#petwo

Vodou revolves around spirits known as lwa. Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African divinities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints. The lwa divide up into different groups, the nanchon ("nations"), most notably the Rada and the Petwo. Various myths and stories are told about these lwa, which are regarded as subservient to a transcendent creator deity, Bondye. This theology has been labelled both monotheistic and polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists usually meet to venerate the lwa in an ounfò (temple), run by an oungan (priest) or manbo (priestess). A central ritual involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage a lwa to possess one of their members and thus communicate with them. Offerings to the lwa include fruit, liquor, and sacrificed animals. Offerings are also given to the spirits of the dead. Several forms of divination are utilized to decipher messages from the lwa. Healing rituals and the preparation of herbal remedies and talismans also play a prominent role.

So thankful to the Petwo and Kongo nachons! ❤️🔥💃🏾 Artist Andre Pierre’s depictions of the spirits resonate with me so much. 😊 The Petwo lwa have been so good to me and I had no idea. 🙏🏾 I still can’t describe the feeling of having incredibly protective, loving and HOT entities watching my back at all times. I didn’t have that growing up, so it’s taking some getting used to. Learning how they communicate has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever done and understanding them now, I see I have truly never been alone. It’s incredible and I am so grateful. 🥰

Today is Tuesday, which is a good day for Petwo spirits, the lwa who are considered more volatile and ‘hotter’ in temperament. 

This video shows us a kase fèy ceremony, where leaves that are collected for specific ceremony or work are crushed and empowered for that work or ceremony. This is always a Petwo ceremony. In the background, you can see two folks at the pilon pounding the leaves, and there are folks mounted with spirits working under the sheet to prepare leaves for the pilon, or to work on the powders produced.

A traditional rara band is present (guys with the long tube instruments) and spirits start to arrive that want to dance, smoke cigarettes, and interact with folks. A priest sprays them with kleren, and then the spirits under the sheet start to emerge.

BAAB Journal: Petwo' is a rite that was formed in the New World by slaves to cope with their everyday situation. It was used  the night before the revolution (by the slaves) to find the courage to free themselves. It usually reflects rage, anger and restlessness, but instead of showing that side of the rite, I focused on how powerful, strong and protective it also is; hence why I used women to portray that idea.  - Zarita Zevallos

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Hello!

Met (translates to master, used as a term of respect/honor for lots of different lwa) Kafou (Kah-foo, sometimes spelled Kalfu, or Carrefour in French) is the lwa who owns all crossroads and who is really the living embodiment of the crossroads. The internet and folks not familiar with the larger cosmology of vodou sometimes conflate Legba, who stands at the gate/doorway, or say that Kafou is Legba’s twin brother or whatever. Met Kafou is most often served in the Petwo rite for most lineages.

My relationship with Kafou has always been sort of interesting. In general, many/most spirits are quiet until they choose not to be, and, in my experience, that is how Kafou has often been for me. For a loooong time pre-kanzo, he was the only spirit who was in my spiritual court that I didn’t hear from and I was always curious as to why. My mother told me several times that, when he wanted or needed to speak with me, he would…and he did. 

I find him compelling because he inhabits spaces in between–the crossroads are a huge spiritual ‘yes and..’ and both/all/neither all wrapped up in one package–and my experience being transgender is very much about occupying spaces in between and having feet in both/all worlds, and he walks in all options as the crossroads. I dreamed with him once where he elucidated this and told me exactly where to find him in that sort of in-between place.

He is notoriously difficult to deal with because he works H-O-T and is an exacting spirit in that if he is not served correctly, everything goes to shit. Saluting him incorrectly at a ceremony means that no spirits will come–they won’t cross him when he is unsettled. If you aren’t right with him, he closes all paths and roads, full stop. 

As such, like all lwa, folks who don’t have guidance from someone empowered to teach them should not be seeking him out. Folks often like to go to the crossroads and Do Stuff, but you wouldn’t want someone showing up and dumping stuff on you/your home without knowing who they are AND a person who is not empowered to deal with a/any spirit of the crossroads has no idea who or what will show up 

I know Kafou as a master magician and implacable teacher–he wants it done right and to his specifications, or not at all. Meaning, if you can’t/won’t do things as you are taught and instructed, go bother someone else because he has not time for that. He is serious and HUGE. Like, a sprawling spirit. When he is present–like, in the air as he does not come down in possession often–it is like this massive presence that just unfolds over everything like a thick blanket. He is succinct and to the point–he is not going to hang out and chat just to chat, he, like all spirits and especially Petwo spirits, show up to do their work or say what the person needs to hear and then go.

He shows up in dreams in the shadows for me–I get glimpses of him and he follows and watches me do things I have been taught. Sometimes he tells me things, sometimes he watches. He holds a lot of secrets and uses silence to teach in a very specific way, and is one of the more inhuman spirits I have encountered.