Bottletree Diaries

juju in the new year

2012-01-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

if I owe you juju for the new year, please pardon the wait. should have some up and ready by the end of the month.

thanks, the D

All for one and rhum for all

2011-12-11T22:13:00.001-08:00

"Bottles of Barbancourt are routinely incorporated into the Mange loa, or "feeding the gods," the most frequently performed ritual in vodou. Food and drink offerings are placed on an altar, to nourish and fortify these divine spirits, the vodouin equivalent of saints. The Mange loa is performed to allow a devotee to make contact with a particular loa. Each of these beings has favorite foods and totems, but all are partial to Barbancourt, which is poured three times on the ground for the loa's delectation. "

courtesy of Cornelia (nakedauthors blog) "Well I've Never Been to Haiti, But I Kinda Like the Voodoo"

Please take time out of you holiday season to toast to the Lwa. Ogun, Baron Samedi, Maman Brigitte, Ezili Freda, whoever. What would you like to happen in the new year?

the southland

2011-11-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

outside marietta, georgia.

Them

2011-11-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

On this start of a new year, I salute my ancestors and kinfolk. All those farmers,washerwomen,teachers,preachers,medicine men, sailors, doctors, nurse, midwives, cooks, laborers, hunters & soldiers paved the way for us. They made me.

Ezili Danto - Seven stabs

2011-08-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

As a new mother, I pay tribute to Vodoun Petwo Lwa, Eruzilie Dantor the Protector of Mothers and Children.

Bad Mout*

2011-06-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

*bad mout = a form of spell or curse, bad mouth

People wonder WHY we have this thing called "Black English" without realizing that Africa is a continent with many countries and more than 2,000 languages spoken ( Nigeria alone has over 250 dialects spoken). Bring eight to ten groups of slaves from different parts to this country, set them up on plantations, house them all together and imagine what kind of communication skills get developed.
Let's be serious here, black people learned english from white people so... [please insert inference here] White people from specifically England,Scotland,Ireland. Some of them spoke fancy... most did not, i reckon. [here too]
They didn't come to the New World speaking the language, we know THAT.
The gullah language is a good example of a mixture of tongues. Black folk just creative like that. We took the g's off ing words, omitted apostrophies and had no use for the verb IS cause there is no such verb ( i.e. no equivalent ) in most African languages. What you get is a pidgin spoken, just like in the Caribbean, Central and South America and Hawaii.

I think it's ingenious.

YOU TUBE it:

Origins of Africa-American English

Uprooted - A documentary of the Gullah Geechee culture of the Carolina Sea Islands

Hush arbors ... sound like stomp grounds to me

2011-06-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

photo credit: Luis Modesti

Not many folks know about the Hush Arbors of back in the day. There was once a hush arbor that my family used back in the day here near Blue Hole Springs in Marianna, Florida as well as Pine Arbor Town. So much of the information about these kinds of gatherings are attached to revival movements and country churches ( i.e serpent handlers ) when you search the internet but, it is important to look deeper into the picture. I know for a fact that, these places of worship were very, very closely linked to the busk or green corn dance, one of the two major ceremonies of (Mvskoke) Creek people. We forget the ties that Native and African people formed in the South and the busk is a obvious example of how the Creeks infused African aspects into the fold. It is well documented that many Africans ( African-born and New World-born ) were a part of these ceremonies/celebrations and the presence of the medicine bundle in Mvskoke ritual is absolutely African. That cannot be denied. It is even stated that after the Second Seminole War, this non-Creek feature in the busk originated in Florida.
( check out: The Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol 56, No. 3, Jan 1978 )

Even the IDEA of a (Tvla) town associated with a medicine bundle (collection of magical objects associated with a medicine man) READ, juju,mojo,gris-gris is so African it should stop being overlooked. (in the eyes of historians) I'm tired of this things being misrepresented to the greater public. In a world where Christianity and Islam take people indoors, it is much needed that my folk get back to the forest, get back to nature. We are too removed from that energy.

"...slaves would steal away into the woods and congregate in what they called hush arbors or brush arbors, which were sanctuaries constructed of tree branches or in secluded cabins.... " William E. Montgomery

Varieties of African American religious experience by Anthony B. Pinn

once upon a time

2011-06-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, a very long time
monkey chew tobacco
and spit white lime...
old bahamian sayin'

calypso, mami wata, lasirene, aycayia, yemaya, what ever dey call she... be first in the hearts and minds of all that sail the seas. at time, she rough and hard and other time, she smooth and soft. she known for love and revenge. keep she close by and want for no more. you safe that way.

Don't do no love magic

2011-06-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

When Edwina Minnis come to my Nannie she axe for one thing. She axe dis man love only she.
My granny say “ Don do no love magic , you do you’n ”, and she give her a dream candle to wish up her own fate. She say to Miss Edwina, You wan love you do one ting, you wan money you do ’nother.
Nanny always think love an hate both sides of the same coin.

Hear dat, eh...

soon come

2011-05-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

Practical Magic

2011-01-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

If you love the movie Practical Magic (like me) then you'll love to see the article published in Victoria Magazine about the set.

the Owens sisters' home

thanks to frostedpetunia for uploading this article. this is my dream house!

At home in the Everglades

2011-01-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

missing home....

New Postpartum Bath Salts

2010-12-15T02:09:00.000-08:00

Instead of buying any postpartum remedies i found myself looking at time and time again during my pregnancy, I opted to ( even with a great batttle with fatigue the last month ) make some for myself. After this was decided, it was just natural that I make batches for my pregnant sisterfriends at the time. I was the ONLY baby shower gift I could muster up in my condition. All of the ingredients used are recommended for a speedy-soothing-harmless recovery from vaginal and cesearean births. Which, by the way, they don't tell you is long,bloody,painful and sometimes just unbearable. I can't submerge myself in water until after six weeks.... i'm dying to take a bath. these showers just don't cut it.

Look for these soon in our ETSY shop.

