NEW ORLEANS VOODOO
SACRED RHYTHMS OF THE THIRD COAST
An Order of Service for the Loa
 

Louis Martinie’
Drummer, Priest, and Spiritual Doctor
New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
 
 

A Drummer's Hands

There is sound and there is silence.
Silence births sound.
Sound births silence.

Rhythm is the close measure of this birth.
The drummer stands back and listens,
Witness to the wonders of the Invisible World.
Hands move. The drummer is still.
 

Rhythmic shapes rise and float within times vast borders like a child's balloon cast into the burning horizon.  Bright Angels of Africa…the loa…rise from this fierce dawn of light and inhabit the floating shapes. The loa are coaxed toward visible form by the drums. Only ecstatic purity can touch their shifting forms lightly enough not to stain in the touching. This is a dance in which like calls like. Soft rhythms call soft spirits, hard rhythms call hard spirits.

The loa are sentient. They have senses. They hear and in hearing are transported into our world of taste, smell, sight, touch and position. They tumble into presence. Presence allows communication and communication seeks communion. Communion fans the cool fires of possession.

Think of a melody, a song with which you are familiar. Let it flow through you. You drift and are at a party, maybe you are dancing with your arms around another person. There are sights, smells, sounds, a mood, and presence; the song evokes all of this. You are there and then, in time, return to your body. It is like this with our rhythms and the loa. They hear and like us are transported. But they have no body to pull them back from their revelry while we revolve, incarnate in times clay cylinder.

We speak with our hands. The loa hear and come. They are so very far and so very close. Their breath intoxicates us, inspires us and we grow larger in their presence.
 
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO

New Orleans Voodoo is the wild child of Voodoo’s feral religions, the trick played upon the trickster. In New Orleans Voodoo, where the ultimate authority rests within the individual and his or her living relationship with the loa, there can be no orthodoxy to sit in grand judgment. If judgment were to be meted out, its throne would well bear the word “success.” And who is best suited to decide what is “success” than the involved mind stream as it is now (The Individual), as it was in the past (The Ancestors), and as it will be in all of its future incarnations (The Offspring)?

New Orleans Voodoo feeds with the hunger of its temple snakes. The snake’s tail curls in never ending spirals deep within the heart of Wedo surrounded by the Old World of Africa. Its muscular body stretches across the bottomless waters. Its mouth thrusts deep into the virgin matrix of the New World.

The religions of the New World provide sustenance to New Orleans Voodoo, which it in turn transmutes into form. First the wisdom of the New World’s Native peoples informed the great serpent. Then Roman Catholicism offered finely examined bits of doctrine and the beauty of its Latin liturgies.  The indentured servants, the poor whites at the ceremonies added the rich brew of the Celtic Nations wisecraft. Their legacy is still quite visible in the New Orleans voodoo doll. Spiritist and spiritual churches embraced the great snake as wisdom and in turn received the Holy Serpents blessing. Hollywood marveled at the snake’s suppleness and shaped it into the sign of the dollar.

Recently the great Western Mystical Traditions, most notably in the form of Thelema, joined with the snake. Within me Tibetan Buddhism and New Orleans Voodoo have intertwined, curling in upon one another.

A serpent renews itself through the shedding of its skin. Voodoo as a whole and its loa in particular replenish themselves by passing through the renewing colored baths of the spirit. The Invisibles enter the relatively narrow and cramped confines of the Visible World wearing an expansive coat of many colors. Like near sighted men describing an elephant, positioning is all-important in the perception of what form, what colors the loa wear.

We perceive the loa as in a dimly lit room. Scrutinize them in Africa or Haiti and they will yield one set of perceptions. See them in New Orleans and they will yield quite another. All of these perceptions are like the shed skin of the snake. They are not the snake but they can provide clues to the snakes fundamental nature. As it is best not to confuse the wrapping with the present, so it may be best not to confuse the shed skin with the snake or our perceptions of the loa with the loa’s deep nature. Their surface, the colors they wear the forms that they assume change from place to place. That which assumes those forms, that which wears those colors remains the same.

SECRECY

Diligently pursued, these rhythms are not difficult. The great secrets of New Orleans Voodoo are deceptively simple. They shift through the soul like sand through the hand. They are easily missed, lost in the chatter of the mind. They can be heard but not listened too, viewed but not seen, read as only words too easily ignored.

In the end it is not the teacher who enforces secrecy; it is the students own lack of attention.

Those who give knowledge and those who receive the knowledge must stand upon a common ground before the great Mysteries. We have all been both teacher and student; a change in situation can easily mean a reversal of role. Keeping this in mind can help the teacher avoid rising too high and the student avoid bowing too low.
 

ORDER OF SERVICE

This is an Order of Service for New Orleans Voodoo, not the Order of Service. It may prove to be the best Order of Service for you to follow or it may not. Either way, I believe that it is a powerful and accessible means to begin or enrich your already full dialogue with the loa.

