too many mistakes in what I said on here.

ah, fuck it

Well, what you said has very, very little to do with voodoo (voudou, vodou, vodun, however you want to spell it).

Unless you wanna talk about the Tonton Macoutes, that is.

Go read The Serpent and the Rainbow and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie, both by Wade Davis.

.. and Zora Neale Hurston's Tell My Horse.


This is another good one.

Not sure how it works where you live, but wouldn't you have to actually have a million bucks to offer it as a bet?

In other news, I'm convinced that voodoo curses have kept me from having a million dollars. :|

True. The documentary I saw had more to do with trying to figure out the science behind the supposed zombie making. Very little about the religion was mentioned. So, I don't really know much about it other than the general stuff about a combining of African traditions and Roman Catholocism.

Part of me hopes that someday, something "supernatural" happens to you and you don't have an explanation for it

Also, my second profile pic:

Veve!

To Legba, to be precise. I'm somewhat of a fan.


Despite that, in WoW I named my warrior main Erzuli (as in Dantor).

"Papa Legba, come and open the gate..."

The Serpent & The Rainbow was an awesome book.

I have had an experience that I can't explain. Many people can't explain how their car works, but it doesn't work by magic. People still don't know exactly how lightning works, but I can pretty much guess it's not due to magic. Not being able to explain something does not mean it's magic, it just means more research is needed.