The Serpent and the Rainbow

Even at high levels of academia, scholars and teachers overlook the significance of art, religion, and even the daily habits of people from central and south America as well as the Caribbean.  This part of the world is rich in culture and tradition, and has given the world a lot of art, music, and literature.

Even their diet and food customs have influenced those in the USA and through them to the entire world. 

Voodoo is not a system of black magic designed to harness ungodly forces and hurt people.  Voodoo is a religion, a syncretic one that combines elements of Catholicism and the original beliefs and myths of Western Africa, especially the Yoruba people.

I have always been inspired by the art of this part of the world, and I fondly remember reading a book on Haitian artists and their rustic, simple style.

There was a book called, 'The Serpent and the Rainbow' written by an acclaimed Harvard author.  It goes deeper than just a reference to a sea snake and light refracting into individual colors.

The serpent represents the primordial being from which all beings descended from, and the rainbow symbolizes the light, white light refracts into all the colors known to man.  That's all that existed in the beginning, the light of God passing over the primordial chaos (the waters) and the sea serpent, the first to live.  What I just did was harmonize the beginning of time according to the Hebrew Bible and to what people commonly know, that all life originated in the seas.

There's no better summary of what Voodoo practitioners believe than that.  'The Serpent and the Rainbow'.  Interestingly enough, I once had a job interview where I mentioned to the employer (who was educated and aware) that South America, Africa, and even Ancient China practiced shamanic culture from the very beginning until now.

There are some concepts and lessons of life that cannot be written or read from a book.  Some things you have to experience for yourself.  Direct experience of the divine is called 'mysticism'.  No human was there at the beginning, so no one can say for sure what really happened.  Only the Bible and other holy books indicate what happened in the beginning.

But to more clearly illustrate what Voodoo, or it's other variants in different parts of the Caribbean and Latin America are called (such as Macumba, Santeria, Candomble, and Louisiana Voodou) I will explain.

Voodoo believers believe in one high God similar to the God of Israel.  They believe that God created the universe,the world, and the human race.  However, God is so lofty and high above that he doesnt interfere much in the lives of mortals.  Voodoo people call God Bondye (Bon which means good and Dye or Deus which means God).Good God doesn't interfere with life on earth, so people have to think for themselves and rely on the intervention of the angels.

In Voodoo, there is a large pantheon of saints and angels who deeply care about humanity.  The main thing in Voodoo is that good luck and favor can be won by pleasing the angels and spirits (called Loa in most parts of the Caribbean).  This is very similar to Catholicism.

Voodoo people also believe in reincarnation, and that souls know each other birth after birth, and often reincarnate amongst each other generation after generation.  Your brother in one lifetime might be your grandson in another.

The primary practice of Voodoo is animal sacrifice, music and dancing, calling upon the Loa for spiritism and possession.  These seem barbaric and simple to us now, but the Ancient Hebrews did largely the same thing in the past.

My point in general about Voodoo is that not everything intangible is hogwash, we're all descendents of one divine being, that reincarnation is known by simple people let alone sophisticated people, and that there is a Creator God and a sense of justice in this life and the next.

So all in all, not much has really changed.

In future works, I will try to depict religious/spiritual/mystical beliefs in my art.