What is the difference between Voodoo, Hoodoo and Santeria?

Veves, like this one for Papa Legba, are used in Vodou. Veves are NOT used in Santeria.

All too often, Santeria is mistakenly confused with other African-derived magical or religious systems. It is very common for people to refer to the practices of Santería Lucumi (Lukumi) as “voodoo” by the media, in television and cinema. Movies and television are notorious for lumping all African Diasporic Traditions into one boat, calling them all voodoo and then mocking them or creating sensationalism that is rooted in cultural misinformation. Tack on to this cross-confusion between Voodoo and Hoodoo and you get a whole other layer of misunderstanding about what Santeria really is. We hope this article will help clarify some confusions, and help set the record straight once and for all.

Santeria and Voodoo are often confused for one another

Both Santeria and Voodoo are religions but they are not the same thing. Let’s begin with an explanation of Voodoo. First, Voodoo is more properly spelled Vodou or Vodoun. There are two main branches to Vodou, Haitian Vodou and Louisiana (or New Orleans) Vodoun.

Haitian Vodou is an African Diasporic Religion that came together from the traditional African religious practices of several tribes, some of whom were rivals forced to survive and depend on one another under the conditions of slavery. These tribes included the Fon, Yoruba, Congo and even elements of the native Taino population that survived in Haiti. These people united their practices in an effort to survive, and created a “regleman” (ritual order) to honor and give each tribe’s spirits their moment of worship. These practices were also influenced through syncretism with French Catholicism. Evidence of this can be seen in the use of Catholic saint images to represent the Lwa (spirits) honored in Vodou. The Lwa (spirits) of Vodou are composed of the Rada Lwa (the vudu and orishas of the Fon and Yoruba people), the Petwo Lwa (the fiery spirits of the Congo, the Taino and modern-Haitian people) and the Gede Lwa (the spirits of the dead). Veves, ornate cornmeal drawings laid out on the ground or on tables, are used to call the Lwa in Vodou, but not in Santeria. Haitian Vodou does have an initiated priesthood, but initiation is not a requirement for participation in the religion and the vast majority of vodouisants are non-initiates. Magical wanga and gris-gris are often used in Haitian Vodou’s magic. Haitian Vodou’s primary liturgical language is Kreyol, the local dialect of Haitian French.

A typical Haitian Vodou altar. Compare this to the photo below of a Santeria altar and note the differences. Photo by Jeremy Burgins.

Louisiana Vodoun is markedly different from Haitian Vodou. It is more of an amalgamation of religious and magical practices found in the southern United States. This includes some of the Lwa found in Haitian Vodou, a strong presence of the Catholic Saints, and elements of southern folk magic like gris-gris, wanga and mojo bags. There is not a “regleman” in the same manner as Haitian Vodou and there is more of an emphasis on self-made Vodou Queens like the famous Marie Laveau. Louisiana Vodoun has a strong connection with Spiritualism and shares many magical techniques with Hoodoo (southern folk magic) – but should not be confused with Hoodoo.  You will see the use of veves (ornate painted symbols) in Louisiana Vodoun, much as in Haitian Vodou. Louisiana Vodoun’s primary liturgical language is English with a bit of French Creole.

Santeria is a religion that evolved in Cuba. It is rooted in the African religious traditions of the Yoruba people (found in modern-day Nigeria). The followers of Santeria worship the orishas, the demi-gods of the Yoruba people. While there is a veneer of Spanish Catholicism for the outsider, that element quickly drops away once a person has undergone initiation. The primary involvement of Catholic elements in Santeria are found in Espiritismo, a separate religious practice that has been deeply interwoven into Santeria as of the mid-1900’s. Santeria is highly initiatory, secretive and operates under strict religious rules. Participation in the religion is very limited to those who are not initiated and the great majority of participants are initiates. Santeria does NOT use veves or ornate drawn symbols to call the orishas as are done in Vodou (bullseye-style paintings called osun are used in certain rituals but bear no resemblance to veves). Santeria’s primary liturgical language is Lukumí, a late 1800’s dialect of the Yoruban language interspersed with elements of Cuban Spanish.

A Santeria altar (throne) to Chango. Each container has a different orisha’s mysteries within it, and is covered with decorative cloths, crowns and beaded mazos. Compare this with the Haitian Vodou altar above.

