FA IN MODERN SOCIETY

French

Decision tool

Fa is fundamentaly a decision making tool. For example, if someone has some doubts about his/her boyfriend/girlfriend or needs to know whether he/she must go or not on a particular business, he must look for Fa. Fa will provide him with advices to help him take the right decisions.

Inner peace lesson

You can also use Fa to reach your inner peace; in fact Fa, in addition to being a divination art, is a set of peaceful principles and wordviews enabling people to be physically, mentally and spiritualy equilibrated. The Fa kponlis have philosophical insights from which people can learn moral lessons. Fa ties spirituality to morality.

Society's welfare ==> Vodu philosophy
Abrother of mine,Amévi Ekon, asked me this question: "A Bokon told me that the Fa Dzu(Odu) for the new year was Guda Medzi; What is the meaning of that Dzu(Odu)?"
My answer to him:
Guda Medzi warns people against combats, fightings and hostilities. If, during a divination session, Guda Medezi appears for someone, he/she would be advised to pay attention to his/her behaviour and to be careful when dealing with perfid or machiavellian friends. The Bokon would advice him/her carefulness mostly when it comes to him/her to trust someone. In the case the concerned has financial problems or is facing adversity from ennemies, Guda Medzi asks him/her to make sacrifice to Vodu Egu for success and prosperity.
We are dealing with a DuFA (public Fa) here. Thus, the whole society must do a general ceremony to Vodu Egu in order to escape accidents, fightings, assassinations, ambushes, reign of whichcraft...

Tsetula TSAGLI

HAND OF ORUNMILA (IFA/FA) PROCESS IN TOGO

NOTE : I AM A FRENCH-SPEAKING STUDENT IN ECONOMICS. ENGLISH IS OUR SECOND LANGUAGE. I DO MY BEST TO TRANSLATE THIS TEXT FROM FRENCH TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

(You can send corrections to vozkoffi@gmail.com)

In one of my previous articles entitled Holy Scriptures of Voduism, I have mentionned the importance of Fa making in people's lives. In fact, Fa is the central element of voduism which shows people how to behave, which vodu to worship and how to practice vodu in general. Most of us believe that, people can choose which vodu they want to worship: this is WRONG!! Indeed you can choose a vodu like Alafia to whom you can easily adhere because you will be baptized; but we have different types of vodu. There are vodus we are born with and such vodus can only be identified by our Kponli  or Du (Odu). Everybody has his kponli determined by FA or IFA during a particular ceremony called Hand of Orunmila. What is the process of Fa making? What is a kponli? what are the different steps of Hand of Orunmila?

AGBASSA : Letekpo place

What are the different steps of Fa making?

The step of Hand of Orunmila depends whether the concerned is a man or a woman. If the concerned is a man, the ceremony lasts three days whereas for women, the ceremony takes two days. Men usually go to Zu (forest of reborn) at a different place from AGBASSA (Temple of Fa) to "draw their Kponli"; but women directely perform their "kponli drawing" in the Agbassa. Many Ifa priests agree that women don't go to Zu. The process we are going to describe is a combination of men and women Fa making processes. At every step, we will mention who (man or woman) is concerned with it.

Pic1:My Godfather SODOLO and me

Step 1:   Preliminary initiations : in Ewe we say " Xᴐɖoɖo" or" Ameƒoƒo de xᴐ"

This step is for men and women. It is the first time the concerned (with blindfolds on his eyes) is introduced to his Godfather who will bring him to the Ifa priest (Pic1). The godfather must convince the Bokongan (High Ifa priest) to make Fa for the concerned. Tradition goes that the Bokongan should refuse several times to make Fa for the concerned on the basis of wrong reasons. Here is the tradition : 

Godfather: Ago (Toc toc) in Bokon's House

Bokongan: Who is that?

Pic2: My first contact with the LETEKPO 

Godfather : My name is Vozz KOFFI

Bokongan: Why are you knocking my door this night?

Godfather: I am looking for safety, health and prosperity and I was told to look for Fa. This is why I am knocking your door to help me.

Bokongan: I am tired, I can't do anything for you.

Godfather: I beg you Bokongan, I need your help.

Bokongan: OK, do you have 16 sheeps? 16 liters of Gin? 16 Fa nuts? 16 ataku? 16 Evi? 16 metters of Aklala? 16 liters of Red Oil? 16 liters of palm wine? 16...

Godfather: Yes all of those stuffs are ready.

Bokongan: Will Vozz Koffi respect laws of Fa?

Godfather: Yes he will do it.

Bokongan: If Fa asks him to eat poop, to drink urine, to jump from the top of a moutain, to kill his father and his mother, will he do it?

Godfather: Yes, Koffi will do everything Fa wants him to do.

Bokongan: Ok, I realise that Koffi is suffering from a real problem. Come in!

Now, the concerned is introduced to LETEKPO (Pic2), a small plank with the 16 main kponlis (Odus) on it. Bokongan takes the hand of the concerned and touches every Odu by saying their names one by one. From time to time, Bokongan, starts a song for the ceremony. After that, the concerned will spend the rest of the night,trying to get used with Fa nuts practice (Pic3). 

Pic3: Training for ZU (reborn forest)

Step2 :  Zuyiyi (Going to Zu)

This is exclusively for men.

