Is Umbanda Dark Magic?

The answer is both yes and no.

So what does it mean to be dark magic?

Traditions are often labeled dark because they

-Worship the feminine as well as the masculine

-Recognize the importance of the body

-Have earth-based practices instead of only “guy in the sky” ideas

-Allow room for death, grief, and heavy energies; recognize the importance of death

-Involve a spectrum of divinity (Earth, Water, Fire, Air), instead of only Spirit/"white" energies

-Allow women to practice at the highest levels

-Have strong spiritual power, spirit allies, and other invisible forces at their side

-Publicly express strong emotions, strength, joy, and sorrow

It’s clear from this list that traditions are labeled “dark” partly to keep power out of the hands of women and people of color and to use shame as a means of controlling emotional expressions of strength.

In Umbanda and West African tradition, our practices have power in day-to-day life. They provide spiritual experiences not as escapism but as something that we are deeply at our core. They remind of our inseparable connection with each other, the earth, and the divine, which are not distinct things but interwoven and interconnected. This blog addresses West African animistic traditions, which are often labeled "dark."

Here's why you should stop fearing dark earth-based traditions but instead embrace them.

An elder in Brazil told me that the label “dark” magic or "black" magic is itself a racist term meant to spread fear and discredit practitioners, stripping them of their dignity.

There is so much fear around African traditions partly because people aren’t educated as to their origins and practices. This is also a larger institutionalized aspect because these religions are practiced in places that have a cultural heritage of racism. While individuals within these cultures may not be racist, inherited racism manifests itself in a culture of fear around religions that are “too African.”

People are told to stay away, be careful, not to mess with it.

It’s an unfortunate sentiment considering that West African religions are highly inclusive and contain the strong ability to help those who feel afraid, divided, and alone. It’s a sad irony that people who really need this help because they struggle to trust anything or anyone are the least likely to reach out for it from a "dark” tradition because they listen to fear instead of their own hearts. But what they really need is a safe container for both their darkness and their light, their pain and their potential.

Here is what Umbanda and West African traditions have in common:

-All strive for balance in human life and in interaction with the natural and spiritual world.

-All recognize that balance requires a recognition of both the darkness and the light.

-All involve worship of Nature, represented by the Orishas/Orixas, and/or a creator.

-All are initiation-based traditions, meaning the priest or priestess learns from direct interface with divinity and not from a prescribed course, book, or person.

-All involve the initiate becoming a vessel for an elevated energy, an ancestor, or a facet of divinity, to work through their body.

-All involve singing, clapping, drumming, and/or dancing to facilitate this altered state and to share this energy with the community.

-All have oral traditions, meaning the initiate learns with the help of an elder.

-All use inexpensive materials in their practices.

-All distribute responsibility around a circle of priests and priestesses and do not concentrate power with any one individual.

Umbanda doesn't consider the healing work it performs to be magic. When mediums are initiated and well-trained there is clarity around what is happening energetically, and the aspect of magic is replaced with a well-defined system and unambiguous direction. There is training to understand and work with the invisible forces of the world, so they become a reliable ally as opposed to something other-worldly or magical. As our Mother-of-Saint Mara Souza once said, "The only real magic is love, and Umbanda is that type of magic."

Our Mother-of-Saint Mara Souza in Curitiba, Brazil

Umbanda and West African traditions are communal ceremonies in which any trained member of the community can participate, heal, sing, perform divination, and act as part of the tradition from the inside out. It is highly participatory in that the energy of the ceremony is co-created instead of passively consumed. Even non-initiates learn the songs, the rhythms, the rituals, and contribute their love and energy to each gathering, adding to the power.

In general African Traditional Religions have a communal structure that runs counter to oppressive power structures and isolationist sentiments. There is no “one” priest healing the congregation, no “one” authoritative text such as the bible, no “one” narrow idea of divinity being the big guy in the sky, no “one” story that dominates all the rest.

I've also witnessed that people are afraid of these religions exactly because well-trained priests and priestesses do have so much power.

Healing trust issues, loneliness, profound pain, and deep fear is something that can only occur inside of a strong spiritual container. Ceremonies of Umbanda provide such a container because they have so much power. We do not have to deny our bodies, we do not have to deny death, we do not have to deny the earth or the feminine, we do not have to deny any aspect of divinity or darkness; such a tradition is a container for everything, our deepest grief and our biggest love.

So why do traditions like Vodou, Santeria, and Umbanda have many aspects in common?

When people were enslaved from West Africa from the 16th to 19th century and sent around the globe, they took their beliefs and practices with them. The African diaspora spread West African culture around the world, eventually forming Vodou in Haiti, Santeria in Cuba, Umbanda in Brazil, Hoodoo here in the USA, and so on. All have the same origins but are now distinct. For example, when enslaved peoples arrived in Brazil, their practices were forbidden and hidden among Catholic imagery, were mixed with Indigenous beliefs, were melded with European Spiritism/Kardecism, and eventually became the highly inclusive tradition of Umbanda. Social fraternity (brotherhood and sisterhood) and the interconnectedness of all people with the spiritual and natural world highlight the beliefs of Umbanda, Vodou, Santeria, Hoodoo, and West African "dark" traditions in general.

Umbanda is different from Santeria and Vodou in some ways. Everything we do in Umbanda is protective and seeks to repair karma and harmony. Umbanda does not allow aggressive work or love work. Love work interferes with the free will of another human being and has a large negative mark on karma. Umbanda does do justice work because justice brings balance to unfair power dynamics. We also do graveyard and death work in Umbanda to help the community when they need to heal ancestral issues, when they need to be protected from aggressive magic, and when they need to grieve or be cleaned of heavy energies. Umbanda also doesn’t use animals in any of its ceremonies and has a strict code of no harm.

There is also the occurrence in which people claim to practice Vodou, Santeria, or Umbanda who aren't initiates or who are working without permissions. It breaks the integrity of these traditions when a person or group of people practice them without permissions. This is tradition and this is safety. Ceremonies of Umbanda for example may only be lead by someone who was authorized by a Father- or Mother-of-Saint in Brazil.

The permissions process is an essential check that only well-trained and highly developed initiates hold ceremonies. When people work without permissions, the energy at the ceremonies is muddled and the resultant benefit to the community is diminished. To practice these traditions without proper training is like a person claiming to be a dentist because they brush their teeth. It's misleading and hurts the tradition and the people who need its help. Vodou, Santeria, and Umbanda contain this problem exactly because their power structures are more communal, and people take advantage. This in turn creates the problem that the community doesn't fully trust these practices because they don't know if people are working with proper permission and training. When the community isn't sure, it perpetuates fear and distance, and it prevents people from attending and getting the help they need.

To practice these religions without permission is cultural appropriation and taking from the tradition instead of giving to it. This is how initiation-based African religions work, and to deny that demonstrates a lack of understanding so fundamental that it should become clear that practicing without permissions is something only someone on the outside does. Initiates also have so much love for the energies of the religion that they would never discredit it or break tradition in this way.

Cyro & Nicole hitting the head to the earth in Boulder, CO

If you would like to experience an Umbanda ceremony for yourself, please explore this site, RSVP to the ceremony that works for your schedule, and make yourself at home with us and this powerful tradition.

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