The religious proceedings and magical workings of these religious traditions may have similarities but they are certainly not the same thing. A person initiated in Santería will not have the religious rights or permission to participate in Vodou ceremonies like a Vodou initiate would. A person initiated in Vodou would not have permission and rights to operate in a Santeria ceremony. Each of these religions is different from one another, and each uses different languages, prayers, songs and rituals from the others. The only commonality between them is the use of animal sacrifice, and the employment of magical spell work as an integral part of their religious practice, but this is common with any religious practice from sub-saharan Africa.

What is Hoodoo? Is it Voodoo?

Often people mistake Hoodoo and Vodou. The differenced between them is simple. Vodou is a religion. Hoodoo is nothing more than Southern Folk Magic. Hoodoo uses the magical techniques of the Congo people of Africa without any of the religion. There is no presence of the nkisi, orishas, or lwa of Africa. In fact, most people who practice Hoodoo are Protestant Christians. You’ll see hoodoo workers also being called rootworkers or conjurers. They make magical charms called mojo bags, or jack balls. They’ll use magical powders, herbal cleansing baths, candles or lamps for spell work. All of this magical work is done while praying Psalms, praying to Jesus and God the Father, and reading from the Bible. While the vast majority of Hoodoo practitioners are Protestant Christians, there are some some Catholic practitioners who will petition Catholic saints. It’s important to note that they are petitioning the Saints themselves, not as a syncretized image for an African deity or spirit. So Hoodoo is not Voodoo.

Stereotypical and Racist Depictions of Santeria and other ATRs

A typical hoodoo altar with several spells being worked for love, reconciliation and wisdom. A hoodoo practitioner will pray Psalms and Christian prayers when they cast spells.

For centuries, the African Traditional Religions (ATRs) have been the victim of racism and colonial stereotypes. This was an institutionalized way of dehumanizing the African people by labeling their religious practices as barbaric or demonic. This changing society’s perception of black people into animals or subhuman, in order to justify the slave trade and the brutal treatment of African people by invading muslim and christian missionaries.

Racist depictions of Santeria and other ATR practices include depicting the religions as satanic. It is common to portray these religions as nothing more than harmful spell casters focusing on zombifying people, using voodoo dolls to harm people, or engaging in cannibalism or pacts with the devil. (It is important to note that the use of dolls in magic comes from European witchcraft traditions.) Satan does not exist in Santeria. Satan is not worshipped in the ATRs. Cannibalism does not exist in Santeria, nor do we shrink heads or any such thing.

Remember when you see depictions like this in movies or television programs, they are racist depictions serving to scare those of European descent by portraying African religions as barbaric. Even the term “black magic” is a racist term. It originates from the labeling of African people as black and the characterization of their religions as purely evil. Therefore “black magic” meant black religious practice was evil. At the Santeria Church of the Orishas we detest the term “black magic” and prefer that people call things what they actually are. When referring to harmful magic call it harmful magic, not “black magic” out of respect for the black people of Africa and their peace-filled beautiful religious practices.

Santeria is Not Evil

Santeria is often mistakenly depicted as an evil religion that worships demons, engages in blood-thirsty rituals and seeks to do evil on others. This is further racist, colonial depiction of the beautiful and complex African religious tradition of Santeria. Santeria’s chief tenet is to always strive to stay in a place of iré (blessings) by following the advice of our egun, orishas and elders. There is a strong ethic of helping others and working cooperatively to lift people out of poverty and sickness toward blessings, health, prosperity and longevity. We pray for “iré omó, iré owó, iré arikú babawa” which means “blessings of children, blessings of prosperity and blessings of long life.” We strive to cultivate a good character, live peaceful lives and respect nature and others around us. There is the use of magic for one’s defense, but in many ways this is no different than praying to God for defense against your enemies or petitioning saints to stop those who seek to harm you. The same thing can be said for other ATRs like Vodou, Candomblé, Arará, etc.

The problem is lack of understanding and lack of knowledge. As long as people accept racist stereotypes and don’t educate themselves about the African Traditional Religions, they will continue to fear Santeria. The Santeria Church of the Orishas actively works toward demystifying Santeria Lucumí through educational efforts, so that people will know and understand what we actually believe and what we actually do.

Iré and Osogbo – Blessings and Misfortunes

Humans eternally struggle to stay in iré (blessings) while constantly being assaulted by osogbo (misfortunes) – yet both must exist in the world.

In the religion of Santería Lucumi/Lukumí, we have a unique cosmology that is based on a binary understanding of energy and balance. There is hot and there is cold. There is light and dark. There is peace and there is chaos. These binary compliments to one another must exist because we live in a relative universe where things are defined relative to one another. In order to understand Santeria’s core ethical concepts we must first define this binary nature of the universe.

