The spirits can be divide roughly into two catergories, hot or cool. Cool spirits are considered Rada spirits; and hot spirits are Petro or Petwo. Neither is "good" or "evil" in relation to the other. Rada lwa mostly come from Africa. Petro spirits are mainly native to Haiti and are more demanding. They require more attention to detail than the Rada, but both can be dangerous if angry or upset.
Rada Lwa
Agwe
Other names: Agive, Agoueh, Met Agwe,
Female Counterpart: La Sirene, the siren of the seas.
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint: St. Ulrich (who is often depicted holding a fish)
Offerings: White sheep, champagne, toy ships, gunfire, rum
Colors: White and Blue
Appearance: Depicted as a mulatto with fair skin and green eyes. Services take place near seas, rivers, or lakes. Must be careful that those possessed do not jump into the water.
Agwe is particularly important in Haiti, an island nation where many residents have depended upon the sea for survival for centuries. When he arrives in possession of a performer, he is met with wet sponges and towels to keep him cool and moist while on land during the ceremony. A barque is prepared with all sort of Agwe's favorite foods, including champagne. This barque is then floated over where it is believed the sacred underwater world exists. If the barque sinks, then Agwe has accepted the sacrifice and will protect the water interests of those who have prepared the sacrifice. Were the barque to float back into shore, then the service has been refused.
Ayizan Velequete
Other names: Aizan and Grande Ai-Zan
Gender: Female
Associated Catholic Saint: Saint Clare
Color: White, Silver and Gold
Offerings: Rooster
Appearance: Very beautiful
Counterpart Personality: Loko
Ayizan along with her husban Loko, she is a root Lwa. She is his feminine counterpart. Ayizan is consitered to be the first Mambo. She associated with priestly knowledge and mysteries, particularly those of kanzo initiation, and the natural world.
Damballah Wedo
Other names: Damballa, Danbala, Damballah
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint: Christ, Moses and Saint Patrick
Color: White
Offerings: White foods like milk and flour. White chickens and eggs
Appearance: He is often portrayed as a snake and the asson
Counterpart Personality: Aida-Wedo
Damballah Wedo (The Great Serpent in the Sky) is the eldest god and chief of the Loas. He brings wisdom, inner strength and peace. Damballah-Wedo represents the ancestral knowledge that forms the foundation of Vodou. With his wife, Aida-Wedo, he also represents fertility and new life. Haitians call him "Bon Dieu" (good god).
Erzulie Freda
Other names: Lady Erzulie, Metres Mambo Ezili Freda Daome
Gender: Female
Associated Catholic Saint: Our Lady of Sorrows (the Virgin Mary as suffering mother)
Offerings: jewellery, perfume, sweet cakes and alcohol
Color: pink, blue, white and gold
Appearance: A beautiful white woman with long, flowing blond hair
Alternate Personality:
Erzulie Freda is part of the Erzulie Lwa family. She is the spirit of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers. She wears three wedding rings, one for each husband - Damballa, Agwe and Ogoun.
During possessions, she can enter the body of a man or a woman. She enjoys the game of flirtation and seduces people without distinguishing between sexes. Erzulie Freda is femininity but she has also has a darker side; she is seen as jealous and spoiled and within some Vodoun circles is considered to be lazy. She always wants more, and when her needs cannot be met she falls into tears.
Papa Ghede
Other names: Guede,
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint: St. St. Gerard Majella
Offerings: White sheep, champagne, toy ships, gunfire, rum
Colors: Black
Alternate Personality:Baron Samedi (represents the death side of Ghede)
Appearance: He wears formal black attire and a high silk hat with dark glasses and a cane. He smokes cigarettes and drinks rum. Likes to mount young girls. When he is pleased, he's quite a clown, but hard to handle when angered.
Papa Guede is a much loved loa because his appearance always brings laughter and joy, singing and dancing; he is usually the last to appear at a ceremony.
He is the loa of death and resurrection and is known as a total clown. He loves cigarettes and is often seen smoking two at a time. He is neither good nor evil, but he is amused by humans and that's why he jokes around so much.
Ghede controls access to everything in the afterlife. We are reminded by him that our understanding of death and life is limited and that both are beyond our comprehension. As keeper of the cemetery he has intimate contact with the dead. He knows what their plans were, what's going on in families, what the connections of things are. Even when he is clowning or performing his erotic antics, if you can pull him aside and ask him a serious question you will get a serious and reliable answer.
Ghede is also god of eroticism. Eroticism is beyond good and evil since it is inevitable. Ghede is neither delighted by eroticism, and certainly not shamed by it. If anything, Ghede is amused by the universal presence of eroticism and humans' constant need to pretend that it is other than what it is.
When Ghede mounts someone he often singles out people who pretend to be aloof from eroticism. He ridicules them, embarrasses them and exposes them.