Kponli before going ZU

This step begins in the morning after the night of xᴐɖoɖo ( Preliminary initiations). Bokongan asks Fa the Du (Odu) that will bring the concerned to Zu   ( Reborn forest). For that, he needs to consult Fa. In my case, the Du (Odu) was TULA-LOSO (OTURA-IROSUN). The Du says in Ewe " Aguda yovowo wᴐ tu vᴐa wo me nya tua  fe xome o; tu wu na tutᴐ"that mean "Arabs (whites) has made gun but they don't know what is in the gun's womb; gun can kill its owner".

Pic4: My Godfather SODOLO bringing me to ZU

Stept3 : Zume (In Zu)

Zu part 1:

Pic5: Zu Part1 : First contact with my Fa nuts

As I explained it, Zu is the reborn forest. ZU is the place where people "te na kponli" i.e "draw their kponli (Odu)". It is the godfather who will bring the concerned to Zu and perform the same tradition like in Step1. When Bokongan finally asks the godfather to enter Zu with the concerned, Bokongan performs many rituals in order to prepare the concerned to be in touch with his destiny. The concerned will reveal the "contract" he had signed with MAWU(Olodumare;God) before his birth in the place called in Ewe Sefe (Place of flowering). Bokongan shows to the concerned, 18 Fa nuts and asks him "What is that?". Usually, the concerned says "palm nuts" and then, the Bokongan will correct him by saying "they are your Faku (Fa nuts in Ewe). The concerned puts in his hands the 18 Fa nuts and must touch his forehead and chest. After performing these movements, he puts the Fa nuts in his akpaku (a kind of calabash) 6 Fa nuts by three times: He must say respectively: Bolu, boya, bokitse! 

Zu part2

Pic7: Zu part2: Close contact with my Fa nuts

Now the bokongan will bring the concerned to another place where he will touch his Fa nuts with his feet. Nuts are put in a sandpile and the concerned puts his right foot on them. Bokongan and other assistant bokons will put their right food on the foot of the concerned. Bokongan starts a song saying: 

Te lele, te lele Ogbe medzi te lele 

Te lele, te lele Yeku medzi te lele

Te lele, te lele Woli medzi te lele

.... ... (all of the 16 Odus are sung)...

Te lele, te lele Otse Medzi te lele.

Te lele, te lele Ofun Medzi te lele. 

The concerned will put his left foot on the nuts and the same song will be sung. At the end, the concerned will be asked to pick up quickly the Fa nuts.

Zu part3:

Bokongan and the concerned return to the first place mentioned in Zu part1. Now, it is time for the concerned to draw his kponli (Odu). In my case, Bokongan TOVIGNO start to invoke MAWU (God) and Fa spirits. He asked them to assist me in my Odu drawing; He asked MAWU to send the right message about my "star" or my destiny. He asked Fa Lomina (Orunmila in Ewe) to guide my hand and fingers draw the correct Kponli. He asked me to collect my Fa nuts with my two hands. Then I was asked to show the nuts to East, West, North, South , Sky and Earth. I showed them my Fa nuts by saying "Me tsavalu mi lo" (Your honor in Ewe) and they answered "Elatse" (Good luck). At the end, my kponli was ...[CONFIDENTIAL]...(Pic 8)

Pic 8: Finding my Kponli (Ori) in ZU

Zu part4:

When the concerned has finished drawing his kponli, Bokongan continues consulting Fa to know whether the kponli is favorable/future  (Exᴐ Vo) or defavorable/past (Eŋe Vo). The Bokongan then search for the Vo which is a symbol for many voduïds. Frequent Vo are : Dᴐ (sickness), Eku(death), Agbetase(long life), Mᴐdumᴐgba(prosperity), hᴐe(culpability), vodu (deity), ...Finally, the bokongan will look for the Odu which can bring you back to Agbasa. After the reading, the concerned is asked to have a special bath with mystical herb mixture. This bath makes the concerned born again. It is the reason why he is asked to shave his head (he can accept or refuse) before the bath and wear "white clothe" after the bath (Pic9).

Pic9: ZU part 3: Bokonvi (New bokon)

Note: Hand of Orumila is capital to study Fa. It means, nobody should learn Fa whithout doing that ceremony. My case is special ( I had learned Fa before doing my Hand of Orunmila) because I am born in a VODU house and I have "picked" Fa knowledges before doing the ceremony. To say, I started learning Fa before making my Hand of Orunmila. But those Fa knowledges would harm me if I didn't have my Fa made.

Vozzphoto

Step 4 : Return from Zu

 Pic 10 : Return from Zu

From Zu to Agbassa, there are rituals to perform. First of all, the Dou which bring the concerned back to Agbassa, has a great importance since it may be a source of a particular attention. In my case, the Dou was...[CONFIDENTIAL]...but it made the Bokongan do some rituals. When we were coming back, on our way, Bokongan blocked the passage and my godfather was obliged to pay some coins to pass. This happened three times. After that, we went to "denudo ne voduwo" ie "honor vodus". Those vodus were: the Fa Legbas, Egun, Aholu, Adzafi...Apeli was the last vodu we denudo to. With Apeli, we sang and I was asked to dance for him.(Pic 10)

Step 5 : Women introduced to the process

Women's hand of Orunmila takes only two days and the preliminary initiations are the same as for men. The sole difference is that, women don't go to Zu; it means, the Zu of women is not the same as for men. Bokongan asks Fa the Dou which bring the concerned (woman) to Zu. After that, the woman perfoms Kponli finding in the Agbasa. 

