Letting the mysteries speak for themselves

One of the things that upsets me as a practitioner of a vodou based tradition is the way in which we tend to treat each other.

Google any well known initiate or go on any vodou based forum and I grantee you'll fine one of the following: X doesn't know shit about X, Y hasn't got a 'real' kanzo, he/she is white/gay/etc and therefore can't have any black spirits or initiate in X, my tradition's spirits are better then yours, etc, etc ad nausea.

Outside of forums or in private messages it can get equally bad with people trying to steal initiates or convince others that they haven't been taught properly or that they are somehow less real or less powerful then X.

You know what its boring, its inane and its kinda pathetic. We should have trust in the spirits and God to weed out the wheat from the chaff or have enough confidence not to have to put others down to feel better about themselves. Do we really think that the spirits care more about skin colour, sexuality and ancestry then about what is inside a practitioner and the qualities they have? Do we as vodou practitioners not have enough prejudice and hatred from the outside world without having to worry about what our brothers and sisters are saying or doing behind our backs?

Yes there will be people out there who do things in the wrong way or who spread misinformation or who are just willfully ignorant as to what they should be doing on their path. But it should be up to us as initiates or priest to lead by example not by trying to spread muck and we should have enough trust in our own mysteries to speak for themselves.

Division de Metresas

If there is one group of spirits in Sanse that I feel an especially strong connection with it is the division de metresas (the division of female spirits). It is the division off all the beautiful female mysterio, and is often invoked when dealing with matters of love, empathy, wealth and spiritual cleansing.


As these spirits are so important to me, I wanted to talk about some of the mysterio that are part of this division. The division itself is ruled over by Metresili, a spirit that is intrinsically linked to love, beauty, luxury and wealth. She is a very beautiful spirit, passionate and romantic in the extreme but sometimes prone to immense sadness. For when she comes in possession, many times the pain and disappointment of our world fails to live up to her idealised expectations. Like many of the Metresas she loves to be given flowers and also has a passion for expensive perfume, jewellery and sweet candies and pop. She is normally offered pink, white and blue. However, (as is common in sanse) she may be served with other colours and offerings as she sees fit.


The dreamy and alluring La Sirena is another important spirit within sanse and in some ways is quite similar to Metresili. She is a siren that rules over the mysteries and wealth of the sea and is said to call men to her with her enchanting glamour and voice. She is the patron of singers (and in my own personal experience artists as well) and can be called on to help improve these talents. Of all the metresa she is one of the most empathic and understanding. As such the people she walks with sometimes have problems saying no to others, even if sometimes it would benefit them a great deal to do so. La Sirena loves to be given perfume and jewellery just like Metresili, however she has a great love for mirrors and combs and can also be offered melon. Unless she requests something different, colour wise you can offer her sea blues and greens.


Anaisa Pye is one of the most popular female myterio within Sanse, she is seen as being a beautiful young woman who loves to dance and is associated with joy, sex, love and wealth. She is extremely generous and if she comes in possession she will often consult over a number of matters such as love, work and money. Anaisa is a mysterio that rules over all the things in life that bring joy and as long as she is well placated she will work hard for the people that serve her. However she can be a very jealous spirit and if she feels she is being ignored or sidelined by someone she walks with she can wreck havoc in her servitor's life. She loves to be given flowers, mirrors, Corona beer, perfume and cigarettes. Colour wise she will often ask to be served with bright yellow.


Santa Martha La Dominadora is another well loved mysterio within both sanse and 21 divisions. She is associated with snakes and as such (depending on the puntos she arrives in) she will often crawl around on the floor. She is most famously a dominator of men and will often aid in bringing back a potential man (or snaring a new one). She also often cleanses people when she comes, leaving them free to attract the attention of those they like. She takes brown eggs, flowers, cigars and cigarettes and is often served with the colour purple.

Thoughts on elevation

Seeking to spiritual elevate both ourselves and our spirits is one of the key goals of both Sanse and Espiritismo. Within these traditions God is seen as being the most elevated of all spirits and it is He that is the source of all spiritual light and progress. As such it is to Him we turn to when we seek elevation, either on our own behalf or for our spirits.

This inevitable leads to the all important question, what is spiritual elevation and what does it mean to be elevated? To tell you the truth, I don't fully know. Now thats not to say I don't have some of the insights or intellectual knowledge needed to partially understand the subject. But at the same time I don't feel like I am at a spiritual level where I can fully develop my own spin on the matter. As such I wanted to write about some of the ideas i've had about what elevation is and the effect its had on me.


Now at least for me the word elevation brings to mind the same connotations as the the word height. However within Sanse this is not the case, as one of my spiritual brothers once described to me, being more spiritually elevated is more akin to having more spiritual awareness. The more elevated you are, the more spiritual levels you can perceive and interact with.


Over time I formed an analogy that I personally could relate to. This was the idea of climbing a mountain, with the eventual aim being to become as close to the sun (God in this case) as possible. If I was to start at the bottom of the mountain, I might not be able to see much and in fact the sun itself might not actually be visible. However if I was to climb by improving myself spiritually, overcoming obstacles in my life and improving myself with the help of more elevated spirits. The view that I get of the world I might be better, looking back I would understand where I had come from and therefore where I was going. And I might be able to help others to reach a higher point themselves.


Becoming more spiritually elevated can also leads to the development of ones spiritual abilities, this varies from person to person based on their spiritual cudro. Some people develop the ability to astral project, some are clairesentient, clairvoyant, some heal and others can become possessed. Whatever that person's latent abilities, through hard work and practise these abilities can become can unlocked and used to help others.


I've found seeking elevation isn't always easy, sometimes I've had to face painful sides to myself. Alot of the time this isn't just about elevating yourself, but also the more unpleasant spirits that you may attract to yourself. Such as dragging, intranquil and cause spirits. This may be difficult but its necessary in order to overcome the tests and  challenges that God may have given to you.


At the end of the day I believe that looking to elevate yourself is about finding newer and better ways of thinking. Of finding within us the hope, love and faith to work our way towards treating ourselves and each other in better ways. As well as the power to break out of the mental traps we make for ourselves and the self destructive patterns that come from them. It may along the way give us more power and spiritual abilities, but these are nothing without the wisdom that elevation gives us to use them and the acknowledgement that all the elevation we gain in Sanse comes from God and the spirits.