Archive for: December, 2009

Santeria Sensationalism

Dec 28 2009 Published by under Before My Year

I found an entertaining news article from UPI earlier. Here’s my favorite part:

Police told newspaper they had not identified the owner of the house, but George Bengal, director of law enforcement for the Pennsylvania SPCA said, “This is a huge find,” adding that Santeria cultists “usually take the skull and the feet and the blood and drain the blood from the animal. They’ll drink the blood and use the skull and feet as part of the altar.”

How funny!

How pentagrams and altars made of primate bones got associated with Santeria seemed odd enough… but to the claim that people in Santeria usually drink animal blood and use the bones for altars seems absolutely bizarre and unfounded… But, then again, I guess if you label every weirdo as a “Santeria cultist”, there is quite a lot of trends you can claim are common between them versus, you know, ACTUAL practitioners involved in the religion. But I guess I can’t be too hard on the guy. I mean, he works for the SPCA. I’m sure, like PETA, they don’t take kindly to anyone involved in animal sacrifices. I get that. I just wish they were educated enough to know when something is a result of Santeria and when it’s simply the result of nut-jobs.

Will probably cover this one a bit more in-depth during the next podcast.

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Episode 001: Watch Your Mouth

Dec 25 2009 Published by under Before My Year, Podcasts

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As a Christmas present to you all, I’m releasing the very first podcast for this site.

It’s only about five-minutes long, but I wanted to get it out there for you, so you could get a feel for the format I’m tentatively planning on using for subsequent podcasts.

Future episodes will hopefully be around 15-30 minutes each, but it really just depends on what I can get out there and the feedback I get from listeners.

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Hoodoo: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Dec 14 2009 Published by under Before My Year

It’s getting close to Christmas time and, as with every other year, I’m having a hard time coming up with good gifts for some of my friends and family. Tonight, though, I finished the first of my gifts. As much as I loathe the stereotypical “magic charm” aimed at “love and fortune”, that’s exactly what I ended up making.

A friend of mine has had a rough time lately, both in love and in her finances. She’s incredibly skeptical and non-spiritual, so I knew if I made something, it would have to be something that is simple, doesn’t really require anything special on her part, and — ideally — is aesthetically-pleasing.

I haven’t done many posts that actually break down what I do, but there seems like there might be interest there among the visitors to this blog. With that in mind, I’ve decided to give a quick run-down of what I used on the gift I made tonight.

The ingredients shown (from top-left to top-right) are:

  • Bay Leaves
  • Lavender
  • Cloves
  • Nutmeg
  • Cinnamon Sticks
  • Thyme
  • Juniper Berries
  • Grains Of Paradise

At the bottom of the image are a couple things I was about to work with:

  • Catnip
  • Spanish Moss
  • Bay Leaves
  • Toasted Corn

The glass container in the middle is what I was putting everything in. I had some golden and honey-colored beads lying around, so I poured those into the container just to get things started.

Not shown in the picture are a few odds-and-ends which I had lying around… I have a bad (or, in this case, good) habit of saving things in the event that I’ll have a use for it later. Tonight, I ended up using:

  • Some candy from Elegua
  • Small pieces from Olokun’s secret
  • Five dimes
  • Five cowry shells

NOTE: The candy from Elegua had been with him for the past year or so. Normally, I throw out the old candy each time I replace it with new candy. With Elegua’s permission, I am using the candy to give a bit of Elegua’s charm and resourcefulness to my work. Similarly, I am using pieces of Olokun’s secret, which — unfortunately — proved to be a bit brittle the other night when I was trying to clean some of the algae off of it. I included these pieces to add a bit of Olokun’s stability and wealth.

Everything else was pretty straight-forward. The bay leaves and spanish moss were chopped up, the cinnamon sticks with broken into smaller pieces, and the stuff for Elegua/Olokun were crushed into a powder. Everything else was put into the container as-is.

I would have liked to use fresher herbs than what I had, but sometimes you’ve just got to make due with what you’ve got.

I ended things by saying a prayer (moyuba) and putting it with the rest of my stuff for Oshun.

It’s not completely finished. I’ll probably tie a yellow ribbon to the mouth of the container or something along those lines, but unless I run into something that really calls to me as being something I forgot to add, I think it’s mostly done.

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Orisha Among Us

Dec 13 2009 Published by under Before My Year

I’ve always been fascinated with books that focus on the concept of Living Gods… Whether through books such as American Gods, Anansi Boys — or even stories geared toward a younger audience, like the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series — the overall message is the same.

Old and powerful forces are at work in our lives. Dismissed as myths, legends, superstitions, folklore, etc., they get strength through our tales of them, our belief in them, and our offerings to them.

These aren’t books about Santeria. But it really doesn’t matter. Some of the most profound things I have learned about this religion have typically come from people, books, etc. that had absolutely nothing to do with Santeria. I especially enjoy learning about others religions and mythologies. If nothing else, there are usually a lot of parallels that allow me to understand things better than if it had essentially been a chapter in something along the lines of “Santeria: For Dummies”.

In the books I mentioned, the characters recognize the influences (positive and negative) through manifestations (smells, colors, animals, etc.) associated with individual deities.

In my life and within this religion, I think it’s pretty easy to see a parallel. How many practioners — at some level — think of Oshun when near the river, pumpkins, butterflies, or even a beautiful woman? Though the specifics might change from practioner to practioner, everyone associates things with the various orisha. I think it’s just a natural part of the way we’re wired as humans.