This Order of Service is a distillation of the unique events that unfolded, flowered, and flowed through literally hundreds of rituals at the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. It is an essence extracted from these rituals and deposited within the pages of this chapbook. Pollination is a wonderful thing, perhaps the only thing more dynamic is cross pollination. This Order of Service must change and grow to live.
 

Few things in New Orleans Voodoo, or for that matter in New Orleans itself, are written in stone. Stone can be a sparse commodity in the Mississippi Delta. Much more common is mud and silt, materials adept at taking on the shape of their handlers.  This Order and the rhythms that breathe life into it will change as they f low through your hands. My advice is to get the basics down and then to
improvise based upon your own deep feelings. The loa are an attentive audience and will let you know if they like what they are hearing. They will come or they will stay away.

Pretty simple; not a lot of need to ask others if you are doing things right.

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.

The New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple, located on Rampart Street in the Congo Square area, hosted Thursday night, "open rituals" between 1992 and 1999. This is the first time since the rituals of Marie Laveau and Dr. John that open Voodoo rituals were held on a regular basis in this sacred area.
The rites usually took place in the Temple’s courtyard, an area bounded by buildings that stood new and proud when Marie Laveau and Dr. John walked these streets. Now the buildings moan and creak under the weight of a thousand memories. Here the cement skin of a wall splits and cracks revealing a skeleton of hard red brick, there a gallery hangs precariously overhead attached to the wall by force of habit and termite casings. The bustle and hustlers of Rampart Street can not enter here. It is as if the buildings are too absorbed in their own recollections of old Creole life to make room for the life of the street with its fleeting cares of the moment.

The drums would sound, the dancers whirl, and the stars look down between the heavy branches of sheltering Live Oaks. Priestess Miriam, clad in a rainbow of colors, teased and shaped and molded half seen forces visible only to the fleeting glance, to the corner of the eye. The smell of Honeysuckle from overburdened shrubs and incense burnt in an old iron skillet rose into the vast, overwhelming heat of the night, drifted over mossy slate roves and mixed with the beer and disinfectant smell of the clubs.

Sometimes there were fifty people present and over a dozen drummers laid the rhythmic bricks upon which the loa walk. Sometimes specially arranged tours would pour into the area surrounding the rite.  A sea of faces would flow around us with heads spinning rapidity, quickly flash eyes and shutters, and  ebb just as quickly into the yet to be explored night. At times no more than three of us would gather for the loa.

Lone souls, homeless men and women were drawn through the gate set open to the street. They often stood in shadow, unsure until welcomed by smiles and nods.  The loa come in what form they will and to give offense is a serious matter.  All who came received something of value. Of this I am sure. I received much more than I ever gave. It is this abundance the I wish to share through the Order of Service.

The rituals continue now, but not on so regular and open a basis. The Tibetan refugees speak of a type of suffering they call the “suffering of pleasure.” By this is meant that any pleasurable action, state, etcetera repeated often and engaged in long enough brings suffering rather than pleasure. It feels good to sit down but if you stayed in that chair long enough, it begins to feel very bad. The public rites were a pleasure and it was time for them to end in 1999. One purpose they came to serve was to connect the old rites on Congo Square with the awakening millennium. They created a bridge on which the tradition of New Orleans Voodoo could pass into the twenty-first century.
 
New Orleans Voodoo is an evolving tradition. The loa make themselves known today in the same powerful manner as they did in the time of Marie Laveau and Dr. John. The loa speak in many ways and through many mouths. This Order of Service has evolved through years of Thursday night rituals. If it acts to increase self-knowledge and compassion, then it will have served both us and the loa as well.

In the following sections, I present the Order of Service in the context of a Drum Prayer. This is natural for me as a drummer. The drum is my altar. It is on and with and through the drum that I fulfill the functions of priest and spiritual doctor. A drum prayer acts to offer honor and respect and to call the loa. The rhythms are powerful and the loa are ever close.
 

SACRED RHYTHMS FROM THE THIRD COAST:

A sacred rhythm is a prayer.
It is a prayer spoken by the hands rather than by the mouth.
Playing and praying become one in temple drumming.

The rhythms played are simple because they are prayers and the best prayers can be said by children.  Even little children can learn them by and in their hearts.  I believe that the simplicity of these rhythmic prayers is a tribute to the loa. When my life is overtaken by great sadness and I seek help and solace through communion with the loa, my playing and praying is simple, direct, and heart felt. This, more than anything else, convinces me that there is a firmament upon which existence rests that is beautifully elegant in its simplicity. Science pays homage to this simplicity in its search for a unified field theory. The spirituality of New Orleans Voodoo celebrates the same simplicity in its drum prayers.