On the one hand we have iré. Iré means “blessings”. Iré is something beautiful, perfectly balanced, in alignment with your fate, cool, calm, organized, rational, white, light and peaceful. Iré is singular in nature – but we can experience iré in many manifestations: iré omó – blessings of children, iré owó – blessings of prosperity, iré alafia – blessings of peace, iré arikú – blessings of longevity. But ultimately there is only one iré and it is fleeting and difficult to maintain.

On the other hand we have osogbo. Osogbo means “misfortune”. Osogbo rules the Earth, and osogbo is everywhere. Osogbo is difficult, challenging, unbalanced, hot, chaotic, irrational, dark, black and often violent. Where iré is singular in nature, osogbo has many types. Each form of osogbo is seen as an entity, an actual being, that brings forth certain kinds of misfortune. Here are some of the osogbos:

  • Ikú – death
  • Arun – sickness
  • Eyó – litigation or accusations
  • Arayé – chaos and arguments
  • Iña – war
  • Ona – closed roads and obstacles
  • Ofo – loss
  • Ogo – witchcraft
  • Akoba – bad
  • Fitibó – unexpected sudden death
  • Egba – Paralysis
  • Oran – crimes
  • Epe – a curse
  • Ashelú – imprisonment

Each of these is depicted as an actual entity, where iré is not. Iré is a state of being. To be in iré means to be in perfect alignment and it is akin to being on the edge of a knife; it is easy to fall off on either side of it. Ultimately we all want to experience iré and its benefits, yet we are constantly assaulted by osogbo in the world.

Why Osogbo Rules the World

There is a patakí (legend) that explains why evil exists in the world, and why Osogbo rules it. This patakí can be found in the odu Okana Meji (1-1). In ancient times Iré and Osogbo were friends and both wanted to accomplish much in the world. Iré was older than Osogbo, and always had a bright and positive attitude. Osogbo was younger and was always brooding and unhappy. They both went to Olofi (God) and asked what they needed to do to be great in life. Olofi told both of them to make ebó (sacrifice) and then return to him the next day. Iré, being happy-go-lucky decided that he was tired and would have plenty of time the next morning to do his ebó so he went to bed with visions of his future greatness dancing in his mind.

Osogbo, however, was very diligent. He went home from Olofi’s house, gathered the items he needed and did ebó right away as Olofi had commanded. The next morning Iré over slept and when he awoke realized it was time for him to leave to be at Olofi’s house. Osogbo got up early, bathed and dressed in his finest clothes to appear before Olofi. Both met up outside Olofi’s house and entered together.

Olofi looked down at them and asked, “Well, did you do as I commanded?” Iré shamefully admitted he didn’t have the time to get it done and hadn’t completed his ebó. Osogbo responded with a confident, “Yes. As you commanded.” Olofi then decreed that since Iré was older, he would always be given one chance to speak, but if he missed his opportunity, Osogbo would rule thereafter. Osogbo was given reign over the earth because he completed his ebó and he multiplied to cover the world with his children.

Therefore, osogbo is plentiful, rules the earth and is found everywhere, while iré is singular in nature and only gets one chance to be present. He is undependable and unpredictable, thus osogbo tends to prevail in most situations.

If There is No Evil, There Can Be No Good

“If there is no evil, there can be no good.” thus speaks the odu Okana Meji (1-1) and it explains to use that without the evil experiences we go through in life, we will never be given an impetus to strive to better ourselves. Without the relative experiences of evil, mankind does not appreciate good. Without tense and trying moments, we will never know how relaxing and blessed those moments of iré really are. Without the trials and tribulations we face, we would never have ebó and we would never be able to petition Elegguá or the other orishas, to open our roads, change our fates and better our lives. This is the essence of Okana Meji (1-1) and of the nature of Iré and Osogbo.

The diloggún divination system works in such a manner that it determines whether the client who is being read is in a state of iré or osogbo. We ask only once to see if the person is in iré (blessings). If they are not, then they are in osogbo (misfortunes) and the type of misfortune is identified. The way diloggún works, the orisha who is speaking through his or her shells advises the client how to avoid or get themselves out of osogbo through behavioral modifications, taboos and ebó.

Ebó is unique in that it allows us to change our fates. It magically seals a pact with the orisha or egun offering to help us, so that they can lift osogbo off of us and return us to a state of iré. The necessary offering or ebó is marked in the divination and once the client completes his obligatory ebó he is brought back into a state of iré.

