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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
Refining the Altar -
Chapter Nine
Vodoun Rising
Vodoun is not simply a religion of Magick or a
system of spells, but is a spiritual path of Ascent, of rise
into Godhood. While a few of the rites and Operations of
Vodoun Ascent are known, most of them remain secret,
and even now I have been sworn to keep them so. Within
the inner cults of Vodoun, blood oaths are taken to keep
hidden the secrets of power. If these oaths are broken and
these secrets are revealed without permission, or to those
who cannot receive them, not only will the brothers and
sisters of the inner order seek after your life, and eventually
take it through baneful Magick or through manipulated
murder, but the Current itself will begin to flow backwards,
sweeping you not only away from power, but underneath
its rapids to drown in the Waters of Life.
What can be revealed now is in this text; all else
remains to be discovered once you yo^urself are within the
Current. \
\
As you Ascend in your spirituality and descend
deeper into the Vodoun current, you will find the necessity
to establish your altar as a permanent gateway into the
crossroads between the worlds, allowing it to always
remain open, the spirits traveling into this realm through
your temple as if your altar has become a downwardsflowing
Jacob's ladder.
A cross sits upon the altar, hung directly above it,
on the southern wall. This cross is consecrated by the
powers of the Loa, both Rada and Petro, as well as the
Barons, as the crossroads are walked by all spirits. The
cross is painted black, and can be sanctified by the blood of
a sacrifice.
A human skull, taken from the grave of an executed
criminal, a murderer, or especially a parricide is placed
near the cross upon the altar. When the spirits rise from the
altar into this world, they sometimes may choose to speak
through this skull, and the transformation that the dead
matter undergoes in order to serve as such a vessel is
astounding. It may, at times, appear to regain the sinews,
the muscle, and the skin of the deceased, and will speak to
you in a human voice, in the language known by the
deceased, revealing from the realm of the dead the secrets
that the Loa wish to share. The face of the Loa itself might
appear to wrap itself around the bone, rarely in a^sfjlid and
opaque materialization of skin, but instead as a semitransparent
visage. Otherwise, the skull itself will speak
without taking on any form. The words may issue out of
the mouth of the skull into the air for all to near, or may
come from its forehead or eyes, heard only by the inner
awareness of the Houngan.
A bottle of whiskey or rum is set upon the altar,
near the skull, for the spirits to feed upon as they travel
between the worlds, and to be sprinkled upon the skull, the