Much of the complexity in spiritual practice may be meant to impress those around us. If someone is working or praying or playing in a very complex manner they may be working, praying, and playing to you and not to the loa. What they may seek is your admiration, and it is an act of kindness to give this admiration to them. I think that we all sometimes enjoy this kind of attention. Perhaps we should all have the proverbial fifteen minutes of fame, if only to realize that fifteen minutes is often long enough.

New Orleans is located on the third coast of the USA (Loki; Silver Machine Productions). The first coast is eastern, the second coast is western, and the third coast is, well, sort of in-between the two and toward the bottom, the Canadian border being totally out of the question. A few years ago a tee shirt with the inscription “New Orleans – Third World and Proud of It” became popular and made the rounds. There is the same kind of pride in being the third coast. There is the Big Apple and there is the Big Easy. There is LA - Los Angeles but then there is La – Louisiana.  We are in the running…or at least in the walking, albeit a very leisurely, not overly motivated walking.
 

LESSONS IN DECOMPOSING RHYTHMS

Decomposing (Steve O’Keefe; Church of Music) is a play on deconstructing; but a play with a serious side. Composing is a creative act that gives birth to a piece of music or art.  It seems to pull form and beauty out of emptiness. Construction is a combining of preexisting elements into new form, for example, a building. The rhythms are more compositions than constructions.  It is as if the rhythms spring from an empty space in the soul, a space that can open itself to the loa.

New Orleans can be described as a city built on decay. The swamps and bayous steam and cook an endless gumbo of debris you can smell miles away. Mists rise in the warm nights and the dead seem to walk and go about their business as they did a hundred years ago. Spectral praline venders offer their wares on wide aprons covering even more ample laps. The mists part as their ghostly customers pause in their slow way to make their purchase. The ancestors abound in our city and in our rites so “decomposing” is also a mischievous nod toward the acceptance of the presence and power of the ancestors in New Orleans Voodoo.
 

THE HEAD, THE HEART, and THE HANDS

Decomposition occurs when something, in this case a rhythm, is broken down into its constituent parts. These rhythms are played with your head, with your heart, and with your hands. They can be broken down into these three components. The head is responsible for the thoughts and the visions that drive the rhythms. The heart swells with the feelings that give power to the rhythms. The job of the hands is to give these thoughts and visions and feelings form in the Visible World. The hands of a drummer are like the hands of a stone mason in that they create a structure, a fine road upon which the loa can walk, a road that connects the Visible and Invisible Worlds.

The hands and their creation are easily the most noticeable member of the above trio but that does not make them and their task the most important of the three.  Good music and good Voodoo needs direction, drive and power. If any of these qualities are missing the end result is lacking,, giving the voodooists participating in the ceremony a sense of incompleteness.  The Head, The Heart, and The Hands are equally necessary and will act as touchstones in writing about the rhythms.  Each of the rhythms will be described from these three perspectives.

The Order of Service can be used in any of the rites of New Orleans Voodoo. Its purpose is to give birth to something. The something given birth too can be an object, an event, or an entity. The Order of Service is a great tool. Use it with wisdom.

 “NO… NO… BIRTH, NOT DEATH, IS THE FIRST MYSTERIE”

Circa 1990    The radio studio was all but deserted so it was easy to find a seat. Voodoo is a popular topic but the station was not in the most convenient location and there are other pleasures to be had on a Friday night. I sat down with my friends, not quite sure why we were asked to be there. To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure who asked us. My little adventures are seldom well planned. I just figured that a stand-in was needed in case problems arose with the scheduled speakers.

Voodoo Charlie, Charles Gondolpho…the owner of the Voodoo Museum, came in with Priestess Miriam, Priest Aswan Chimani, and a few others making up a kind of second line. Voodoo Charlie has a van in running condition. A very important commodity in situations such as this. He is also known to regulate his movements by New Orleans Time rather than the more prosaic Central or Pacific. New Orleans Time reduces to N.O. Time or, even more descriptively, N.O.T.  Ah! I believe I’ve discovered the reason for my and my friends' invitation.

There was coffee in a back room so that is where we drifted. This was my first meeting with the Priest Oswan Chimani, a scheduled speaker, and his wife, Priestess Miriam. We talked and wondered if there was any food in the cabinets; voodoo locusts. A buzzer announced show time. We all seated ourselves and Priest Oswan climbed onto the small stage with the host and another guest. The other guest was an anthropologist, a small man with an irritable air. He seemed impatient, a bit condescending, and definitely argumentative. It was almost as if someone had told him that the audience relished arguments. He took exception to most of what Oswan said.

Oswan appraised the situation calmly. With cool nonchalance he took a pack of playing cards out of his pocket and shuffled them with a gamblers flourish. The host and other guest looked more than a bit confused. As the anthropologist was holding forth at length, Oswan began to play a lively game of solitaire. This was too much for the anthropologist. His train of thought, once so full of steam and heat, derailed into dead air.

