The cross

The cross, in deference to Gede, refers to the crossroads and is the central symbol of his iconology. He stands at the point where the land of the living intersects with the land of the dead. The cemetery is Gede's home, and is a major ritual center in Vodou because it is the most charged and direct incarnation of the crossroads.

The Mirror

In Vodou it is believed that certain spirits live on the back side of the mirror surface of the water. Mirrors, used for divination and mirror gazing, are one way to tap the wisdom of the ancients. Gazing into the mirror, or into the water-mirror, one will see their own reflection but also the faces of the Iwa. Superimposed over the faces of the Iwa, the gazer sees the faces of their ancestors because an ancestor returns to the living in the form...