Nan Domi

Like all the great religions Voudou has an external, public practice of rituals and ceremonies--and also an internal, mystical dimension. Before "Nan Domi," works about Voudou have concentrated on the spectacular outward manifestations of Voudou observance--hypnotic drumming and chanting, frenetic d [...]
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Like all the great religions Voudou has an external, public practice of rituals and ceremonies--and also an internal, mystical dimension. Before "Nan Domi," works about Voudou have concentrated on the spectacular outward manifestations of Voudou observance--hypnotic drumming and chanting, frenetic dancing, fits of spirit possession. But practically all reports on Voudou are outsider accounts, which means that they are stopped at the threshold.Mimerose Beaubrun, educated as an anthropologist, set out to write another such work, but in the process she met the woman who would become her ultimate teacher and guide to the religion's internal mysteries: Tante Tansia, whose knowledge, wisdom, and spiritual power govern the text of "Nan Domi.""Nan Domi" is the only account of Voudou's private, mystical, interior practice that has been offered to the public so far. Its content stands in the same relation to ceremonial Voudou as Zen to conventional Buddhism, Sufism to conventional Islam, the practice of the desert saints to conventional Christianity. Mimerose Beaubrun has been a student of Voudou for half of her life, but she is also an adept, and in this uniquely valuable work, she divests herself of all scholarly apparatus to speak from Voudou's purest heart.Mimerose Beaubrun is a founding member and lead singer of the internationally popular Boukman Eksperyans. Politically and spiritually based from the start, the group is active in Haiti's pro-democracy movement; its members were named Peace and Goodwill Ambassadors by the United Nations in 2002.Praise for" Nan Domi: ""Vodou is one of the most valuable--and misunderstood--of all New World cultural creations. Mimerose Beaubrun's remarkable work opens up for the first time the internal world of Vodou, and what emerges is a singular engagement with a system of belief that cannot fail to impress any reader with its sheer sophistication and complexity. Gradually, the author recounts the ways in which she came to know the timeless wisdom of Vodou. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in Haiti, or in religion and society more broadly."--Martin Munro, author and editor of "Haiti Rising: Haitian History, Culture and the Earthquake of 2010"