Feeding History

2010-12-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

The birth of a child, especially that one which is auspicious, brings to the vessel a set of cosmic responsibilities to manage and maintain. I am living a different life these days. Many things I used to be able to do freely now take a back seat to caring for this new life. Yet, I have been able to create a couple little things for friends in my spare ( 5 mins ) time. Some sisterfriends of mine who were all due within weeks of me received postpartum baths that i had a chance to make JUST before the birth of my own child. I was so happy that i got a chance to make them as i thought i was not going to be making much of anything anytime soon. but, as nature would have it, the act of creating is not limited to handiwork. i am amazed at the depth in which my ancestral connections come to play. i was trying to get my bub asleep, walking around the house and such. i looked down and he was wide awake, not what you wanna see at 2:30 am in morning, so i started to tell him a story. now, i was searching in my brain something cool to tell him or a funny story about how we used to go hang with our cousins and play in the orange groves behind their house but somehow i couldn't form it correctly for this moment. then, i started to just talk.
"their were these two cousins. cousins are like really close friends or blood relatives or other relations. these two cousins were playing in the forest jumping over and around fallen trees and rocks and leaves." it started. basically these two were hanging out by the river fishing and eating when they spotted a bird on the other side. it was blabbering and doin things crows do. it was warning them of a storm coming and that they had better high tail it back home before they got caught in it. when they arrive home all their relatives were hold-up in the house for the storm. everyone was proud that they listened to their crow cousin.
this story came out of my mind and unfolded as i spoke. i find it amazing and wonder where exactly it came from. i never recalled reading or having this story read or told to me. i need to find out if there is similar one out there. i look forward to telling my son many more of these nighttime dreams.

hmmm

2010-07-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Opon Ifa (Ifa Divination Board) : ORIGIN: Yoruba, Nigeria, Africa (circa. pre-contact )

Parker Brother's Ouija Board : ORIGIN: US ( circa: early 1800's )

A recent Ifa reading made me wonder about how U.S businessman profited on creating an entire industry supplying divination supplies and rootwork stuffs to people in urban areas who had previous relied on nature for their materials.

It's been a while...

2010-06-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Been focusing on the coming of my first child into this world since the last post and boy has that taken up alot of my time. I'm hoping to back with my work and posting very very soon.

Sacred Wayz & Means Workhop Series

2010-03-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Sacred Wayz & Means is an on-going workshop series that honors,supports,values and creates a "Space for Sistahs!".
Join us tomorrow night, March 15th, 2010 for :

Sacred Woman - Dippin in Luv A journey thru love, magic, media and more!

yemanya : (yoruban)goddess of the sea

2010-03-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

i went with my cousin to casa de cultura's yemonja festival and was hardly impressed. as a matter of fact i was taken aback by the white yemanya, oschun and nana buku dolls for sale at the front door. i have many objections to that imagery. to take an african deity and to white wash them for mass appeal is wrong and denies the true spirit of the god or goddess. the fact that yemanya plays a significant role in the middle passage saga and is being portrayed as white woman is a stab in the heart to all devotees of yemanya and people of the african diaspora.
-sent from my iPhone

hoodoo supermarket

2010-02-22T11:10:00.001-08:00

there's nothing like spending a day shopping for supplies. i used to spend
countless hours with my dad going to the hardware stores and junk
yards at home in florida on saturdays. man, i loved that ! at
present i cannot go into either without a purchase or an oogle of some contraption or thing i can't possibly fit in my apartment! outside of goin to the woods or herb shop, these are my favorite places to shop for accessories for hoodoo.

Maybe Robert Johnson took this guys' advice

2010-02-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

from "Hoodoo in America" ( The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 44, No. 174, )ct-Dec 1931 ) Zora Neale Hurston

i just read this in the journal of american folk-lore
Whoa.. i kind of can't believe it's in a book like that.
all black and white.

A Basic Everyday Jack

2010-01-28T23:43:00.000-08:00

from "Negro Myths" ( Boston, Houghton,Mifflin & Co. , 1888, p. 125 ) Col. C.C. Jones

Neighboring Gods - Ka Wahine 'o Pele

2010-01-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

ASSOCIATED PRESS At Kauai's Limahuli Garden, a blossom of an ohia lehua tree soaks in the sunshine. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin )

So... Down the street from me lives Pele. Yes, the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess who was chased from Kahiki ( Tahiti ) by her older sister Namakaokaha'i for taking her husband. The deity that fell into a jealous rage when she sent her youngest sister Hi'iakaikapoliopele to rescue her lover Lohiau and found they had fallen in love. Pele errupts covering the land with lava and out of the ash a 'Ohia Lehua tree grows. This tree is the kinolau (physical embodiment) of Ku ( one of the three major Gods of Hawai'i) but still associated with Pele. Everytime I pass this tree I look into, say "aloha e ka wahine" and I think of how special it is that this tree is on my block. This tree lives ALL over the mountainous regions of the island of Hawai'i yet, I have Madame Pele as a neighbor in Oakland!

( Pictured clockwise (l to r) is the lehua tree on my street )

Recently I have felt detached from my hula practice and wondered if I would see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. And the other day I walked by the lehua tree on my block.... I feel it coming back. This is a good sign.

here's the same tree a couple months ago in THIS post of mine where i found a cute mirrored dresser tray. too bad it was gone when i went back to get it !

nau Luana .... xoxoxoxoxo

e Pana'ewa moku lehua nui

mai alai i ke ala o ke kamahele

hele ke aloha, hele pu no me ka makani

makani Kaululehua o Pana'ewa

mai ewa ewa i ka huaka'i hele o hewa auane'i

o ke aloha ka mea waiwai o ka hale kipa a ka makamaka

he makamaka no keia, a o ka hea mai ka pono

e Pana'ewa e , no'u kekahi wahi aloha

ho mai ho'i i alanui i ho'ea aku ai i Hilo-Hanakahi!

A he leo wale no e

*this chant is KAPU please do no use for any purpose outside HALAU or WAHI PANA.

if you do not know what this means then you certainly should not use it. thanks.

Dream Juju

2010-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

So my friend asked me to make her juju so that she'd be able to have nightmares/dreams again. Yes, I know some people frown on having nightmares..we don't. She's been having a problem with this since a long ago break-up with a guy we refer to as " he-who-must-not-be-named". What I made her was a bedside candle altar with a metal dreamcatcher fitted to the cap. It is to be placed in a corner, lit before going to bed with the hopes that the dreams will find her.

Here's the prototype:

Materials : Coffee, Lichen, Paper Lantern, Skull beads, Abalone

The final product: Her dream juju I named Basheva. It was named for a 21st Century Yiddish writer, Issac Bashevis Singer who believed that demons are merely mysterious creations by God, neither good nor evil.

Materials : Coffee, Lichen, Recycled Seedling Pot ( for votive), Skull beads, Opihi Shell Necklace,

Ultra Sheen Spell

2010-01-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

thanks jason for letting me re-post your blog entry!!!

