Part 2

TALKING TO GOD WITH FOOD;
     THE QUESTION OF ANIMAL SACRFICE

Submitted on
On Eid al-Adha
The Great Feast of Sacrifice
By Louie Martinie'
 

PART 2

Animal Sacrifice

Winter, 1982 - I’ve been at the little storefront on Claiborne for three hours. The old conjure woman sat amid
piles of colorful fabric punctuated by alters brightly crowned with saint candles. She sewed and I sat. The
questions I had asked were serious and she had motioned me to wait. Now I understood that it was my job to sit
quietly, and to come again and again if necessary. I was the one asking, it was her call whether to answer or
not.

The steady movements of the needle stopped and she looked up at me.

"You showed respect by waitin. I don’t have to talk if it’s not in me. Now I feel like it."
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me.
"Do you know how many animals have to die to make an initiation?" She shook her head. She began a list of
animals.  A barnyard full. Her voice sounded a little sad, a little disgusted.
She ended by telling me always keep a penny in my shoe. If the penny turned colors I’d know that someone was
working against me.
 

Sacrifice involves the death of a sentient being. Putting the issue of intelligence aside, there is a general
agreement that animals are sentient beings. They use their senses to know the world and to seek pleasure and
happiness and to avoid pain and suffering. Not all sentient beings are animals. Most people would say that a fish
is also sentient. A few less would say that a reptile is sentient. Even less would call an insect sentient and fewer
still would grace a plant with sentience. Still, some people would grant sentience to all of the above life forms.

We are well equipped at this point in our journey to look at the subject of animal sacrifice. We have a context
that moves from gift to present to offering to sacrifice and have met the issue of sentience. My first thought in
writing was to simply call this chapter "Sacrifice" but my experience is that most people who are interested in
Voodoo have some factual or fictional information on animal sacrifice and want to know more. Precision is
necessary in such a charged subject as animal sacrifice and I believe that this precision is best applied in the
development of a vocabulary to effectively discuss and think about this subject.
Animal sacrifice is not a gift, a present, or an offering. It is a type of sacrifice; the sacrifice of an animal. If you
believe that fish, reptiles, birds, insects, trees, and plants are sentient, then to offer any of these would be a
sacrifice but not an animal sacrifice. My point is that animal sacrifice occupies a relatively small portion of the
map that depicts our dealings with the loa. Necessary or not, it is a small portion. The loa can be fed and
honored in many other ways. And, possibly, substitutes for animal sacrifice can be found.

The question is not if animal sacrifice is effective. Yes, it is effective in bringing certain types of benefit. The
question here is if animal sacrifice is necessary. Atomics may effectively clear the enemy from a battlefield but
may not be necessary and may in the end be detrimental to all involved.  The analogy to atomics is a good one.
Animal sacrifice will get the job done in the short term. But when considering long term spiritual development, it
may be detrimental to the practitioner. It may leave a type of "fallout" that slowly poisons the soul. Perhaps,
when examined on a case by case basis, an offering could serve both us and the loa just as well.

Other faiths and religions have at some point in their history contained rites involving the sacrifice of animals.
The early Christians offered blood sacrifice.  All religions and faiths evolve. The movement toward bloodless
offerings seems to be a part of this evolution. The tastes of the loa change along with the appearance that they
assume and the rites to which they respond. Maybe New Orleans Voodoo is following the course of other faiths
and religions by moving toward giving the loa mange sec (dry or bloodless meals) rather than meals that are
mange rouge (red or bloody meals). The tastes of the loa themselves seem to be changing.

Scapegoats

Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement. --Ex. xxix. 36.

In New Orleans Voodoo, to scapegoat is to transfer unwanted elements, be they sins, faults, or diseases of the
body or spirit, to another sentient being. The life of the sentient being is then terminated in a rite similar to
sacrifice and the body as a container of the transferred faults is returned to the earth to be cleansed.
Scapegoating is similar to sacrifice in that a sentient being is killed but that being is not "made sacred." It is
made the opposite of sacred, or "unclean" by the transfer of sins or diseases.

