This may seem like a little untimely, but 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, 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.
When we hear the term "Voodoo" it evokes images of sorcery, sticking pins into dolls, zombies, black magic, witchcraft, juju, mojos, greegrees, love 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 it seems we 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..
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
-Hunter-Hindrew, considered a holy leader in the religion
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 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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-derrick/evangelicals-throw-rocks_b_476149.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/world/americas/20religion.html
•continued in next post...
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, 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.
When we hear the term "Voodoo" it evokes images of sorcery, sticking pins into dolls, zombies, black magic, witchcraft, juju, mojos, greegrees, love 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 it seems we 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..
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
-Hunter-Hindrew, considered a holy leader in the religion
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 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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-derrick/evangelicals-throw-rocks_b_476149.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/world/americas/20religion.html
•continued in next post...
