QUOTE(kaboom13 @ Mar 15 2010, 06:36 PM)
The Rainbow and the Serpent is absolutely interesting, but to be honest, it feels like an nineteenth century anthropologist talking about "those fascinating savages."
My personal background is from Taiwan, more or less a nation that landed the a same historical pattern like Haiti (with the exception that it was the Spanish, the Dutch, then the Japanese). I consider Voudoun to be a 'higher' form of 'nature worship' or 'folk magick.' I have no terms that I can use to express how I feel about it except for the fact its 'matured' folk magick.
In saying this 90 percent of it is folktales and tradition. You have to have grown up in the tradition to actually interact with their entities fully, et cetera. Most of the earth spirits whenever I go back to Taiwan seem to be slightly more open to me, as opposed to the ones on American Soil, or even my times in other places.
But, after saying this: All of those books are now on my reading list.
Well quite frankly Wade Davis became apart of the voodoun culture as a whole and almost went the path of a full fledged voodoun sorcerer according to his book, anthropologists aren't about saying 'those savages' they're trying to show the world the exact opposite.