Posted by Jason on November 29, 2009 at 5:00pm

OK so I sometimes tell this story of a healing spell that I once did years ago involving the use of the hair grease Ultra Sheen. It usually makes people giggle a bit, but I did perform a successful spell using it so I thought that I might share. I once worked at a soup kitchen after school for about four years. There, I met a fellow occultist who had emphysema and who was in a lot of pain. We decided to do trade spell on each other because she felt strange not doing a spell in return. She mostly wanted me to help take the pain away and I agreed to try. At the time I was in high school with very little money and resources. So I went home that night in order to see what I could do. I decided to work with the Archangel Raphael. I was heavily into angel magic at the time and Raphael happens to be my confirmation name. According to the correspondences that I read he was often associated with the color yellow. So I went around the house looking for yellow things. I found a candle, thick yellow construction paper, and a long yellow ribbon. Indeed the elements were definitely coming together for my spell. Unfortunately, I had very few herbs in the house. I did manage to find some crushed bay leaves and I thought that that would work. They are good at getting rid of undesirable things, as well as being associated with healing in many traditions. However, because the were broken up and the waxy nature of the paper, I was having a hard time with the herbs because they kept falling all over the place. I was very frustrated because previously I was on a roll and was "feeling the spirit," as some would say. I was thinking of just scrapping the spell altogether but I made a quick prayer for inspiration. Sure enough, inspiration struck. Sitting over on the shelf in front of me was a small yellow bottle of Ultra Sheen, the hair grease. I looked at it and said to myself, well......it is the right color and it does say that it had vitamins in it, what the hell. I had solved my problem! So I was then ready to begin. After cleansing the area that I was working in, I lit my candle and said something to the effect of, "I call you Archangel Raphael, angel of healing and I offer this candle and it's light to you; please be with me as I perform this spell." I then waited to feel some kind of a presence in the room and I explained what the situation was. I took up the name paper that I made with the waxy yellow construction paper and smeared on the mixture of Bay Leaf and Ultra Sheen. As I did this I imagined her beaming with vibrant healing energy pouring out from her very soul. Then I took the ribbon and slowly wrapped up the name paper like a bandage. As I did this, I recited a particular chant that I got from a Wiccan spell book which is as follows:

"I wrap thee in cotton
I bind thee with love
Protection from pain
Surrounds like a glove
May the brightest of blessings
be with thee tonight
For thou art cared for
Healing thoughts sent in flight"

When I was done I set the packet down in front of the offering candle and let it burn out. The next day I found the woman outside of the church, smoking like a chimney as usual. I was actually quite proud of myself for being so resourceful being the young magician that I was (and still am by the way, lol). I told her that I performed the spell and she wanted to know the details. Being the staunch traditionalist that she was, she let out a deep, husky, and slightly condescending laugh at the young cheeky newbie. I'll admit that it did hurt my feelings at the time but what soothed me were the results.For about six weeks she did not feel any pain whatsoever. Before the spell, she needed to take a pain killer at least twice a day. Unfortunately she did not wish to stop smoking, nor was she ever really willing to, so the spell did not last and eventually her condition got worse. She stopped going to the soup kitchen shortly after so I didn't really see her anymore. I used to think of the spell as a waste of my time, and in some ways it was, but looking back at it now I now know that it it taught me some very important lessons about magic and about life in general. The first lesson is that one cannot help anyone if they are truly not willing to do anything about the root of the problem. Speaking of the root of the problem, that is what the second lesson was. You must attack the cause of the problem, not the symptom. If she was willing, I should have done a spell in order to help her stop smoking first. And finally the last lesson was: if inspiration strikes, go with it, even if it seems silly at the time. I must admit I still feel a little odd about telling the story but it was an important part of my magical schooling and I thought that some people may enjoy it or get something out of it. So there you have it, the magical lessons of Ultra Sheen. Perhaps I should write them a thank you letter or something, lol!

you can read more from jason here.

The magic of a good read

2010-01-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

I'm just about ready to re-read for the 8th time. Thank you Charles de Lint for this great treasure!

New Product : Spirit Wash - for purification

2010-01-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

Water baptisms are well known throughout the Southeastern United States. All denominations of people used the rivers, lakes and the sea to cleanse their spirits. In large groups or in private, washing away negative energies routinely keeps your psyche clean.
“ Goin to water “ is a popular term for this act.

These washes contain three popular spiritual antiseptics: spearmint,lavender & pine.
Each package contains two baths. Pour two or three tablespoons into a hot,steaming bath and wash you spirit clean. For best results, give the bath time to steep.

As you bathe meditate on letting go of negativity or things that may be blocking your path. Relax.

The Ancient Art of Reading Coffee Cups

2010-01-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Your Fortune In A Cup: By Sahar Huneidi

excerpt from Fortune In A Cup :

Coffee Readings are psychic readings done by using a cup of coffee as though it's a crystal ball. Ground Turkish coffee is mostly used when cup readings are done. The residue is left at the bottom of the cup after the coffee is drunk, when the cup is then covered with a saucer, shaken, and turned over (up side down) into the saucer, and left to dry.

The patterns formed on the inside of the cup trigger psychic insight; and are interpreted according to what they mean to the seer. Once you allow the information to flow intuitively, and with little training you can soon be well on your way to reading your own cup. There are others who read filter coffee, and instant coffee too - much like crystal ball, or water cup scrying. (In fact, you can pretty much read anything- cloud formation, carpet patterns, or rabbit bones- as they do in Africa).

It is important to mention here, for the reading to be meaningful, or indeed accurate; you are to sip or drink the coffee while relaxing, sort of in a contemplative mode. My experience showed me that the intention or the emotional and mental condition of the drinker affects how, and what symbols the coffee grains shape- your vibes at the time.

If a coffee cup that is drunk in a hurry, without the intention of having it read, or while not in a relaxed state, it can't be read. The grains do not appear to form any meaningful patterns- merely chaotic brown dots or mud in a cup! This is probably true for any form of divination, if you focus or intention is not present, the medium used will not provide a useful insight into the future.

Interpreting Coffee Symbols

Rings: A deal completed, a proposal, and engagement.

Circles with a dot inside: Desire for children will be fulfilled.

Fire Works: Quarrels, unpleasant personal problems.

Squares: New home.

Lines: Journey, a project. If lines are clear, they will go smoothly.

Candle: A wish fulfilled, help from above. Fulfil your promise.

Mounted horseman: A new man, good news, engagement.

Cat: Moody person (white is good, black, be weary).

Cross: Victory over an ordeal.

Ladder: Social advancement, promotion, change.

Open window: Lucky Break.

Fire: Careful of electrical wiring.

Peacock: Splendour, luxury, something you will be proud of.

Butterfly: Flirting.

Fish: Money- specific sum- depending on size of fish!

Bird: Good piece of news.

Rat: Robbery, theft. (If there is a dot inside, stolen item will be returned.)

VERY INTERESTING.

My IMovie Journal

2010-01-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

(* Warning: Video contains musical accompaniment. Is best viewed WHEN background music is paused. See MUSIQUE bar at lower right-hand corner of this page to stop background music or it will play forever.... *)

Hoecakes

2010-01-08T00:35:00.000-08:00

So, yea I've ended and started the new year posting food.
Been thinking on alot of things concerning food around this new year. while everyone says the same every new year about eating , right, and healthy and being green ( a locavore, carnivore, herbivore...choose your vore )& all the other bullshit we tell ourselves, as a person of indigenous ancestry i'm trying to eat more like my parents, grandparents, ggrands, gggrands and so forth ate. i like simple homefood. simple. YET most of it is just simple on the front end. all these delicious stuffs i am nostalgic for takes hella preparations. there is no short cut to any of it, unless you want it to taste that way.
Going through food issues like this can only be worked out by posting my favorite dishes of all time. woo hoo!

