Sallie Ann Glassman - Vodou Visions: An Encounter with Divine Mystery

also by sallie ann glassman

The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot

An Encounter with Divine Mystery

First published in 2000 in the United States by Villard Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York and simultaneously in Canada by Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.

The illustrations in this work are by the author and were previously published in The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, published in 1992 by Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont.

Copyright 2000 Sallie Ann Glassman

Revised second edition Copyright 2007 Sallie ann Glassman. All rights reserved.

Introduction by Martha Ward Copyright 2007 Martha Ward. All rights reserved.

The moral right of Sallie Ann Glassman to be identified as the author has been asserted.

ISBN 9781-939430-12-0

Library of Congress Control Number 2001012345

Published by Garrett County Press

Book design by Carole Lowenstein

To those who came before:

Jane, James, and Sallie T.

To those who walk with me:

My partner, Pres.

My brothers, Andrew and Peter, and John Spadola.

My sisters, Nancy, Karen Lam, Claudia, and Polly.

To those who carry on:

Emily, Nicholas, Rachel, and Jonas.

I offer honor and respect for all those who have helped me, shared knowledge with me, and encouraged this work.

In Haiti:

I must thank my Papas especially, Edgar Jean-Louis and Silva Joseph, who initiated me into the Vodoun Mysteries, and sustain me before the Lwa. In addition, I thank my Godfather and patron, Dr. Jacques Bartoli, who offered me welcome in his country, and contact with like souls. I am indebted to him for his Kreyl translations of my litanies and for his legendary, limitless generosity. Sylvain Franois graciously provided additional assistance with the Kreyl translations. My Godmother in Vodou, Tina Girouard, opened Vodoun doors for me, and continues to hold the flame at the back flank of my neighborhood. In addition, I thank Andr Pierre for his vision and faith, and for sharing coffee, claret, words of wisdom, and visionary images of the Lwa. Florvil Michel Junior has helped also with Kreyl translations, and Hlne Pinaud graciously and patiently corrected my faulty French litanies. I also thank Tiben Francillon for his largesse and guidance. I thank the Spirit of Cherel Ito for the dream, and pray that she is having a good swim with her beautiful Teiji.

In the United States:

Thanks to Bill Breeze for suggesting a Vodou tarot many years ago.

Praise to my Padrino, Antonio Gil, who retranslated the Spanish litanies for the 2nd edition. Antonio has helped me to know the Orishas, and has helped empower and protect me in countless ways.

Praise to Courtney Willis, whose long-term and consistent support, guidance, friendship, and gifts of knowledge and out-of-print books have accompanied me on my journey.

In addition to having a name worthy of a Lwa, my friend Juan Maria Guadalupe McDonald-Valasquez was kind enough to translate the litanies for the Orisha into Spanish.

I thank the extended family of La Source Ancienne Ounfo, the members of the former Simbi-Sen Jak Ounfo, and the former Kali lodge for their participation, insight, and extraordinary sincerity in support of the ceremonies that were performed for Vodou Visions. I thank these many others as well: Lorien Bales, Geoff Beardsley, Michael Charlie Bill, Kerry Brown, Jennifer Cavinaugh and her Mom, Mary, Steve Crowder,Victor Cypert, Debbie Daigle, Vicki Dennisson, Enrika Eaglin, Clara Earthly, Chris Feldman, Reverend Goat, Barry Hale, Jane Harvey, Michael and Loretta Hayman, Byron Hensley, John Herasymiuk, Gabriela Hernandez, Gary Howell, Eric Hussey, George Ingmire, Darius James, Steve and Petra King, Kim Kowalski, Lindsay Lablanca, Kate Lancour, Veronica Leandrez, Chris Li, Brendan Malone, Gretchen McNeal, Hart McNee, Michelle Moo, John Mooney, Anne Moore, Natasha, Margrat Nee, William Neusom, Anthony Ryan, Seth Shearer, Christine Short, Kerri Simpson, Sharon Singleton, Gina Vega, Gregg Wyldes, Kenneth Wooten, Miki Yakota, and Yusef. Don Dufrane is surely still keeping the beat and complaining in the Waters. Thanks, too, to Brooks and Diana Smith, as well as Debbie and Wilbur Reynaud for their support, patronage, and encouragement. Thanks to my Turkish Godfather, Suleyman Aydin, for employing me throughout the first years of this project.

I thank Michele Baker for her unparalleled, challenging, intuitive, ongoing yoga instruction and for recognizing the common vibe.

Jeffrey Ehrenreich is perhaps the only anthropologist from whose camera the Lwa do not run. He has believed in and supported my efforts as a manbo and made the 2nd edition of this book possible.

Martha Wards support and vision have helped to bring Vodou in New Orleans and particularly the women who uphold it to its proper place of cultural recognition. So many thanks for her introduction to the second edition and for all her beautiful gifts to the Spirit.

Special thanks to Andy Antippas, who has been a real mentor to me, while never failing to live up to his many reputations!

I thank my editor, Christi Phillips, who recognized the worth of this project and believed in it from the beginning. Without her tireless efforts and midnight e-mails, Vodou Visions would not have been born. My agent, Kim Witherspoon, and Gideon Weil helped me navigate the most mysterious seas of publishing. Thanks to Bruce Tracy, Oona Schmid, and the editorial staff at Villard for selecting Vodou Visions, and for their patient, knowledgeable guidance and understanding.

Thanks to the eternally gracious Joan Rivers for making the dream real.

Pres Kabacoff, after a circuitous road indeed, opened all the doors.

I thank the city of New Orleans for her tolerance and open mind. Her exotic soul dances to the rhythm of Spirit.

My family were of immeasurable help to me, bringing their collective expertise, talent, and intelligence to bear, and bailing Vodou Visions out of deep waters in the final hour. I cannot imagine a moment without them in my heart.

My dear and lifelong friend Darius James always said I should write a book, so Vodou Visions is really his fault.

Finally, I offer all thanks and praise to my Mt tt, Lasirn and Ogou Sen Jak, and to all the Lwa and Orishas who have allowed me to serve them through this work. They guide all things in the universe, under Bondye.

ASH!

The spelling of Vodou terminology presents many issues that may in the end be impossible to resolve to everyones satisfaction. As Vodou defies orthodoxy, so too does the orthography of its Kreyl terms. While Waldmans recent dictionary, published by the Creole Institute of Indiana University, provides an academic standard for terms, the Kreyl of Vodouborn of the encounter between African dialects and the French spoken by colonists in Haitiremains phonetic, and wildly divergent in both pronunciation and spelling. Relying upon Gallic spellings would provide a standard reference, but would be disrespectful to the power, history, and struggle of both the Kreyl language and the Vodou religion. I have decided to work with the standardized Kreyl spellings for the main body of the text, and have conformed to certain grammatical conventions of Kreyl, such as the lack of pluralization of nouns, even though that is occasionally uncomfortable or confusing within an English text. I have attempted to use the article the whenever a name is plural, e.g. the Gede are, or the Manbo are. The litanies in the Visions, however, are written in the Kreyl of common usage, bearing in mind that there are probably dozens of possible variants for the spelling of each word. The academic standardized version simply lacks the animated and lyric quality of the spoken language. French and English versions of each litany are provided as a more standard reference.