Christians who practice scapegoating in the context of New Orleans Voodoo face a particularly poignant
situation. To the Christian, Christ is the archetypal scapegoat. He suffered and died to redeem all from their
sins.  He took on our sins upon Himself and was sacrificed on the cross. He willingly took the sins of the entire
planet upon Himself.

For the Christian there is an awe-inspiring equivalency here. If the Christian uses the practice of scapegoating,
then the scapegoat stands in the place of Christ and the practitioner stands in the place of those who took the
life of Christ. The implications of this for the Christian practitioner of scapegoating in New Orleans Voodoo are
potentially monstrous.

Buddhists hold that each sentient life has an intrinsic value. Due to reincarnation, an animal could have been a
man or woman in a past incarnation. It is only at this moment in time that the being is an animal. Additionally, it
would be a useless act for a Buddhist to attempt to transfer personal suffering to another being. The karma of
such a transfer would catch up with the practitioner in this life or the next probably as a multiple of the original
suffering. Scapegoating would be a jump from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. The personal suffering of
the present would be multiplied in the future.

A symbol is something that stands for something else and the scapegoat as a form of sacrifice is a symbol
carried to the extreme. The scapegoat is a stand in for the person who suffers from a physical or spiritual
ailment. The scapegoat "stands in" and takes the ailment from the person and is then sacrificed. This sounds a
bit particular and exotic, but nothing could be further from the truth. Western culture is rife with scapegoating. It
is a prerogative of the powerful. If a rich man and a poor man are accused of a crime and arraigned together in
a western court, it does not take much imagination to predict who will probably get the lighter sentence and who
will take the full brunt of the fall.  Big business is rampant with scapegoating. If a problem arises, inferiors are
expected to take the blame, leaving the hands of the boss clean. The lower class historically becomes the
scapegoat of the upper class.

Scapegoating as practiced in New Orleans Voodoo does work but the price may be exceptionally high. To
benefit directly from the pain of another, particularly if the other is relatively unable to defend themselves, is a
corruption of one’s basic humanity. It is without honor. Our humanity makes possible an appreciation of
connectedness with all other life forms. Scapegoating denies this connection. It is a practice of the exploiters
brought into the Temple.
 
 
 

Consent And Sacrifice

In a many rites of sacrifice, the being to be sacrificed is asked to give consent. This consent is necessary for the
rite to be performed. Without this consent, the life force of the being would not be able to be transferred to the
spirit, loa, God/dess receiving the sacrifice. The road would be blocked by the beings resistance.

Such consent is extremely difficult to verify. Traditionally food is placed before the being to be sacrificed. The
food is sometimes placed within a ritual diagram such as a veve. If the being takes the food, this is interpreted
as agreement to the sacrifice. For example, corn can be placed before a chicken in a veve and if the chicken
takes the corn the action is interpreted as ascent to be sacrificed. But a chicken pecking at corn or an animal
taking food placed before it is a common enough action. To interpret such an action as agreement to be
sacrificed is questionable.

There is no intrinsic connection between eating the food and giving consent to be sacrificed. Using the same line
of thought, I could prepare a buffet for a Mardi Gras banquet, place the alcohol within certain diagrams, and
then say that those who took a drink had acquiesced to be sacrificed.  This is obviously not the case. I would
only have to ask the drinkers their opinion on the subject. Mardi Gras is a highly inappropriate time for any kind
of sacrifice. There is plenty of time in Lent for that sort of thing if the drinkers so wished!

The problem is that the chicken and most other animals have problems using standard English or whatever
language is being spoken in the rite. Consent is always, to some degree, a matter of interpretation. This is a
tremendous burden on the practitioner doing the interpreting and on those participating in the ceremony. In
such an important matter, all must be completely satisfied that consent has been given. I would personally be
more comfortable if the being were to scratch a word or a sign in the dirt to give consent.
 

Slavery and Sacrifice

TC, a practitioner and friend, points out that what is sacrificed is thought of as belonging to the person making
the sacrifice. I am amazed by the powerful simplicity of this statement. It is possible to own an offering consisting
of an object or an action. The object or the action is yours to give; it has no will of its own.