Pic11:Introduction of women to the process

 Step 6 : The Bath of Fa

The new Fa needs to have bath in order to introduce the new born Bokon in his new life. FA cleaning is the Bokongan’s affair. In pic 12 we can see Bokongan Tovigno giving bath to our Fa nuts. The Fa nuts are cleaned with authentic African sponge and soap. The usual song is : “Fa yi to dze ge, kaglan!”

Pic 12: Bokongan TOVIGNO performing Fa washing

Step 7 : The bath of the new-borns

Pic13: Head washing after Fa washing

After Fa cleaning, the new-borns must have bath too. We should normally say “head cleaning” instead of bath because it is the new-born’s shaved head which is cleaned. A special water is overturned on the Bokonvi’s head and he/she is asked to sweep it down with his/her hands. See pic 13 and 14.

Pic14: Head washing after Fa washing

Step 8 : Welcoming the new Fa

Pic 15: DIfferent animals for Fa welcoming

Tradition goes that every new-born must be welcomed. The new Fas, thereby, must be welcomed with presents. Every Bokonvi offers a special animal to his/her new Fa. Frequent animals offered are : duck and goat. Those animals are killed and their blood is given to the new Fas (Here we are dealing with many new Fas for men and women). The Bokonvis share this “food” with their Fa. See pic 15.

Pic 16 Communion with Fa

Step 9 : Vosa “Sacrifice”

People don’t know that Vodus are different parts of Mawu (God). Vodu cosmology teach us that Vodus work together. What really happens when we feed a Vodu? In fact, the Vodu doesn’t eat solely but He share his food with other Vodus. In our particular case of FA, Fa makers make sacrifice to a Special Vodu: The Dulegba. Bokongan perform a special Fa reading to determine which Dulegba would receive the sacrifice. This occurs at night. 

Dêpopo : Praying

Fa feeding

Step 9 : Agbasa

The third day. Early in the morning, the concerneds are asked to fetch their Fa. This means they must pick their Fa nuts from the blood put on them (Fa nuts) the eve of Agbasa.The new-born begins his/her new life as Bokonvi. He/she must know what his/her Kponli means and find the Dou that brings him/her to the new life. The Bokonvi is also informed about what he/she can eat or not according to his/her kponli. The Fa reading performed in this situation is called Agbasa. 

According to Custom, it is Agbasa which closes the ceremony technically because, after Agbasa, the Bokonvis are asked to go to farm and market. Those last actions are aimed at reintroducing the new-born to the Agbegbome (Life on Earth).

Fa nuts fecthing

Tsetula TSAGLI

THE FA VERSES: TULA-GBE

FRENCH

EƲE

Fa or the holly scriptures of vodouism, has 256 kponlis and each kponli has 16 versions. In other words, putting in writing all of the Fa kponlis, we have 256 books and each book is divided into 16 chapters. The 16 versions of the same kponli prevent from diverted interpretations of the writings because every interpretation must be conform to all of the16 versions without exception! Efforts made to versify these writings are aimed to facilitate understanding.

In this paper, we'll talk about the 193 rd kponli of FA: The TULA-GBE's book. We shall only talk about the first version of this kponli. The original text is in Ewe (language spoken in Togo, Ghana and Benin).

KPɔ̃LI 193 lia : TULA - GBE

(The 193 rd sacred book of FA : TULA - GBE)

  

GBESA : KPO DZE ŊGO ME BIA ƲÙ TA SE O.

(INCANTATION : THE ONE WHO HAS HIS HEAD HIT BY A STICK, DOES'NT ASK IF BLOOD BLOWS OUT.)

DRŨ KϽKOE

Nᴐnᴐme gbãtᴐ : Fia hotsitᴐ kple srᴐawo

FA do aliwoya ! Gboade !

1-Fia kesinᴐtᴐ aɖe nᴐ Ifεtome. Eɖe nyᴐnu agbaze yibᴐ aɖe si me nyakpᴐkpᴐ eye me nya nuɖaɖa o. Nyᴐnua ƒe dẽ seŋu alegbegbe be, fia me kpᴐ na dzidzᴐ aɖeke o elabena nyᴐnua ɖena nu to le aku me nae. 2-Esiata, fia bidzi eye wŏyi ɖe nyᴐnu yeye aɖe si bia, nyakpᴐkpᴐ eye nya nuɖaɖa nyuie. Fia lɔ̃ nyᴐnu sia elabena edo na dzidzᴐ nae sugbᴐ. 3-Gbeɖeka, esime nyᴐnu dzĩia ɖanu daɖi ne fiala, aƒenᴐa va de nú eme. Kiasia fia ɖu nua ko, dᴐme tᴐe lele eye wὸtᴐ alenana. 4-Fia yi dzi eme kpᴐ le bokᴐ gbᴐ he kpᴐ kpɔ̃li : TULA ɖo GBE ; wo to nae be, kpo me dzena ŋgo ye wo bia na ʋù ta se o. 5-Emegbea, fia la ku eye wo be nyᴐnu yeyea ye wùi ɖoa eye ɖa nua nae. 6-Nyᴐnua yi yeɖokui me eye wὸ yᴐ MAWU gblᴐ nae be : « Yεhᴐε, Wὸ ɖeka koe nya nu si le dzᴐdzᴐm ; ameaɖeke me li aɖί ɖase nam o. Me ga gblem ɖe aʋa sia me o. » 7-Tete, fia si kua fᴐ eye wŏ gblᴐ ne amewo be yesrᴐ xoxoae de nu nuɖuɖu me na ye, yena yeku.

