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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
creation, left the world and all of its inhabitants in the
hands of powerful pantheon of Loa and spirits.
Vodoun recognizes hundreds of spirits or Loa.
Those which originated from Dahomey are called Rada.
Rada are usually known to be the more benevolent gods
and spirits, and are the oldest in the pantheon. Those who
were added later in the lifespan of the religion are often
deceased leaders in the new world of Haiti, and are called
Petro. Petro are the violent, fiery, and usually malign
spirits of Vodoun. They are those with which the Bocor is
most likely to align himself in order to have their dark
power for his own.
Anatomy of the Soul -
The individual human "soul" is known in Vodoun
to be composed of five basic aspects:
1. The "Gros bon Ange," or a great guardian angel,
resides in the body at all times until death. It is
the Gros bon Ange that is also connected to
Divinity, and can lead the individual towards
ability, power, and eventual godhood. It is this
most inner self that is called "soul" by
westerners. It is immortal, invincible, and
possesses the three grand aspects of godhood:
omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence.
2. The "Ti bon Ange," or a little guardian angel, is
the portion of the spiritual self which is not
attached to the Eternal Being at the core. While
the Gros bon Ange is fixed in and upon the
individual, not departing until death, the Ti bon
Ange leaves the body during sleep and when the
person is possessed by a Loa during a ritual.
Although the Ti bon Ange does leave the body at
times, it is psychically and permanently linked
with the Gros bon Ange, and therefore with the
individual's entire being. An interesting function
of the Ti bon Ange is witnessed during sessions
of bi-location, remote viewing, or astral
projection, when a portion of the consciousness
apparently leaves the locality of the body while a
larger portion remains to convey the gathered
information in a usable form. It would bring me
great satisfaction to summarize the Ti bon Ange
as the Vodoun equivalent of the Astral Body of
Light, or as a mental projective body, but
unfortunately, things are not that simple. A great
many concepts within the Vodoun system remain
entirely Vodoun, baffling the western mind and
our greater education which requires that all
things must possess labels in order to have value.
The force which seems to guide the whole of the
person in Ascent is called the "Star of Destiny,"
or Z'etoile, which interestingly is considered to
be a part of the human being, although it does not
reside within or immediately around the
individual, but is instead in the heavens. Z'etoile
can be compared to the Hindu idea of Karma, or
even destiny, which although is not a "part" of
the human being, is linked with the individual in
an inseparable way.
The physical body also radiates its own energy,
which is commonly viewed as the semi-visible
aura surrounding each person. This is called, in
Vodoun, n'ame, or the "Spirit of the Flesh." It is
this life energy which causes the cells to move
and to grow, to heal and to thrive; it causes the
blood to pump, the organs to move, the lung to