Secets of Voodoo

Milo Rigaud's Secrets of Voodoo is an introductory overview of Haitian Vodou that seeks to contextualize it within universal religion and theory. While one sometimes wonders how and why Rigaud reached certain conclusions (some are clearly inspired by Arthur Holly and cabalistic notions associating Jewish mysticism with ancient Egypt and Africa), it proposes some interesting theories about possible connections between Vodou and religions of the ancient world. Unlike Antoine Innocent, who proposed a possible link to ancient Rome, Rigaud, like Holly, goes back further in time to the ancient "black" civilizations of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Assyria. 

These societies, through their influence on Moses, who was allegedly a Vodou initiate, explain why Jewish mysticism and Biblical texts are relevant to explication of Vodou tenets and mysteries. In other words, Rigaud's fanciful theory for the origin of Vodou gives it a much deeper past and helps explain literary works like Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo. Reed, whose famous novel ties ancient Egypt to Haiti and "Jes Grew," ingeniously riffs on the work of Rigaud for an Afrocentric's wet dream. Zora Neale Hurston's retelling of Moses may also reflect the influence of Arthur Holly and Milo Rigaud since she conducted research in Haiti during the 1930s and was acquainted with at least the former.

Nonetheless,  Egyptian notions such as the ba and ka, as well as West African concepts and practices (Ife) are imaginatively linked and therefore can help explain some of the features of Vodou practice in today's Haiti. The idea of the solar cult, traced back to the black Ethiopian-Egyptian-Assyrian civilizations, is used to explain Legba, Erzulie (a lunar deity), and elucidate the reasoning behind several aspects of Vodou ritual, symbolism, and architecture. A trinity of sorts is proposed, consisting of Damballah, Legba, and Erzulie. However, due to the variety of forms Vodou rituals take across Haiti, with each houngan or mambo being the Pope of their temple, the Vodou pantheon and the ceremonies practiced take on several forms. Rigaud's book is largely focused on listing these in a general form for the reader. Anyone looking for more esoteric and occult interpretations may have to read Rigaud's other works or force themselves to read Arthur Holly's older texts.