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine, who was questioning my beliefs. Since I’m normally quite logical and rational, she didn’t understand how I could get involved in the religion. I tried to explain my position as best as I could. At least in my mind, there’s a difference between belief and practice.

Do I believe the pataki about Obatala using a snail shell full of dirt and a five-toed chicken to create the world? No.

To me, these stories are more about letting us get to know the personalities and overall feeling of the various Orisha. That is the core of it. The rest of the details are added on to those core elements — to teach lessons or maybe even just to provide entertainment.

The orisha aren’t standing around high up in the clouds discussing your life as they hang around the water cooler. The orisha are energy. The physical representations, manifestations, and tools help give you something to focus on, but these objects are all secondary to the energy around and inside of you.

As you learn about the orisha, you learn about yourself and the world around you. Like the characters in the books I mentioned, you begin to have a new perspective on life. Things that normally wouldn’t have had meaning before suddenly provide insight. As long as it’s balanced with common sense, this new way of viewing things can really help you tap into things you already know, abilities you already possess, etc.

Sometimes, associating these things was an external force just makes it easier than to take responsibility for it yourself. But it always needs to be viewed objectively and reasonably. Does every lightning storm heading towards you house imply Shango is upset with you? Of course not. But if you make a habit of viewing the orisha as your teachers in life and things that remind you of them as pop-quizzes, you might get quite a lot out of it. In the previous example of a lightning storm heading towards you house, maybe you should think about how his influences exist (or maybe are missing) from your life currently. Are you quick to anger? Let some of that anger drain from you as the storm passes. Do you feel powerless? Borrow some of Shango’s strength as the storm comes closer.

Like people, each of the orisha have their own strengths and weaknesses. By understanding and working with (rather than against) the forces in your life, you can work towards achieving balance.

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How Elegua Got His Groove Back

Dec 09 2009 Published by under Before My Year

Omi Tutu, Ana Tutu, Tutu Ile, Tutu Laroye

Elegua

For a while now, it’s felt like Elegua was missing something, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Well, I finally figured it out… He needed a hat! :)

I think it fits his personality quite nicely, too. My Elegua’s path is Laroye, so he works closely with Oshun. Maybe it’s just me, but nothing says “hanging out by the river” like an old Tom Sawyer style straw hat…

I also moved some of his stuff around a bit, just so he wouldn’t get too bored.

I have three dice with him, for good luck. There are three pieces of candy, to sweeten his mood. Lastly, there’s an old ‘Dukes Of Hazard’ toy car, which reminds me of Laroye’s playful and mischievous nature at times.

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Maferefun Oshun – Ibu Ikolé

Dec 09 2009 Published by under Before My Year

I live on a fairly wooded property. It’s just over an acre and next to an empty an heavily overgrown acre lot. Needless to say, I tend to get my fair share of random animals wandering through my yard. My neighborhood has seen small bears and even a coyote or two. For me, the most interesting creature I’ve seen so far was a deer, which decided to cut through my backyard at about 2am.

When I’m done with my meals (or sometimes even if I just have a bit extra), I like to put a little out for the animals. Officially, I usually offer it up to eggun, but it typically gets eaten by whichever opossum, raccoon, or armadillo gets there first.

I’m used to just about every noise the animals around here make. From the mooing of cows and crowing of roosters at a nearby farm to the chattering of squirrels as they chase each other through the trees. Today I heard a new noise, though. There were loud THUD sounds and movement on my roof. It was heavy, like a large tree branch had fallen and was rolling off my roof. But this was different. There were sounds at the front of my house, the back of my house, etc. I walked outside and saw vultures perched in the trees. Even more were in my backyard. I looked up and it was a bit like in the movies. There were a couple dozen vultures flying around in a spiral above my house, making their way down.

I went to the backyard to check it out (once I got my camera). Sadly, one of the opossums that I’ve grown accustomed to eating my leftovers was dead in my backyard. That was what was attracting all of those vultures.

I took a couple pictures, but couldn’t get close enough without scaring them off. In the end, I used it as a way to leave an offering a make a prayer for Ibu Ikolé, a path of Oshun that is closely tied to vultures, death, etc. It wasn’t much of an offering — just what was left of a jar of honey I had lying around (after trying a bit, myself. I love the taste of honey). I wanted to put some toasted corn out as well, but decided against it at the last minute. I didn’t think the vultures would be too fond of it. In the end, I offered up the honey and my previously well-fed oppossum friend and asked Oshun for her blessings.

That’s one of the double-edged swords when it comes to the religion. The good part is, sometimes things that you might not have thought twice about can be related back to the religion. The bad part is, sometimes things that you might not have thought twice about can be related back to the religion…

In this case, though, it worked out nicely. I’ve been wanting to do something nice for Oshun lately, anyhow. Hopefully my honey sweetened up her day ;)

The opossum fed on the food I gave it. The vulture fed on the opossum. Eventually, something feeds on the vulture. And so on… It’s very “Circle Of Life”, I know, but it’s true… As energy leaves one, it enters another. That’s how a lot of offerings, sacrifices, etc. go, too. You sacrifice your time, your knowledge, and sometimes things a bit more tangible, but you are sharing your energy with the orisha and they, in turn, share their energy with you (either directly or in more subtle ways).

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