What? Me? Catholic?
Me? A Gay guy, a homo, a fairy, a faggot ... a once upon a time major player in the Gay Liberation movement?
... join a religion that at best, considers Homosexuals to be disordered ... and at worst, has condemned Homosexuals to an excruciating eternity in Hell - because their God, doncha know, HATES Queers? Really? You've got to be kidding!
... join a religion that at best, considers Homosexuals to be disordered ... and at worst, has condemned Homosexuals to an excruciating eternity in Hell - because their God, doncha know, HATES Queers? Really? You've got to be kidding!
Yessiree, that was my first reaction to Jean-Baptist's proclamation.
Suddenly, I questioned the Visions ... was I just delusional?
And, for the first time, I questioned Jean-Baptist's identity ... was he who he said he was - who I thought I knew him to be? Or was he some malignant entity hell-bound to make my heart shatter and my brain melt-down?
And, for the first time, I questioned Jean-Baptist's identity ... was he who he said he was - who I thought I knew him to be? Or was he some malignant entity hell-bound to make my heart shatter and my brain melt-down?
Calm down, he said.
How? I asked.
How? I asked.
Breathe. Right. Now. he said, Stop holding your breath.
So I breathed. And I could feel my heart slowing, and my brain cooling ...
Then Jean Baptist reached out and held me in his love-tender, gossamer-light Vision-arms.
And he told & showed me the myriad people, some with skin darker than midnight, who were violently ripped away from their homelands - crammed & stacked into the dark, airless bowels of huge ships - and when stranded in strange lands, living and dying as slaves of white and light-skinned barbarians.
And he told & showed me the myriad people, some with skin darker than midnight, who were violently ripped away from their homelands - crammed & stacked into the dark, airless bowels of huge ships - and when stranded in strange lands, living and dying as slaves of white and light-skinned barbarians.
And he showed & told me of the Spirit-People who crossed the seas with them, and upheld them, encouraged and empowered them.
The Lwa!
Then I understood a little more clearly. I had been a little aware about how African slaves hid their worship, masking the Lwa behind Catholic icons. Syncretizing an ancient religion with the saints of an enforced religion of the Catholic church, in order to survive ...
... in order for their secretly persisting, abiding and growing Religion ... as slaves from many tribes integrated their knowledge and practices of Vodun ... making what flourished over time, into Vodou.
Jean-Baptist also reminded me of something I used to know, in so long a Childhood time ago, and intuitively understood ... the Catholic Mass is the Greatest Act of Magick in the Western World ...
... in which heaven bows down, and Bondye descends, to become food and drink to enter into us, nourishing us in every way.
This image is actually a Santeria icon.
It includes Orishas that correspond to Lwa, and is
revered by many Voudouists including Marie Laveau
revered by many Voudouists including Marie Laveau
Jean-Baptist also reminded me of something I used to know, in so long a Childhood time ago, and intuitively understood ... the Catholic Mass is the Greatest Act of Magick in the Western World ...
... in which heaven bows down, and Bondye descends, to become food and drink to enter into us, nourishing us in every way.
"You must become Catholic," he said. "Like us...like we have been before, like we will be again."
A Short Theology Break:
- Voodou essentially believes Bondye, God, created everything, breathing life into all living creatures, but is remote to us, being busy with other cosmic responsibilities here, and in other universes.
- But he hasn't abandoned us, because s/he made the Lwa, who are, like angels, our guides, guardians and protectors.
- The unspoken question most people are too polite to ask, is: "But isn't Jesus, who comes down in Catholic Holy Communion, God?"
- The answer is: Jesus is God the Son of God the Father. And God being God, is always absolute. So yes, Jesus the Son is absolutely God - Bondye.
- It doesn't matter what names we call God: Jesus, Krishna, Olodumare, Bondye. God is always, absolutely God.
- When the Africans were stolen from their homelands, the Lwa crossed the waters with them. In their new prison lands, the Slaves were forced to become Catholics. How "coincidental" that the Catholic faith has a plethora of Saints, many of them having symbolic correspondences to the Lwa - thus there many Saints the slaves could hide within those Saints - thus making invisible the true objects of their worship invisible, appearing to worship like any proper Catholic ... thus saving their own lives, whilst perpetuating and growing their inheritance that became Voodou.
