The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods Of Haiti

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The Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods Of Haiti
by Maya Deren; edited by Joseph Campbell

The book is available online at Archive.org.

From a description on Amazon:

Includes photographs and drawings. Foreword by Joseph Campbell This is the classic, intimate study, movingly written with the special insight of direct encounter, which was first published in 1953 by the fledgling Thames & Hudson firm in a series edited by Joseph Campbell. Maya Deren's Divine Horsemen is recognized throughout the world as a primary source book on the culture and spirituality of Haitian Voudoun. The work includes all the original photographs and illustrations, glossary, appendices and index. It includes the original Campbell foreword along with the foreword Campbell added to a later edition.

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Table of Contents

EDITOR'S FOREWORD

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

I. THE TRINITY: LES MORTS, LES MYSTERES, ET LES MARASSA

1. The Point of Departure
2. The Mortal Me: The Immortal Myself
3. The Birth of a Divinity
4. The Cosmic Minor and the Corpse on the Cross-Roads
5. The Marassa--Two and Two Equals Five
6. The Rituals of Death
7. The Rites of Reclamation--The Ceremony of *Retirer d'en Bas de l'Eau*

II. LES SERVITEURS

1. The Christian Influence
2. The African Heritage
3. The New World Answer to New World Needs
4. Tradition as a Contemporary Function
5. The Serviteur as Contemporary Citizen

III. THE DIVINE HORSEMEN

The Nature of the Loa

1. Legba--The Old Man at the Gate... and Carrefour--The Young Man at the Cross-Roads
2. Ghede--Corpse and Phallus; King and Clown
3. Damballah--The Good Serpent of the Sky... Simbi--The Snake in the River... and the Petro Riddle up a Tree
4. Agwe--Sovereign of the Seas
5. Ogoun--Warrior Hero; Statesman and Diplomat; Politician and Gangster; Magician
6. Erzulie--Goddess; The Tragic Mistress
7. Loco and Ayizan--The Priestly Parents

IV. HOUNGAN, HIERARCHY AND HOUNFOR

1. The Beginnings of a Houngan
2. The Levels of Hierarchy
3. The Houngan as Communal Father
4. The Houngan as Healer
5. In Balance Between Worlds
6. The Hounfor
7. The Doors to the Divine World

V. THE RITES

1. The Rites as Collective Discipline
2. The Rites as Individual Development
3. The Initial Ritual Acts
4. Feeding the Loa
5. Transfusing Life to the Loa
6. Ceremonies for the Serviteur
7. Initiation: The Birth of a Man

VI. DRUMS AND DANCE

1. The Sacred Forms
2. The Collective as Creative Artist
3. The Divine Virtuosi
4. The Anonymous Inventors
5. The Sacred Oratory of the Drum
6. Dance as the Meditation of the Body
7. The Drummer as Mechanism

VII. THE WHITE DARKNESS

APPENDIX A

        Notes on Two Marriages with Voudoun Loa

APPENDIX B

        Some Elements of Arawakan, Carib and Other Indian Cultures in Haitian Voudoun

NOTES

GLOSSARY OF CREOLE TERMS REFERRING TO VOUDOUN

REFERENCES

INDEX

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[This Table of Contents was originally posted to YouAreThat.org. I may have omitted some of the scholarly apparatus from this table of contents, such as Acknowledgements, the Index, etc.]

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