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Just1pin New user 10 Posts |
Magic for Haiti - The "Voodoo" magic plot
This may seem like a little untimely, but after hearing about David's work using magic to help raise money for Haiti after the Earthquake. I thought it was a good time to bring up some of my thoughts around the "voodoo" plot in magic. I hope this is the appropriate place to do so. This is not a fly-by-night post. I have put a good deal of thought into this and taken the time to, hopefully, explain my position clearly. It is not a short post, but I hope you will take the time to read it and find it valuable in addressing what, I see, is one small issue hurting the art of magic. If you go to any Magic retailer and search "Voodoo" it will return dozens of effects and still countless others are buried in books throughout the magic library. The plot has a long history in magic, (no doubt going back to some of the periods I will talk about in a moment) and I'm sure many of you have, or currently perform an effect that uses the plot in the presentation. Indeed there are many great effects constructed and marketed around this plot. I am an American and speaking from an American perspective and mostly in regards to North America and American culture. When we hear the term "Voodoo" it evokes images of sorcery, sticking pins into dolls, zombies, black magic, witchcraft, juju, mojos, greegrees, love potions, hate potions, etc. Why do we have these images in our heads? Where do they come from? Do they have any basis in reality? What is "Voodoo" anyway? We, as magicians, have been exploiting these images and perceptions already in our spectator's minds. While we give great consideration and time to other aspects of our presentation I feel that most of us, including the creators and magicians writing these effects and patter have given little thought to this plot. We, as magicians (like the spectators we are preforming for) generally know little or nothing about the history and practice of Vodou. Instead we play on the cliches and erroneous conceptions of Vodou to present our effects. These same misconceptions which have been regurgitated for decades and have there roots in Racism, Colonialism, Religious Bigotry, and Fear. If you read almost any description of a "voodoo" effect I think you will find this to be true. I don't want to single anyone out hear, let me be clear....this is not about accusing anyone or casting blame. I think most of us are guilty and most likely unaware of this. This is about moving past this inaccurate and antiquated plot in the art of magic. About the term "Voodoo" Offense is taken when "voodoo" is used to describe the African-derived religious practices and beliefs. Many feel Voodoo is a derogatory word derived from the time of U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934. Practitioners most often use the Creole spellings "Vodou" (also spelled Vodoun, Vodun, or Vodu) to distinguish the religion from the popular misconceptions of "voodoo" spells and black magic. I believe it is very important to let people speak for themselves, and as am not a practitioner of Vodou I want to add this quote.. Quote:
"As a Vodou priestess who knows many Haitians, I will tell you that using the term Voodoo is quite offensive to many, especially when used in the way that Western society uses it, to mock and denigrate not only a religion, but an entire cultural lifestyle which it does not even bother to understand. The "Christian" majority of the United States will loudly defend their right to worship a resurrected cosmic Jewish zombie (in the Hollywood sense of the word), eat his flesh and blood on special occasions, a man who was his own father in their dogma (since God in three persons is in fact, one God -- go figure)... but will protest that anyone who doesn't believe in the zombie is going to be roasted alive and tortured by a horned red-faced goat demon for all eternity. Yet they like to mock the religions of others and do not care how insensitive they are towards them. One more case for majority rules, but might doesn't make right, as we have so often seen, sadly, throughout the history of humanity." From here on I will use the term Vodou A little history Vodou, which means "sacred" or "spirit" in Haitian Creole, is used to identify the divinity of nature that is staple to the Vodou tradition. The Ewe tribes use the term to describe not only nature, but the totality of existence and harmony within the juxtaposition of the worlds of the living and the spirit realm. It was brought by slaves to the Caribbean islands in the 17th and 18th centuries. This New World religion combines elements of West African faiths, Roman Catholicism, and Freemasonry. When slaves were first brought from Africa to America, Vodou was immediately outlawed by the largely Christian slave owners and demonized as a savage religion. Immediately, the religion became one of the key ways for slaves to resist the oppression of their slave owners, and it gave them a very personal connection with their African homeland. Vodou is one of the official religions of Haiti, and its designation in 2003 merely granted official acknowledgment to a longstanding reality. The slave revolt that brought Haiti independence indeed relied on Vodou, the New World version of ancestral African faiths. To this day, by various scholarly estimates, 50 percent to 95 percent of Haitians practice at least elements of voodoo, often in conjunction with Catholicism. Most Haitians accept Vodou as a religious practice and a living tradition, while most Americans have grown up with a very distorted sense of it. American fear of Vodou dates back to the anxiety felt in the United States in 1804, when Haiti became the first free black republic. -Donald J. Cosentino, curator of Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou Quote:
