6 Reader Responses

1. Chas S. Clifton Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 6:06 pm

   The practice has been around for a long time. My Catholic-born wife remembers it from the 1950s. Actually, there is a whole folk tradition of “mistreating” statues of saints until they deliver what you asked of them.

2. twistedchick Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 7:04 pm

   Let me see — where do I start here? First off, when one prays to saints, one is talking to the saint — the soul of that saint, presumably in Heaven — not to the small statue, icon, portrait, quilt, or other physical representation of what that person might have looked like when alive (but probably didn’t.) And, technically, what someone who is praying to a saint is actually doing is asking that saint to pray *for him* to God. In other words, it’s an extension of the practice of having two or more people praying together that God would intercede in a certain way, which is one of the oldest practices in Christianity, dating back to the Acts of the Apostles.

   In what way is the St. Joseph home-sale ritual “voodooesque”? You really shouldn’t be tossing around terms like that unless you’re willing to complete the comparison. What ritual in Vodoun (the proper term for the faith, not voodoo) is similar to this? Does it involve the Lwa or the Orishas, and if so which ones?

   Working with a representation of a saint is not a fad; as a practice, it’s been around for generations. When you call old practices “fads”, you run the risk of looking like someone who really doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

3. rev max Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 7:56 pm

   the info you seek is right here: http://www.luckymojo.com/saintjoseph.html

4. Occult Investigator Says:
   July 15th, 2005 at 9:13 pm

   Well, I may have been premature in calling it a “fad” but really, it’s extremely popular right now, so in that sense it is a fad.

   it’s an extension of the practice of having two or more people praying together that God would intercede in a certain way, which is one of the oldest practices in Christianity, dating back to the Acts of the Apostles.

   I don’t think Jesus meant one person and one statue when he said “two or more are gathered in my name.” Anyway, you’re not gathering in his name either. You’re petitioning God for your own personal benefit.

   In what way is the St. Joseph home-sale ritual “voodooesque”?

   This is just one example. I’m sure we could find many others:

   Figures / fetishes / charms made and used in primarily in Benin (formerly called Dahomey) and Togo. […] They are related to the diverse secret Vodum / Vodun / Voodoo / Vaudou ceremonies in which the participants want to contact the spirit world to exploit magical, spritual forces. […]

   Big wooden bocie statues represent the body of persons and are planted in the ground, for instance at the entrance of a village or house. Thus such a bochio should protect the inhabitants by chasing away prowlers and ghosts.

   Needless to say, it bears more than a passing resemblance. If that doesn’t work for you, try the Catholic Encyclopedia on shamanism:

   The main principle of Shamanism is the attempt to control physical nature. Hence the term embraces the various methods by which the spirits can be brought near or driven away.

   […] Shamanism is closely akin to Fetishism, and at times it is difficult to tell whether the practices in vogue among certain peoples should be referred to the one or to the other. Both spring from Animism; both are systems of savage magic or science and have certain rites in common. Yet the differences consist in the belief that in Fetishism the magic power resides in the instrument or in particular substances and passes into or acts upon the object, whereas in Shamanism the will-effort of the magician is the efficient factor in compelling souls or spirits or gods to do his will or in preventing them from doing their own. Hence in Fetishism the emphasis is laid on the thing, although fasting and incantations may be employed in making the fetish; in Shamanism the prime factor is the will or personality of the magician, although he may employ the like means.

   I’m not trying to say people shouldn’t do these practices. I’m simply saying that they should be aware of what they are doing. Even if it is an accepted Catholic tradition, it most certainly has shamanic magical roots. And if you’re not Catholic, then you should be aware of the strong objections to idolatry, the use of paintings, statues, icons and even stained glass that many Protestant churches are doctrinally founded on. Nevermind the teachings that some sects adhere to that saints are a form of paganism because their worship or veneration diminishes or distracts from the glory of the trinity.

   Most important of all though, find me the place in the Bible where Jesus says that you should take a tiny statue of his father and bury it in your back yard to sell your house? The only thing remotely related I can think of is when he says that you should give away your possessions.

   Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”

   But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

   That comes from Mark 10:21-22. Or we have Luke 14:33

   In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

   Or, since you quoted the Book of Acts, try 2:44-45…

   And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

   And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

   I’m not trying to be a bitch here. It just seems like manipulating God or the saints for financial benefit is pretty much the opposite of what’s being said in these Biblical passages.

5. Rev max Says:
   July 16th, 2005 at 4:05 am

   I’m simply saying that they should be aware of what they are doing. Even if it is an accepted Catholic tradition, it most certainly has shamanic magical roots.

   Don’t forget about catholic relics - that has shamanic roots too (and yes voudonists also use bones in their rituals):

   “If the clothes, the kerchiefs (Acts, .xix, 12), if the shadow of the saints (Acts, v, 15), before they departed from this life, banished diseases and restored strength, who will have the hardihood to deny that God wonderfully works the same by the sacred ashes, the bones, and other relics of the saints ?

   http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12734a.htm

6. alistair Says:
   July 16th, 2005 at 7:03 am

   don`t worry about the cathoholics. the man with the fish hat will only be concerned that you don`t wear a condom. every sperm is sacred, after all. even in africa. the cathoholics don`t want to be reminded that they usurped pagan religions and built thier churches on ancient spiriual sites, so any comparison to voodoo or juju or mojo will boil the sacremental wine. they would hate for thier thing to be the same thing as that which thier victims believed.