A sacrifice involves another sentient being, not an object or action that can be owned. TC’s words raised an
important question. Can a practitioner own another sentient being so completely that he or she can sacrifice that
being? I cannot sacrifice something that I do not consider in some way mine and I do not believe that it is
possible to own another sentient being. If I do not "own" what I am "giving," there can be no or only incidental
benefit to me.

Other sentient beings can be coerced or cajoled to perform desired actions but they can not be owned in any
sense. I can slaughter and eat animals but the act of eating their flesh does not mean that I own their flesh. For
better or for worse, I have forcibly taken the flesh from the animal for my own use. By analogy, a thief can use
property he or she has stolen but does not own that property.

I can not own the will, the spirit, the body, or the blood of another sentient being. Their will, their life force is their
own. If it is not possible to own in any sense another sentient being, then it is not possible to sacrifice that being.
The body and blood of that being are not mine to give.

In a human context, slavery is the name that we use for this kind of "ownership". I believe that the "owner" never
owned the "slave". He or she could force the slave to breed, labor, or even kill the slave but the slave's body and
soul, though violated, remained their own. The owner could not legitimately sell or sacrifice the slave to the god
of profit or to any other God. If what TC said and I write has some truth, then it must be considered that to offer
blood sacrifice is to open the door to slavery in all of its forms.
 

Redefining Sacrifice: Red Palm Oil and Sacred Journeys

Summer 2001  About twenty drummers stood by the fire practicing before the night’s ritual. I was demonstrating
and talking about the rhythms. I like to drum and write but usually my own voice bores me. This was no
exception so I yearned for the rite to begin.

Suddenly a small frog jumped into the middle of the drummers. A few people tried to catch the frog without
success. It was quick and unpredictable in its hopping. The drummer's feet and the fires hot ashes bracketed
the frog's movements. The frog jumped toward me and I easily picked it up. I smiled. My ever hungry ego loves
it when this kind of thing happens.

 I carried the frog to the side of the field telling it that I was saving its life. I charged the frog to speak to its
parents (Hecket) and ask that the night’s rite be a success.

Someone yelled "Sacrifice" as I was walking with the frog.

Exactly correct, the frog was now charged to make a sacred pilgrimage. It was about the sacred and as such
was sacred.
 

Sacrifice is to "make sacred." A sentient being is made sacred by being sacrificed to a loa or some other
spirit/God/dess. The sacrifice always involves the beings death. These are the "givens" of sacrifice. But then,
givens have a habit of changing; "what is" is often challenged by "what if." What if the death of the being were
not a part of the sacrifice? * (Footnote: As I am working on this section, a fly landed on the word "death" of the
previous sentence, rolled over, and died. The insect loa seem to be reminding me to mention "that sometimes a
sacrifice happens spontaneously without premeditation, like a deer hit by a car outside the ritual space during
the rite. This has obviously been ordained" - Conversation 2003; Mishlen Linden. Thank you for reminding me,
little brother.)  What would we, as practitioners, and the loa be left with? Can we create the kind of reciprocity
with the loa engendered by sacrifice without taking sentient life?  I believe so.

A powerful reciprocity can be achieved through the saving of life rather than its taking. A sentient being can be
saved from some obvious peril and then charged to repay the assistance by telling its spiritual Grandfather and
Grandmother (loa) two things; who helped it and what the person helping it wants.
 

August 13, 1983    Akoko came over to the loft. He brought a jar of Red Palm Oil and was near to raving about
the power in the oil. He chewed on his beard, rolled his eyes, and contemplated the jar of oil he had carefully
placed on the table. He told me to look at it with my spiritual eyes and I would be amazed.  He said that the oil
can be used instead of animal blood to feed the loa.

After he left I composed myself and studied the oil. Something that looked like smoke came from it. I am
impressed and will give the oil a try.