The host came to the rescue with a BIG question, “Where does the religious impulse come from?” The anthropologist referred to red ocher, mummies, and death. Oswan played two cards, one literal and one verbal. He slapped a card on the table and chimed in,

“Oh, No…No... Birth, not death, is the first mysterie.”
 
 

PAPA  LEGBA
Opening of the Gate – The Beginning of Birth
 
 

*  Right hand stick on wooden side of drum
^  Left hand on drum head plays low bass

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*   * *    *   * *
      ^ ^       ^ ^
 

The voodooists have brought themselves to order during the Bamboula. Now the beginning of birth is celebrated and honor paid to Papa Legba.  Legba is an old man, a story teller, and a gate opener between the Visible and the Invisible Worlds. This portion of the rite is the opening of the first, great gate we all pass through during birth. This is the gate that connects the Invisible and Visible Worlds. We passed through this gate at our births and now the gate must be opened for the loa to pass from their world into ours.

This is the time in the ceremony when the Litany of the Loa is called.  During the litany, the gate is not yet open for the loa to pass through so there is a plaintive air about the litany. It is as if the person calling the litany stood on one side of a great river and called the names over mist strewn waters, to ears on the other side. There is no sense of surety here; the names are called to unseen ears. The invitation to come and be honored in the rite is offered and may be accepted or rejected. One thing is known, the more fervent the invitation, the more chance it has to be accepted.

This litany names a few or a great number of the loa and ends with the name of a transcendent Great Master who unifies the assemblage of loa. The Litany is usually performed by one of the drummers and she or he adds the Great Master based upon his or her religious beliefs. Any voodooist present can and perhaps should add a Great Master from their religion.

LITANY of the LOA

This is an example of a possible litany. The form and content would vary with the person making the prayer. A cabalistic scheme known as the Tree of Life is used to hold and organize the names of the loa in 10 catagories.  Any such scheme will suffice. A short description is provided for each of the loa as a memory aide.

When I do the litany I like to use these words along with the loa’s name.
Ago Yea (Attention to the soul)…. (Name of Loa)……. Ko Ba Ni Jo (come dance with us).

10. Malkuth  AZAKA MEDE                A poor, hard working farmer

9. Yesod  MADAME LA LUNE              Our Lady of the  Moon

8. Hod   DR. JOHN   Drummer and spiritual doctor
    SIMBI    Green snake, wisdom
    SHONGO   Kingly presence
    SAINT EXPEDITE  Quickness in a task

7. Netzach              MARIE LAVEAU   Priestess
   ERZULIE FREDA DAHOMEY  Romance, desire for perfection
6. Tiphereth DANNY BOY / BLANC DAN-I White snake, calm, balance
               OBATALA   Calm, balance
    ELLEGUA   Child, trickster, gate opener
    PAPA / PAPA LEGBA Elder, trickster, gate opener
    LEGBA AGUATOR             Legba of the Waters
    TI BON ANGE  Little good angel, personal will

5. Geburath       ANNIE CHRISTMAS  Strong woman, laughter
         JOE FERRIE   Strong man, hard worker
        OGUN    Hunter, warrior
        OGUN BALINDIO             Doctor, iron used in healing
        JOHN THE CONQURER Protection
        HI JOHN & LOW JOHN  Roots, luck and fortune

4. Chesed      AGWE              Surface ship, mercy, Noah's Ark
        LA SIRINE             Seductive messages
        LA BALAINE            The whale, deep communication
        OLOKUN             Deep mystery

3. Binah      BRIDGITTE   Art, judgment
        BARONS    Known ancestors
        GUEDES    Unknown ancestors
        MORTS    The Dead
 

2. Chokmah     GRANDE ZOMBIE             Essence of all temple snakes
       DAMBALLA WEDO  Snake, Connection
       AYIDA WEDO   Snake, Rainbow

1. Kether              DA    All Movement
 

After Kether, as a friend of Tibetan Buddhism, I would add the mantra, “Gate, Gate, Para Gate, Para Sum Gate, Bodhi Swa. (Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Beyond Beyond. Awakened Hail!).” There is a happy coincidence with “Gate” and “gate” and I keep this in my head and heart when I continue to ask Legba and Ellegua to open the gate after the litany.  A petition to Mary, Christ, or Krishna, ect.  would be just as proper depending on the voodooist making the Litany.

During the drumming and litany there can be dancing and offerings to Legba. I favor offering tobacco.

THE DRUMS

This rhythm to Papa Legba honors him in his form of Legba Aguator or Legba of the Waters.  New Orleans is below sea level so this form of Legba is most proper.

HEAD – Conjure a vision of Papa walking with his cane toward a gate. His movements follow his rhythm. His cane moves forward on the first beat, his right foot shuffles forward on the second beat, his left foot moves forward to meet the right foot on the third beat. He rests on the next two beats.  At his side is Ellegua, the child gate opener in Santeria.  Papa plods as Ellegua skips. They both move as one toward the gate. The gate is old wood with worn iron hinges. It swings both in and out.

