The War in Healing

I mentioned the previous day that vodou is a warrior tradition. If you’ve ever been to a spiritual party, you know that the lwa often greet people with a bit of tug of war, or a test of strength.

I asked Papa once what I was to be doing, once I have the next initiation. He mentioned healing, and I was (at the time) disappointed with what I thought was a rather… soft thing to be doing, given my personal history.

He responded that I’d be surprised how much war there is in healing.

I’ve since had the chance to regret my words on that topic and appreciate his point, as much as anything else because I’ve had cause to actually think about the way I got here. For me at least, it has been a long, drawn out, dirty battle, where I’ve had to be incredibly ruthless.

In a way, what I’ll be doing is going to war for people—I will be battling them, their mind, and the things that infest or inflict them for their freedom. The battleground will be them. The weapons are whatever comes to hand, from the physical supplies to what I’ve learned spiritually to whatever happens to be in their lives at the time.

Papa has previously referred to this as learning to be a doctor, to battle illness.

It’s one of the reasons why we emphasize character: if I’m in someone’s life, battling their illnesses, it would be best if I was not also infected with the same problem, if I am capable of seeing the problem, and if I was good at telling the difference between my problems and theirs. A good warrior, one who has successfully faced the challenges of character which are required for this work, can do those things to a greater or lesser degree, depending on their competencies.

I must have successfully fought and mastered myself and be a capable fighter to take their battles on for their healing.