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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
Loa, when riding the Possessed, will not tolerate anything
less than respect and reverence from the participants.
The ritual is closed by again calling upon Met Kalfu
(or Legba, if the Bocor cares enough for his own safety),
and the participants will sometimes sleep in the ritual area
until morning, bathing in the spiritual darkness and
dreaming with the evil Loa that have presented themselves.
Otherwise, all evidence of the ritual is dispersed and the
participants quietly return to their places in the ordinary
world to reap the rewards of their darkest deeds.
Petro ceremonies are often performed which are
more acceptable than those outlined above, and are
therefore not hidden as discreetly or kept as secret as the
forbidden rites conducted in absolute seclusion. While
these are without argument true Vodoun ceremonies, they
are not the concern of the Master Bocor, to whom any
depth of danger or desecration is embraced if such dark
pathways lead to power.
The Ghede Rite -
The dead are always present in the Workings of
Haitian Vodoun. They are the messengers of the Loa, the
workers for the Houngan, the in-between spirits who carry
the power of the ritual to the receiver.
The dead mingle with both the Petro and the Rada,
knowing no allegiance other than to Death.
It would herein be difficult to summarize the Ghede
Rite without creating a separate book entirely, although it is
certain that in nearly all of the rites above, the Ghedes are
present. Ceremonies devoted to the dead are innumerable,
and the power of the spirits who dwell eternally at the
crossroads is unmatched in all of the occult world.
Chapter Five
The Power of the Signs
Symbols are used in every religion and spiritual
discipline as signs of power and functional purpose. I am
not referencing here some abstract image that is said to
represent a distant god or natural elements. The prevalent
symbols in discussion here are not so vague. Every
spiritual path makes use of specific, exact, and functional
symbols which act not on the mind and imagination alone,
but radiate a power that causes atmospheric, personal, and
environmental change. Some of these are obvious, and
their raw force can be felt by simply looking upon them, as
is the case with the pentagram, the hexagram or the
swastika. Others are harder to see with the eyes, but once
they are found, the power in them is immediately apparent.
Catholicism is littered with these little talismans, from the
vestments of the clergy to the windows of the cathedral.
The exact effects of these symbols are often
unnoticed, even by the bearers of the signs. Their energy
stews within them and drifts from their center, affecting a