Ross Heaven - Vodou Shaman: The Haitian Way of Healing and Power

PRAISE FOR VODOU SHAMAN

During the kanzo ceremony, which consecrates initiates in Haitian Vodou, they are cut off from the world of the living and guarded by men armed with machetes to prevent them from running away. Mournful songs at this time refer repeatedly to their deaths. Ross Heaven approached the ceremony wearing a t-shirt bearing the words: Absolutely Positively Definitely NO FEAR (Not even a little bit). When I saw that, I knew I had someone special in my charge! I was rewarded with a loyal initiate son who brings me happiness, challenges my imagination, and communicates the Vodou tradition faithfully to others.

B ON M AMBO R ACINE S ANS B OUT S A T E L A D AGINEN (R OOTS WITHOUT E ND, W HO W AS T HERE AT THE B EGINNING OF G INE), P RIESTESS OF H AITIAN V ODOU

It is often in the places we least expect it, that we find the deepest spirituality. Vodou, the least well known, most feared and even most ridiculed form of shamanism, is one of those places. In this must-read book we find a pragmatic way of being in spirit; one desperately needed as we face the challenge of living in this time of great change.

D R. E VE B RUCE, M.D., F.A.C.S., MEDICAL DOCTOR AND AUTHOR OF S HAMAN, M.D.

A groundbreaking book that will contribute to the knowledge, diversity, and healing in this world. Ross Heaven writes with heart and wisdom about a true return to spirit.

K RISTIN M ADDEN, AUTHOR OF P AGAN P ARENTING AND T HE B OOK OF S HAMANIC H EALING

A most important and valuable study of Vodouand an amazing adventure story to boot! In this book, we have a rich slice of superior writing in which personal encounters, vivid travelogue, and anecdote blend beautifully into an intelligent and well-informed guide to a fascinating spiritual tradition and a secret world.

S IMON B UXTON, FOUNDER OF THE S ACRED T RUST AND AUTHOR OF T HE S HAMANIC W AY OF THE B EE

Ross Heaven does for Vodou what Castaneda did for shamanism. With so many sacred ways and cultures dying out, it is wonderful that one of the worlds oldest oral traditions is recorded here by an authentic wisdomkeeper.

T ANIA AHSAN, EDITOR OF P REDICTION MAGAZINE

Ross Heaven is a modern sage. In his book Vodou Shaman we not only learn about Vodou and experience its powers firsthand, we also pass through portals to higher levels of consciousness.

J OHN P ERKINS, AUTHOR OF T HE S PIRIT OF THE S HUAR

The experience of Vodou is one of joy, dance, drums and song. It is an experience that enables all of us to connect with our spirits and the infinite power of the universe. This practical book is a valuable guide to how we can all achieve joy in our lives.

A MODA, AUTHOR OF M OVING INTO E CSTASY

I am delighted to offer my support for this book, which is in the tradition of Maya Deren and Claude Planson, Caucasians who have discovered infinity in the African spirituality. Ross Heaven is enriching our understanding of the psyche and wisdom of humanity by going into the primeval source of our worldview.

DR. R EGINALD O. C ROSLEY, MEDICAL DOCTOR AND AUTHOR OF T HE V ODOU Q UANTUM L EAP

Vodou is a very beautiful and practical spiritual approach to experiencing the power of other worlds. Through Vodou Shaman ordinary people will discover how to empower themselves in the most extraordinary ways.

H OWARD G. C HARING, DIRECTOR OF THE E AGLES W ING C ENTRE FOR C ONTEMPORARY S HAMANISM AND AUTHOR OF M EDICINE FOR THE S OUL

This book is dedicated with love to my beautiful daughters, Jodie, Amelia, and Erzuli-Honey, and to Woody and Flood, and to my soul mate, Saffronit took us 70 years between us to find each other again, but finally we did it. Thank you all for being you and for loving me despite my failings.

It is also for D.K., the innocent children of Carmel, and for the true victims of a world gone mad, and for Cleve Jones, in appreciation of your vision.

It is also for our scientists whose studies have now proven that love is a form of insanity. May they all find love themselves one day so their real studies may begin.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks to Mambo Racine for her teachings and for permission to quote from her work. Any errors that appear in this book are mine, not hers, as are the opinions I have expressed in my writing, which Mambo Racine would not necessarily agree with.

I also wish to thank Tim Booth for permission to quote from the James song The Shining, which appears on the album Pleased To Meet You (Mercury Records, 2001), and for his foreword to this book.

My thanks to Mambo Racine for front cover photography (vever of Ayizan, spirit of initiation), and to Michelle Clements for the other illustrations in this book. The hierarchy of needs pyramid was inspired by Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality (New York: Harper and Row, 1954).

Huge thanks to Jon Graham at Inner Traditions for his work on behalf of this book, and to John, Eve, Kristin, Simon, Tania, Amoda, Howard, and Drs. Reginald Crosley and William Bloom for reading and supporting the manuscript. Thanks also to Ram and Paula for your wonderful distractions.

FOREWORD

DO YOU VOODOO?

What do we really know about voodoo in the West? Almost nothing. Not even the correct spelling. Even now my computer underlines Vodou, its correct name, in red to inform me of a typo. But feel the phony word voodoo in your mouth. It could be the first word a baby forms. A fantastic wordso many Os. For most of us in the English-speaking world it has a sexy, implacable feel, but one that is also dark and dangerous, courtesy of the Western empires reality tunnel. History is, indeed, the propaganda of the victors. And no wonder our would-be conquerors were scared! Vodou inspired the only successful slave revolt in history, defeating first the superior firepower and numbers of the French, and then the British a few years later. Black magic could be the only rational explanation

Its easy to see how the empires belief in the power of the rational mind to civilize primitive cultures would lead it to demonize Vodou. Vodou recognizes other dimensions much greater in scope than the narrow little world that, even now, our culture insists is the only true reality. Vodou, born in slavery, was more generous in its attitudes toward other beliefs. A profoundly adaptive belief, it absorbed other systems, adding to its pantheon of gods and rituals.

You can read this book as a history of the Vodou religion and the cultures that influenced it or explore the rich mythological landscape that it opens up to Western readers for the first time. But the real meal offered here is a journey into the essence of Vodouhow we can make contact with and attune ourselves to new spiritual realities. By use of elegant rituals and the focused creation of altars, we can all make contact with the