E. A. Koetting and Baron DePrince - The Spider and The Green Butterfly

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
Communing with the Loa, the Houngan will
discover for himself various other concoctions that can be
created which are even more powerful than those given
above, and are specific to his or her needs, or the needs of a
client. Also, studying the ancient grimoires and the
writings of Agrippa, as well as Egyptian and Sumerian
texts, will provide more in-depth concordances between the
planetary spheres and various plants, minerals, and organic
matter which can then be used in Vodoun workings.
Gris-Gris -
When Haitian Bocors, Houngans, and Mambos
migrated to the United States, the affect of the previous
melding of systems not only grew, but catapulted into the
eventual birth of Voodoo and Hoodoo. Many Practitioners,
either having migrated from Haiti directly or claiming to
have descended from migrants began to mix several
systems of folk Magick, Vodoun, and even Hispanic
systems of original African descent, developing the cultural
progeny that is now erroneously called "Voodoo." Perhaps
the most notorious of these was Madam Marie Laveau,
often referred to as "The Voodoo Queen." Marie Laveau
made as public a spectacle as possible of her use of grisgris
bags, charms, spells, and "voodoo dolls." Laveau's
practices, which were more than loosely based on Haitian
ritual and Magick, gathered enough attention that they
developed into a cornerstone of the new religion revised
from the Old Religion, and her teachings remain today in
the minds of Voodoo worshippers and Hoodoo
Practitioners as canon.
Combining elements of folklore and southern
superstition with the real esoteric practices of Haitian
Vodoun, Santeria, and Catholicism, Hoodoo has become a
powerful, albeit bastardized form of occult practice. Unlike
the Vodoun Houngans who have studied western Magick as
an addition to their powerful arsenal of knowledge, further
defining their own African-derived practices through such
gained insights, as the principle practice, Hoodoo has no
real or substantial base, foundation, or origin upon which it
was formed and still adheres to.
Although vacationers to Haiti might find such mojo
bags, as well as bath powders, talismans, and Voodoo dolls
in the urban parts of Haiti, especially in Port au Prince, no
such trinkets are ever seen inside of the real Vodoun
Homforts, just as the Temples visible and open for tour or
spectacle ceremony divert the eyes of the visiting public
from the Homforts hidden deep inside of the Haitian
forests.
Vodoun Houngans and Bocors do not utilize grisgris
bags or "lucky" objects, but instead construct wanga,
potent spells that create specific and immediate change in
the fabric of reality. The combination of materials may be
used in such Workings, placed on top of an opened Veve,
becoming not only empowered, but literally possessed by
the Loa. The Houngan can choose, if so moved, to give
some or all of these implements to the client to carry, but
before these are even passed to the client, the Loa have
already begun their work upon the world.
Pronounced "gree gree," gris-gris is possibly the
most recognizable physical implement used in Hoodoo, as
well as in Voodoo, Santeria, Candomble, and other
derivations of the African diaspora. Gris-gris are
commonly recognized little bags filled with bones, teeth,
dust, parchment, feces, and other sundry items supposedly
possessing Magickal properties, or perhaps some of these
items are wrapped in a leaf and tied together, or even
wrapped or folded in a Veve drawn on paper. These
collections of otherwise lifeless objects which, when