"Haiti was the only successful slave rebellion and developed its own culture, so from the early 19th century Haiti scared the **** out of American slave owners," Cosentino says. "The demonization of Vodou began at that time, and it was later exacerbated by a U.S. [military] occupation of Haiti that began in 1915 and didn't end until 1934. So one way to justify the occupation was to think that the black folks in Haiti were like malevolent children." Quote:
Hunter-Hindrew, considered a holy leader in the religion, points out that some of the things that have led to the mislabeling of Voodoo practices in the west are misconceptions about magic and animal sacrifice. I think that last line says a lot as it relates to us and the ideas I am presenting here. Why does it matter? I think this lays at the heart of respecting our art, respecting ourselves, and respecting our spectators, not to mention respecting Africa, Haiti, Vodou and it's practitioners. If we continue to feed these misconceptions in our society, by presenting Vodou as something dark, mysterious, sinister, strange, magical, and altogether inaccurate, we continue the repeat this mistakes of the past. We as magicians should be the first to understand how easy it is to be misled and deceived and how easily false impressions are made in people's minds. People make choices based on those misconceptions. This is a very real issue that effects real people's lives today. There are reports every day of Vodou practitioners being attacked, denied food and aid, they continue to be demonized, misrepresented and feared by people who do not understand the first thing about the practice of Vodou or those that practice it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-derri......149.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/world/......ion.html What to do about it? I wouldn't want offer a critique without also offering some solutions. There are several ways I can think of to address this issue, I'm sure you will also think of many more (1) Alternative presentations and patter for the "Voodoo" plot. These suggestions mainly apply to effects where altering one thing effects another - Interconnectedness of all things / energy You could approach this from either a traditional or new age angle if that's your style. - Identical twins / Human bonds I think you will find this idea already familiar to most of your spectators. You can also find writings and research relating to this fairly easily - Quantum Entanglement or "quantum non-local connection" (My personal favorite and what I use) If you are not a Science and Physics geek like me , A little investigation will provide you with more then enough ideas to craft a presentation and patter, Plus you get to use real modern science to enhance your effect and intrigue your spectators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Entanglement (2) Take the time to educate yourself about Vodou and use the effect / presentation to educate your spectators on the topic I can assure you that any time you spend learning about Vodou, The Caribbean, or Haiti's history will be time well spent. There are numerous books and documentaries on the topic and most are easily obtained. I would also encourage you to seek out a Vodou Priest or Priestess to talk with if you happen to have a Haitian community near you. There is a radio program "Speaking of Faith" that recently did a wonderful show on the topic of Vodou. You can listen online: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/vodou/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=4026 http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/12-3-2005-83012.asp (3) Drop the Vodou plot from your performing repertoire and replace it with another effect (4) If you are magic retailer... Would you sell an effect that falsely denigrates Christianity, Judaism, or Islam? If not, why is it okay, and goes unnoticed, if it is an Afro-Caribbean religion? I would ask that you phase out your inventory of these effects and in the interim offer alternative patter and presentation ideas. I hope that those of you here, and in the magic community in general, will seriously consider and think about what I have said as we move our art forward to a more just and respectful future. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject. Photo Credit - Phyllis Galembo Rose Anne and Andre Rose Mercilien, with drapo (ritual flags), Haiti, 1994 Love, Respect, Astonishment, J1P Click here to view attached image. |
Just1pin New user 10 Posts |
No one has any thoughts or opinions on this? Agree? Disagree? Indifferent? Let's discuss it.
-J |
stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
J, I have a lot of thoughts about it, and lots of others do too, but you've posted this in the ethics forum, and my thoughts about this subject aren't necessarily about ethics.