HEART -  Feel the love between the old Legba and Ellegua. It is this love that allows them to move together. Legba will soon pass and return as the child Ellegua. Ellegua will soon grow old and step into Legba’s worn shoes. Their completeness is the key that allows them to open a gate that swings both into and out of the Invisible World.

HANDS – As per chart

An Order of Service:
Drum Prayers
Birth : The First Mysterie

BAMBOULA

The House is Brought to Order – “Settle Down and Focus Up”
 
^  Right hand on drum head plays low bass
*  Left hand on side of drum head
 
 

                                        Begin here
BOU                LA                   BAM         BOU                 LA                   BAM
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
^   ^   ^  ^   ^   ^
*  * *  * *  *  * *  * *
 

In the past it was traditional to begin a New Orleans Voodoo service with prayers to the Christ and to the God of the Roman Catholics. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost were asked to bless and guide the ritual and all of its participants. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the most sublime spiritual forces acknowledged by Roman Catholics. They provide the highest forms of
guidance, blessing, and protection possible for a Roman Catholic to call upon.
 At this point in time we are no longer all Roman Catholic. People of many nationalities and faiths participate in Voodoo services. This is a wonderful thing but now one set of prayers to one set of Deities no longer work to bring all of us to order. To come to order is to attempt to align yourself with the highest Spiritual Order you can conceive. This is the Spiritual Order that provides the maximum good imaginable to you. This Order may be made up of one God, many Gods, or a hierarchy of specialized spirits with no one spirit higher than any other. This Spiritual Order can take an endless number of forms. It can change many times for an individual during the course of their lifetime. The important thing is that the Order called upon is real and paramount to you.

Now the service is scheduled to begin. We have brought our bodies into the temple and it is time for the mind and spirit to catch up with the body. We may have wanted to come to the service or dreaded coming and had to trick, and coax, or force ourselves to get on to that noisy streetcar that always breaks down. We may be tired or full of energy. Perhaps we were arguing with someone when we left the house.  The drive to the temple could have been pleasant or frustrating. When we finally bring our body through the temple door, we may be depressed or happy, we may hate or love life or just be numb to everything in general.

All of these moods and feelings and thoughts are what we have to work with. They are what we have to bring to order. To do this we each call upon the Deity, Deities, or spirits who most fully embody our spirituality and ask their blessing, their guidance, and their protection for us and the ritual. Sometimes it’s best if we begin by asking them for shelter, for refuge in the storm that is our lives. I often just thank them for the grace it took to get my sleepy body in the temple's door. Even if I’m feeling numb now, I can begin to bring my self to order by directing my attention toward the most profound spiritual teachings I have heard and taken into my heart. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes it seems to be close to impossible.

Small effort is greatly rewarded when you try to bring yourself to order. The physical set up and feeling of the temple is there to help you settle down. There is a reason that most temples aren’t planned to draw attention to water meters, old sewage drains, or electrical boxes. These things are all necessary but they usually don’t help focus attention on spiritual matters. Notice the altars, the statues, smell the incense; listen to the drums and songs. You can only pay attention to one thing at a time. This is a great blessing. It makes bringing yourself to order simpler, a little easier to manage. Just pay attention to the things around you in the Temple, they will help you settle down and focus up on your Spiritual Order. Repeating “Settle down & focus up” could help in the process.

Allah, Nuit, Jesus, Legba, Dianna, Buddha, Mammie Waters, and Shiva can all bring tremendous benefit to those who find a key to love, compassion, and understanding in their teachings. In a large and diverse group of voodooists they may all be called upon to align the voodooists with their highest known Spiritual Order. If ritual is to have a meaning beyond the moment in which it is performed, if it is to act on and within us in an important way, then the Great Loa must venture into the spiritual embrace of the Great Masters. These Great Masters are of the Universal Tradition,
they can be found in our Voodoo or in any of the other Traditions. It is for the individual to seek and to freely choose.
 

THE DRUMS
 

The Bamboula rhythm is played. This rhythm can be traced back to the dances on Congo Square (Luther Gray, Bamboula 2000) during the time of Marie Laveau and Dr. John . It is at the heart of New Orleans second line drumming. This is the name of our most sacred rhythm and Bamboula is the name of the spirit honored as the loa of the drums.

HEAD – Conjure Congo Square as it looked in the eighteen hundreds when the rites were first performed. Congo Square was a great market, loud and colorful and mysterious in a way that all markets are mysterious. The physical space it occupied stretched outward from New Orleans ramparts (now Rampart Street) into the far reaches of the imagination. Free and enslaved Africans talked and laughed and bargained. Native Americans sold and traded produce. Poor Whites, new from Ireland and famine marveled at the profusion of food. The sellers vied to attract the buyers. Objects and foods were waved in the air to be appraised and purchased or passed by. Bargains were struck and arms filled with food and fabrics. Drummers and dancers gathered into small groups playing the rhythms of their homelands in Africa. One group seemed to be a bit larger, a bit more organized. Here Priestess Marie Laveau presided and Dr. John drummed. Here the Bamboula sounded.