But always remember, iré is transitory. Iré is unpredictable. Osogbo rules this world. We will always face osogbo and will always need to do ebó to help get osogbo off our backs. We are in a perpetual struggle to attain and maintain iré and the orishas, divination and ebó are our keys to getting there.

SAFE Alert! Fraudulent Diloggun Readings / Cold Readings

Santeros Against Fraud and Exploitation (SAFE) is an action committee of the Santeria Church of the Orishas

As part of the Santeria Church of the Orisha‘s mission to educate the public about traditional Santeria (Lucumi/Lukumi) practice, we are issuing a SAFE Alert regarding fraudulent diloggun readings and non-traditional Santeria practices in the greater Long Beach, California area.

Recently, members of SAFE (Santeros Against Fraud and Exploitation) visited an occult store located near our church in the greater Long Beach, California area. Upon visiting this store we were told that they offered Santeria classes as well as cowrie shell readings (diloggun readings) and initiations. We will not reveal the name of the store at this time, but we will discuss what is taking place at this store and the nature of their “Santeria” practice that is not in line with traditional practices as held by the culture bearers of Santeria (Lucumi/Lukumi).

Red Flags

While present at the store we were allowed to see their orisha room. The orisha room consisted of a series of shelves each containing a statue of a modern depiction of each orisha and some trinkets. There were no pots present with the items required for a shrine to be a legitimate orisha shrine. (otas, diloggun and tools were absent.)

Their resident Babalawo (who does all the readings and teaches the classes) spoke to me for a bit and told me some information about Santeria. About 60% of the information was accurate, the other 40% of it was completely incorrect and was either from poorly researched books or incorrect web sites. He also then explained that his lineage does not believe in animal sacrifice and that the religion has evolved past that.

Additionally he claimed that their classes work in such a way that after 12 weeks in their class you’ll receive the elekes initiation and be a Padrino or Madrina (a title only conferred upon a person when they have initiated ANOTHER person – i.e. once they are an olorisha and have godchildren). His class structure made it sound like a wiccan class with three degrees of initiation, only calling them “padrino, santero and babalawo“. He clarified that women were not eligible to be babalawos, but they do initiate gay men as babalawos – something HIGHLY non-traditional and not accepted in Santeria Lucumi. This babalawo claimed to be one of a small handful of gay babalawos in the United States.

The Cold Reading

This is the kind of statue in the store’s orisha room. This is NOT Oshún as received in Santeria.

The reading was conducted by their resident babalawo who apparently is the only person allowed to divine with the cowries in their store. This is not in alignment with traditional Lucumi practice (although they claim to be Lucumi). Babalawos do not read with cowrie shellsOlorishas do. Babalawos read either with a diviner’s chain called an okuele, or with palm nuts and the table of Ifá (ikin and the opón Ifá). During the reading this babalawo never asked for my name, nor did he pray the stipend required for the reading (as is traditional in Lucumí diloggun divination). He did not recite a traditional moyuba prayer where a person’s spiritual lineage is called out to invoke their ache in assistance for the reading. These are required traditional steps for divination with either diloggun or okuele. Instead the babalawo proceeded to touch his cowries to his own body mimicking a Cabbalistic Cross from Ceremonial Magic, transposing improper words in African for the traditional Hebrew words. This is completely illegitimate practice and is not considered valid in any form of Santeria, or other form of Orisha worship.

The reading was conducted on a table covered with a round brown rug. Diloggun readings and Ifá readings are traditionally conducted on a grass mat called an até, or estera in Santeria. This is due to the fact that the até calls down the presence of the orishas to speak. A brown rug does not do this nor is it any part of traditional Lucumi worship.

Additionally, this was supposed to be a reading to discern a person’s tutelary orisha (something they were very enthusiastic to discover). There are two and only two legitimate ways to divine a person’s tutelary orisha in traditional Santeria Lucumi/Lukumi practice.

  1. A minimum of three babalawos need to be present and use the palm nuts (ikin) and the opón Ifá (table of Ifá) to discern a person’s tutelary orisha by consulting Orunmila himself as witness of destiny.
  2. An olorisha, preferably an Obá Oriaté (although an oriaté is not required), sufficiently educated in odu can divine this using either Elegguá’s cowrie shells (diloggún) or the diloggún of the person’s godparent’s tutelary orisha. This is done on a woven grass mat wrapped in a white sheet.

