Cupid workin'

Writing out a love spell and needed some inspiration... ran across this book but, wtf? i can't read it. i mean i can't read the german, make out the english, stare at the french and maybe get a few words in or not. i wish i knew what the hell cupid was doing. dude is fishing.... what's that about. hmm.. the pictures are quite interesting though.

from the following book, by Kroniger & Gobels, 1699

Spirit Washes

Tea is my favorite spirit medicine. Here's a cinnamon bark brew i just made waiting to be devoured. Yum.

Halloween abuse violation #5

celebrities are so not immune to my wrath. wtf whoopi? you are
glittering a perfectly good squash??? huh? and you are hosting martha
stewart on your show. i can't stand her already but i really hate her
around halloween. she's single handedly made halloween too cute for
its own good. yea, i took a photo of the tv and.... what?

When looking for a home...

                             ( Photos top to bottom of page , New Orleans, Key West, Key West, Oakland )


I wonder if people, when looking for a place to settle down or settle into think about the history of that environment. I wonder this because my husband and I are looking for a house and I'm OFTEN drawn to Victorian and Colonial/Antebellum style homes. I'm always photographing them wherever I go. Key West, New Orleans, South Carolina, Georgia, San Francisco, Oakland.... As we look for a home though I thinking more about : " Do I wanna move into a house with new or old ghosts/haint/spirits? "

People should really consider these things. For real. I mean I'll take a old haunt over a new one anyday. Some of the modern homes ( post WWI ) really have pain in the ass ghosts. Like ones you can't get rid of. Young spirits who sometime just wallow. We've been in a lot of homes in the past couple months and it's amazing the different energy from home to home. Animal ghosts are the craziest and when I feel'em hanging out in a home I know I don't wanna live there. They tend to have a manic & sneaky energy about them. A liitle spooky? yea i know.

Halloween abuse violation #4

This is a great example of the misuse of a diversity of veggies... is
no squash safe?? wtf.
320 Hudson Ave, Oakland

Halloween abuse violation # 3

How much mojo can I make?

The list of mojo is seemingly growing and growing and growing. It must be the season. Sow the seeds.... sow the seeds people.

Gonna make some mojo today

                                                    Village Bottoms in West Oakland

Got an order to make a mojo bag for a woman this morning. I'll be meditating on it for most of today. Interestingly enough, I made some juju for a friend of mine this weekend for she & her husband, who was in a terrible bicyle accident. She needed a coping device and he needed some fighting energy.

Man, Ogun is showing up all over the place....

Leah's Wedding Broom

i am happy to show my latest ceremonial wedding broom finished. my friend leah cried when she received this gift. it took me a great many man-hours and this broom and i had many fights along the way. i had not intended to gold-leaf her broom but in the end, it wanted to be gold and so i let go of trying to get the broom to do what i wanted it to. she remarked that the broom was so much like her in that she's rough in places, loves the shine of glittery things, but also enjoy the natural, earthstate of things. she's is a diva and a princess all at the same time. whew! i'm glad that this one is done.

Halloween abuse violation # 2

violation #2
337 Manila Ave, Oakland
this is no jack-o-lantern it's just a veggie hangin out on your porch

Saint who?

A variety of practices and messengers used in Hoodoo & Voodoo traditions of the South comes from a diverse number of cultures and belief systems. Gods, Angels, Saints and plain ol' made up deities can be found in many New Orleans rituals. This one though, TAKES THE CAKE !

Saint EXPEDITE isn't a saint at all. This name comes from packages that had been stamped EXPEDITE by the United States Postal Service. Upon arriving at their destinations, practioners came to a realization that this action could be used as an effective magical tool. Candles and oils for this speedy and effective Saint can be found in most candle shops, botanicas & religious supply stores.

Can I really judge this? I'm thinking about it and you know, I really can't see anything wrong with it. I mean, they are continuing using the present-day environment in their practice. You gotta get new right? Culture has to evolve a little bit right? For me, I see it as PURE magic. It's the magic in the everyday.