Bᴐlu ! bᴐya ! bᴐkitsε !

SACRED STORY

First version : The rich king and his wives

Fa is going to talk : We are listening !

1- In the Ifè cosmogony, there had been a king who had married a dark in color woman, who was not beautiful and did not know cooking either. This woman was so repugnant that the king was not happy with her because she used to cause him anxiety . 2 - For this, the vexed king married a new woman, light skinned, beautiful and good cook. The king was deadly in love with his new wife because she made ​​him so happy. 3 - One day when the new wife had made ​​a meal for the king, the first wife empoisoned the food. As soon as the king had finished eating , he started having stomach pain and lament . 4 The king consulted FA and found kponli TULA - GBE . The bokon told him: "The one who is hit on the head by a stick, does not ask if blood blows out . " 5 - After that the king was dead and the light skinned woman was charged with murder because she was the one who had made the meal for the king. 6 - The woman invoked MAWU (God) in the depth of her heart by saying: " Yehoue ​you are the one who knows what happens. I have no one to testify for me. Do not leave me in this war . " 7 - Suddenly , the king who had died, raised up and said that it was his first wife who had poisoned him.

We thank Fa!

This kponli deals with false incrimination of an innocent person, polygamy...We must precise that, at the opposite of universalist abrahamic verses (applicable to every follower), the Fa verses or Fa books, are only applicable to the one who is consulting Fa at a time t. This kponli can also be the contract between God and a person P wich can be revealed during the ceremony of Fa taking or the Hand of Orunmila.

Tsetula TSAGLI

SELF-HATRED OF BLACKS

Mocked by black during the trail of zimmerman

French Version  

           We blacks, we use to complain about hatred we suffer from other people; but we never ask if we really love ourselves first! Does black love himself as black? does he accept himself as an African or afrodescendant? Is black proud of  his African legacy? Can a black complain about racism or anti-black hatred when he does not love himself first?

        The self-hatred of black is a widespread phenomenon but remains unknown because most of these anti-black blacks took refuge behind pseudonyms like "reason", "objective" or "universalist." In reality, they are destroyed by a long culture of submission and alienation that eventually trivialize self-hatred and the worst is that, they project this hate onto other blacks. This is translated by a systematic anti-black position taking  with the pretext that blacks "complain too much," "feel too victims" ... and a not avowed  larbinism. Much of today's blacks hate themselves. As evidence, talk of voduism to an insane black and look at his reaction! You will see this hate appear pronto. Why do blacks love self-hatred so much?

The crisis of dignity

The insane black is like this unworthy  child who prefers to live slave in the "luxury" of others rather than staying proud in poverty of his parents. The Black likes begging, likes asking, likes supplicating; it is difficult for a Black to keep his dignity in front of a lousy money. This shows how easy it is to corrupt an African today! Admit it, this is the reality! The African has long since lost any notion of dignity and prefers to live slave if only to have a piece of warm bread! The black likes to live in the culture of others rather than feeling proud of his. He wants to speak French better than the French himself, he wants to know Arabic better than Arab himself, he wants to show himself as a great Christian, he wants to show himself as a great Muslim so that today, when an African said that is not Christian, people say he is Muslim and vice versa.  Black people have so internalized status of an animal without religion that he comforts himself with the religion of others. An Arab, how muddy can be his worldview, he will never let someone else replace it with another culture. An Arab has an impeccable dignity that annoys many European while Africans are rather more malleable, more docile, more alienable. The black man was so subject to all kinds of humiliation that he  desperately seek for a place in oppressing religions to be safe from criticism and attack. He hides himself in Christianity to be safe from ridicule of whites or refuge in Islam to be safe from Arab attacks. But he forgets that these are two people who often spit on him. Say how the notion of dignity does not mean anything for Blacks today. We saw Sarkozy been applauded when insulting blacks in Senegal while George Bush received a boot in his face in the Arab world! We also remember the antipathy Sekou Toure was aroused from his own blacks compatriots because of the legendary "NO" to Degaulle! Once the African has a long Arab robe or Western gucci neck tie, it remains proud and nothing else is more important for him.

Black essentially define himself as a full part of another culture and it is therefore impossible to avail himself of African spirituality. He is ashamed and does not want to be associated with!

The inferiority complex

Someone who lacks dignity has no trouble feeling inferior. In the Black, this is seen through the desire to look white. This involves the act of stripping the skin with harmful substances, hair straightener, to know foreign culture than authochtones themselves. The inferiority complex of the Black pushes him to seek a spouse in the ranks of the race he considers superior. The ideal wife of a black man is a white woman, is an Arab girl...as the ideal partner of a black woman is white or Arabic...and  never a BLACK!It is sufficient that  a person is thin or skinned so that Black becomes the worst kind of complexed  in front of him. Besides blacks love to mock those of them that are too dark! names like "blacky" or "blackos" are usual among blacks today. The complex is so deep that silly white is more worth than black scholar for a black since truth belongs to the white man in his mind! This inferiority complex has led some to consider themselves white "in their head" where they defines themselves as reason opposed to others who would be emotions. There are even more pity for those out there who seek for a white, Jewish or Arab roots! I emphasize how blacks are hopeless without culturally and religiously strong attachment and are flowing with all ideological waves. Some blacks come to the denial of race and invent a world in which everything would be justified : he will deny racism by comparing it to ethnic conflicts ; he takes part in the struggle of other peoples in order to be accepted by them.