( Picture courtesy of www.boondockers-used-sports.com )

( Picture courtesy of www.thefruitofherhandstudio.blogspot.com )

real hoe cakes

pancakes masquerading as hoe cakes

don't let the small distinction fool ya. Hoe cakes are more cornmeal and less fried than pancakes or frybread. hoecakes are made with white corn meal not yellow. there are hotcakes that are made with yellow corn meal and no flour...
frybread is a whole 'nother story. yellow corn meal, fried til it's dead on the outside. pretty much.

( Picture courtesy of www.veganmenu.blogspot.com )

(Picture courtesy of www.fredericknewspost.com)

happiness is homefood

2009-12-31T12:27:00.001-08:00

grits.bacon.biscuits
trademarks of the south. with the basic combination it is obvious that the south is more complicated than people would like to think. this dish best describes where i come from and my ancestry.
biscuits: definitely a British concept ( although we eat hoecakes in my family more, hoecakes are of Creek & Choctaw origin )
grits: well hominy or grits are just big sofkee
bacon: made from the leftover pieces of the hog that were given to slaves, which were fried, boiled, pickled & salt cured.

it's funny that MOST dishes that are considered soul food came from southeastern native dishes consisting of corn, beans, squash. the eating of the greens of root vegetables though... is definitely african. talking my mixed blood.sisterwitch.cousinkin the other day and she said, mentioned that we both like turnips and ground food because of it. apparently lakota (sioux) folks use the turnip for everything, as a chew toy for toddlers, balls for play and even make a turnip flour.... wow i can't wait to eat whatever dangerine conjures up with turnips.

last post of 2009

2009-12-29T09:26:00.001-08:00

.....blah....

Digging Deep

2009-12-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a paper written by Zora Neale Hurston, a literary giant of all that is wild and strange concerning blackfolk, entitled Hoodoo in America and it's got me whirling. Since much of here information was compiled in New Orleans ( although there are sections on the Bahamas & Florida) there some many little pieces of information just beg for questioning. For instance, there is a passage entitled Hoodoo Beliefs which states that if you go to
" St. Roque church down at Raquet Green, where all the hoodoo dances used to be held, is a good place to burn candles for what you want. But you must walk down and back."

Of course I read it and wondered where this church used to be. Then all this info flooded my brain... Like the fact that Christian Churches almost always took sacred indigenous sites to build their own holy temples upon. Power places in the Southeast US almost always were at one time Native ceremonial grounds or sites.
For instance, Congo Square (renamed Beauregard Square for some dumb reason) in New Orleans, was the site of many voodoo ritual and social dances. It was also the Houma people's ceremonial stomp and stickball grounds.
So, I'm remembering all this and then I run across this in New Orleans as it was: Episodes of Louisiana life by Henry C. Castellanos

Postcard of St. Roch Cemetery Entrance w/ Chapel in the Background, New Orleans, c.1910

St. Roch Cemetery Entrance, present

What I can't make sense of is the use of the word bamboula? Bamboula is a musical style ( and also a drum of kinds ) that was imported into the Americas by slaves from the Caribbean. It is a dance, a style and an instrument so closely linked to the African Diaspora. Why is it ( incorrectly, i feel ) in this documentation of a Ishtaboli ( choctaw stickball ) game? The ball itself is called towa and I can find nothing so far to link the word bamboula any kind of game.

Subsequently, I have found interesting facts that link the pre-game ceremonies of Ishtaboli that were very ritualistic to the "hoodoo dances" on the Square. There was lots of conjuring and dancing by the medicine people of the Indian towns a the games.

Congo Square was used for this purpose and for certain both Native people and African people inhabited the Square at the same time. With Sunday's off for all slaves ( African, Native, Creole or White ) within the City of New Orleans anybody was bound to be in Congo Square during the festivities. I am now intrigued by this and need to find out more information.

Here's a funny thing:
Choctaw playing in Oklahoma, living in tipi? wtf is this?

quick fast mojo

2009-12-15T00:04:00.000-08:00

Colored People's Directory circa 1905

2009-12-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

This is a treasure for folks with ties to Chicago who are interested in genealogy. It's awesome viewing! My favorite is Miss Lutie Jackson. If she ain't a Hoodoo Lady she sure promotes like one.

Courtesy of Internet Archive

Juju Gallerie

2009-12-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our Gallerie of Conjurecraft

Pictured from TOP: Homemade Florida Water (9.12.09), Limited Edition Scent: Sangue River, Leah's Wedding Broom, Evalee's Mojo Bag, Kevin's Mojo Bag, Bottle Spells for Prosperity, Homemade Money Wash (9.15.09), Solid Perfumes for Money, Beaded Medicine Bag, Suz's Mojo Bag, Mona's Voodoo Doll (inside)

medicine bag for suz

2009-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

ummm, from pieces and parts to mojo in 1 hr, 38mins.

Sharing the craft

2009-12-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

I will be sharing the craft with some awesome sistren I met with last week in The Village Bottoms Cultural District in West Oakland. This is stuff I've been dreaming of! Celebrating the love of the cultural phenomenon that juju is. Omg, maybe juju is moving west.

........................................................................
thursday, dec. 10, 2009 | w. oakland, california usa
Sacred Wayz & Means Workshop| Thurs: 7p-9p| Village Bottoms Juju Shop
Soirée - Perfumes and Prosperity | offering: $5-$7 sliding scale

An intimate convening and working exchange of medicines, potions, customs [skilled, legacy & invoked] ole’ & neo manifestations of traditional and cultural ingredients for healing, transformation and positive action. The evening to focus upon the Juju workings of Perfumes, and the working principles in motion of Abundance and Prosperity...

The Juju Shop: 1193 Pine Street
[btwn 11th & 12th streets on Pine]
The Village Bottoms Cultural District
West Oakland, CA USA

contact: khayastar@gmail.com
_______________

Congo SQ West Kinship Society | Oakland, CA

"... to build bridges, restore networks & bind cultural ties."

Programs of Service, Campaigns, Arts & Culture & Foundation
phone: 510-464-3025 email: congosqwest@gmail.com

My own bottle spells

2009-12-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

( check'em out the bottle spells on etsy)

A common practice among Southern rootworkers is the use of bottle spells. Incantations, spells, notes and sometimes prayers are written on a piece of paper, which is folded numerous times and then placed into a bottle containing spell matter. This spell matter can be anything that is associated with the spell such as, bay leaf from prosperity, roses for love or nails for protection and so on. The bottle is sealed and then thrown into a body of water, buried or hung from a tree. This casts your spell out into the world giving it power.

Need some juju for Prosperity? Got some of that too.

