Vodou Shaman: The Haitian Way of Healing and Power

by Ross Heaven, Tim Booth (Foreword)

Goes beyond the stereotypes to restore Vodou to its proper place as a powerful shamanic tradition

• Provides practical exercises and techniques from the Vodou tradition that can be used as safe and effective means of spiritual healing and personal transformation

• Shows how to remove evil spirits and negative energies sent by others

• Written by a fully initiated Houngan (Vodou shaman)

Providing practical exercises drawn from all aspects and stages of the Vodou tradition, Vodou Shaman shows readers how to contact the spirit world and communicate with the loa (the angel-like inhabitants of the Other World), the ghede (the spirits of the ancestors), and djabs (nature spirits for healing purposes). The author examines soul journeying and warrior-path work in the Vodou tradition and looks at the psychological principles that make them effective. The book also includes exercises to protect the spiritual self by empowering the soul, with techniques of soul retrieval, removing evil spirits and negative energies, overcoming curses, and using the powers of herbs and magical baths.

Genres: Occult, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2003

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where to start? Since my mother was in Haiti many times during and after the revolution working with the religious underground, we know our Vodou. This jerk doesn't and he's ripping everyone off. He's probably a Wiccan or trying to sell Vodou to the huge Wiccan market. Check out how many times Celt or Anglo-Saxon pops up in relation to magic. Somehow he thinks that zombis are made by having parents who dictate your whole life, and so you lose your ashe (personal power). Has he not even glanced at "Serpent and the Rainbow"? Or is this more of his "let me save you for I am the first ever white Priest(!)" pop psychology? If Madam Racine exists she'd be furious. Uh, and who said Vodou is about self expression, being an individual, with no gurus, etc? No, it is a highly communal religion and you better know that the Mambo is your mother, you are a mere child, and she is in charge at all times. Vodou has a strict heirarchy - which sometimes you don't have to know about if you are a rich Westerner. My mother, a religious scholar (ie she has a masters of divinity, not a lame book deal), kept mumbling, "Where are your footnotes?" when she read it. There are long passages with no footnotes as well as "facts" just thrown out, again with no footnotes. Personal experience is one thing, but when you claim to speak for a religion - and by calling himself a Houndan, he is claiming to speak for the religion - you need footnotes. Oh, and all his personal experiences are in January 2000 according to his journal entries. Yeah. In a month or less Mambo Racine made him a PRIEST? No. She took his money, and now he's taking others. You cannot become a Vodou Houngan in a month - but my Mom tells stories of Westerners who thought they had and of the Houngan or Mambo who used their money for the community as the outsider flew home. The rituals are Wiccan spells, I have seen them all with small detail changes in most current Wicca books. You can't pathwork (Wiccan term for visualization) a meeting with Erzuli and call it Vodou. Vodou means the ves-ves, the possession, the true divination, the animals and gifts sacrificed, and if you are rich, and almost all Westerners are rich compared to Haitians (poorest country in the Western hemisphere), keeping a room for her to live in at all times - yes, her own room. Also - "shaman"? I wanted to hope it was the editorial staff at Destiny Books choosing today's most trendy word to move titles. But he dares use it himself! He is mixing Harner's core shamanism with Celtic Wicca and Heathen Anglo-Saxon lore and pop psychology in a terribly written nightmare of a book. The back has only two tiny reviews - one from Madame Racine and the other from a rather obscure Prediction mag saying this guy does for Vodou what Castaneda did for shamanism. Ummm, wasn't it all figured out that Castaneda made it up? Beautiful books, but fiction? Prediction mag is then correct. This is pan-Pagan fiction but nowhere near as well written as Castaneda. The only Vodou here is that the names of the lwa are correct - but you don't treat lwa like Pagan Gods. I can barely count how many cultures he's ripping off. Oh. And how DARE he call himself the first white Hougan? Has he lived in Haitian communities in his home town of London or any other large international city? There are men and women of all cultures who honor the lwa, many as Priests and Priestesses, around the world. Some even do real study in Haiti for years and are REAL Hougans, not Hougan-in-a-vacation like him. His ego is so huge, maybe someone ought to kick his ashe.

[Kerri S · Rating 4 out of 5]

From what I already know of Vodou this book is right on. This is a fantastic reference book regarding the spirituality and religion of Vodou. While I am not an initiated practitioner, this book has still been very helpful. I highly recommend it for those interested in the religion and spiritual healing.

[Paulette Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up for research purposes and while I learned a bit, I need to find a thorough book on New Orleans-style Voodoo specifically, because there is a difference. I enjoyed the author's journal entries most. He truly has a way with words and pulls you in with his fascinating experiences. This book did help give me some background on Children of Blood and Bone, as I was reading both books simultaneously. It helped me understand the meaning behind the magic system and place names Tomi Adeyemi describes in her novel.

[Aly Cardinalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The shamanic parts? Amazing
Historically? Mmmm…

[Dina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all in how you believe or not believe, not everything is explained or black & white. Seeing is not always believing.