As long as the Black feels inferior to other races, he will never accept to define himself from the typical African values.

Anger against the ancestors

Blacks are angry against their ancestors who failed to give them the dignity they wish. Having very weaked ancestors who were defeated and dragged in the mud, raises no pride in descendants how worthy they may be. The notorious weakness which our ancestors have shown in the past and especially their lack of organization to build a strong and powerful black African world to ensure the safety of all blacks, make today blacks want to detach  themselves from this humiliation to seek a place in another culture or in other people with glorious past. We add to that the sad reality that SOME ancestors participated the sale of their siblings during successive slaveries and that fact has deeply outraged many blacks : just see the role that our Heads of State nowadays play against blacks to understand this reality. Many blacks today believe that our ancestors were subhuman and that today blacks are more advanced than those that existed before. What makes today's black to not want to be associated with those animalities as it considers himself "evolved" and that their values ​​are "primitive." If you tell them "return to our values," they will reply "it will help us to do what? These values ​​were useful to ancestors?" Each of us keeps inside the anger against our ancestors to have not ensured our safety. Those who are weaker than those resentments reject any of their ancestors.

Shame

This factor is much more religious interest. Africans do not like to be ashamed. Moreover, humans do not like to be ashamed but the case of Blacks is pathological in religious terms. We saw many blacks extol the virtues of great spirituality in Africa but remained in the imposed religions. Why? Black is ashamed to say he is part of African spirituality as in the collective imagination, each spirituality of Africa has been demonized. The campaign of vampirisation in Africa has a great success and has helped the domination of Blacks today. Can we say with certainty that all the deities and all forms of belief in Africa are bad? This problem is not confined to adepts of imposed religions but also pan-Africanist, negrologs, pan-Negrists ... NONE of them has clearly claimed to belong to any African spirituality. Cheikh Anta Diop, after shooting his great work for Africa, has left doubts about his religion before his death; to say we have no proof that he did not die Muslim! We see  Kemits avail themselves of Egyptian descent and does not publicly display their faith in a known African spirituality. The proof is palpable, African spirituality is SHAME on Blacks!

What to do?

From the cultural perspective

Creating new styles of clothing

We need to change clothing fashion and thought. The African must be able to invent a new way of clothing from traditional clothing. It is nevertheless not an excuse to dress like in the Middle Ages! we need to create modern styles from the old styles and invent African brands that give dignity and pride to African. The new fashion clothing must be  BEAUTIFUL! beauty must be crucial in this process of creation to stimulate the taste of black for these new styles and brands. We must also stop looking for the love of others or the mercy of other people on earth to not look like desperate. WE ARE NOT LOVED  BECAUSE WE ARE BLACK! and we will not change to be black to expect to be loved one day! Utopians who think they can be loved by any action whatsoever, just let them talk, one day, they will realize their mistake: Racism doesn't need their opinion to destroy blacks!It also requires that Africans stop thinking that their ancestors were cowards! there were many who had fought as valiantely as Behanzin and Samori! We do not belong to people of losers. We are not inferior to other races and we can work to reverse the tendancy and earn the respect of the world.

From a religious point of view

African spirituality, apart from the fact that it has been demonized, it is also associated with dirt, unhealthy, poor hygiene etc.. People are not wrong on this point because to spill blood everywhere makes places dirty, unlivable and smelling bad! it is a reality! even if the background of spirituality remains attractive, the form is repugnant. There is also the form factor incompatibility with modern life. In our society today, we see people dressed, going to school, reading books ... this lifestyle is compatible with the Abrahamic religions that dress, and read books in their place of worship ... It is difficult for someone who lives in our societies to seek a spirituality that requires to undress, brandish breasts in the air, kneel in a place that stinks! The guarantors of African spirituality have efforts to make at this level in order to homogenize cult habits with lifestyle by tolerating clothes, arranging places of worship, spreading less blood or manage it very well, and build real temples instead of these huts that they are satisfied with. This approach will aim to raise the profile of African spirituality in the collective imagination to allow blacks to proudly claim that spirituality. Given the similarity of African cults, it is helpful to bring everything together in one seal and give it a name. I personally propose voduism as  name because it is the most common form of African spirituality to be associated with Islam for the marabout and Christianity for the Palo and Quimbanda. The fact that these religions unite under one name will reinforce the concept of integration among all Blacks.

New voodoo temples (Vozzphoto, 2011)

Above all we must break with the religious PROSTITUTION in the abrahamic religons that makes us go for people who do not know God and strengthens the prejudice that we would be animals without soul or conscience. We must leave the mental slavery of abrahamic relgions, break the chains of spiritual alienation in those religions that have clearly established the "curse of blacks" as Satanic principle. Blacks must even struggle that such ideological absurdities are no longer taught against them by rejecting any idea of ​​black Satan! Blacks must loath these abrahamic books as a Jewish loaths Mein Kampf of Hiter by giving them NO importance.

Nothing beats the authenticity and Blacks must be more assertive and showing their membership of African spirituality centered voduism. Is it justified that a black, carrying an insane name, bowing to a white or arabic god, mocking his ancestors, complain about racism? did he not himself erected as his own lifestyle self-hatred?

Vodouiste I am, voduist I will remain!

Tsetula TSAGLI

IS VODU "SATAN"?

