Abstract
Religion is the most complete and condensed communication that a culture makes about itself. Among the media used in this communication process—myth, creed, philosophy, dance, the visual arts, to name only a few—the latter, in some ways, seem best suited to bear the necessary strain of being at once inclusive and simple. Certain forms of religious art, mandalas and sandpaintings for instance, are well-known for this quality. They are microcosms, pictures of the outer and the inner cosmos, the universe and the self. In other words they are total pictures; they say it all; they lack nothing. Yet, these same images are simple, direct, unmixed and whole. The veve of Haitian Vodou, cornmeal drawings done on the beaten-earth floor of the Vodou temple to call the various gods of this New World religion, should be added to the list.