The form and the appetites of the loa change. They change from country to country and region to region. The
loa are not static, they are not tightly encased within the customs and appetites of a particular time and local.
They live as we live and the essential quality of life is change. The loa do not wear the same clothing they wore
thousands of years ago and they do not eat the same meals. I have found that Red Palm Oil nurtures and feeds
the loa in the same manner as the flesh and blood of a sacrificed being. It is as if the Red Palm Oil is a special
gift from the universe to voodooists who practice in the New Orleans style. Its versatility is amazing in feeding
the different loa.

Red Palm Oil can be purchased in African and Middle Eastern food stores or in spiritual botanicas. It combines
the power of the color red with the sacredness of the tree. Red is the color of blood, meat, heat, and strength.
Mange rouge or "red meal" is one name given to feedings of the loa that contain blood. Cultures such as the
Tibetan, that no longer offer blood sacrifice, often color their offerings red. It is as if part of the nourishment
found by the loa and spirits in blood derives from its very color. The tree is a link between heaven and earth. Its
branches reach into the sky to pull down the powers of the heavens while its roots pierce the earth to drink from
sacred underground waters. The Porteau Mitan that stands at the center of many a voodoo temple and through
which the loa descend is often a living tree.
 

July 1999     I open the voodooists Heads to these (Insect) Loa. Potion to back of neck. The potion is composed
of Red Palm Oil (as powerful as blood – contains no suffering of an animal), charged water, and sacred earths
(Temple, Congo Square).
When you begin to feel the insect loa coming on, take some of the food in the plate before you. The food is a
red palm candy.

A sacrifice has at least two functions in New Orleans Voodoo. It acts to feed, to nurture the loa to whom the
sacrifice is made and it acts to create reciprocity between the voodooist and the particular loa. Combining an
offering of Red Palm Oil with the "Sacred Journey" of a being whose life is saved, these two functions can be
satisfied without blood sacrifice. Two of the primary functions of sacrifice are satisfied and, as an African
acquaintance once said, "The chicken is much happier."
 

Western Medicine & Traditional Healing: The Guinea Pig and the Chicken

11.15.98   I received a call from M. who is seeing a doctor about her painful and advancing arthritis. She told me
that the serum recommended by her Dr. is recent and is made from chemicals harvested from rooster combs.
"Can you imagine how many roosters they have to kill to get that serum?"
"Lots" and then my voice dropped off.
This goes to the heart of my questions about animal sacrifice.

To develop and exercise principals regarding animal sacrifice is perhaps most difficult in the area of medicine
and healing. Animals are sacrificed and die so that sick human beings may recover and continue to live. The
end is to save human life; the means involve the sacrificial death of animals. Here the basic questions are the
same for both modern western medicine and for New Orleans Voodoo.

Is it permissible to sacrifice animals in order to save or attempt to save the lives of human beings? Ethically it
makes no difference if the question is put to a medical doctor or to a voodoo priest. The proverbial chicken of
voodoo and the guinea pig of science are both alike in sentience. They both actively seek happiness and the
avoidance of suffering. Both seek to escape pain. The consistent application of principals and values is one
defining characteristic of what we call fairness and justice. If there is an objection to animal sacrifice in New
Orleans Voodoo, then this same objection must be applied to the sacrifice of animals by science.

The term "sacrifice" is used in western medical practice to describe the killing of an animal in order that its body
may be studied, used in the preparation of medicines, or have its parts "harvested." In the science of medicine,
animals are sacrificed and extracts from these animals are used to affect cures for the benefit of human beings.
The healing of human beings through the means of western medicine frequently involves the sacrifice of
animals.

It is not necessary to even broach the questionable area of animal testing or experimentation. One can be
opposed to animal experimentation and still be agreeable to the use of animal’s extracts for healing. Parts of
animals are routinely harvested to create skin grafts and various serums. The heart of a baboon now beats in
the chest of a human being.