NOTE : I AM A FRENCH-SPEAKING STUDENT IN ECONOMICS. ENGLISH IS OUR SECOND LANGUAGE. I DO MY BEST TO TRANSLATE THIS TEXT FROM FRENCH TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

(You can send corrections to vozkoffi@gmail.com)

French 

NB: MAWU in the article meaning Unsurpassed in EWE, is the Supreme Being in vodu cosmogony . The word "Satan" is used by analogy to the concept of Satan in the abrahamic religions since SATAN DOES NOT EXIST in vodu cosmogony. You may also need Terminology of Voduism to understand   the article.

Everything is relativity. We can not understand any reality by excluding it from its CONTEXT. All religions exist for a common reason: to fight against the forces of evil. Nothing has shown us that there is only one force of evil that undermines the whole universe. The abrahamic religions speak of a Satan competing with MAWU, which seeks to destroy the works of MAWU we are. In this case, the approach is Manichean where good is necessarily opposed to evil. In a vodouic environment, good and evil are not necessarily opposed because ALL THAT IS GOOD CAN HURT. In this context, we can talk about witchcraft, which allowed people to become stars, becomes an instrument of destruction in a very competitive environment. Other voduïds of Zoka type , which allowed people to escape an ambush, become dangerous instruments in the hands of a blood thirsty person. Since all these forces are both force of good and evil, there must be a MANAGER that controls the use of these voduïds in society. Without that manager, the evil people can kill without impunity and defenseless people will die innocently. This manager that ensures the WELFARE of society by preventing the arbitrary use of Zokas and witchcraft has a name: VODU.

• DEVIL: definition

Devil is not a spirit or a complete whole that seeks to kill humans remaining invisible. If it were the case, we would all be killed without having had time to see it coming. So what is the devil? Is considered  devil or evil, any INDIVIDUAL who, after he had master one or more forces of the nature, decides to use them to harm people at A PARTICULAR TIME. The devil is a human being who decides to hurt another human, at a specific time and for a reason. The devil is the one who sits next to you, it may be your father, your mother, your aunt, sister / brother, friend, husband / wife. .. it is not a spirit somewhere! because the spirits are ALWAYS controlled by humans. That's why we say in voduism that : "MAWU gave us power over the spirits". It is to us, Human Beings, that MAWU gave the key of the universe as we controll ALL the spirits in the world.

When I made the classification of voduïds in the article Understanding the African sipirituality, a sister asked me a pertinent question: "Where is the place of Human in all this?". Here is the answer. Human is above ALL voduïds in the sense that it is the human who commands spirits NOT to say human is STRONGER!

Place of Human between voduïds

• The malignant spirit : 

- The sorcerer

  Witchcraft is to sign a pact knowingly or unknowingly with Absolute Power to use this power ad libitum. How a sorcerer operates? According to the testimony of witches who were caught by the Alafia Vodu : When a sorcerer wants to kill someone, he watches that person day and night without rest. He expects that the person to fall into any weakness: weakness may be the acool, women, men, excessive thirst for money, anything that causes man to lose control of his life. And it is this weakness that will permit the sorcerer to take people's minds. And when the sorcerer takes someone's mind, it does not kill the person immediately but the person gets sick. He waits to see if the person or his family will see a VODU because it is able to take back the stolen spirit from sorcerer and heal the sick body. VODU has power over witches;VODU is the only religious entity that has power over the rest of the voduïds of voduism. Let's continue: If relatives do  not go to see the VODU then sorcerer eats stolen mind and the person dies. But when the person will see VODU, she is saved. Alafia is a Vodou internationally renowned and highly specialized in the field of witches. In case the wizard eat mind before the intervention of Vodou, it happens a particular phenomenon: the Vodou catches the wizard and begin to torture him until the sorcerer has confessed all his crimes. Most wizards caught confessed how EASY it is for them to eat the minds in Christian places of worship, for example. Wizards pretend to convert to Christianity to attack easy prey. The sorcerer is too afraid of Vodou while he feels no fear to go into a church; I remember those church bells that provide shelter for sorcerer birds. Many wizards go to hide themselves in churches so that people cannot suspect them of witchcraft. This is why Vodounons recommend VIGILANCE to voodoo adepts because the enemy does not sleep. Anyone who wants to hurt you is that DEVIL THAT NEVER SLEEPS  and seek your weak point to attack you.

     - The Bo or Zoka

I even said once these voduïds are designed for defense purposes. In situations of jealousy, envy, competition, these voduïds are diverted to evil goals by INDIVIDUALS. These types of voduïd are very common in men. If you're a beautiful woman, you are very rich, very popular, shiny ... jealous can use these voduïds to make you sick, crazy or outright kill you if you do not have the protection of a VODU. But they also do not attack the vigilant people because they know that the Vodou can take or catch them. To do this, they await their "prey" until the person falls into a moment of weakness like being drunk or drugged. There they can make him commit a crime unintentionally and it is definitely jailed for example. That is why the adepts of Alafia, pray two to three times per week to protect themselves from these evil people. Vodou is the enemy of those who use these spirits to do harm. Without Vodou, people would kill without fear and the whole society will collapse. Societies that do not have Vodou are those where evil individuals are kings.

