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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
their countless legions are earthbound, moving among
mankind, closer to us than we are to one another. They do
not need to have doorways opened, for they are already
here. They do not need windows to look through, for they
are surveying us at all times. Existing around us, always
watching and waiting, especially in the places where they
are worshipped, the spirits are quick to manifest when they
are called, and often do not wait for the conjurations to be
given before rising. It is understood in Haiti that the Loa
are not the servants of the Houngan, but that it is quite the
reverse.
Having trained my senses for years to observe
spirits and their world with opened eyes, and having
likewise trained hundreds of others to do the same, it
amazed me as I began my journey into the Vodoun current
that none of this is necessary when working with the Loa.
Their presence is the manifestation itself - no more can be
discerned about them. They present themselves to the
worthy in power, and to the unworthy in wrath, but their
presence is never questioned. The Houngan and the
Mambo do not need to gaze into a black-backed mirror to
see them, for They are upon them. The Haitian Bocors, and
even most of the uninitiated, are raised as children with the
understanding and the skills needed to communicate with
the spirits.
When the spirits do come, when they are present in
the ritual of worship, their reality is as solid as that of
another person standing in the room, their power radiates
from them and envelopes the congregation with awe. If, in
the presence of the Loa, the worshipper closes his eyes, he
may well see the faces or the forms of the spirits, although
at the peak of the ritual's performance, this is far from
necessary.
Initiating the Power Surge -
The first and possibly the most dangerous
assumption that the novice makes in dealing with the spirits
and powers of Vodoun is that anyone can just roll up their
sleeves, grab the needed implements, and use these most
ancient and dark powers without recourse.
Every spiritual system has its own current, its own
stream of energy and unseen activity. While the details and
the formulas of nearly every "secret" sect or spiritual order
can today be viewed over the internet, in various
publications, and even through discourses revealed by the
untrustworthy Initiates, none of this will do the Seeker any
good unless his very being has been inserted into the
current of that spiritual society. The rituals can be toyed
with and the Operations can be conducted with some
passing success, but any attempt to fully understand any
system from the inside while still remaining without is
tantamount to the attempt to drive from Los Angeles to
New York using surface streets and backroads only. The
Initiation sets you upon the freeway entrance, with the
Initiators and Mentors helping to navigate you safely and
surely to your destination.
There is an indefinable and invisible mark that is
passed to the Seeker by the Initiator which enters him into
the specific and unique power stream or current of the
system in which he will be Operating. Without this
"mark," without the full alliance of the forces with which
you will Work, only superficial and fleeting successes will
be found.
With most systems currently known in our world of
information overflow, the keen observer can easily take bits
and pieces of the whole, smash them into one another,
adding limbs from various other paths, and come to some
practical and even spiritual growth. The entities will rise