HEART – Feel the mysterie that surrounds beginnings. Feel the beginning of the old ceremonies and likewise the beginning of the rite about to take place. The loa spoke then and they will speak now. No one can completely predict the outcome. What new things will you feel? What memories will you take home? The heart is often more excited by questions than answers.

HANDS – as per  chart

PAPA  LEGBA
Opening of the Gate – The Beginning of Birth
 
 

*  Right hand stick on wooden side of drum
^  Left hand on drum head plays low bass

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*   * *    *   * *
      ^ ^       ^ ^
 

The voodooists have brought themselves to order during the Bamboula. Now the beginning of birth is celebrated and honor paid to Papa Legba.  Legba is an old man, a story teller, and a gate opener between the Visible and the Invisible Worlds. This portion of the rite is the opening of the first, great gate we all pass through during birth. This is the gate that connects the Invisible and Visible Worlds. We passed through this gate at our births and now the gate must be opened for the loa to pass from their world into ours.

This is the time in the ceremony when the Litany of the Loa is called.  During the litany, the gate is not yet open for the loa to pass through so there is a plaintive air about the litany. It is as if the person calling the litany stood on one side of a great river and called the names over mist strewn waters, to ears on the other side. There is no sense of surety here; the names are called to unseen ears. The invitation to come and be honored in the rite is offered and may be accepted or rejected. One thing is known, the more fervent the invitation, the more chance it has to be accepted.

This litany names a few or a great number of the loa and ends with the name of a transcendent Great Master who unifies the assemblage of loa. The Litany is usually performed by one of the drummers and she or he adds the Great Master based upon his or her religious beliefs. Any voodooist present can and perhaps should add a Great Master from their religion.

LITANY of the LOA

This is an example of a possible litany. The form and content would vary with the person making the prayer. A cabalistic scheme known as the Tree of Life is used to hold and organize the names of the loa in 10 catagories.  Any such scheme will suffice. A short description is provided for each of the loa as a memory aide.

When I do the litany I like to use these words along with the loa’s name.
Ago Yea (Attention to the soul)…. (Name of Loa)……. Ko Ba Ni Jo (come dance with us).

10. Malkuth  AZAKA MEDE                A poor, hard working farmer

9. Yesod  MADAME LA LUNE              Our Lady of the  Moon

8. Hod   DR. JOHN   Drummer and spiritual doctor
    SIMBI    Green snake, wisdom
    SHONGO   Kingly presence
    SAINT EXPEDITE  Quickness in a task

7. Netzach              MARIE LAVEAU   Priestess
   ERZULIE FREDA DAHOMEY  Romance, desire for perfection
6. Tiphereth DANNY BOY / BLANC DAN-I White snake, calm, balance
               OBATALA   Calm, balance
    ELLEGUA   Child, trickster, gate opener
    PAPA / PAPA LEGBA Elder, trickster, gate opener
    LEGBA AGUATOR             Legba of the Waters
    TI BON ANGE  Little good angel, personal will

5. Geburath       ANNIE CHRISTMAS  Strong woman, laughter
         JOE FERRIE   Strong man, hard worker
        OGUN    Hunter, warrior
        OGUN BALINDIO             Doctor, iron used in healing
        JOHN THE CONQURER Protection
        HI JOHN & LOW JOHN  Roots, luck and fortune

4. Chesed      AGWE              Surface ship, mercy, Noah's Ark
        LA SIRINE             Seductive messages
        LA BALAINE            The whale, deep communication
        OLOKUN             Deep mystery

3. Binah      BRIDGITTE   Art, judgment
        BARONS    Known ancestors
        GUEDES    Unknown ancestors
        MORTS    The Dead
 

2. Chokmah     GRANDE ZOMBIE             Essence of all temple snakes
       DAMBALLA WEDO  Snake, Connection
       AYIDA WEDO   Snake, Rainbow

1. Kether              DA    All Movement
 

After Kether, as a friend of Tibetan Buddhism, I would add the mantra, “Gate, Gate, Para Gate, Para Sum Gate, Bodhi Swa. (Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond, Gone Beyond Beyond. Awakened Hail!).” There is a happy coincidence with “Gate” and “gate” and I keep this in my head and heart when I continue to ask Legba and Ellegua to open the gate after the litany.  A petition to Mary, Christ, or Krishna, ect.  would be just as proper depending on the voodooist making the Litany.

During the drumming and litany there can be dancing and offerings to Legba. I favor offering tobacco.