In Voodoo, as in western medicine, the healing of human beings often involves the sacrifice of animals. The
term "sacrifice" is used in the healing practices of New Orleans Voodoo to describe the killing of an animal for
the loa and the use of its body in whole or in part for the preparation of medicines and spells. As in western
medicine, parts of the body are often "harvested". Animal testing or experimentation is absent from voodoo
healing. The possible cruelties of this testing and experimentation are the sole property of western medicine.

Voodoo and western medicine both have certain rates of success and certain rates of failure in their standard
treatments. To say that western medicine has a higher success rate and therefore it is legitimate to sacrifice
animals for its cures simply side-steps the question. First, everyone does not agree that a higher success rate in
the treatment of a human being justifies the sacrifice of an animal. Secondly, at what point does the success
rate justify animal sacrifice? At 2%? 5%?,  25%? There may be general agreement that higher success rates
justify drastic means but there is little agreement on what constitutes a "high" success rate. Also, what if the
animals sacrificed are of a "higher" order; for example dolphins and great apes? What if the animals are of an
endangered species? Western medicines higher rate of success does not cap the question.

Another issue to be broached involves numbers; the number of lives sacrificed and the number of lives saved.
A scientist can say, "If this pigeon dies, a compound found only in its pancreas can save the lives of many
people."  A Voodoo worker can declare," If this pigeon dies, then all of these people can be saved from the
hurricane." Here we are talking about one or a few beings dying to save the lives of many beings

The obverse must also be considered. Is it permissible to take the lives of many beings in order to save the life
of one or a few beings? In particular, what if the many beings are animals and the one or few beings are human
beings? To what extent does the good of one sentient being outweigh the good of another sentient being? If the
death of two, three, four,…or a thousand "higher" or "lower" order animals were necessary to make the serum
to save the life of one human being would this be acceptable? Does the good of a person outweigh the good of
a mosquito, a chicken, of a goat, of an elephant, of a member of a severely endangered species, of another
human being? We seem to make this decision every day when we eat meat. The issues are complex and
deserve deep thought and prayer for insight.

Priest Oswan of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple told me that healing is needed "to the extent one is
separate from God." I took his words to refer to a spiritual healing that may or may not affect the body. In the
unique and powerful light of his words, it is possible to examine a healing of the body independently from a
healing of the soul. A distinction can be made between what is healing to the body and what is healing to the
soul, what makes the body well and what brings the soul closer to God.  There is a common assumption that
what is good for the soul is good for the body and visa versa. This is true but only in some cases. The
relationship can be good, bad, or simply neutral.

Actions of benefit to the body, actions that are healing to the body, can be poisonous in their effects on the soul.
For example, a heart may be bought and transplanted from a healthy, poor woman to save the life of a sick,
wealthy man. The body of the wealthy man would heal, but his soul would be poisoned by such an arrangement.
The converse is also true. Actions of benefit to the soul, actions that are healing to the soul, can be poisonous in
their effects on the body. A mother could sell her heart to provide food for her starving children. Here her soul
sings in its journey to God and her body dies. The use of multi vitamins may be neutral; good for the body but
do little to speed or hinder the soul in its flight toward a holy destination.

In a healing of the body, one can certainly be helped by the medical sacrifice of an animal.  Chemicals react with
chemicals in a given fashion no matter the ethics of their origin. An amazing array of bodily parts are
interchangeable between human and other beings. The cornea of a medically sacrificed goat can restore sight
to a human eye.

A cure involving the sacrifice of an animal, western medical or traditional voodoo, may be beneficial to a healing
of the body but pernicious in its effect on the soul. In thinking about sacrifice and healing, it is important to know
if the healing is for the body, the soul, or for both. In accepting or rejecting the use of animal sacrifice, I believe
that it is important to apply the same criteria to both western and traditional healing practices.  It is easy to see
that animal sacrifice in medicine and traditional healing raises complicated issues. It does not seem to be
consistent to oppose animal sacrifice in Voodoo’s traditional medicine and condone its use in the western
science of medicine.
 

