Magic 601: Good and Evil
Vodou is a funny religion. Elements of the religions of the book, much more prevalent elements of much older religions from Africa and India, elements of various magical traditions: there is a coherent rationale for what is woven in. Vodou is a much more ‘controlled’ or ‘supervised’ religion than it appears while lacking the the centralized governing (civic) body of the religions of the book. It’s just that our supervision comes from divine revelation inside a flexible common framework.
If you’re a wide reader, you’ll notice common elements between religious traditions on the topic of divine revelation and the (mystic flavors of the) cited traditions above. There are common elements in a variety of religious traditions on those topics, and vodou often shares some of them. We just tend to have a radically different interpretation of them.
It’s possible for this reason, depending on the vodou priest you talk to, to get a variety of definitions for the terms ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ Some houses are much closer to Catholicism, some to Islam, some to the African tradition. As a priest, I have no interest nor any business, given the nature of my own relationship to the spirit, to use the definitions of morality the religions of the book (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) do. I do not have the luxury, given the overwhelming survival orientation of vodou as I have learned it, to be ruled by my comfort and therefore only do things those religions would call ‘good.’ Greeting someone trying to manipulate or abuse me with, for instance, ‘turn the other cheek’ is a poor survival strategy. Teaching this to my children only makes me a part of their abuse.
‘Turn the other cheek’ is certainly not a survival strategy that most vodou houses would teach you. Vodouizan do not have the luxury of collusion with local governments that would let us delegate justice to them.
I have talked quite a bit about the emotional basis of good and evil in a variety of religions, the fact that when you ask people why they do ‘good’ things, they will talk about their feelings. Vodou tends to take a more practical view of good and evil, asking about appropriateness—are you doing what best ‘fits’ the situation? The question of fit is almost always a question of energy and outcome, and this is another common element between religions though it is slightly different in vodou. Vodou is very much more focused on outcome and survival than it is on what common consensus (which is often influenced by other religions) might consider right. Did the energy with which you met the situation lead to the outcome you want it to?
Vodou does have a community ethic. Survival does, in fact, take a community. Appropriate does, in fact, reflect out into a community. Unfortunately, vodou starts out assumed to be evil, so common consensus will not and does not ever grant vodou the ability to be ‘good.’ No matter how many elements of the religions of the book a vodouizan might adopt, they will always be suspect in a society in which the religions of the book are allowed to dictate the terms and adoption of spirituality into civics. The community orientation of vodou ends up being about specific communities more than it is the ‘greater good.’ It is oriented toward the members of your society and extended to the vodouizan of your siblings or lineage. None of this will stop the people in a community from being assholes.
Vodouizan aren’t necessarily any more healed or elevated than anyone else. We can in fact be assholes, and we’re slightly more likely to be assholes depending on what we’re working on for healing and/or elevation. Discomfort or pain tends to bring it out in people.
Speaking inside my own society, there is a definition of good and evil which is somewhat larger than what is appropriate to the community. The belief that everything tends toward the divine to a greater or lesser degree; the belief that everyone has eternity to reunite with the divine; the belief that there is no one way to experience the divine, just the way you need to experience it in this life: all these things take the urgency out of the question of morality and prevent vodou from engaging in the kind of black and white thinking that so often characterizes other religions. It is an overarching definition, but it’s not a definition to be defended against others. It’s merely a way of understanding the question.
Put simply, evil is the potential for not being. Good is the potential for being. Evil is the combination of spiritual entities, negative patterns, inertia or momentum, or whatever you please that prevents something from happening. Good is the combination of spiritual entities, positive patterns, inertia or momentum that facilitate something happening.
There’s both no room and all the room in the world for extension. That definition is silent on the topic of appropriateness. It’s also silent on the topic of the community and survival. This is deliberate. The world is full of fuckery, all the various creative ways people try to make sure they survive better than anyone else, and not infrequently prevent some other group from surviving. The question of what needs to happen, the question of what is appropriate, is left to the individual to develop their own ethic.
The definition is explicit on the fact that you’re going to have to reason that out.
We are, as vodouizans, intended to actively participate in our own growth, elevation, and healing. This involves trying to figure out what is appropriate, balanced, and/or necessary in a situation.
This has limits. If the ethic involves behavior which is deemed a problem, vodou has plenty of ways to resolve that imbalance.
