[Just1pin]

Hello Exo Magic,

I just found you through A Fields I noticed two things right away that i wanted to share. A) as a graphic designer i think the site is one of the cleanest and best designed i have seen (along with the Buck's site) B) the ExoMagic Haiti Relief Project you have on the front page. You get a lot of respect for that from me. Concerning Magic and Haiti... I have been thinking about this quite a bit and recently wrote up my thoughts for other magic forums and i would like to share them here with you and continue this discussion. So here goes....

Magic for Haiti - The "Voodoo" magic plot

After hearing about David's work using magic to help raise money for Haiti after the Earthquake. I thought it was a good time to bring up some of my thoughts around the "voodoo" plot in magic. I hope this is the appropriate place to do so. This is not a fly-by-night post. I have put a good deal of thought into this and taken the time to, hopefully, explain my position clearly. It is not a short post, but i hope you will take the time to read it and find it valuable in addressing what, i see, is one small issue hurting the art of magic.

If you go to any Magic retailer and search "Voodoo" it will return dozens of effects and still countless others are buried in books throughout the magic library. The plot has a long history in magic, (no doubt going back to some of the periods i will talk about in a moment) and i'm sure many of you have, or currently perform an effect that uses the plot in the presentation. Indeed there are many great effects constructed and marketed around this plot.

I am an American and speaking from an American perspective and mostly in regards to North America and American culture.
When we hear the term "Voodoo" it evokes images of sorcery, sticking pins into dolls, zombies, black magic, witchcraft, juju, mojos, greegrees, love potions, hate potions, etc.

Why do we have these images in our heads? Where do they come from? Do they have any basis in reality? What is "Voodoo" anyway?

We, as magicians, have been exploiting these images and perceptions already in our spectator's minds. While we give great consideration and time to other aspects of our presentation i feel that most of us, including the creators and magicians writing these effects and patter have given little thought to this plot. We, as magicians (like the spectators we are preforming for) generally know little or nothing about the history and practice of Vodou. Instead we play on the cliches and erroneous conceptions of Vodou to present our effects. These same misconceptions which have been regurgitated for decades and have there roots in Racism, Colonialism, Religious Bigotry, and Fear. If you read almost any description of a "voodoo" effect i think you will find this to be true. I don't want to single anyone out hear, let me be clear....this is not about accusing anyone or casting blame. I think most of us are guilty and most likely unaware of this. This is about moving past this inaccurate and antiquated plot in the art of magic.

About the term "Voodoo"
Offense is taken when "voodoo" is used to describe the African-derived religious practices and beliefs. Many feel Voodoo is a derogatory word derived from the time of U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934. Practitioners most often use the Creole spellings "Vodou" (also spelled Vodoun, Vodun, or Vodu) to distinguish the religion from the popular misconceptions of "voodoo" spells and black magic.

I believe it is very important to let people speak for themselves, and as am not a practitioner of Vodou i want to add this quote..

"As a Vodou priestess who knows many Haitians, I will tell you that using the term Voodoo is quite offensive to many, especially when used in the way that Western society uses it, to mock and denigrate not only a religion, but an entire cultural lifestyle which it does not even bother to understand. The "Christian" majority of the United States will loudly defend their right to worship a resurrected cosmic Jewish zombie (in the Hollywood sense of the word), eat his flesh and blood on special occasions, a man who was his own father in their dogma (since God in three persons is in fact, one God -- go figure)... but will protest that anyone who doesn't believe in the zombie is going to be roasted alive and tortured by a horned red-faced goat demon for all eternity. Yet they like to mock the religions of others and do not care how insensitive they are towards them. One more case for majority rules, but might doesn't make right, as we have so often seen, sadly, throughout the history of humanity."
- Anonymous Vodou Priestess

From here on i will use the term Vodou

A little history
Vodou, which means "sacred" or "spirit" in Haitian Creole, is used to identify the divinity of nature that is staple to the Vodou tradition. The Ewe tribes use the term to describe not only nature, but the totality of existence and harmony within the juxtaposition of the worlds of the living and the spirit realm. It was brought by slaves to the Caribbean islands in the 17th and 18th centuries. This New World religion combines elements of West African faiths, Roman Catholicism, and Freemasonry. When slaves were first brought from Africa to America, Vodou was immediately outlawed by the largely Christian slave owners and demonized as a savage religion. Immediately, the religion became one of the key ways for slaves to resist the oppression of their slave owners, and it gave them a very personal connection with their African homeland.