A Fish Story: 1984

I stopped before a fish vender while walking down one of the small, alley like streets in China Town. He held out
a large catfish for my scrutiny. The elderly man’s wispy white beard hung barely visible before his black clothing.
His kind eyes were slightly down cast and his mouth carried a little smile that radiated an evident pride in his
catch. The long, thin mouth hairs of the catfish trembled. The fish’s eyes bulged with fear.  Its mouth opened
and closed in a vain search for water and the relief of its suffering. "You like? You like?" said the man. I don’t
know what words swam and tumbled behind the fish’s thick lips.

I bowed slightly, a bit sadly, to the vast richness of life and its awful capacity to elude easy answers.
 

Is it necessary to sacrifice animals in order to conduct an initiation or other ceremony to the loa?
Will I participate in ceremonies in which animals are sacrificed?
Will I myself sacrifice animals?"

This chapter attempted to provide a firmer ground for answering these three questions.  My position is that there
is no right or wrong to this. Only the careful machinations of spiritual cause and effect often called karma. Hold
another sentient being in your hands. Its life is now literally in your hands as your life is just as literally in your
own hands. Choice stands at the wheel in navigating this river of the soul. There is no condemnation or
commendation, only an ever-present responsibility that is built into the very fabric of the universe. Think deeply.
We can choose our actions, there is no choose involved in the consequences that they, by their nature, call
forth.
 

Addendum
 

A Very Personal Aside on Blood Sacrifice

I have joined New Orleans Voodoo, the faith of my land and city, to Buddhism. This is similar to what many of
the people of Burma, Thailand, etc. have done with their traditional faiths for centuries. Because of this joining, I
no longer offer blood sacrifice. The words to follow are not meant to invoke any sense of "right" or "wrong." I
wish to simply point out a way I have found that works for me and allows me to cause the least amount of harm
possible.

In light of my blending of New Orleans Voodoo and Buddhism, it would be nonsensical to offer blood sacrifice
when doing a healing of the soul or mind stream. The Tibetans speak of a mysterious force that they call
"karma." To the best of my understanding, karma is like spiritual cause and effect in that you get back what you
habitually give. If I cause suffering, then I receive suffering in return and blood sacrifice certainly causes some
level of suffering in the being that is sacrificed. The use of a scapegoat would also be ineffective. To transfer my
problems to another sentient being would cause that being suffering and open me up to karmic suffering. Karma
is not so much "Do onto others as you would have them do onto you" as "As you do onto others so shall be
done unto you."

The Tibetans also speak of reincarnation. Reincarnation holds that some subtle sense of who we are travels
through lifetimes. Moreover, the karma we accumulate affects these future incarnations. The combination of
karma and reincarnation presents a powerful incentive for me to look deeply into my actions and their
consequences. Even if I manage to avoid consequences in this life, they may very well be waiting for me in my
next incarnation.

Given karma and reincarnation, I would be extremely wary of offering blood sacrifice to heal my body. To cure
myself by taking life could create the seeds for a karmic situation worse than the present disease. Even if the
disease were cured, the taking of the life could engender more future suffering on my part than the threatening
disease could cause.

Would I be more amenable to sacrificing an animal to save a friends life than to save my own life? The impulse
of honor is to put the good of another above your own good. In combat, it might mean taking a blow meant for
another. The karma involved in blood sacrifice is appreciable. To sacrifice a chicken to save a sick friend means
that I would take the painful karma from that act upon myself. This is a difficult question at best. I do not know
the answer. I do know that I would exhaust all other avenues before considering animal sacrifice. Wisdom has
been called "the knowledge of necessity." I would not causally bring possible harm to myself; I would want to act
wisely. I have found that with the use of Red Palm Oil instead of sacrifice, it may not be necessary for a
practitioner to take on such a terrible load.

If karma and reincarnation or something like them is real, then to offer animal sacrifice may be to put oneself at
risk not only in this life but also in future lives.  It is not a matter of right or wrong or of good or bad. It is simply a
matter of happiness and suffering. Some events in one’s life tend to engender suffering and some events tend
to engender happiness. Taking life usually engenders suffering and giving life usually engenders happiness.
The karma from these acts pursues us through our future lifetimes.