Rush,Rush

2009-12-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

(pictured Junkanoo, New Year's Eve 2007)

Junkanoo is a celebration/carnival/extravaganza held in the Bahamas, Miami & other parts of the West Indies during the christmas holiday season. On Boxing Day and New Year's Day the most highly anticipated showcase of this festival occurs in New Providence,Bahamas. The elements of Junkanoo are similar to other pre-Lent celebrations such as carnival ( Trindad & Brazil ) as well as Mardi Gras ( New Orleans ) yet there are many distinctions. Personally, I believe that creating the works ( costumes, et al ) for Junkanoo are less evasive and more creative because the materials used. The good and bad thing about Junkanoo is that because the costumes are made from paper ( 90% paper goods ) they are DELICATE and if it rains they push back the starting time from 1:00am to whenever it stops raining. In 2007, me, my husband, my parents sat on Bay St, waiting for the parade to start which began at around 3:30am...
The musical element of Junkanoo I consider very "New World". The use of goat-skin drums, blowing conch shells, brass "marching band" instruments and rushing is something that relates it to New Orleans' second line. Everybody loves to rush the band, and the cops are forever yelling at folks. One year at Junkanoo my cousin, who is a founder of One Family, saw me in the crowd, motioned me to come out and this cop says to me when he saw me move ( i was already out there anyway) " You betta not rush "

Read more about Junkanoo here.

Southern Home

2009-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

and then there's...

you've GOT see this up close. click the picture

Tradition and Innovation in African-American Yards, by Grey Gundaker
African Arts, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr., 1993), pp. 58-71+94-96
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3337133

Limited Edition Scents ( Yule 2009 )

2009-11-30T21:18:00.001-08:00

Djon+Delius Perfumerie would like to wish you a joyful yuletide season. To commemorate the end of the old year and to celebrate the arrival of the new, two special edition scents will be available for purchase up until 1 February 2010. These scents come a 1oz, clear, corked bottle.
Price: $ 22 each

B U R N I N G R O S E

The end of a cycle is a time for purifying body, mind and spirit. Burning Rose is a bittersweet brew of honey and roses. It contains a combination of homemade honey tisane, Jamaican Rum as well as cinnamon,vetiver & rose essential oils.

W I N T E R L I G H T

With the new year comes new ideas, thoughts and visions. A bright new future to explore. This clean scent embodies that brand new light of day. It contains a combination of homemade pine, and sage tinctures as well as cedar,sage & jasmine essential oils.

why is all my font in italics...

2009-11-30T16:51:00.000-08:00

ok, now. i don't have time to mess with this? why all of a sudden is my page font in italics? c'mon blogger, i don't feel like decifering code this afternoon..... wtf?

uh now what...

2009-11-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

got this off the street today. i have no idea what i will build with
this. one idea is to make it a scrying mirror.

"Scrying is a method of divination and takes on many forms. Scrying has been used for thousands of years by different cultures. Ancient Egypt used scrying in their Initiations. This included water scrying, dream scrying, oil scrying, and mirror scrying. One legend states that the goddess Hathor carried a shield that could reflect back all things in their true light. From this shield she allegedly fashioned the first magic mirror to "see." Nostradamus is believed to have employed a small bowl of water as a offering/scrying tool into which he gazed and received images of future events. "
rehashed from ancient-wisdoms.com

the last time i used anything for scrying was at my old apartment in which my television what the scry. that was fun! since there are three panels i would make it for the 3 aspects of eruzile/ezili and somehow include medusa in there. because, medusa's my girl.
or i could take the mirrors, cut'em down. make individual scrying mirrors, like compact size and sell?? i know there's a ton of empty make-up cases at east bay center for creative re-use

A New Year's resolution of sorts...

2009-11-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

from my photo stash .... YAY!

In lieu of my annual Thanksgiving rant...

2009-11-28T12:21:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Fotosearch.com

NPS : Keeping it Real or Not?

2009-11-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

The Future of Slavery's Historical Spaces

James Oliver Horton, George Washington University

Spell Cards on sale now @ our Etsy Shop

2009-11-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

Just got the Spell Cards in the mail. They're awesome.

I've listed them on ETSY and given a couple of them out already. I admit, they're kind of fun.

An Everyday Anytime Good Luck Spell

Circle of Love Spell

Lover's Dream

a murder of crows

2009-11-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

so, today i'm getting ready to leave my house and this gang of crows are outside YAPPIN' in up. i mean yappin away. i walk outside and they all turn around like " yea, what? did you hear what we said? " then they all proceeded to continue there talking. while i stand there, nearly a foot from them i think about all the stuff my relatives would say about crows.

1. when crows talk. there's gossip going on
2. they have something to tell. ( i.e there is a message coming )
3. somebody needs to shut up
4. there's trouble coming

here's a folktale from GA,

The Crows are in the Corn
retold by
S. E. Schlosser

It happened in Georgia not long ago, that a farmer and his wife decided to sleep late, like the rich folk do. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the kind that brings all God's creatures out to play. But not these farm folk. No, they just slept and slept and slept.
The crows were gathered in a large oak tree, having a big morning meeting. They noticed that there was nobody stirring around the house, and that the corn was ripe in the field. So they adjourned their meeting mighty quick and flew over to the field to eat some corn.
"Caw-n, caw-n," they cackled excitedly.
The old rooster woke up to their activities and started to crow excitedly to the sleeping family. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"
The farmer and his wife just kept sleeping, and the crows kept eating the corn.
"Caw-n, caw-n," they called.
"The crows are in the corn! The crows are in the corn!" The rooster cock-a-doodle-dooed with all his might.
The farmer kept snoring, and his wife just rolled over and pulled the pillow over her head.
The rooster was frantic. He tried once more: "The crows are in the corn. They're pulling up the corn!"
The farmer and his wife kept right on sleeping. And the crow's kept right on eating.
The rooster quit crowing in disgust. Nothing would wake the farmer and his wife.
The old turkey came strolling into the yard and watched the proceedings. Finally he said to the rooster: "The corns all et up, all et up, all et up."
When the farmer and his wife finally rolled out of bed, they found that the corn was all gone. That is why in Georgia we say "the crows are in the corn" when it is time to get up.

You can read more Georgia folktales in Spooky South by S.E. Schlosser.

hair story

2009-11-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

( pictured: yep, my hair )

so this woman at work just propositioned me. said if i ever cut my dreadlocks and wanted to donate them she had an awesome project she would like to use them for. i reluctantly asked her what the project
was... creating a sculpture of adonis with dreads. she wants to attach each dread to the piece. :) i'm not saying that the concept is not cool as all get down but, using real hair( human hair cut off a living person) for anything (including weaves) makes a powerful charm. wtf are people thinking. i don't know anybody who would want their hair used for that purpose. art or not.
(i think the only way for it to get worse..... what's worse is using hair from people not living. that's worse.)

Bottle Spells

2009-11-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

personally, if i were this guy, i wouldn't be stockpiling this "debris" in my office.... unless you're ready for some serious consequences in your life. i've heard many stories about bottle spells. they are no joke if you have ties to mami wata,yemanya,oshun,damballah.

