Voodoo in its various incarnations and spellings is a traditional, African religion that has the tenacity of cellulite.
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| Image from the Disney animated movie "Pocahontas" |
Voodoo is "animist". People who practice Voodoo believe that objects like trees, animals, bones, rocks and objects touched by a human have a spirit, are alive and can harbor malice.
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| Image from Disney animated movie Mulan |
Voodoo believes that the spirits of departed humans roam the earth and influence events for evil or for good. Voodoo believes that these spirits can be invoked to act as agents on behalf of the living.
Voodoo believes in multiple gods that are similar to the gods in Norse mythology. The gate-keeper god who must be appeased before any of the other gods can be asked to intervene is the god of chance and caprice, analogous to Loki.
The sea is a dangerous place where death can come unexpectedly so Loki's high position in the Viking pantheon is not surprising. So it should come as no surprise that a similar god holds a high place in Africa where death is never more than a heartbeat away.
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| Voodoo altar with statues of Christian saints used (misused?) as fetishes |
In some places, Voodoo has a veneer of Christianity, a white-wash if you want to think about it that way. Christian on Sunday, Voodoo the rest of the week.
Those syncretic religions are not Christian as they are polytheistic and if they have an economy-of-salvation it is tortured and convoluted. It also fails in that Christianity is "universal' (lower-case c "catholic) and applies to all humans while Voodoo claims to only be applicable to certain families, tribes or select few.
Furthermore, the Bible is full of admonitions to avoid dabbling in the occult.
From a practical standpoint, time and resources spent trying to influence events are not available for learning Newtonian physics, statistics or writing for comprehension. To believe in Voodoo is to always have an excuse for failure and a thousand reasons to give up.
It does make us the victims of chance and powers beyond our control without the ability to influence our future.
ReplyDeleteIn one way, the Wyrd (or fate) of the Anglo-Saxon and Vikings was in a sense freeing in that it if it was their day to die, they would die and nothing could be done to stop it, so why worry. On the other hand, it was very binding in that it proposed a pre-determined fate that none could escape no matter how one tried (which does form the plot of more than one Saga).
"People who practice Voodoo believe that inanimate objects like trees, animals...."
ReplyDeleteSlip of the pen here, perhaps.
Thanks. Fixed it.
DeleteProgressives believe in animism. They blame 'evil' guns for killing people instead of the ones who wield these weapons.
ReplyDeleteTo me, at heart Progressives are polytheistic, worshipping whatever they think will help them get ahead, regardless of the consequences or future implications of the action.
DeleteTweell is correct... sigh
ReplyDeleteSanta Muerte is practiced by some who worship Death to protect them from others and make them stronger. They consider Death as another Saint to worship and ask help from.
ReplyDeleteMexican drug cartel members sometimes use this to protect themselves from law enforcement and other drug cartels from hurting them. There have been cases of human sacrifices used in their practice (see Mark Kilroy murder case)
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