The gist of your post seems to be to respect voudou, or however you want to spell it, in times in which we perhaps might be more sensitive to Haitian culture. But there is a giant assumption in your post that we do not respect voudou, or that we in this forum are active participants in discriminating against voudou, or that we magicians at large are at the very least ignorant of voudou. Since you have only seven posts, it might be that you are new to the Café. If so, let me give you a hearty welcome and say that we are glad to have you here. This place is...ah...uh...very large, and it's not always easy to get a conversation going if you don't know where to post your thoughts. I would suggest you go to the forum called "The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre!" and spend a few hours reading old posts. Specifically, you might consider reading the posts of Café member "Gede Nibo", who has written at least one book on the subject and we hope will write another. In case you're not fully familiar with the Café search engine, here is some help: http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/searc......=6319461 I think you'll find much interest in your thoughts and ideas. You just have to post them in the right place. The Café is simply HUUUUUUUUGE! |
Just1pin New user 10 Posts |
Stoneunhinged,
Thank you for your thoughts, insight, and also the welcoming words. It is true that I am relatively new to the Café and the online magic community. I have been in and out of magic for many years, but recently been inspired back into the art (i have mostly Paul Harris and TA to thank for that) I know that coming into a community as a new person and launching into a critique can be a bit volatile to say the least, but I am not new to magic and I really want to share my thoughts on this with the magic community. I would say that is the gist of the post. I am a close-up worker and most of what I have seen relates to that field. For what I have seen preformed, in books, on dvds, and in promoting effects for sale is that there is a profound ignorance and disrespect concerning Vodou in the magic community (not necessarily directed at the forum and it's members) I didn't take the time to copy and quote these discripions of effects and presentations in the post because I thought it was already getting a bit long, but I can do so if it would add to the discussion. To me this issue has a certain sense of urgency given the recent Earthquake and recovery effort. It's about presenting false information that can have a harmful impact on people's lives. I believe that Voudu practitioners are being persecuted (especially right now) and for the wrong reasons. If you want to critique a religion, or anything else, for solid factual reasons that's one thing, but to attack something for false and inaccurate reason, that is not acceptable to me. Now I don't necessarily believe that we are "attacking" Voudu with our effects, but we are repeating this false information that has and is being used to attack Voudu. So for us I feel it's about making decisions, individually, and as a group of magicians to steer our art to better place. I did search around the Café for a few days reading what I could find on the topic and I didn't feel the discussion was really happening anywhere on the Café. To me this is an ethics debate. I looked around for the best category to place the post in and thought this one would be the most appropriate. I didn't post it in "The spooky, the mysterious...the bizarre!" for the simple reason that that is kind of what this post is about. I think viewing Vodou as spooky, mysterious and bizarre is a major part of the problem. Christianity is spooky, mysterious and bizarre to people who are unfamiliar with it. That said if you feel the post is misplaced I would be happy to move it (or have a moderator move it, not sure how that works) I have read and enjoyed some of Gede Nibo's posts on the topic and I would love to hear his thoughts on this. I will PM him. Thanks again, Cheers |
Jonathan Townsend Eternal Order Ossining, NY 27297 Posts |
J,
I've been tubthumping about cultural awareness and conscious choice of message for ... a while. IMHO it's not so nice to parody someone's religion. -JT
...to all the coins I've dropped here
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stoneunhinged Inner circle 3067 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-03-27 18:42, Just1pin wrote: I understand your point better now. Thanks. Quote:
I'm one of those people who appreciates the hard work moderators do but prefers that they treat us as adults. That means acknowledging the thought you put into choosing to place a thread. So I would never ask for it to be moved. That said, there are quieter forums and louder forums, and they tend to generate certain kinds of discussion. This forum is generally one in which people ask things like, "can I copy this?" or "am I wrong if I think such and such?" A forum in which the same question might generate more discussion is "Food for Thought". All in all, the topic is worthwhile, I think, but I also think that few people know enough about Haitian culture to comment. That, more than anything else, explains the lack of discussion. |
edh Inner circle 4698 Posts |
I saw a documentary on TV last night that dealt with the history of Voodoo. Very interesting. It was a good watch.
Magic is a vanishing art.
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Just1pin New user 10 Posts |
Hey Edh,
What was the program called? Do you recall? |
edh Inner circle 4698 Posts |
Hello Just1pin, I'm sorry but I don't remember what it was called. It was good though. It had the same message as what you have written.
It looked at Voodoo from it's African roots all the way up to Voodoo in New Orleans. It had some great interviews with Voodoo Priestess'.
Magic is a vanishing art.
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Gede Nibo Inner circle 2447 Posts |
Quote:
On 2010-03-27 18:42, Just1pin wrote: my reply: comedy and tragedy are one. its only EGO that feels hurt, offended. I say shake them to the core! your soul has been sold, long ago. baba |
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