Across families
Haitian Vodou and Shaivism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.18 (0 would be identical).
A distant creator and a crowd of lwa who are served, fed and who ride their devotees in ceremony. Initiatory, communal, intensely embodied, and consistently misrepresented by everyone who has not looked at it.
Shiva as both the absolute and the immediate reality of consciousness, approached through recognition, yoga and temple practice. Spans ascetic and tantric extremes, so D3 sits mid-scale with a wide dispersion for good reason.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.03.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.04.
B1 Source of truth
Both sit at between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience — a gap of 0.04.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.04.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at clergy and tradition decide and leaning clergy and tradition decide respectively — a gap of 0.07.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — a gap of 0.07.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at leaning a people, inherited and between a people, inherited and an individual choice respectively — a gap of 0.10.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at animate and itself sacred and leaning animate and itself sacred respectively — a gap of 0.10.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.10.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning many valid paths and between one true path and many valid paths respectively — a gap of 0.10.
Where they part company
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Haitian Vodou: leaning an intentional act. Shaivism: beginningless or natural. A gap of 0.60 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
A3 Plurality
Haitian Vodou: many powers and spirits. Shaivism: between strictly one and many powers and spirits. A gap of 0.57 on an axis running from “strictly one” to “many powers and spirits”.
B2 Reading of sacred text
Haitian Vodou: metaphorical, or no text at all. Shaivism: between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all. A gap of 0.48 on an axis running from “literal and binding” to “metaphorical, or no text at all”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Haitian Vodou | Shaivism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | leaning a personal being one can address | 0.03 |
| A3 Plurality | many powers and spirits | between strictly one and many powers and spirits | 0.57 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.07 |
| B1 Source of truth | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | 0.04 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | metaphorical, or no text at all | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.48 |
| B3 Institutional authority | clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.07 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.04 |
| C2 Shape of time | leaning cyclical return | cyclical return | 0.22 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.04 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | leaning achieved by effort or insight | 0.15 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.10 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | 0.33 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.10 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | leaning an intentional act | beginningless or natural | 0.60 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | leaning a people, inherited | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.10 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | leaning animate and itself sacred | 0.10 |
Positions for Haitian Vodou rest principally on Haitian Vodou ritual practice and Desmangles, The Faces of the Gods; for Shaivism, on Shaiva Agamas, Tirumantiram and Kashmir Shaiva Pratyabhijna texts. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.