Dunballa Wedo is Not Your Sugar Daddy

There is a strange thing happening in the spiritual community. People have begun to put spirits into boxes. The general populace limits themselves and limits the ability of the spirits to work on their behalf. One of the biggest examples of that is Dunballa Wedo. The Great Snake spirit and all that he has done for the practitioners of Haiti is minimized when we amount him to wealth, health and prosperity. He is so much more than that! I'm not sure where this trend originated from but everywhere I turn, lwa's are being approached like the ancient deities of old mythology. There are lwa spirits of love, of healing, of war, etc. The majority of people don't take the time to understand why that is. People don't understand the reasons why a spirit came to be responsible for these things. 

Allow me to break it down. Generally a guiding spirit walks with you in a combination or one of these things. They can be passed down from you blood relatives. As your ancestors practiced, now so will you. Another way is through the spiritual house you are initiated/adopted into through ceremony. You serve the spirits of that house and build a relationship with them until they choose to watch over and walk with you. The next way is random. Spirits can choose whomever they want however they want and we aren't privy to how exactly that decision is made. There are a ew rules of thumb to adhere to. There are many more micro factors that will affect each aspect listed above but for the sake of this article, use what is listed above as an incomplete reference for understanding. 

The spirits that decide to walk with you will take charge, once allowed and sometimes even if they aren't, of your lie. You don't need to go searching for a bunch of spirits to handle every single aspect of our life, because you have a spiritual court filled with a handful of spirit guides who already do that. Many people have spirits from different nations who are known for something specific. We live in a world where people are complex, and so are spirits. French people are more than their wine, Italians don't make pasta all day and Russians don't actually fight over vodka. By approaching spirits through similar closed off lenses, people practically stereotype them. These spirits probably won't be the ones social media tell you are "supposed" to handle this and that, but they will do right by you if you understand how to work with them. A common misconception is that a spirit will be okay with you going elsewhere for a responsibility they already took charge of. Respect what you have.

Today, this mistake is so common that people truly believe the spirits of Haitian Vodou are nothing more than the categories social media has put them in. It's disrespectful and a waste. Dunballa Wedo is not here to give you money every time you go crying to him. That's not his role. That's not his job. That's not the responsibility of any spirit. If that were true, Haiti would not be in the position that it's in now. I ask these "Vodouisant," are you better than all the practitioners on the island, or were you afforded opportunity they never have been? Are you practicing a higher form of Vodou? Is your Dunballa the genie snake spirit? 

Here is another sad fact: every time the spirits are misrepresented the entire Vodou culture is cheapened. When a spirit guide walks with you, they can decide to take things from you. They can choose not to grant a request. They are not water taps to be twisted at your every whim.