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

E.A. Koetting/Baron DePrince
The Spider and the Green Butterfly
Chapter Six
Speaking with the Spirits
In my own training in becoming a Vodoun
Houngan, Baron DePrince related to me a story of a man,
who will herein be referred to as John, who came to visit
the Temple that he was at the time running in Brooklyn,
New York.
John had been raised in an upper class Catholic part
of New Jersey, was fortunate in receiving excellent private
education, allowing him to not only attend, but also to
graduate with honors from a well-regarded business
college. His life seemed to put itself together like a
fairytale: his business blossoming shortly after his
graduation, his marriage to a beautiful and successful
business woman, and two children that would have it all as
they grew.
At 31 years old, John's financial consultation
business was grossing over 10 million dollars a year,
affording him the ability to purchase an 18 million dollar
home in the Hamptons. His clientele continued to multiply,
and his future seemed as certain as the morning sun.
One year later, at the age of 32, this same John
found himself stumbling through the Haitian sector of
Brooklyn in search of a specific Vodoun Priest whom he
had heard could possibly fix his life.
All that he had worked for and achieved in life had
gradually vanished. The first step in his downfall came
when one of his most influential clients called his office
and insisted that John's services were no longer required,
and that he had taken his business to another firm. This
came without warning and without explanation. Soon after,
the influence of this wealthy client seemed to pull others
away from John's firm. Frustrated and confused of dayafter-day
failures, our John left the office early, allowing
him some extra time alone with his wife. Rather than using
this time for comfort, however, his wife used it to explain
to him that she was no longer in love with him, that she was
young, and that she was leaving him with the children and
finding a life and a love that would suit her better. As they
argued, as John pleaded with her to stay, as he tried to piece
together the fragments of his sanity, John reached for a
dinner plate, and, entirely out of character for him, threw it
at his wife. She immediately called the police, John was
booked into jail for assault and domestic violence charges,
the press took the story and ran, and before he was even
able to post bail, his entire life was gone. His business was
destroyed, his family had been taken from him, and the
ensuing divorce struggle left him with nothing more than a
criminal record and hole out of which he could not seem to
crawl.
And so John stood in front of the "Occult Supply
Store" in Brooklyn, the name of a renowned Vodoun Priest
written on a business card. He opened the door, finding a
small room lined with candles, oils, incense, herbs, and
paintings of various saints. A beautiful, slender black