my latest obsession : cup of destiny

juju in the new year

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

 "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

                     outside marietta, georgia.

Them

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

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

Bad Mout*

*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

                                                                           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

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

 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

Practical Magic

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

missing home....

*New* Postpartum Bath Salts

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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.