What Is a Houngan? What Is a Mambo?

 

 

 

In Voodoo, a Houngan is a male priest of the voodoo religion; a mambo is a female priestess of the voodoo religion.  They have been initiated into the voodoo religion (in Africa) and have passed through the djevo (a white washed room with a dirt floor where initiates spend five days and four nights sleeping with the LWA and learning all of their secrets). They have built strong relationships with the LWA and, as the result of their extensive training, have secret knowledge, learning and power. They are schooled during their initiation by already established houngans and/or mambos.  

Houngans and Mambos, unlike the clergy of other religions, do not receive a salary or steady paycheck.  Instead, they charge for their services, time and materials.  Houngans and Mambos provide advice as well as many different types of services for many different purposes.  Just a few of the services they provide include:

Divination/Readings – which can be done with cards, a candle and water reading, getting the Houngan/Mambo to call on the LWA on a person’s behalf.

Baths – spiritual bath treatments are, in most cases, put together for a client to help remove negativity, to bring luck, to bring money, to promote healing or to help resolve a specific problem or issue.

Lave Tet – which literally means a washing of the head.  It removes negative magic, adds power to a person’s magic, strengthens them, increases money and much more.

Wanga – A very commonly requested service.  Wanga is a wish or desire that can include all kinds of requests (love, money, work, revenge, etc.).  The Wanga ritual can be very simple or extremely complex in detail.  The more complex the ritual, the more money it will cost.  There are also Wanga Dolls one can personally use that I will go into detail about in a future post.

Gads – Gads are for protection.  There are different types of Gads, the most common being Gad Ko which is a cut on the skin that has certain herbal powders rubbed into it.  It protects people from negativity, negative Wanga, unnecessary accidents and so forth. The Gad is actually placed on the point of a LWA and remains there for protection; very much like a guardian angel.  There are also countless other types of Gads which are implemented in a variety of other ways.

These are but a few of the services that Houngans and Mambos provide.  If you are receiving the help of a Houngan or a Mambo, it is important that you give them the respect they deserve by addressing them by title.  They truly are your superior when it comes to Voodoo.