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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
The Haitian revolution of 1791-1804 was the most
successful of the many African slave rebellions in the
Western Hemisphere. It established Haiti as a free, black
republic - the first of its kind.
Hundreds of small rebellions had sprung up
previously in Haiti, formerly known as Saint-Dominique,
but the fury of the 1791 revolution, and the unseen forces
behind it, secured the island from French rule. Haiti went
from being a French colony to an autonomous nation ruled
by those who were once slaves.
In August, 1791, Master Houngan Boukman led a
Vodoun ceremony in which he prophesied the downfall of
the French rule of the island, and the rise of Jean Francois,
Biassou, and Jeannot as leaders of the revolt. Soon after
this prophecy began to manifest and the revolt began,
Boukman was captured and beheaded by the French. His
severed head was publicly displayed in an attempt to dispel
the aura of invincibility that Boukman had cultivated.
Through the Vodoun powers, the very same that this book
will outline and instruct in, Boukman was eventually
admitted into the pantheon of Loa, a fact that was already
accepted by his followers, considering his power, influence,
and unearthly knowledge. The French attempt at
psychological warfare had the exact opposite effect.
The scrimmage had been, up to that point, mainly
between whites of different factions, with a few freed
blacks taking either side. As if roused into a sudden,
inexplicable frenzy, all of the slaves who had been
watching the battle objectively instantly rose up against
their masters in one unified, although seemingly unplanned
revolt of their own. Using whatever weapons were
immediately available, or none- at all, and having no greater
conspired plan, the slaves murdered their masters, their
keepers, the white families, and burnt the sugar plantations
to the ground. Within a little over a week, the slaves had
taken over the entire northern province. In two months,
they had killed over 2,000 whites, turning the tables of the
island's fate forever.
In the Western hemisphere, only the United States
had managed to free themselves from European rule until
Haiti became the second in 1804 when it was declared an
independent nation, not through a strictly organized war
nor through massive European assistance, but instead
through the power of the weak and enslaved rising up
against the powerful and privileged in the only successful
slave uprising in all of the history of the world.
In order to understand Haiti and the religion and
worship of Vodoun, it is vital to recognize that Haiti is not
ruled by democracy, dictatorship, senates, ministries, or
any other form of government extant in the world today.
Instead, it is ruled by the clandestine Vodoun cults which
formed during the earliest days of slavery of the African
people in Haiti. These first cults initially served to protect
their members, but armed with the knowledge of the spirits
they quickly grew into powerful secret societies which
seemed to be a forceful undercurrent even in the white
man's French government previous to the slave rebellion.
Although several small Vodoun cults and sects operate both
in Haiti and throughout the world, only a few have come
into the sort of power that can not only sway an entire
government, but can control it absolutely. One such cult,
which here must remain nameless, hosts a Vodoun council
in which the primary rulers of Haiti sit, or are directed by.
It is this cult specifically that has called for the creation of
this text, and has commissioned the work from its onset.
Training for Power -
There are two types of Houngans in Haiti: Little
Houngan and big Houngan (Le Petit Houngan and Grand
Houngan). The former, Le Petit Houngan, is a Sorcerer