Brief review of Kenaz Filan's writings
[A friend asked:]
Can you recommend one of Kenaz Filan's books to start with? Thanks!
Sure! I actually started with his Haitian Vodou Handbook. After that, I was so taken with his frank and knowledgeable, direct yet respectful style, I ended up reading every other book he’s published except The Power of the Poppy.
I was originally hampered by my neopagan, western-normative distaste for love and money magic. I’m thrilled to say that Filan helped me loosen my culturally-centric blinders enough to see and appreciate not only the value of these types of workings in Vodou, but how they are completely appropriate within Haitian culture and Vodou belief. In other words, he helped me get the fck over myself. ;p
It was interesting to see him grow as a practitioner, to see his own beliefs and opinions change as time in his writings progressed. In Haitian Vodou Handbook (2006), he is more focused on the tradition and religion, on reverence and service. By the time he gets through Vodou Love Magic (2009) and Vodou Money Magic (2010), he’s come around to more of a pragmatic point of view. This is saying something, because he’s a terribly pragmatic man to begin with!
After noting that Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo had very different origins, I decided to dive into Filan’s book on the subject, The New Orleans Voodoo Handbook (2011). His history is good here, but could have been a little more fleshed out. Filan focuses specifically on Lwa who are unique to New Orleans in personage or service.
I actually just picked up Talking With The Spirits (2013) and it prompted me to go back and snag Drawing Down the Spirits (2009); both titles are collaborations with Raven Kaldera. I’m still reading these, so I can’t really offer commentary just yet.
Sorry, I know you didn’t ask for an assessment of his entire CV. I swear I didn’t mean to write you a novel. **giggle** I hope you’ve found what you need. Thank you for asking!
Can you recommend one of Kenaz Filan's books to start with? Thanks!
Sure! I actually started with his Haitian Vodou Handbook. After that, I was so taken with his frank and knowledgeable, direct yet respectful style, I ended up reading every other book he’s published except The Power of the Poppy.
I was originally hampered by my neopagan, western-normative distaste for love and money magic. I’m thrilled to say that Filan helped me loosen my culturally-centric blinders enough to see and appreciate not only the value of these types of workings in Vodou, but how they are completely appropriate within Haitian culture and Vodou belief. In other words, he helped me get the fck over myself. ;p
It was interesting to see him grow as a practitioner, to see his own beliefs and opinions change as time in his writings progressed. In Haitian Vodou Handbook (2006), he is more focused on the tradition and religion, on reverence and service. By the time he gets through Vodou Love Magic (2009) and Vodou Money Magic (2010), he’s come around to more of a pragmatic point of view. This is saying something, because he’s a terribly pragmatic man to begin with!
After noting that Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo had very different origins, I decided to dive into Filan’s book on the subject, The New Orleans Voodoo Handbook (2011). His history is good here, but could have been a little more fleshed out. Filan focuses specifically on Lwa who are unique to New Orleans in personage or service.
I actually just picked up Talking With The Spirits (2013) and it prompted me to go back and snag Drawing Down the Spirits (2009); both titles are collaborations with Raven Kaldera. I’m still reading these, so I can’t really offer commentary just yet.
Sorry, I know you didn’t ask for an assessment of his entire CV. I swear I didn’t mean to write you a novel. **giggle** I hope you’ve found what you need. Thank you for asking!