- The "Great Coincidence of Grace" is that, along with being possessed ("filled") with the Lwa, Bondye has seen fit to add her/his help, by coming down to be substantially present in the Catholic Holy Communion, to fill (possessing and "being possessd by") the African slaves, adding a whole new dimension to the words Mercy, Patience and Forgiveness.
Having realized all this, I knew why Jean-Baptist insisted I be confirmed a Catholic ... so I, too, could join my Voodou family in being filled ("possessed") with Bondye, as well as being possessed ("filled") with the Lwa.
So in utter Love and utter Trust I agreed to become an authentic Catholic, so that I could authentically become fully of Voodou.
- I think the hardest part of it for me was hiding the real reason for the sudden "conversion" from my beloved friends and partners in Magick - as I let go of so many occult objects - accoutrements I had come to cherish: Talking Boards, Wands, Pentagram-inscribed-jewelry and Reiki-treatment Tables - as well as nearly all my former friends ...
I dived-in (recklessly?) dancing through the process of preparing for initiation into the Catholic Church.
Our Visitations stopped temporarily, by mutual agreement, during that time of preparation, to allow me to fully focus on the task at-hand.
Our Visitations stopped temporarily, by mutual agreement, during that time of preparation, to allow me to fully focus on the task at-hand.
So I Was Initiated
According to photographer Lynn Warberg, who documented Haitian Vodou for over ten years, a common saying on the island is that:
"Haiti is 70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% Vodou."
On Saturday night April 22, 2000 about an hour after I was confirmed a Catholic, the Visitations began again.
They were less frequent, and more relaxed, but tho' intimate and totally love-embued - they were barely enough to keep me (and Jean-Baptist) sane. I diligently continued my Voodou studies and practices, with the added facet of Catholic teachings and beliefs.
They were less frequent, and more relaxed, but tho' intimate and totally love-embued - they were barely enough to keep me (and Jean-Baptist) sane. I diligently continued my Voodou studies and practices, with the added facet of Catholic teachings and beliefs.
~ From Knowing Him To Loving Him ~
Over eight years later, now relocated somewhere in America's Heartland, while recovering from four strokes in my aging but not-yet entirely-melted brain ... Jean-Baptist came to me one more time.
In a Catholic Church, just as Mass started, he came - but not in a Visitation Vision ...
I was sitting alone, in a pew. I heard a man with that most beautiful Caribbean accent politely asking to sit with me.
I was sitting alone, in a pew. I heard a man with that most beautiful Caribbean accent politely asking to sit with me.
Turning to respond, I had the soul-leaping experience some folks call "jumping out of my skin."
My mouth flew open to cry out. His love-tender tangible fingers lightly touched his lips and mine, to quiet me.
We sat together, Jean-Baptist and me, finally 100% together (again) after a lifetime apart - our mortal bodies leaning into each other.
Standing, sitting, kneeling, and standing again, together - every movement in a perfectly spontaneous synchronization of intimacy, relief, and love's ecstacy.
Standing, sitting, kneeling, and standing again, together - every movement in a perfectly spontaneous synchronization of intimacy, relief, and love's ecstacy.
He held my hand throughout the Mass, even during the time it took us to approach and receive the Holy Sacrament - in which Bondye entered us in Communion ... just as the Lwa have entered us in Possession.
After the priest gave the final blesssing, we stood, genuflected together, and hand-in-hand, left the building.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Now substantially together in life - one more time again - we spent almost every bliss-filled moment of every day and night with each other.
Our time together was filled with big smiles and laughter, as well as seriouness, as we shared and taught each other our knowledge and practices ...
... mine being the practices of American Voudou & Hoodoo ... his being the practices of a Haitian Vodou Bokor.
Our mutual pursuit unfolded as an integration of American Voudou and Haitian Vodou.
Thus came the new word - a neologism I've made, of integrated spellings - Voodou!
... mine being the practices of American Voudou & Hoodoo ... his being the practices of a Haitian Vodou Bokor.
Our mutual pursuit unfolded as an integration of American Voudou and Haitian Vodou.
Thus came the new word - a neologism I've made, of integrated spellings - Voodou!
End of Act 3