Bottles of hoodoo taken from Vermilion River

By KEVIN BLANCHARD

kblanchard@theadvocate.com

Acadiana bureau

Advocate staff photo by Bryan Tuck

Bayou Vermilion District Watershed Projects Manager Paul LaHaye holds one of the spells, revealing the nearly illegible writing of the spells, some of it crossed out and unreadable.

LAFAYETTE -- Among the soda bottles and lost basketballs floating down the Vermilion River, there are things much odder and mysterious. The Vermilion River could be called a one-way hoodoo highway.
Over the years, more than four dozen ordinary, little brown plastic prescription bottles have been found in the murky water -- each filled with blue or pink powder and strange, rambling spells meticulously written on scraps of paper.
Paul LaHaye, the watershed projects manager with the Bayou Vermil-ion District, oversees the collection of tons of debris pulled from the river each year.
Each time one of the brown bottles surfaces, LaHaye dries out the contents and places them in a plastic baggy or cardboard box labeled "Voodoo," that sits in his office.
Some of the district's workers won't pick up the bottles for fear of the "powerful magic," LaHaye said.
And while LaHaye isn't superstitious, he said he still tries to treat the items with respect.
"These are cultural artifacts," LaHaye said.
Inside each bottle are pieces of torn or folded paper containing tiny, nearly indecipherable cursive script, colored powder and sometimes cayenne pepper or seeds.
LaHaye has ventured to read some of the spells. A co-worker even started to help transcribe one of the more readable spells, but stopped when she started feeling nauseated, LaHaye said.
"Your power is no more on me ... your spell by witchcraft is broken ... undone, gone," one of the spells reads. "Please help us great mother. Send his witchcraft back to him and destroy him with his own witchcraft."
Most of them end, LaHaye said, with "Thank you spell for favors granted in the name of ..."
"There's a hoodoo out there for somebody," LaHaye said.
Most of the spells seem to be written in the same tiny handwriting. Each could have taken hours of labor, as sheets of paper were filled, then torn and folded, for each spell, LaHaye said.
It's likely that the spells were written by a practitioner of what academics classify as Southern Rootwork or Southern Hoodoo, said Ray Brassieur, a professor of anthropology at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Brassieur cautioned against trying to track down the person writing the spells.
To pry into such a secret and personal agreement between client and practitioner -- in a way like a priest and confessor --would be improper, Brassieur said.
The practice was famously documented in the South during the 1930s and 1940s by Harry Middleton Hyatt, Brassieur said.
The type of folk magic practiced involves "sympathetic magic," the idea that "whatever you do to that item, a like thing happens in reality," Brassieur said.
"Bottle" spells, like the ones being found in the Vermilion, are common, Brassieur said.
Part of the spell is placing the bottle into running water or tidal streams -- with their symbolic ebb and flow, Brassieur said.
The practice is not as unusual as some people may think, Brassieur said.
But finding evidence of the practice is "surprising," Brassieur said.
Brassieur said he's yet to study the spells in detail and will be careful when doing so -- in order to protect people's privacy.
Generally, people who seek out the help of a hoodoo practitioner are looking for help with a specific problem in their life that, for whatever reason, "regular channels" and institutions like medicine or attorneys aren't a possibility, Brassieur said.
Likely, most of the clients are poor, without financial means to find help otherwise, Brassieur said.
There's also a cultural and traditional aspect, he said.
"They were taught that this is the way to control the world," Brassieur said. "They're continuing those traditions."
LaHaye -- who's degree is in anthropology -- sees the hoodoo bottles as one more aspect of the Vermilion River's unique personality.
He said he'll keep the bottles at the office so that the unique practice can be studied and appreciated -- despite the nagging feeling that maybe the bottles are better left undisturbed, like King Tut's Tomb.
"It makes you suspicious" anytime something strange happens at work, LaHaye said. "Maybe it's more than coincidence."

purging fears

2009-11-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

i am happy I got to share a great cleansing ritual today with a group of people i consider my folk, my peeps, my ohana, my clan, my kin, my cousins... i think i scared myself though when i sang a song that i've never had any inclination to sing outside of blood and outside myself! ha ha ha! as a person raised in a church ( against my own will, of course ) i've always had a love/hate relationship with the church construct. (pictured, purging our fears in the backyard)
i come from folks (american blacks,caribbean blacks & mvskoke creek) who have : gone to "church" in the woods and/or given their lives up to the idea of jesus as the great white hope and the ideals of a judeo-christian ideal and/or gone to ritual on saturday & church on sunday. it's not that i don't like church, per se, i love old-time, backwoods church i do. i especially love the singing. it takes me to a most safe and serene place. that's where the comfort is.

when you sing, they all come. they are your folks. your ancestors. the ones who make you who you are. some are long gone from this world and some are right with you. every step of the way. that's why i sang the song i did.

i hope that my kin here, in this present, find that comfort,joy,solace,happiness,gratitude,understanding & patiencePLACE. together we can. i know we can. coming home from this circle i felt a little bit of peace. i hope that my kin take care of themselves and their loved ones approaching the holiday season and remember that better environment makes better people.
ashe' & a'ho

In the land of DIXIE

2009-11-13T15:10:00.000-08:00

Tuskegee, Alabama. Confederate soldier on the square. I always hated this statute. But it reminds me of the place....click the photo and read why

halloween abuse violation #6

2009-11-11T12:35:00.001-08:00

it's a week or two since halloween and folks still, unabashedly prop up

discarded bounty on their front porches. now they are moving into

thanksgiving decor. i don't even wanna start with that holiday... not

today. maybe next week! folks can abuse thanksgiving all they want. i

really don't care for it in they way it's romanticized and perpetuated

in concept. but, i like hanging out with my family,cause we're crazy

and yea, who doesn't like to eat?

Sent from my iPhone

i just looked back in my archived posts.... this is vegetable abuse at halloween must really burn me up, check out my nov 2006 post ...wtf

tis the season of anger :

me in 2007: who came here first
me in 2006 : first thanksgiving

Circle of love - Spellcards

2009-11-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

(Front-side of card )

(An excerpt from a circle of love spell in Gold-bug font)

(An excerpt from lovers dream spell in Fancy script )

the circle of love spell comes in a beautiful gold script font. yellow/gold is associated with the orisha oshun who is in charge of the realm of love, beauty and attraction.

you can use these cards in many ways. Keep them ANYWHERE you need, on your altar, at work or home. Recite, mediate on them or just carry'em. Give them to friends or family members anyone you would like to attract love to. each card is 55mmx84mm ( European Business Card size ) made from a thick, high quality 350gsm card with a matte laminate finish. this is slightly larger (in height) than an American business card.

Followers:
If you'd like a sample email me your address (djondelius@yahoo.com).

I'll be glad to mail you a couple.

