by Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

One of the mysteries that draws people to Haitian Vodou — and sometimes frightens them away — is the question of the lwa's claim upon a person. Can the spirits compel service? Can they pursue someone who refuses them? In common Western imagination, shaped by horror films and sensational reporting, Vodou spirits are often portrayed as dangerous forces that trap practitioners. The reality, as a practicing Mambo explains, is more nuanced.

This post from the alt.religion.voodoo newsgroup in June 2005 addresses the question directly. Mambo Racine Sans Bout acknowledges that yes, a person can be compelled to serve the lwa — but only under specific circumstances, primarily when they have made a voluntary promise and then broken it. She gives the concrete example of a promise to Ogoun: the lwa goes to work, the person is helped, and then the person refuses to fulfill their end of the bargain. WHOA NELLIE! says Mambo Racine, and we believe her.

The post is also a practical reassurance: for most non-Haitian Vodouisants, the scenario of being seized against one's will by the lwa is vanishingly unlikely. The architecture of Vodou obligation is one of relationship — promise, fulfillment, service — not arbitrary spirit seizure. Mambo Racine's characteristic warmth and directness make this a fine primary document on the theology of the lwa-human relationship.

A person can be compelled to serve the lwa, even against their will. But for the vast majority of American non-initiate Vodouisants, this will never happen!

A person can be compelled to serve the lwa when they have made, voluntarily, a promise to do so. This happens more often in Haiti — the person says, "Papa Ogoun, I have to go to court, keep me out of jail and I will serve you."

So, Ogoun goes to work and the innocence of the person is upheld. Now the person refuses to serve Ogoun, scoffs, says, "I was innocent, I would have been acquitted anyhow."

WHOA NELLIE! NOW Papa Ogoun goes to work. Fevers, nightmares, misery! Accidents, misfortunes of all sorts! All of this until the person makes a service for Ogoun. When Ogoun comes, at that point he will specify precisely what he wants. A cow every year, maybe. Or perhaps the person will be required to kanzo.

More rarely, a person born into a Vodouisant family that has a peristyle, which has always included Houngans and Mambos, will be chosen by the lwa to serve when the master or mistress of the house dies.

But again, for most non-Haitians and even most Haitians, there is no time that the person is compelled to serve.

Colophon

Written by Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen, a Vodou Mambo based in Jacmel, Haiti, and leader of the Roots Without End Society. Posted to the alt.religion.voodoo, alt.religion.orisha, soc.culture.haiti, and alt.pagan newsgroups, June 17, 2005. Original Message-ID: [email protected].

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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