This is Oshún’s pot as received in Santeria. The orishas are made of stones, shells and tools – not statues.

In both instances the divination is done on the floor because the earth is a sacred and holy place and the most important divinations are done seated on the mat. The reading performed by this babalawo was done with cowrie shells (not used by Babalawos), on a table (not done for readings to determine a person’s tutelary orisha), on a brown rug (not used in Santeria for readings), with no ibos (no token items like a stone, efun, aye, goat astragalus bone) which are required for the client’s orí (higher self) to be engaged in the reading and lend its voice. It is also not usually considered a good thing to know your tutelary orisha until you are already making preparations and saving money for your kariocha initiation.

The babalawo threw the shells on the mat only once (two casts are required in Santeria Lucumí practice), he never counted odu, and instead began to perform a cold reading (a technique used by fraudulent readers and “spiritualists” that uses very general statements and watches a person’s reaction until something clicks) telling me general, unfocused and totally inapplicable statements about my past lives (a concept that is not a part of Santeria’s cosmology).

Traditional diloggún divination is a numerical system where the number of cowries that are mouth up are counted to discern an odu (from 1 to 16 – let’s use and example of 5), the shells are tossed a second time to get another number (again, 1 to 16 – let’s say the second toss was 7) and these two numbers become the composite odu. In this example our composite odu is 5-7, and contains a myriad of information, patakis, ebós, taboos, strengths and weaknesses. After the composite odu is determined, the diviner should hand the client two ibo (small items like a stone and a piece of cascarilla/efun) and tells the client to shake the two and separate them with one item in each hand. One represents yes, the other no. The diviner will manipulate the cowries and tell the client which hand to reveal. This indicates if the reading comes with blessings or misfortunes (Iré or osogbo). This also allows the client’s orí (higher self) to partake in the reading and give its opinion. To reiterate, this babalawo used NO IBO in his reading at any time and only threw the shells once.

The diloggún of Eleggua with the four ibo depicted. This is a proper set of diloggun.

After he was done giving me a cold reading the babalawo then declared who my tutelary orisha was. (The entire reading was done without ever having me manipulate any kind of ibo) He also identified the wrong orisha as my tutelary orisha. Had he taken a moment to ask me about my past or about my involvement in Santeria he might have found out that I am an initiated olorisha of ten years, crowned with Shangó instead of with the orisha he was claiming.

Harmless or Harmful?

What pained me the most about this experience is that the staff at the store and the babalawo were very friendly people. They were willing to show me what they had and genuinely have love for the orishas, but their practice was completely incorrect according to the traditions of Santeria. This leads me to believe two possible scenarios. In the best case scenario we are looking at people with real love for the religion being led by someone who was never taught nor initiated properly. At worst case we have a situation where someone is misinforming others who genuinely want to learn about Santeria and giving them fraudulent initiations for money.

While we cannot discern what their intentions may be, it is clear that they are trying to portray this operation as the only legitimate practice of Santeria in Southern California. What we perceived is that the followers of this babalawo seem to be people who come from neo-pagan backgrounds, are primarily anglo in their ancestry and are not familiar with the cultural elements of Santeria and don’t know what warning signs to look out for, but have genuine heart and want to learn. He is offering them an “experience” of the orishas with none of the uncomfortable things their pagan tenets won’t accept: like blood sacrifice or the dedication required of a year in white as an iyawo, etc.

The spiritual practices of this lineage (ilé) are not traditional according to those who bear the cultural values of Santeria, nor is it in alignment with the core concepts of Santería Lucumi/Lukumí. Yet, these individuals who have paid for classes and been initiated consider themselves Santeria initiates and will never be accepted by the public for what they practice. Worse, they’ll go into the public touting their “credentials” and be quickly shamed once they realize they are not practicing African-based spirituality, nor do they have a true priesthood in Santeria.

Education To Prevent Abuse

At the Santeria Church of the Orishas, we seek to educate the public about what proper practices look like in Santeria so that you have the tools needed to discern what is legitimate practice and what is unconventional, untraditional, illegitimate practice. We hope with this SAFE Alert that you’ll have a better understanding of what a real Santeria diloggún reading looks like versus this fraudulent practice being conducted at this store in our area.

Keep in touch with our SAFE Alerts and read all about our Santeros Against Fraud and Exploitation church action committee by clicking on the “SAFE Alerts” category on the right hand navigation.

**Follow Up**

We recently revisited the shop and discovered that they no longer offer Santeria classes nor do they have a Babalawo reading at their shop.

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