All cards will be listed on our etsy shop as soon as possible

An Everyday Anytime Good Luck - Spellcards

2009-11-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

( Front-side of card )

(An excerpt from an everyday anytime good luck spell in Fancy script)

(An excerpt from an everyday anytime good luck spell in Gold-bug script )

an everyday anytime good luck spell comes in a beautiful pink script font. pink is associated with the vodoun lwa ezili freda who for some represent good luck and success (as well as love).

you can use these cards in many ways. Keep them ANYWHERE you need, on your altar, at work or home. Recite, mediate on them or just carry'em. Give them to friends or family members anyone you would like to bless with good luck. each card is 55mmx84mm ( European Business Card size ) made from a thick, high quality 350gsm card with a matte laminate finish. this is slightly larger (in height) than an American business card.

Followers:
If you'd like a sample email me your address (djondelius@yahoo.com).

I'll be glad to mail you a couple.

new items for sale - spellcards

2009-11-05T12:35:00.001-08:00

so this idea has been circling my brain for a while now and i just got my prototypes the other day. i like the idea of making everyday magic , not just the once in a while kind. i had an idea that i could distribute my our personal spells for anyone to use, as well as create some really cute merchandise! the power the words ( coupled with the voice ) is paramount in the realm of spellwork but who has the right words, all the time?
enter : spellcards

(pictured above is the everyday anytime good luck spell )

each card lists a different color scheme according it's spell type and are rhyming spells. at present i have four different spell types being printed. i will list the rest as they become available.

the everyday anytime good luck spell comes in a beautiful pink script font. pink is associated with the vodoun lwa ezili freda who for some represent good luck and success (as well as love).

you can use these cards in many ways. Keep them ANYWHERE you need, on your altar, at work or home. Recite, mediate on them or just carry'em. Give them to friends or family members anyone you would like to bless with good luck. each card is 55mmx84mm ( European Business Card size ) made from a thick, high quality 350gsm card with a matte laminate finish. this is slightly larger (in height) than an American business card.

creek medicinal plants

2009-11-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

The Creek Confederacy ( Guale, Yamasee, Hitchiti,

Tamathli, Oconee, Apalachicolo, Ocmulgee, Yuchi, Chiaha ) were driven from their ancestral lands, which included Alabama & Georgia, starting in the early 1820's. Not all of them went willing.

There are many pockets of Native communities all over the South. For those that left, know you can come back. The knowledge is still here!

Listed are the major medicinal plants used in Creek Medicine.

tola (sweet bay) ( picture courtesy : mgonline.com )

achina (cedar leaves) (picture courtesy: beccafromportland)

kapapaska (redberry shrub) (picture courtesy: shaney 442's photostream )

tchul'issa (pine needles) (picture courtesy : Urban Science Adventures )

atak'la lasti ( blackberry shrub ) ( picture courtesy : e-reference.com )

koha lowagi ( switch cane ) ( photo courtesy : jerryoldnettel's photostream )

okchanatchku ( a moss grown on rocks ) ( picture courtesy : A Storybook Life )

tchufi masi ( sugar cane ) (picture courtesy: Net World Directory )

miko huyani'cha

tutka hilissua ( red medicine )

tchufi insakka afaga ( a vine sorta like the strawberry plant. means rabbit-basket-string )

hilissua hatki ( white medicine )

tutka chokishi ( moss species )

u'i lani ( yellow water, jerusalem oak )

pa'ssa ( a mixture of herbs used at the Busk Ceremony )

Why I hate being sick

2009-11-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

OK, other than the runny nose, fatigue and sinus headaches that come every year with the winter, i really hate that it takes me forEVER to get my self together enough to remember, consult my dad and come up with the home remedy that works for me. I'm a water child, so I like any remedy having to do with water. If I can drink it away WOOHOO. If I can bathe it away WOOHOO. Tea & a Bath. That's me! I just prepared a sinus-go-away bath maybe you'd like to try:

A handful of Sea Salt
20 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
A handful of Spearmint Leaves
A dash of Spearmint infused alcohol
Cheesecloth

Draw a HOT bath. ( by the time you're done it'll have cooled down)
Crush the sea salt ( mortar & pestle is the best method OR use your hands ), add 20 drops of peppermint essential oil & spearmint. Mix until dry. Add a dash of the alcohol and pour out into cheesecloth. Wrap and tie. Place in tub. Let soak for ten minutes before entering tub.
Hang out and enjoy the smells.

now to my tub...

post tub script:
when you're just about done in the tub, take the bath mixture and use it as a compress. apply directly to the forehead & temples. headache. gone! well, mine is!

for all mine that are gone

2009-11-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

my family altar, list of ancestors, dia de los muertos 2009.

Cupid workin'

2009-10-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

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

Halloween abuse violation #5

2009-10-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-10-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

( 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

2009-10-19T11:35:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

How much mojo can I make?

2009-10-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-10T23:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

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

Saint who?

2009-10-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-05T17:13:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-04T16:24:00.001-07:00

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

2009-10-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

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.

St.Louis on Vieux Carre, con't

2009-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

It is quite surprising that the Mam'zelle Marie Laveau had accquired such a position within Creole & White society. I can't imagine that white women would ever allow a colored woman to touch, let alone CUT their hair. What were they thinking.... Exactly! They weren't. One of the first things you learn about roots is to be careful who you let handle your hair cause if they can get just a lock of your hair they can influence you and your future in many ways. Note: In some parts of Africa the hair of white people ( especially blondes ) was prized because it was thought to be powerful.
Check this out: Hair Memorials

Picture courtesy of Eberly College of Science News

St.Louis on Vieux Carre

2009-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

( picture left, St.Louis Cathedral,New Orleans where in the mid-1800's many Voodoo practioners received sacrament daily... )

In the late 1820's Mme. Marie Laveau of New Orleans was moving up a ladder of success from being a simple coiffeur (hairdresser) to mambo (voodoo queen). I think that this is a rather interesting path for this free woman of color at a time where there were no alternative paths of life for women, especially women of color. Black & Creole women's lives were not their own but, this woman created a persona that would be sought after, even to this day.

How did this happen? Mme. Laveau was a born into a society that was maintained by secrets. The very essence of creole life was held together by lies and skeletons.

For instance, legal interracial marriages were rare in Louisiana before 1870 and

" the desire for white men for sexual relations with Negro women was so great that special institutions grew to satisfy it " so this is how the instituition of placage came to be. The infamous Quadroon Balls played a major part in the employing this system where by mother's or female relatives escorted beautiful young creole girls to these balls which were attended by rich and sometimes poor white men with the purpose of finding the young girl a suitor. These unions were fueled by power, sex and money. Enter a spirit born into this world, and you have an incredible information base to pull from as an informant,consultant,confidant,spiritual adviser. This was a perfect time to be a Voodooienne.

~ to be continued

wedding broom almost done

2009-09-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

this a portion of the wedding broom handle. omg. i can't wait to finish this one. this will definitely be sold for $75.00.

New Orleans in Sepia

2009-09-24T13:44:00.001-07:00

Halloween abuse violation # 1

2009-09-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween is an excuse for people to parade rotting fruits and vegetables around on their porches 'til Thanksgiving.