Reincarnation also brings up two other considerations. The first is that we are human now and have been an
animal before and will be a thousand different things in a thousand different moments of time. So in blood
sacrifice I would not simply be killing an animal, I would be killing a sentient being that may have been human
like me.

The second and most important consideration is a result of the infinite number of incarnations we experience.
Given an infinite number of incarnations, the animal I would be sacrificing now had a special relationship to me
at some point. The animal has been my Mother or my Father, my wife/husband or best friend. The animal, in
that past incarnation, loved and protected me. As Mother or Father it kept you from harm. To cause suffering to
a being that at one time has benefited me so much is an awful thing, a thing without honor.

To say that the loa "Ogun wields the knife, not I" does not quite measure up. If this animal was my Mother, my
Father, or my wife/husband at a different time, I am under a strong emotional and intellectual mandate to stop
Ogun or any spirit or loa or human, that wields the knife. If my mother, wife, or friend were threatened by any
person, spirit, or loa, I would act to help them, not sit by passively.

Even if it is true that it is Ogun who wields the knife and not I, there are still consequences I must face.  I have
entered into a relationship with Ogun. I have joined with him in these actions. I am allowing him to use my hand,
my arm knowing full well that he will deliver a killing blow. The relationship I have entered into with Ogun joins us
and will act as a weight around my neck. When this Ogun sinks under the weight of his karma, he will pull me
down to the same fate.  Also, if I have a love for the loa, of which Ogun is one, I would not want to put him or
any of the other loa in such a harmful karmic situation.

I found that Red Palm Oil has proven to be every bit as effective for me in my practice as the life and blood of
animals. This is a happy discovery. I would recommend that the practitioner reader try Red Palm Oil. If it works
for you as it does for me, maybe there will be a bit less suffering in the world.
 
 
 
 

Specific Offerings

The loa are individuals and as such they want specific types of offerings. They have their specific tastes and
predispositions, as do human beings. The following table contains a list of loa most frequently called in New
Orleans Voodoo and provides objects and actions I have found to their liking. These objects and actions have
the necessary qualities to be offerings.

This table does differ from the table I created for the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot. The 10 additional years of
practice have sharpened my appreciation of New Orleans Voodoo’s loa.  It is good to remember that new loa
are arising all of the time. No table is definitive.
 

************************************************************************

OFFERINGS TO LOA OF NEW ORLEANS VOODOO: OBJECTS AND ACTIONS AS OFFERINGS
(The 10 numbers are based on the Sephirots of the Tree of Life.)

1.

Da
Key association….all movement
Objects…quicksilver, glass (glass is always flowing)
Actions…any movement of the body
 

2.

Gros Bon Ange’
Key Association…love as expansion
Objects…seeds to be planted
Actions…Breathing out.

Grande Zombie
Key Association…the essence of all temple snakes
Objects…necklace, string of beads (first necklaces made from snake vertebra)
Actions…deep meditation, stillness

Danny Boy / Damballah Wedo
Key Association…snake, the ancestors both named and forgotten
Objects… an old photograph
Actions…clean graves*
 (Any grave that you clean is that of your Father or Mother, conversation with Mishlen Linden, a graveyard by
Doolin, Ireland, 2000)

Ayida Wedo
Key Association…snake, the ancestors as new born
Objects…An egg shaped stone, a geode, hair, etc. as containing DNA
Actions…any physical or mental birth that acknowledges the influence of the past
 

3.

Mama Waters
Key Association…water as the planets life blood
Objects…any waters; in particularly those that proceed birth and those of the seas   Actions… bathing as a
purification

Bridgette
Key Association… light, the arts
Objects… a bridge, a crown of light
Actions… creation in any of the arts

Manman Bridgette
Key Association… judgment, both fair and merciful of the dead; she loves to care for aborted children, they are
her garden (This is a heart teaching from a woman She blesses)
Objects… rocks piled, red bricks piled (rocks are not always easy to find in New Orleans)
Actions… any decision or judgment come to by carefully weighing merit

