enough intros, let's get down to it -- what is voodoo (in general, and to you)

[minan]

ok so i am not familiar with voodoo. however, i have been researching
the "left hand" path and even though i don't know that much about it,
my goal has always been enlightenment. i have considered myself an
atheist for a while but at the same time, have found the worship and
practice of hecate really, to put it in a banal way, interesting.
(especially as explained by jade sol luna in his seminars)

in the practice of voodoo, what is the goal? it seems to me to be
about control.

i have to say this is anathema to me. in attempting to control life
according to one's wishes, you don't consider what the universe has in
store for you, in terms of dealing with your karma to reach
enlightenment. it's simply the other side of the coin for such useless
practices as "let's chant for world peace!" i call that useless, in
that you have to consider what higher things have to reveal in your
life, a greater wisdom than your own.

[warm scars]

i'd say that many pagan paths have "control" as in issue in the sense that there is a belief in being able to harness the power of the elements, energy, and have the power within yourself to make desire/hopes/wishes a reality. an often heard phrase amongst christians, muslims, and jews is -- whatever gods wills is what's best. pagans do not accept this and believe they can change the path of theirs and others through their will belief.  but i would not say that the goal is control. 

[minan]

desires being made a reality sounds like a good thing; but can also
block one's path to enlightenment, since fulfilling one's desires also
involves steering one away from the bad/hard/dark/undesirable things
that may be necessary for dealing with karma and ultimately,
enlightenment (though, not that everyone necessarily desires
enlightenment).

not sure that all pagans are equally non-accepting of "god's will" --
the pagans i know seem to have an idea of a "universal will"

On Jun 2, 7:21 pm, warm scars <warmsc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> i'd say that many pagan paths have "control" as in issue in the sense that
> there is a belief in being able to harness the power of the elements,
> energy, and have the power within yourself to make desire/hopes/wishes a
> reality. an often heard phrase amongst christians, muslims, and jews is --
> whatever gods wills is what's best. pagans do not accept this and believe
> they can change the path of theirs and others through their will belief.
> but i would not say that the goal is control.
>