Chicken Run

2009-09-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

not really... more like geese. still funny though, in retrospect

sunday

2009-09-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

can you see the sun??? click on picture to see the close-up.

wordcraft.spellcraft.chant: what's the difference?

2009-09-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

i see everything through a spiritual lens.

i cannot attend a church without noticing how remarkably un-christian most elements of church are. which brings me to prayers, litany, the word of god... all that.

they all sound remotely spell-like to me. but, what is a spell? it's a confession on intention right?

how do you make regular words have power? well, you can group them in an interesting way; make them rhyme, sing-song. if chants/prayers are lines of poetry, then so are spells. right?

Seven stabs of the knife, seven stabs of the sword

2009-09-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

Set kou'd kouto, set kou'd ponya.
Prete'm terinn-nan, m'al vomi san ye.
Set kou'd kouto, set kou'd ponya
Prete'm terinn-nan m'al vomi san ye.

Men san màke pou li.

we'll looky here: this is the view from my accupuncturist's table today... ezili danto appears after i post the photo of jolie blonde's altar in new orleans. seem strange? yup well that's my life. strange.and wonderful.

Eruzilie,Ezili is the lwa of protection closely associated with the aspect of mother. As a caring mother she will go to the ends of the earth to protect her children and family.

Voodoo Museum Marie Laveau, New Orleans

2009-09-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

I believe this was the cage of and now, the altar of a ritual snake named Jolie Blonde. I took this photo last year when I was in New Orleans. So sad is the state of that city. The old city is gone. but, not for long i hope. Chocolate City.

Florida Water

2009-09-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a fresh batch of Florida Water made just this afternoon. Florida Water is used to spiritually cleanse and protect a home or space. It is also a base for many ritual formulas used in rootwork, hoodoo,conjuring and other magical craftwork. If you'd to purchase or know more about this wash check out my Etsy shop. got juju?

note to self :

2009-09-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

do not go into again
this store smells like and is jam-packed full of sad dead people.
yuck!

She came before me

2009-09-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

(pictured : my great gran Sallie Lee Anderson and grandmother Josephine C. Anderson Burnside)
i am grateful to have a whole line of artistic+intelligent+self-sufficient+industrious+interesting+strong and rather witty women-folk that i come from. they are/were diverse and the same. they are/were wild and conservative. they are/were boisterous and stoic. they are/were complex and simple. a midwife,seamstress,farmer,doll-maker,teacher,storyteller,medicinewoman,lodge mistress, organist, cook, and a laundress made me who i am. for better for worse.

WE ARE DESCENDANTS OF OUR ANCESTORS AND THEY GO WHERE EVER WE GO

Tell the stories

2009-09-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

According to Patricia Riles Wickman, the importance of the role of the storyteller cannot be overemphasized:

Cultures in which the entire responsibility for replication and perpetuation of the cosmogony is bounded by the ability of its members to hold its elements within the living memory of each generation, without recourse to written codification, embody a type of dynamism within themselves that is unique to orally codified cultures. This dynamism is both parent and child of the process: such cultures are constantly required to perform, at the same time, twin activities, regenerative and perpetuative. They encode and institutionalize a ritualized cosmic past that objectifies the culture, even as they reinvent and reinvigorate a social present that uses as its benchmark the very cosmogony that is constantly being reinstitutionalized. This is the process by which, within orally codified societies, the reproduction of a structure become[s] its transformation. [p.60, Wickman]

Where are all the birds?

2009-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

sad.for true.
David Lewis, Jr. is the last living medicine person of the Bird Clan of the Muscogee in Oklahoma. Lewis description of his role as medicine person to the clan, and the void that will be left if he is unable to find a replacement for himself underscores one of the ways in which Creek culture is being eroded by modern pressures and influences:

excerpt from Creek Indian Medicine Ways, by David Lewis, Jr. and Ann T. Jordan

" I know that I'm the only living, true medicine man left who has actually been initiated. It is nothing to brag about; it makes me sad. We have a lot of carriers (uninitiated medicine people) who practice our medicine and they are very strong people, but they do not know the history of the origin of our medicine. The tribe has ceremonial grounds and they use these red roots all through the summer and the other medicine people use the red roots, but they don't know the history of where red roots come from. The history of our medicine is only taught to the initiated medicine people. I haven't found a replacement to initiate to carry on this medicine culture. There is an old story that says you will be given time to find one. Maybe that is why the medicine people lived to be old people; they put off finding a replacement. But you just can't find a candidate as easy as it sounds because the selection process is so strict. I don't think I will ever find one. "

mirror, mirror on the wall

2009-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Who's the fairest of them all

while walking the my breakfast joint i ran across this mirrored tray on the street.

i was very tempted to bring it back home...

but not into my house.

still, i may decide to rescue it.

Riddle me this?

2009-09-11T01:02:00.000-07:00

seven sot,
six sprung,
from the dead the living come.

Bird sat on a dead tree and laid her eggs. six birds hatched. one fell out.

one of my favorite words

2009-09-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

espantapajaros....

The Bee-King

2009-09-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

" Dream o' honey, Lots o' money
Dream o' bees, Lib at yo' ease ...

broom malfunction

2009-09-07T15:32:00.001-07:00

all my spooky friends will agree :
doesn't it look like somebody parked their broom in the tree!

the newest broom

2009-09-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

In Pagan & New World African tradition, the jumping of the broom is
symbolic of taking a leap into a new life together. A marriage is
consecrated after the couple jump the broom.
Presently, the broom I am making for this purpose is drying off in my
backyard. I stuck it in the tree to dry and I tell you, if my neighbor
didn't know up until this moment, I'm sure they think I'm crazy now...
picture to follow,

thedarkcyde
Sent from my iPhone

Making New

2009-09-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Trees are people too

2009-09-06T00:02:00.001-07:00

Here's a pen and ink drawing I did back in my Tuskegee Days. It was a designed to be a backdrop for the play Waiting for Godot.

new materials

2009-09-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

I just gathered more material for a wedding broom I'm making for my
friend.

Sent from my iPhone

motif

2009-09-04T14:09:00.001-07:00

Twin Beliefs

2009-05-07T16:07:00.000-07:00

Seems that in both Yoruba and Muskoke Creek traditions, twins were thought to be a strange thing.
They were feared and deemed dangerous because it was said that they are privy to the unknown, unseen
and untold things. This power made them an oddity.
If twins are same sex, they were thought to be friends or relatives in their previous life.
If they are opposite sex, they were thought to be husband and wife in their previous life.

I feel strange around my birthday and around samhain because i am a twin. My brother decided
after just a short time here that he didn't like it. He wanted to stay on the other side. He can totally cover more ground
than me that way!! Maybe he didn't wanna be here but I've always wanted
him to be here and that feeling never subsides.

Happy Birthday to us!

--
bloggin from gmail