I recently picked up a copy of "The Spider and the Green Butterfly: Vodoun Crossroads of Power" by E.A Koetting and Baron DePrince from Eternal Ascent Publications.I have been very interested in Vodoun lately and trying to get my hands on any good books I can find. Being familiar with author E.A. Koetting's LHP work from his book "Works of Darkness", I was confident that I would find some good practical information on the practice of Vodou. The book did not disappoint in that aspect. Most of the books that I come across on vodou are usually just glorified hoodoo books with a few Veves (sigils of the vodoun Lwa spirits) thrown in for good measure.
The Spider Green Butterfly excels in the fact that is does provide practical information for tapping into the Vodoun current on a non-initiatory level with effective and powerful results. From consecration, altar setup, working with veves, and some formulas and powders that are not for the faint of heart, you get a good amount of information to get you started. The book also gives excellent background info on the history and practice of vodoun in Haiti. If you are looking for a primer on Haitian vodou this is a great start. Just know that it is far from being a complete system and the book makes it clear that this is in now way a substitute for true initiation into the current. It may also be argued that the info presented here is not necessarily traditional Haitian vodoun in the purest sense. There is no talk of setting up an ancestral altar, but there is talk of the Qlippoth and hints to the Tunnels of Set. It seems to me that the methods here are a mix of trad Hatian arts along with some inspiration from La Couleuvre Noire and the Voudon Gnostic system of Micheal Bertiaux. The book focuses heavily on the Darker more Left Hand path aspects of the vodoun system as a path of power, also it does not shy away from the use of animal sacrifice in ritual (and gives no substitutes) so this tome may not be for everyone.
The only gripe I may have with the book is the typical bravado that comes with works of a darker nature. You have the obligatory warnings of "Don't try this unless you are prepared to possibly pay with your sanity", ad nauseam . This is something I have come to expect and can look past. Granted these warnings are very necessary when dealing with the Lwa to my understanding. All in all this is a great book to get started in connecting with the current, but prepared to have much to discover with the help of the spirits, as well as in your own research.