THE DRUMS

This rhythm to Papa Legba honors him in his form of Legba Aguator or Legba of the Waters.  New Orleans is below sea level so this form of Legba is most proper.

HEAD – Conjure a vision of Papa walking with his cane toward a gate. His movements follow his rhythm. His cane moves forward on the first beat, his right foot shuffles forward on the second beat, his left foot moves forward to meet the right foot on the third beat. He rests on the next two beats.  At his side is Ellegua, the child gate opener in Santeria.  Papa plods as Ellegua skips. They both move as one toward the gate. The gate is old wood with worn iron hinges. It swings both in and out.

HEART -  Feel the love between the old Legba and Ellegua. It is this love that allows them to move together. Legba will soon pass and return as the child Ellegua. Ellegua will soon grow old and step into Legba’s worn shoes. Their completeness is the key that allows them to open a gate that swings both into and out of the Invisible World.

HANDS – As per chart

MAMMIE WATERS

The Waters of Birth Flow
 
 

* Right Hand
^ Left Hand

First Phrase – Softly using high tone toward side of drum
1 & 2 & 3 & 1 & 2 & 3 &
*  *  *  *  *  *
^   ^   ^   ^
 

Second Phrase – Loudly using low tone toward mid of drum
1 & 2 & 3 & 1 & 2 & 3 &
*    *  *  *  *
^ ^  ^   ^   ^
 

In a way, all that has gone before has been a prelude to the appearance of Mammie Waters. She is Mother of the Seas, the birthplace of all life. She is Mother Africa, the birthplace of our species.  She is the Mother that fed and held us when we were sick. Ursula K.Le Guin noted that, “My writing seems to be most universal when the subject is most personal.” The universal mother is most powerful when she wears the face of our own personal, physical Mother or of the person who most closely acted as Mother to us.

Mammie Waters rhythm reminds me of the ebb and flow of the ocean. There is a beautiful song that Priestess Miriam sings to the rhythm. The rhythm is slow compared to previous rhythms and this serves to help maintain ritual focus. If the dancers and other participants become too taken with spirit too soon in the rite, the full potential of the loa is not felt. Impatience lowers power. A gradual build seems best suited to prolonged religious rapture.
 

THE DRUMS

HEAD – Conjure a vision of the Universal Mother. Before her stands the Mother of the Seas. Before her is Mother Africa who holds a snake. The snake becomes transparent and each of the vertebra transforms into one of our ancestral mothers. The head of the snake is our Mother in this life. The universal often shows itself most fully in the particular.

HEART – A Mother's love for her children, elegantly simple, pure and unbounded. Gratitude to the person who acted as Mother to you.

HANDS -  as per charts

OGUN BALINDIO

Clearing the Way for the Birth
 

*   Right hand low bass
^   Left hand higher note

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*    *    *    *
   ^       ^
 
 

Ogun Balindio is the loa of iron in its medical capacity. His tremendous strength is used in the service of healing. This loa uses his skill and might to clear the way for the birth. Birth and beginnings are dangerous times. The stasis of things is undone. For the new to come in, the old must go out and at times the old is firmly entrenched and quite comfortable where it is. The only thing more dangerous than change is stagnation. Ogun Balindio guards, protects, and heals during the flux of birth.

THE DRUMS
The rhythm for Ogun Balindio mirrors the sound of iron being struck with a hammer. It invites disciplined and exact dance steps. It was a powerful time at the Thursday rituals when Priestess Miriam would dance to these rhythms setting the time by striking two machetes together.

HEAD – Conjure a vision of Ogun Balindio walking down the road created by his rhythm. The step of Ogun Balindio is thoughtful. He examines the conditions for the birth. Is the gate sufficiently open? Is the house in order for the birth? Ogun Balindio carries the medal tools of a medical doctor. He is skilled in their use.

HEART – Feel the courage of this spiritual warrior to meet and overcome all obstacles. He radiates a dedication and a joy as he protects the ritual and its offspring.

HANDS – as per charts

BANDA

The Ancestors and the Dead Attend
The child is born
 

^  Left hand on drum head plays low bass
*  Right hand stick on wooden side of drum
 
 

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*  * *  * *  *  * *  * *
^  ^  ^    ^ ^   ^
 

The Order of Service affirms that birth is the First Mysterie. Remembering the ancestors now during this celebration of birth illustrates the connection of life and death. All that is born dies. All that dies is born again. The ancestors and the dead find their return to the Visible World through the new born. The gate between the Visible World and the Invisible World swings in both directions.

To remember the ancestors is to make an offering of time to them. Literally, the ancestors are given time by the voodooists. Time is a precious commodity, a great gift. It is one offering that can not be bought or sold. The names of ancestors can be recited individually or a list of ancestors of the spiritual house may be called. Either way or both ways together there is always great spiritual benefit in remembering those who have gone before us. This is also the time to make edible offerings to the ancestors. The food and drink they enjoyed in life make wonderful offerings.