I remember this Zokato (who uses Zoka) that Vodou Alafia caught because he had killed people. The holy water of Vodou has been used out to destroy his Zokas : They simply spread holy water of Vodou, called "aflasi" on his Zokas and everything went up in smoke! The holy water has an extraordinary power and I suspect the notion of holy water to be of African origin. In many voodoo, there is the notion of "SARA" or "SALA" which is to do good to people or giving gifts to strangers: this notion is found in Islam! But this voodoo Alafia (and others) comes from the Hausa, a strongly Muslim people today who had a lot of "exchanges" with Arab-Muslim countries. The adepts of that Vodu do not eat pork, do not consume alcohol during the pray etc ... The same voodoo has similarities with chritianity on "communion: cola and holy water by analogy in the holy bread and wine ", the signs marked on the body of followers after the prayer with a white substance, are the same points of a crucifix ... The world is deep.

VozzPhoto, 2011

    -The necessity of Vodou

Each society has its measures. MAWU even know why we are born in Africa rather than in Europe or America. He alone knows why you're born black rather than white. He knows why you were born in an environment of voduism rather than Islamic. The willingness of witches and evil people is to see Vodou disappear to commit crimes of all kinds and undermine society. Pastors, miracle workers, often use the Vodou in their places of worship to protect adepts from witches. They also use voodoo to heal people: I'm not against this practice because it is in vodu philosophy. But other pastors also use witchcraft and other voduïds against their own members! vigilance. Unwary children who taught to have received "jesus" and who dared to break the "REAL" voodoo of their parents are crazy today because they destroyed their own protection and have become easy prey for the devil.

The FA, language and Vodou Scriptures, can expose these criminals of society to ensure its welfare . People are very concerned about the Vodou because those who will swear on a "holy book" and lie, are unable to LIE to the Vodou. If they do so, the Fa will denounce them. If Fa does not, the ordeal will catch without fail. In reality, people are fleeing the Vodou, not because they believe it is evil, but rather, they want to be free to do evil in society. The whole campaign against Vodu is a work of evil spirits, witches and all those who want to undermine our society.

I will conclude with these words: VODU is the only guarantor of good morality and justice in our African societies even in the world as it effictively fights against the evil  individuals and prevent arbitrary use of the forces of nature. The spirit of evil, the devil and other considerations are very relative concepts as they are applied to more INDIVIDUALS we meet every day rather than spirits that  are managed by Human through power he takes from MAWU.

ONLY EVIL PEOPLE, THE WITCHES, THE BAD SPIRITS, HATE VODU. This is exactly devil who speaks bad of Vodu since Vodou is a nightmare for them. It is easily understood why VO-DU means "free society", "get society comfortable" because VODU is the only entity that guarantees WELLNESS society.


Tsetula TSAGLI

POLYGAMY : A VODUIST VALUE ?

NOTE : I AM A FRENCH-SPEAKING STUDENT IN ECONOMICS. ENGLISH IS OUR SECOND LANGUAGE. I DO MY BEST TO TRANSLATE THIS TEXT FROM FRENCH TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.
(You can send corrections to vozkoffi@gmail.com)

Zuma and his wives

French 

When we speak of African civilizations, many think that we make a blind defense of "traditional" values. Others see in our writings a blind call for a return to retrograde values, ​​incompatible with an evoluating world, which would pull our new "civilized" societies back. They think that the "outdated" traditional values ​​can not be used in an evoluated society or have no place in a westernized civilization. There are some truth in these observations because we should be happy to return to ancient values ​​in a single view to regain our authenticity. The true values all ​​of our african societies are not perfect! they are not all outdated either! Which of our values ​​have pulled our socities down? We will discuss the case of polygamy, which is a CANCER of our societies.

Men will freak out here. Polygamy has been the source of many of our problems in Black Africa. It is a pride for a man to have many women undoubtedly because men who had many wives are highly respected since it reinforces his status of Grand man among men.

Advantages

 Men had many children to have labor for agriculture and ensure security. The high number of women ensured marketing of agricultural products. Polygamy prevent Blacks from extermination over the Arab-Islamic and European slavery ...

Disadvantages

• Hate in the family

Let us face the fact : Co-spouses (rivals) don't and will never love one another. No one is happy to share his/her spouse with another person, man or woman. Worse, these women often live in the same house where the atmosphere is unbearable. Quarrels are so intense that it is difficult for children from different mothers ( but of the same father) to be in good terms : do not even ask them to love one another : it is impossible! The husband in those situations, can never contain that hate which is destroying his house. He can try to manage the situation but really he is POWERLESS. No man is able to love two women in the same way because there is always a woman X that the husband treat better than the others. And when a husband has no more feelings for one of his wives, it is difficult for him to take care of children of the said woman for he has trouble dealing with that particular woman. Children suffer a lot when their mother doesn't have money to take care of them. While some of the children languish in poverty others have a high class life style. Some children go far in their studies while others will not. The great power of the husband in our african society allows him to get his wife out  without justification: in addition, a woman thrown out by her husband, is always a subject of mockery. This reality makes some women prefer a collapsing mariage rather than leaving it.

• Influence of family

In addition to the previous hard problems, influence of the husband's family must be taken into account. Husband's sisters, "rivals" of their brother's wife, don't make life easy for wives in the family house. After husband's sisters, we have mother-in law, very powerfull in these situations. She can ask his son to "push" his wife out. Men are also influenced by their brothers (other husbands of  the wife according to tradition) who can make a monogamous man become polygamous.

So if we summarize the situation wife as follow:
-She competes with other women
-She lives with her rivals
-She lives under the threat of her sisters-in-law
-She lives under the pressure of her mother-in-law
-She must also cajole her husband's brothers
-She must respect her father-in-law
-Her children compete with other children
-Her husband can get her out anytime
-She largely bear her children's charges.
-Her life and the happiness of her children depend on the love that her husband devotes to her.
-As soon as the polygamous husband stop loving her, her life is ruined.