The Barons
Key Association… the known dead, known ancestors
Objects… any object inherited from passed ancestors, earth from a familiar place, statues made of earth and
named
Actions… reverence for known ancestors, reverence for the land

Baron Samedi
Key Association…straddles both the land of the living and the land of the dead
Objects… sunglasses especially with one lens missing
Actions… grave yard humor

Baron La Cross
Key Association… stands a the entrance of the cemetery
Objects… a Christian cross especially funerary
Action… blessing with a cross

Baron Cimeterie
Key Association… all things returning to the earth
Objects… shovel
Actions… digging in the earth with a shovel

The Guedes
Key Association… never known or forgotten dead, never known or forgotten ancestors
Objects… earth from an unfamiliar place, statues made of earth and left unnamed
Actions… searching for the histories of past ancestors

Guede Nimbo
Key Association… the dead clergy of all religions
Objects… liturgical vestments especially purple
Actions… exaggerated priestly demeanor
 

4.

Agwe’
Key Association… navigating the surface of the water
Objects…Salty water, sea water, a small model boat
Actions… rowing or sailing a boat

La Sirine
Key Association…seductive, appealing message
Objects… sea shells
Actions…song

La Balaine
Key Association…ability to move in the depths, physical, psychological, or spiritual
Objects…a figure or drawing of a whale, any very large object
Actions… holding the breath before breathing out

Olokun
Key Association… mysteries of the ocean depths
Objects… any object that is mysterious, unknowable
Actions…pondering mysteries in and of themselves without attempting to resolve       the mysteries
 

5.

The Wild Man
Key Association…constant surprise and amazement; strong agitation
Objects…leaves of wild plants, mud
Actions… wild movements; yells

Black Hawk
Key Association…protection and dignity
Objects…tomahawk for cutting through obstacles, a spear for reaching a distant       goal
Actions… slow dignified dance

Annie Christmas
Key Association… strong woman
Objects… toy steamboat, loose cotton
Actions… merriment, robust labor

Ogun Balindio
Key Association… healing with science
Objects… any miniature or real medical instrument, especially those containing
      metal
Actions… caring for another’s body

Joe Feri
Key Association… iron and the strength of iron
Objects… any iron object
Actions… hammering movement, as if shaping hot iron
 

6.

Blanc Dan-I
Key Association… balance
Objects… toy white snake, white smoke
Actions… active silence

Obatala
Key Association… purity and equilibrium; archaic ruler of the drums which he gave to Shongo
Objects…egg white
Actions… even judgment, calm abiding,

Ellegua
Key Association… chance, playfullness
Objects…children’s toys, especially very small toys
Actions… shake your bootie

Papa Legba / Papa
Key Associations… opens the gate, gatekeeper
Objects… any gate, toy or real
Actions… allowing passage through or around some obstacle

Ti Bon Ange
Key Association…will
Objects… any symbol or record of personal success
Actions…the in breath
 
 

7.

Marie Laveau
Key Association…the dancer
Objects…An honored chair dedicated to her use.
Actions…A recitation of her children’s names, light a candle for her in a Roman Catholic Church.

Erzulie Frieda Dahomey
Key Association…unattainable perfection
Objects…perfume
Actions…any actions associated with personal grooming

Erzulie Dantour
 Key Association… extremely protective mother
Objects… apron
Actions… cover oneself with an apron
 

8.

Dr. John
Key Association…the drummer; spiritual doctor
Objects… a drum, percussion instrument
Actions… drumming; spiritual healing

Shongo
Key Association…nobility
Objects… double headed ax
Actions… royal demeanor

Simbi
Key Association… arcane wisdom; magick
Objects…fresh water
Actions…conscious curling or uncurling of body or body parts
 

9.

Madame la Lune
Key Association… reflection; mirage; enchantment; illusion
Objects…a mirror
Actions… looking into the depths of the mirror, expedition into a mirror
 

10.

Azaka
Key Association… hard rural work done for the family
Objects…grains, corn, fruits of the harvest
Actions… weary step; any action caused by bodily pains

****************************************************************