Card Readings in Vodou: What They Can and Can’t Tell You

Bonjou zanmi! Some of you reading this have had psychic readings before, either with tarot cards or runes or by some other medium. In Vodou,we also have a divination method called “leson”.

When you get a leson, it’s a bit different than other divination readings you may have had. First, you will be asked to pour out some water as an offering to spirit. Then, the priestess/priest will do some ritual acts: pouring out some alcohol and saluting the spirits, preparing a candle to be lit so we can hear what the spirits have to say, and shuffling the cards in a certain way.

The cards are then laid out in 4 rows of 8. Based on where certain cards land, we can then tell you what the spirits have to say.

The court cards (Kings, Queens, and Jacks) can either represent lwa or human beings. The numbered cards represent different aspects of a person’s life: love, money, etc.

Here are a few things the leson can tell you:

1. What spirits are walking with you; the priestess/priest can tell you how to serve them and what they may be asking of you.

2. They can warn of danger or bad luck coming to you, and conversely can tell of blessings and advice on love, luck, money, and jobs.

3. Reveal patterns in your life that are helpful or harmful.

4. Reveal humans in your life that are important or harmful; like I said earlier, the face cards can represent humans, and they are known by their skin color: some people will be represented as white, brown, or black.

There are some things that clients do that really annoy readers of any kind, and I’d like to pass those along:

1. “Testing” the reader. This is my pet peeve numero uno. Please don’t sit in front of a reader and, when they ask you what areas of questioning you’d like to ask about, say “You’re the psychic; you tell me.” NOPE. If you absolutely insist on not telling us why you’re there, the cards may or may not reveal it, or they will reveal the areas of life you don’t want to talk about.

2. Demanding answers or just plain rudeness. We readers are professionals, and many of us have trained for years to be able to do what we do. You wouldn’t be rude to your doctor if you went to them, right? We are offering advice and help just like a doctor would do, so please be nice.

3. Not listening to advice or warnings. When I do a leson, I am just the messenger for the lwa. You can choose whether or not to follow their advice, but then, why did you come for a reading if you’re not going to take it?

So that’s a bit about leson. Feel free to ask questions, or contact me if you’d like a leson of your own; they can be done long distance.

One thought on “Card Readings in Vodou: What They Can and Can’t Tell You

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