#voodou

Metalwork reproducing Èzili Dantò's vèvè

The butterfly covering the figurine’s eyes symbolizes that the true nature of the world can only be understood through the vision of the soul—an act that requires immense trust, as few would willingly allow another to blindfold them without it. The finger raised to its lips represents the guardianship of spiritual secrets and divine mysteries. In Taíno mythology, secrets and mysteries were not confined to a single deity but were foundational to their entire spiritual system, influencing later traditions such as Santería in Cuba and Vodou in Haiti.

As a distinct ethnic group, the Taíno are officially considered extinct, and their religion is no longer practiced in its traditional form. However, their spiritual and cultural heritage survives in modern communities and revivalist movements, particularly in the Caribbean and its diasporas. The violence against Taíno women during Spanish colonization remains one of the most tragic and underdocumented aspects of this period. When Christopher Columbus and his crew arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, they initially described the indigenous people as friendly and hospitable. Yet historical accounts reveal that Taíno women were systematically subjected to sexual violence by Spanish explorers and colonizers. They were often kept as domestic slaves and many were forced into prostitution. Bartolomé de las Casas, a Spanish priest and advocate for human rights, documented the brutal mistreatment and sale of Taíno women, including girls as young as 9 or 10 years old. Meanwhile, their spiritual leaders, the behíques (shamans), were murdered or suppressed.

It feels profoundly enigmatic that this figurine has found its way to me. A few years ago, I was deeply engrossed in studying Carl Gustav Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious. Jung proposed that all of humanity shares a deeper layer of the unconscious mind, one composed of ancient patterns, symbols, and archetypes. Across human cultures, certain narratives emerge in strikingly similar forms, even when the societies creating them had no direct contact—neither in time nor space.

While Jung’s original theory was deeply metaphysical, modern science is increasingly capable of discussing these phenomena within measurable, empirical frameworks. That this symbol of hidden truths, resilience, and cultural memory should come into my possession feels like a quiet affirmation of the interconnectedness of all things—past and present, seen and unseen