Papa Legba
Other names: Papa Legba
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint: St. Peter, who holds the keys to the gate of heaven
Color: Green, Rose, and Red
Holiday: November 1, All Saints Day
Offerings: Roosters
Appearance: An old man who walks with a cane. He carries a sack on a strap across one shoulder from which he dispenses dentiny.
Alternate Personality: Legba's Petro form is Kalfu Legba. He represents destruction rather than creation and is a trickster who introduces chaos and disruption.
When he mounts someone the person's limbs are twisted and horrible to see. The crutch is the symbol of Legba. The outward appearance of Legba hides a very powerful interior.
Papa Loco
Other names: Loko and Loko Atissou
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint: Saint Joseph and the Angel Gabriel
Color: white, golden yellow, and light green
Offerings: roosters, rum, beer, coffee with sugar, herbs and tree branches.
Appearance:
Loco is considered the first Houngan (priest). As the spiritual parents of the priesthood he and his wife, Ayizan, are two of the Loa involved in the kanzo initiation rites which is when the Mambo or Houngan to be is given the asson (sacred rattle and tool of the priesthood).They both are powerful guardians of "reglemen," or the correct and appropriate form of Vodou service. Loco is extremely strict when it comes to tradition. He can be harsh when he sees that things are not being done properly. He cannot tolerate injustice, and is quick to punish those who have done wrong.
His number is 41, which is a sacred royal number in Africa. He is a master herbal doctor and only Houngan or Mambo contact him and his wife. He knows all of their properties for both healing and magic, good or ill. It is often said that Loko is the wind, or like the wind. Thus, he is able to hear anything he so desires. He is associated with the butterfly.
Agwe Veve
Agwe Veve
Ayizan Velequete Veve
Ayizan Velequete Veve
Damballa Veve
Saint Patrick
Damballa Wedo Veve
Damballa Veve
Erzulie Freda Veve
Erzulie Freda Veve
Legba Veve
Legba Veve
Legba Veve
Legba Veve
Petro Lwa
Erzulie Dantor Veve
Erzulie Dantor Veve
Simbi Dlo - Simbi of the Water
Other names: Simba, Simbi Makaya, Simbi Andezo (Simbi of Two Waters) and Gran Simba
Gender: Male, eventhough sometime portray by
Associated Catholic Saint:
Offerings: candles, ribbons, water, and snake skin
Color:
Appearance:
Simbi, also spelled Sim'bi, is a family of snake or serpent lwa. All the forms of Simbi, such as Simbi d'l'eau (Simbi of the Water), Simbi Andezo (Simbi of Two Waters), and Gran Simba (Great Simbi), are associated with water, mainly the ancestral waters that surround the world of the living.
Within the African Traditional Religion of Vodou, Simbi comes from the ancestral waters that hold all the spirits of the dead and, as a snake perched in a tree, he descends to Earth to work magic and bring wisdom. He guides souls and bears them to all directions. In this function Simbi is the messenger of Papa Legba.
He rules over rainwater and rivers and can be found in ponds. Simbi is a powerful sorcerer and oversees the making of spells, charms, and brings power to all situations. He has special dominion over herbs and poisons. He is also the lwa of communication, though when he comes down during services, he tends to be quiet and to stand on the edges.
In Catholic syncretic Voodoo practices, Simbi is linked to The Three Wise Men.
Kalfu
Other names: Kalfou, Carrefour
Gender: Male
Associated Catholic Saint:
Color: Red
Offerings: Rum, gunpowder, 7 tree leaves
Appearance: He is strong and tall, muscular. People do not speak in his presence.
Kalfu controls the evil forces of the spirit world. He allows the crossing of bad luck, deliberate destruction, misfortune, injustice. He is the grand master of charms and sorceries and is closely associated with black magic.
Erzulie Dantor
Other names: Ezili, Erzulie D'en Tor
Gender: Female
Associated Catholic Saint: The Black Madonna of Częstochowa
Offerings: a fried pork dish known as griot, creme de cacao, rum and Florida Water perfume
Color: pink, blue, white and gold
Appearance: Dark-skinned, Scarred mother aslways holding her child
Alternate Personality:
Erzulie Dantor is considered to be the lwa of motherhood, single motherhood in particular. She is a dark-skinned, scarred warrior-mother. Shes a mother who watches and cares for her children very much but she can be a disciplinarian. She does not tolerate children behaving badly. She is a defender of her children and family to the end and require very little sacrifice to help someone.She will always be featured with her child in any image. The daughter most frequently seen in her arms is known as “Anais“. Anais is considered Erzulie Dantor translater.
Dantor can be wild, aggressive, and difficult to control. She is considered a “hot” spirit. For these reasons, one will at times hear her referred to as a djab. She is a country woman, independent and strong. She is so strong welled that in one song sang about her she is able to sustain seven stabs and still hold a basin and vomit blood. Although she vomits blood, she continues on. To some this may show defeat, but it actuality demonstrates the strength and power of this spirit. Sometimes Dantor will actually vomit blood while in the head of a possessed person.