New Orleans Voodoo is a “workers tradition”. There is an emphasis on some discernable result in rituals. Work is done and the fruit of that work is harvested. During this part of the rite, the voodooists ask themselves what it is they need or want born.  Within themselves this birth could take the form of courage, or a certain knowledge, some skill or ability, or a closeness with a particular loa. In the external world, it could be an event, an object, or almost anything else imaginable.

The voodooists then name the "child" as their want or need. If the rite is a wedding, then the newborn may be named “Union”. If the rite is to heal the body, then the newborn could be named “Health.” If the rite is to obtain a piece of land, then the newborn may be named “Lot 14, section 68 in St. John the Baptist Parish.” The words used to name the child can be as direct as, “You are…..” or they could take the form of an elaborate ceremonial naming. No matter. Let success be the proof of your method.

After naming, the next step is to instruct the newborn. Simply tell the child, from your heart, what you want it to do. For example, “Your name is Union and now it is your job to help bring these two people together. Then the newborn is sent on its way. Again, a simple heart felt “Go” is as good as an intricate speech.  Be polite, kind, and considerate toward the newborn, it is a kind of spirit with a rudimentary intelligence. It will complete its assigned task to the best of its ability and then dissipate.
 

THE DRUMS

The drum rhythm most often used in this section of the rite is a Banda. This Banda is from Grand Master Jim. He has passed into the arms of the ancestors and this rhythm is one way to remember him. This rhythm is used to honor both the Barons, those dead whose names are remembered, and the Guedes, those dead whose names are forgotten. Possessions, both full and partial, become more common and one sees the jerky dance movements of the dead.

HEAD – All that you are and have is a gift from those who have gone before you. Even the words that you think with are not your own invention. The earth on which we all walk is literally the ancestors; organic material. There is a great teaching and mysterie in this.

HEART – Gratitude.

HANDS – As per chart

THE  GRAND ZOMBIE

The Umbilical Cord is Danced

YENVELOU RHYTHM

First Drummer
 

*  Right hand stick on wooden side of drum
^  Left hand on drum head plays low bass

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
   ^ ^   ^ ^   ^ ^ ^ ^
 
 
 

Second Drummer / Basic Rhythm
 

*  Right hand using wooden stick on head of drum
^  Left hand holding wooden stick across head of drum
 
 

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
*  * *  *   * *  *   * *
^    ^      ^
 

The Grande Zombie is the Temple Snake, a defining element of New Orleans Voodoo and a loa of great stature. The Grande Zombie of New Orleans Voodoo is best not confused with the Zombie of Haitian Voodoo which has been described as a ritually animated corpse. The Temple Snake bears little physical or spiritual resemblance to such a being. The Grande Zombie can fill many roles and perform many ritual functions.  In the context of this Order of Service the Temple Snake is the umbilical cord, the connection between the Mother and the child.

This rhythm concludes the ceremony and is unique in that everyone in attendance is invited to dance. Often a line is formed with Priestess Miriam dancing at the head holding the Temple Snake. The participants hold hands and twist and stretch through the ritual space. Power passes from the Grande Zombie, to the Priestess, and then moves much like an electric current through all of the dancers. This line dance is the stretching of the umbilical cord.

When the loa have been accorded the proper honor and respect, and the functions of the ritual fulfilled, Priestess Miriam stops the dance line and calls for quiet. The silence is often shocking in its abruptness. Many times the voodooists and drummers fall to the earth. This is the cutting of the umbilical chord. We are separate so there is freedom and the responsibility that comes with this freedom. We are ever connected and in this there is also freedom, the freedom to be of benefit to one another. The freedom offered by community. Thanks are given to the loa and to the voodooists for their presence. All begins and ends with the sacred earth.
 

THE DRUMS

The drummers play a rhythm called the Yenvelou. The Yenvelou used at the Temple has been heavily influenced by Don DuFrane, an elder drummer who passed five years ago.  His memory lives in this rhythms playing.

HEAD – Conjure a vision of the Grande Zombie twisting through the night sky. The stars are the vertebra, a Black Holes its mouth. It is all movement, all quickness, all life that has flung itself against the emptiness of Space and now revels in the freedom of separation and connectedness.

HEART – Freedom

HANDS – As per chart
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

My name is Louis Martinie'. I am a drummer, priest, and spiritual doctor. My practice is New Orleans Voodoo and I am an elder of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple.  I work a current that brings together New Orleans Voodoo and Tibetan Buddhism. I was fortunate to spend a year with Tibetan refugees .This experience deeply affected my spirituality.

My work involves bringing together New Orleans Voodoo and Tibetan Buddhism and in teaching a unique Order of Service to the loa that evolved at the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple.
 
 

May the Good Priestess Marie Laveau and the Wise Dr. John
The Mother and Father of New Orleans Voodoo
Guide Your Hands and Open Your Heart.