In America, Voodoo is thought of as a mysterious force, akin to the occult and black magic. We think of voodoo dolls, curses, witches, and gory animal sacrifice rituals. But is that the whole story?

In reality, Vodou is a rich religious tradition with roots in Haiti. It’s a mix of West African traditions and Catholicism, a complex and storied worship of nature and various deities and spirits. Given the myths that surround Vodou, it’s easy to see why most Americans have the wrong perception of this religion. I had the chance to attend a presentation about Vodou ceremonies in Brooklyn and to talk with Brooklyn photographer Shannon Taggart about her experiences photographing Vodou.

Shannon began photographing Vodou ceremonies in and around Brooklyn, her home base, because she was struck by the similarities between the Vodou concept of  ”spiritual possession” and the American Spiritualist tradition of “trance.”  Taggart began photographing Spiritualists when she was in college and a main focus of her current work is to “draw a parallel between these practices as part of a larger piece on religious possession rituals.”

In her artist’s statement, Shannon describes her Spiritualism work as “They are meant as a meditation on mortality and the alchemy of human ritual. They are meant to question consciousness. They are also an attempt to examine how the individual experiences the spiritual uniquely. Finally, the images are an effort to manifest the unseen, and to pose the question – ‘What if?’”  This also speaks to her work with Vodou, documenting beliefs that are met with ridicule, misunderstanding, and even hatred in the US (Pat Robertson famously remarked after the earthquake in Haiti in January, 2010, that the nation deserved the intense death and mass destruction, for having made a deal with the devil to secure their independence during the only successful slave revolt in history).

A striking part of the Vodou tradition is the empowerment of women within the religion, especially as compared to more traditional religions such as Catholicism. Shannon herself works primarily with a Mambo, a priestess who presides over most of the ceremonies. There are also priests, or hougans, in Vodou, but gender is not considered central to the practice of rituals or ceremonies. Several of the pioneers in the study of Vodou have also been women–Maggie Steber, who uses Vodou religious iconography in her photojournalism, and Maya Derin, a filmmaker and writer who wrote the definitive study of Vodou, The Divine Horsemen.

While Vodou may always be misinterpreted and misunderstood by the majority of the world, art and images like Shannon’s serve as an endeavor to bring light to an otherwise dark and mysterious tradition, an attempt to link the practices of all faiths into a larger tapestry of spirituality and the search for a higher power.

All images by Shannon Taggart. For more information, please visit her website: shannontaggart.com