• Consequences:

 Taking into account the unbearable atmosphere in which wives live and the precariousness of their destiny, some of them use unconventional methods to keep their husbands: "Gbontémi" the zokas ...

To be competitive, some women use witchcraft. That's why witchcraft is widespread in women community. In fact, by survival instinct in a polygamous society too coercitive, wives need protect their lives and children by using particular voduïds. The introduction of witchcraft in this story of polygamy, destroys many things : Intelligent children are murdered or made mad by rivals of their mother; many children leave the family house forever . Let'us add that not only women can bring the occult forces into the house: children, who inherit rivalry of their mothers may use these occult forces to kill, get sick, crazy other members of the family..... In short, the family house has become a hell for children and their mothers. The trauma generated by such a situation makes some children never return home! others children no longer see their father till their death because he didn't take care of them. Some children refuse to pay for care of their sick father, others will not go to the funeral of their father. We do not blame those children because no one knows how they were traumatized by this destructive atmosphere of the family house. Can you imagine that some kids don't know their grandfather (or grand mother) because their parents have never bring them home as revenge? Victims of family war, never accept to replace their voodoo priest father. a child who is affected by the witchcraft is likely to reject voodoo that has nothing to do with witchcraft! He prefers to be a christian or a muslim in reaction to the trauma. This explains why some children refuse to take care of a voduist father.

If the family father has left an important heritage, war will get worse. Mothers on one side, children at the other, ready for the general war. All of the family properties are sold and the income is always unfairly shared. The family house, sometimes is occupied by the husband's family, very present in the whole process of share. Some wives are fired from their housee by the husband's family.
Other members of some families who become rich, refuse to deal with children who have the same family name like them ... if we add the other brothers of the father-in-law and his descendants, problems can be multiplied by thousand ! 

Polygamy has had a negative influence on tradition transmition ​​from generation to generation. It has had a destructive effect on the preservation of our traditions and customs which are rejected by children too traumatized by witchcraft and Zokas (Cf: elemenet basic concept vodouisme)

Africans values are diferent from european ones

Proposed solution :

What does Vodouism say ? King Agbanon II of Glidzi has written in "History of Little Popo and  Guin's Kingdom":

"Mawu (God) created Segbo-Lissa and Anana-Bliku followed by Gu and Legba. The first two, Lissa and Anana's mission was to give birth to other deities; enven though Segbo-Lissa was a male, Anana-Bliku had no sex; How will they manage to have children then ? They went to see the two messengers of Mawu with their problem: Legba and Gu who, after reflection, came to an agreement; the first Gu, must make the incision generator of female sex and the second Legba msut give the sex power of procreation. Hence Sakpate and Heviesso,Tokpadoun and Dan were born. Mawu congratulated those two messengers of their initiative and gave them a place of honor among all the deities. This is the origin of all the inhabitants of the earth.But Tokpadoun the wife of Heviesso, was assiduously courted by his brother Sakpatè. This created a big rivalry between them. So, in anger, Heviesso broke away from the earth to go to heaven . The sky as we see it today is a construction made by Heviesso. Dan settled therefore between the two rivals in atmosphbre to continue to play a treacherous role. Fighting still continues today. When Dan is with the terrible Heviesso, it is seen as a bright snake (flash) encouraging thunder or lightning to destroy the earth. When, on the opposite, Dan serves Sakpatè, she is felt, wavy and invisible in the wind preventing rain to fall. "

Note: This is a MYTHOLOGY, created by the human imagination, to define a hierarchy of vodu! In reality, there is no such hierarchy:  But make no mistake, the only scriptures that exist in the voduism are FA. And no one has claimed that the FA has fallen from the sky. The purpose of having a hierarchy of vodus is to be able to make ceremonies to all vodus in a single Vodu place : So or Hevieso  until today. The only energy that unites vodu is MAWU. I could tell immediately that vodu are monogamous. But this mythology shows the existence of prowl even in vodu. For this, there is no vodu POLYGYNOUS.

The lesson:

 Remove polygamy! men will never be faithful to their wives, it is known: but please, do children with a woman ONLY! This will reduce CONSIDERABLY many problems. We are not talking of a law prohibiting polygamy but a true culture of monogamy. Let me explain: There is no law prohibiting polygamy which can prevent a man to divorce. A man who took another wife after divorce is a polygamist! If he divorces several times, the same effects noted above, will happen again and nothing will change. The cultural revolution must be to have espected positive effects. Even a man who choose to BE polygamist, must make effort to build A HOUSE to each woman, it also reduces the problems without eliminating them. NEVER KEEP A WOMAN IN A FAMILY HOUSE! The man should never allow his family to interfere in the problems of his home: Whatever happens! A man must know how to manage his own mother in order to not leave his wife to her mercy : Mothers are possessive and will always be jealous of the wife of their son. Man must understand that he is a private property of his mother and he can not manage any conflict between his mother and his wife since HE HAS NO POWER!

In return, the woman will have a heavy responsibility to provide a good home for her husband so that he will not be obliged to go elsewhere! Women have the power: What she wants is what MAWU wants. The emancipation of women is good for women to work and have the same wages as men. Education of women today an invaluable advantage for the education of children in our society. An independent woman is more attractive. However, if the woman does not offer a good home to her husband, polygamy will still raging in our society regardless the laws voted against it.

Tsetula TSAGLI