The Vodun, Pro Wrestling & Performance Art
The gods work like appliances. Dealing in our Ciphers we revolve around sciences
Vodun culture is a noble old world expression of what modern man now calls hip-hop.
It pulls from where it pleases in the moment in order to become whatever it needs to be within the grand fabric of time.
Its fundamental structure remains consistent while its outer veil has the potential for vast creative expression.
The women in the picture above are voduisants from Lomé in the West African country of Togo, that neighbors Benin and is home to many of the same ethnic groups as Benin. These women work with a fierce vodun spirt that is known to take possession of its patrons in ritual by putting them in a camel clutch, figuratively speaking.
In an effort to visually capture the aggressiveness of the vodun grappler the women wear masks that they’ve designed based on what they’ve seen American professional wrestlers wear on TV. These women are the anonymous grapplers of their own squared circle who tap out and submit to the will spirit.
The African mind will often use the symbols and elements of MODERN pop culture (in this case a professional wrestling mask) as a point of reference for an ANCIENT spirit revered within its own social construct.
By integrating the ancient vodun into a contemporary social framework the voduisants maximize its appeal, and by default, its functionality, on the objective plane of form. That which has relevance in the moment holds great power in the present.
The word “Priest” is really an archaic term for the more appropriate title of SOCIAL ENGINEER. The most persuasive tool of the social engineer is their PERFORMANCE ART which is rooted in a mastery of human psychology.