Houngans & Mesmerists: Haitian Vodou and Mesmerism

In 1778 Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer set up a medical practice in Paris where he promoted his new theories of magnetic healing. Mesmer claimed that he had discovered a natural energy that flowed through the natural world; he called this energy “animal magnetism”. He theorized that diseases, both mental and physical, were caused by this magnetic energy being blocked or unbalanced in individuals, and developed a system of magnetic healing that would assist in restoring balance in individuals, thus curing various illnesses and conditions. 

Although his teachings were dismissed by the Royal Society of Medicine, they proved to be very popular among the upper class of French society. These aristocratic supporters of Mesmerism promoted as well as studied his teachings, learning to become healers themselves, spreading his teachings through France and other nations. 

In 1784 many members of the upper classes of the French Colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) eagerly awaited the arrival of Count Antoine Chastent, a student who studied under Mesmer himself in Paris after undergoing a successful treatment for Asthma. Upon his arrival Count Antoine founded a Magnetic Society in Cap-Haïtien (then called Cap-Français) where he offered his services as a healer, as well as training others in the practice of Mesmerism. He also organized for magnetic healing to be offered in the Municipal Poorhouse of Cap-Haïtien. 

The popularity of mesmerist healing was largely due to it’s gentle and accessible nature. Mesmerist treatments included baths in magnetized water, and hand passes over the body that functioned as a form of energy medicine, balancing the magnetic fluids and energies that were explained to run through the body. This is in stark contrast to the Royal supported forms of orthodox medicine that included bloodletting and expensive medicines that were compounds of highly toxic minerals such as mercury. 

It was the accessibility of Mesmerism that earned the immediate distrust of not only the established medical professionals of France and Saint Domingue, but also many of the colonial government officials. Not only did this Healing practice take away business from the government approved trained Doctors, but the Mesmerist claim of the unity between humanity and the rest of creation was considered dangerous to the rigid racially based caste system of colonial society. By teaching that human beings were united by a natural energy, and that any person, of any class or race, could be empowered to learn and practice this form of healing came dangerously close to promoting a social equality that was against everything the colonial caste system stood for. 

 Another reason for the distrust of Mesmerism, was due to the fact that early on the practice developed a more Spiritual component to it; Mesmerists quickly discovered that when individuals were treated with magnetic energies they would sometimes enter a state of “magnetic sleep” or a trance-like state. During this state individuals would often experience psychic phenomena ranging from being able to channel spirits through mediumship to astral projection. Although alternative spiritual practices such as occultism and fortune-telling were popular at the time, they were forcefully denounced by the Roman Catholic Church.

By 1786 we know for certain from records that Mesmerism had become a regular practice among enslaved persons as well as free people of color. Many Plantation owners had initially promoted magnetic healing as an alternative medical practice in order to cut medical costs rather than hiring doctors to treat their enslaved workers, and several actually had some of their enslaved workers trained in magnetic healing in order to curb the cost of having to pay a Mesmerist healer to visit their plantation. 

Many of the individuals initially trained in mesmerist healing were those already acting as herbalists and healers, most of whom were also Houngans and Mambos, Priests and Priestesses of  Haitian Vodou. 

Haitian Vodou is an African Diasporic religion that gradually developed in Haiti. Combining African, Native American, and French Catholic practices, enslaved people managed to preserve their ancient traditions of healing and spirituality, while simultaneously creating a new Haitian spiritual tradition. 

Vodouisants believe in a creator God who is served through working with spirits known as Lwa. These spirits are synchronized with the Catholic Saints, and are referred to as the mystères, anges, saints, or les invisibles. The Lwa are venerated for help, healing, and protection in exchange for service and devotion. Together with Ancestor veneration, practices of divination, herbalism, and healing, Haitian Vodou is a complex and empowering spiritual tradition that was forged in one of the harshest, oppressive environments imaginable. 

The practices of Mesmerism were quickly embraced by Vodouisants largely due to the similarities with their own spiritual and healing practices. The Mesmerist practices such as preparing baths for healing, ritual hand passes, and trance mediumship, fit incredibly well within the spiritual worldview held by Vodouisants. 

This enthusiastic embrace of Mesmerism among the enslaved and freed persons proved too much for the slave owning colonial elite, and the fear and distrust of enslaved persons rebelling caused the government to issue a ban on “the practice of magnetism to all those of African descent, free or not.” Colonial records from Cap-Haïtien listed four enslaved persons being arrested for practicing magnetic healing; both Vodou and Mesmerism were regarded by the colonial authorities as dangerous and subversive to the colonial regime, as they were both empowering and encouraging to the oppressed. 

On the night of August 14, 1791 a ceremony was conducted in Bwa Kayiman, the woods outside of Cap-Haïtien (which coincidentally was also where the first presence of Mesmerism was brought just seven years earlier), a pig was sacrificed to the Lwa, and the spirits instructed that it was now time to overthrow the brutal and oppressive slave owning class and claim their freedom. This marked the beginning of the years-long Haitian Revolution; by 1804 Haitian was a free republic. 

Many French newspapers were quick to blame Mesmerism as one of the subversive elements that led to Haitian Revolution and the loss of their colony. Dr. Mesmer, who was still living at the time and had been an ardent supporter of the French Revolution and Revolutionary politics of liberté, égalité, fraternité (which many Haitians took as a rallying cry for their own Revolution) is said to have commented with some pride that his teachings had been helpful in causing a Revolution in Haiti. 

Mesmerist healing continued to be practiced long after the Revolution. With many Haitians continuing their interest in Mesmerism and Magnetic Healing, and other popular spiritual traditions such as Spiritualism, Freemasonry and Martinism. 

The word Magnétiseur, is actually still in use in the Haitian vocabulary to this day, referring to Folk Healers that continue to use the spiritual practices of magnetic energy passes to heal and assist those in need.  

One of the most widely read spiritual books in Haiti today is Les Prieres Merveilleuses, or Miraculous Prayers by Abbe Julio published in 1896. Abbe Julio was a French Catholic Priest that had become very interested in the Mesmerist tradition of magnetic healing and other popular alternative spiritual traditions. 

Eventually breaking with the Roman Catholic Church to join an Independent Catholic Church, he presented a highly spiritual reinterpretation of Catholicism and Catholic methods of Prayer, that focused on spiritualist principles and magnetic healing.  His texts are actively studied by many Vodouisants, and the phrase “ougan pike liv” is often used in Haiti to refer to Houngans who have studied these works and are knowledgeable of their prayers and ceremonies. 

In Haiti Mesmerism became synonymous with freedom, and was integrated into the Vodou corpus of healing knowledge. Magnetic healing was a practice that offered freedom from an oppressive colonial system, and continues to offer spiritual fulfillment in the lives of Vodouisants today.