Vodou, the Tarot and Ancestor Reverence
with
Mambo Racine Sans Bout
and the
Roots Without End Society


An interpretation of the Tarot Key called Judgement, digitally altered by Mambo Racine. Mambo Racine and members of the Roots Without End Society at the Cross of Baron in Jacmel, Haiti. Photo by Loulou Prince, used by permission. An interpretation of the Tarot Key called Judgement, digitally altered by Mambo Racine.

Greetings in the name of God, the ancestors and the lwa! I invite you to attend our "Vodou, the Tarot and Ancestor Reverence" workshop. Learn to contact a particular ancestor and bringing them from the grave to work with you!


This exciting, powerful workshop will be held again in 2010, in western Massachusetts. Dates and the location will be posted here as soon as it is decided.

Houngan Wolmer Joseph. Digitally altered photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. Click on this photo to see Houngan Wolmer's web page. Detail of a peristyle in rural Haiti, from a photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. The crowning activity of the workshop is your recovery of a Mo, the spirit of a Dead Ancestor, from the graveyard. Every participant will learn to do this, and you will have the choice of either finding an ancestor in the immediate vicinity to recover, or going home to recover an ancestor from your own area. In this workshop we will investigate and invoke for ancestral power. Our services will focus on the development of clairvoyance, lucid dreaming, and magical effectiveness through the practice of Vodou and the use of the Tarot. Another highly attractive feature of this workshop is the participation of Houngan Wolmer Joseph, a Haitian Houngan of considerable reputation, by telephone from Haiti. Houngan Wolmer, a dedicated servant of the lwa Baron, with Mambo Racine acting as interpreter, will provide consultation and teaching to each participant. Here is a chance to obtain information directly from Haiti, from the lips of a respected contemporary Houngan.

As a participant, you will undergo many Vodou ceremonies - the Action de Grace seldom seen in the United States, the bay mo manje, the retire zombi. You will receive ceremonial cleansings to bring you into harmony with the ancestral lwa. Ancestral food and drink will be prepared, and you will learn secret recipes for foods to attract ancestral lwa.

Itinerary


The Cross of Baron Ti-Charles La Croix, photographed in a Vodou peristyle in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. The "Vodou, the Tarot, and Ancestor Reverence" workshop will offer activities every morning, afternoon and evening for three jam-packed days. Drummers will be in attendance, as will initiate members of the Roots Without End Society. All ceremonies are strictly authentic ceremonies of Haitian Vodou.

During the workshop, parallel ceremonies are performed in Haiti at the Roots Without End Society's peristyle in Jacmel.

On Thursday morning we open the workshop with a ceremony of reverence and the invocation of Baron La Croix, chief of all ancestors. The basics of ancestral service are demonstrated, and you will learn songs and liturgy. The Ancestral Altar will be opened and illuminated and the Action de Grace, a ceremony seldom seen in the USA, will be performed.

Detail of a peristyle in rural Haiti, from a photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. In the afternoon, you will be guided to a site of spiritual power for the invocation of Native American ancestors and European-American ancestors of the early colonial period. It is possible that participants may receive information regarding the location of ancestors wishing to work with them.

In the evening, we will conduct the ceremony of bay mo manje, giving food to the Dead. You will have the opportunity to present offerings to your personal ancestors, to the Mighty Dead, and to the ancestral lwa. You may undergo possession by your own lwa, who knows? It usually happens. Undoubtedly the ancestral lwa will appear through possession of someone, and who they choose is up to them!


A Tarot reading performed by Mambo Racine Sans Bout

Friday morning, more class! The Tarot has adherents from many spiritual traditions for a reason! We will investigate the theory and practice of divination, and Mambo Racine will perform divinations for each participant (if there are more than five participants the readings will be spread over two days.)

Vodou ceremonies of consecration will be performed for your Tarot deck, which will be sequestered on the Ancestral Altar for twenty-four hours. While your deck "sleeps", Mambo Racine will discuss the "mechanics" of Tarot divination, with particular attention to the Celtic Cross method in the context of Vodou. The patronage of the Vodou lwa Maman Brigitte, herself of Celtic origin, will be invited to assist as particpants develop their own invocations and methods of reading.

Then Mambo Racine will teach participants to make wanga bottles! This has been a very popular magical activity at other workshops, and the wanga bottles we make this time will include herbs and materials from Haiti and elsewhere, which are especially appropriate in the service of the Ancestors.

Members of the Roots Without End Society in procession during an ancestral service. Photo copyright Mambo Racine. Friday night we will perform the climactic ceremony of the workshop - the taking of a Dead Ancestor from the grave. As this is a secret ceremony, one which is not taught openly in our house and is often reserved for initiates, no cameras will be permitted at this time.

Once the Dead have been recovered, they will be taken back to the ancestral altar, fed, attended, and served, and secret information regarding the magical work with these Mighty Dead will be imparted to you. It is very probable that in addition to the possessions by Baron, Maman Brigitte, and the Gede lwa which the Houngans and Mambos present will undergo, you yourself may become possessed by an ancestral lwa. If you do not wish to undergo possession we will teach you how to prevent it.

Saturday morning it's not over yet - your Tarot deck must be reawakened, and we will perform the ceremony of the batem, the Vodou baptism for your deck and for your Mo. At this time, those who wish to become postulants of the Roots Without End Society may do so, and begin their training for the kanzo, the ceremony of initiation, which is being held in December of this year.

Houngan Wolmer, Houngan asogwe of the Roots Without End Society, is a teacher - here he demonstrates the sacred dance of the ancestors, the banda, to international candidates in training for initiation as Houngans and Mambos of the Vodou religion. Photo copyright Mambo Racine.

Mambo Racine Sans Bout, head of the Roots Without End Society. So what are you waiting for? Here's your chance to really supercharge your spirituality, guided and facilitated by Mambo Racine, well-known for her abilties as a teacher of Vodou theology, liturgy and dance. Your participation in this intensive three-day workshop, the entire program, all activities including the cost of drummers, is only $750.

This workshop is limited to ten participants and places will go fast, so we suggest you hold your spot by sending your payment using PayPal, just click on the button below to register. Or if you prefer, contact Mambo Racine for instructions on paying by mail.


We hope to see you!