Obeah in the Caribbean

This post is dedicated to my great-grandmother, Evlyn Mason Burnside ( Order of Eastern Star Lodge Queen(Nassau)/Obeahwoman. 
 Obeah ( in the Bahamas ) is the phenomenon of the supernatural. It renders evil or good; makes dreams come true; influences individuals either for their demise or holding them in one's power. It can cause an illness, either physical or mental or can cure any physical or mental problems.  It is a type of spiritualism, surrounded by many tales of unexplained phenomena, and surrounded with superstitions that evolve into a plethora of articles (fetishes), bush medicines, signs and specific directions as to what one may do. Obeah relates to the' supernatural, but is not indigenous to the Bahamas. Haiti has its "Voodoo", Trinidad and Cuba, "Shango", Cuba, "Santeria". In fact, wherever African slaves were transported and settled, African religious beliefs, healings and superstitions were taken and are still in evidence today. It is interesting to note that people in the American South (Black & White), have similar beliefs that are found in the Caribbean. Many "unexplained" mysteries, supernatural happenings and illnesses are ascribed to the influence of being "belted", "fixed", "hagged", "obeahed" or "placed under a spell".

Check this out:

In 1760, slave owning legislators in Jamaica passed this Act "In order to prevent the many mischiefs that may hereafter arise from the wicked art of negroes, going under the appellation of Obeah men and women, pretending to have communication with the Devil and other evil spirits whereby the weak and superstitious are deluded in a belief of their having full power to exempt them, whilst under their protection, from any evils that might otherwise happen."

Accordingly, death or transportation was the penalty for any slave who "shall pretend to any supernatural power and be detected in making use of any Blood, Feathers, Parrots Beaks, Dogs' Teeth, Alligators' Teeth, Broken Bottles, Grave Dirt, Rum, Eggshells or any other materials relative to the practise of Obeah or witchcraft, in order to delude and impose on the minds of others." This statute did not define Obeah, but some years later a Committee of the Privy Council attempted a definition of Obeah:

"It is very common among these people, who have so small a portion of human endowments, for some to pretend to super-natural powers, and thereby to practise upon the imagination of those, who believe they can be protected by them from the harms of his life. This practise of witchcraft is commonly called Obeah, and is always made an offense punishable with death."

Thus, in Jamaica, from 1760 until the abolition of slavery, the provision against the practise of Obeah became a permanent feature of the slave laws.

"Legislators throughout the Caribbean, and the white population, generally believed that Obeah was a force to be reckoned with, and they saw in the 'Obeah man' the incarnation of all that was evil, including their own destruction." 

An example of some of the convictions in Jamaica was described by Dr. Madden:  In the criminal record book of the Parish of St. Andrews, I find the following Obeah cases:

1773 - Sarah, tried 'for having in her possession cats' teeth, cats' claws, cats' jaws, hair, beads, knotted cords, and other materials relative to the practise of Obeah, to delude and impose on the minds of the negroes' - sentenced to be transported.
1776 - Solomon, 'for having materials in his possession for the practise of Obeah' – sentenced to be transported.
1777 - Tony, 'for practising Obeah, or witchcraft, on a slave named Fortune, by means of which said slave became dangerously ill' —not guilty.
1782 - Neptune, 'for making use of rum, hair, chalk, stones, and other materials relative to the practise of Obeah. or witchcraft' —to be transported.

  

excerpt from pg. 55, Ten, Ten The Bible Ten : Obeah in the Bahamas, McCartney (1976)

Offering Hideaway

there aren't too many accessible rivers or streams in Oakland proper
that aren't crowded with people and/or dogs but, I got my secret
spots... here's one visited today with ochun's offering floating away.

A New Day, a new deck

this is what happens when you don't use cards for a long-ass time, go to look for'em then find you've lost them.
i just bought a new tarot deck today. i really wanted to buy the Aquarian Tarot ( because i've been eyeing that deck since i bought it for a friend of mine 14 years ago) but, i pulled yemanja out of this Goddess Tarot Deck and so....
i had to buy.
gotta listen to my mama ya know.

Medicine Birds

photo courtesy of Field Guide to Birds of North America, ( www. whatbird.wildbird.com )

edicinephoto courtesy of Field Guide to Birds of North America, ( www. whatbird.wildbird.com )

Medicine birds respected for their persistence and power draw things out of places, Toski ( woodpecker in Muscogee) have an esteemed place in the Southeastern Native traditions. Birds in general are favored heralds in that they bring the changing of the seasons. They signal the cold of the winter and wake the plants up in the springtime. Up until recent times it was thought that this bird was extinct. When you hear the knocking sound of toski in the woods you can understand why they are thought to pull things out of hiding.