Vodou is one of the official religions of Haiti, and its designation in 2003 merely granted official acknowledgment to a longstanding reality. The slave revolt that brought Haiti independence indeed relied on Vodou, the New World version of ancestral African faiths. To this day, by various scholarly estimates, 50 percent to 95 percent of Haitians practice at least elements of voodoo, often in conjunction with Catholicism. Most Haitians accept Vodou as a religious practice and a living tradition, while most Americans have grown up with a very distorted sense of it. American fear of Vodou dates back to the anxiety felt in the United States in 1804, when Haiti became the first free black republic.

-Donald J. Cosentino, curator of Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou

"Haiti was the only successful slave rebellion and developed its own culture, so from the early 19th century Haiti scared the shit out of American slave owners," Cosentino says. "The demonization of Vodou began at that time, and it was later exacerbated by a U.S. [military] occupation of Haiti that began in 1915 and didn't end until 1934. So one way to justify the occupation was to think that the black folks in Haiti were like malevolent children."

Hence the Hollywood movies, (White Zombie-1932, I Walked with a Zombie-1943 among many others) which influenced American kids who grew up to assume leadership positions in government, business, and the arts. Although there has been serious American scholarship on Vodou for decades, Cosentino says most Americans have never shaken their simplistic notions about Vodou.

Hunter-Hindrew, considered a holy leader in the religion, points out that some of the things that have led to the mislabeling of Voodoo practices in the west are misconceptions about magic and animal sacrifice.

"This is perhaps one of the biggest myths regarding the esoteric understanding of African Traditional Religions in general," she says. "and the Vodoun religion in particular. There is no use of magic in Vodoun as it is understood and practiced in the West. However, there are aspects of phenomena, or what some would regard as "miracles" that are made manifest by the Vodou spirits themselves. But, these manifestations in no way involve the use of "magic" or "trickery" as Hollywood has often misrepresented it."

I think that last line says a lot as it relates to us and the ideas i am presenting here.

Why does it matter?
I think this lays at the heart of respecting our art, respecting ourselves, and respecting our spectators, not to mention respecting Africa, Haiti, Vodou and it's practitioners. If we continue to feed these misconceptions in our society, by presenting Vodou as something dark, mysterious, sinister, strange, magical, and altogether inaccurate, we continue the repeat this mistakes of the past. We as magicians should be the first to understand how easy it is to be misled and deceived and how easily false impressions are made in people's minds. People make choices based on those misconceptions. This is a very real issue that effects real people's lives today. There are reports every day of Vodou practitioners being attacked, denied food and aid, they continue to be demonized, misrepresented and feared by people who do not understand the first thing about the practice of Vodou or those that practice it.

Lisa Derrick: Evangelicals Throw Rocks at Haitian Religious Service
On Religion - Myths Obscure Voodoo, Source of Comfort in Haiti - NYTimes.com

What to do about it?
I wouldn't want offer a critique without also offering some solutions.
There are several ways i can think of to address this issue, I'm sure you will also think of many more

(1) Alternative presentations and patter for the "Voodoo" plot. These suggestions mainly apply to effects where altering one thing effects another

- Interconnectedness of all things / energy
You could approach this from either a traditional or new age angle if that's your style.

- Identical twins / Human bonds
I think you will find this idea already familiar to most of your spectators. You can also find writings and research relating to this fairly easily

- Quantum Entanglement or "quantum non-local connection" (My personal favorite and what i use)
If you are not a Science and Physics geek like me , A little investigation will provide you with more then enough ideas to craft a presentation and patter, Plus you get to use real modern science to enhance your effect and intrigue your spectators.
Quantum entanglement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(2) Take the time to educate yourself about Vodou and use the effect / presentation to educate your spectators on the topic

I can assure you that any time you spend learning about Vodou, The Caribbean, or Haiti's history will be time well spent. There are numerous books and documentaries on the topic and most are easily obtained. I would also encourage you to seek out a Vodou Priest or Priestess to talk with if you happen to have a Haitian community near you.

There is a radio program "Speaking of Faith" that recently did a wonderful show on the topic of Vodou. You can listen online:
Living Vodou [Speaking of Faith® from American Public Media]

Haitian Vodou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That Old-Time Religion: Demystifying Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou at the BMA | Baltimore City Paper
Voodoo Likely the First African-American Religion in America

(3) Drop the Vodou plot from your performing repertoire and replace it with another effect

(4) If you are magic retailer... Would you sell an effect that falsely denigrates Christianity, Judaism, or Islam? If not, why is it okay, and goes unnoticed, if it is an Afro-Caribbean religion? I would ask that you phase out your inventory of these effects and in the interim offer alternative patter and presentation ideas.

I hope that those of you here, and in the magic community in general, will seriously consider and think about what i have said as we move our art forward to a more just and respectful future. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject.

Love, Respect, Astonishment,
J1P