The Past Informs the Present and Future– in this case, “Haiti Cherie”

While as many of you know the future of the library continues to loom big in my psyche I have come to understand that the archives that I personally hold of my grandmother’s correspondence along with PF’s grant files etc. hold equal and some might think more value.  I have come to realize that now more than ever I am being contacted by a  new generation  of scholars  for information on many individuals that Garrett came into contact with which causes me to rummage around in the past and grow a  greater appreciation for the diversity of the people Garrett and PF interacted with.  I do more clearly understand the past informs not only the present but the future .  While responding to one such request for information about Francis Huxley,  I went down the “rabbit hole” and found a wealth of information some of which I find personally fascinating and illuminating as it sparked childhood memories but fed my interest in anthropological studies and in this case Haitian Voudoo.

Found within the pages of the Parapsychology Foundation, Newsletter, February 1954 there is a long article entitled “Parapsychological Approach to Haitian Voudoo”  which details a research trip undertaken by researchers and Mrs. Eileen J. Garrett with Dr. Price Mars, one of Haiti’s most prominent scholars and writers, attempting a careful investigation of paranormal phenomena during certain Voudoo rituals.  There was the suggestion that some of the phenomena observed during Voudoo possessions may offer an important field to psychical research.  While there Garrett attended special ceremonies, performed by one of the most “powerful” hungans, who as it is written in the report immediately identified Garrett as a sensitive ‘named for an alliance with the Laos’ (spirits).   The following is a summary of her personal observations and impressions.

“On my first visit to the Hounfor, I was recognized by Anis, the hungan, as a white Mambo .My second visit, at Anis’  invitation, amounted to an initiation to a secret Holy of holies, to speak to his Gods.  After a ritual dance in which I had to join, the ceremony (Petro rite) was an invocation to Ougun, the God of Power and War and to the Ougun Badigris, one of the God’s many personifications.

I was strictly forbidden to disclose the details of the initiation ceremony, which lasted over an hour, in the innermost temple in which Anis does his magic and his healing.  I can merely say that Anis was lying on a bed in a room divided from his chapel by a thin wall: Miss de P., a young Haitian artist, herself an initiated Hounsi  Kanzo, was present.  I believe Anis was in trance.  I hear him speaking with Papa Ougun;  then Gods spoke to Mlle, de P. and gave her a lengthy message for me.  The voices were dissimilar.  I understood that the Hungan questioned at length  Mlle. De P. as to what the Gods told her and desired on my behalf.

Later on another entity came and I was clairvoyantly aware of her presence.  “Simbi entre l’eau (Simbi between the waters) identified herself as an African goddess.

When the ceremony was over, I was given a healing stone (a memento of my grandmother which I keep in  my office desk drawer with healthy  “Respect”) and all the attributes of a Voudoo  priestess (mambo):  Anson, paquets, govi, etc . These sacred utensils had been carried to my room by Mlle de P.; Anis said that there would be flowers in my room, and indeed some mountain flowers were there.

 I have been told that special ceremonies honoring the Loa (spirit) I was associated with, usually take place on December 12;  I was asked to return to Haiti at that time.  If for some reason, I could not come, Anis would celebrate a ceremony, but I would have to observe certain rites wherever I might find myself.

Judging by the reactions of Mr. Aglion, the United Nations’ representative in Haiti, who is himself a serious student of Voudoo and of Mlle de P., the ceremony offered to me and the ritual salute received by the White Mambo were quite exceptional; nothing like this has ever been witnessed before.

The beauty and the emotional impact of this unique experience are still too strong in my mind for me to attempt a detached analysis.  I can, at this stage, offer to future researchers these two bits of advice: 1) Some of the psychical phenomena in Voudoo may be revealed only to sensitives, those who like myself are ready to respond to extra sensory stimuli.  A purely objective and detached observer may find himself confined to the study of the fringe of authentic Voudoo phenomena.  2) The sincerity of most of the Voudoo participants seems to be unquestionable.  Indeed the frontier between the normal and the paranormal, the natural and the supernatural, does not exist as soon as one is inside the Voudoo system of beliefs and rites.  It reappears whenever one is outside, but then little can be understood or even observed by an outsider.”

Garrett was so impressed with this experience that she made arrangements for the publication, in English the best at the time material on Voudoo written by Haitian authors, such as Dr Price Mars’ classic “Ainsi Pala l’Oncle” and a one volume symposium.

So look what I found!  And personally now  I  remember Garrett giving me a painted Haitian wooden box filled with amulets and cloth sachets which at the time my mother took a dim view of not at all pleased that her young  daughter was now given guardianship of these gifts which might signify literally  pardon the pun, God knows what!  I often think of “ Haiti Cherie” and the trials that poor Nation and its people have  regrettably had to endure.

This “blast from PF’s and Garrett’s past” helps me presently to appreciate what  I hold with an eye to safeguarding for the future the contents of these what I call mystery boxes of files and research papers etc.    The work must continue whether in my hands or not so it seems  there is more yet to do in the life of Parapsychology Foundation and on my daughter Anna’s and my “to do” list.  Please consider a tax deductible donation to support these efforts and I promise to continue to share my findings as the past does truly inform the future.