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"Trust me", he tells me. "Go buy the beer, and whatever you see as necessary, and you WILL smoke that cigarette..."

So I hobble my way up 171st to the Arabic owned 24 hour deli where they sell single cigarettes for $.50 each...On the way, I see a beautiful funerary floral arch, and a small table with several candles. I ask one of the neighborhood men sitting there if the deceased was his friend, and if he honored los santeria or was catholica. "Santeria", I am told. Ok, looks like I am adding a candle to the list along with my Ballantine 40 oz and a cigarette... I see that most of the candles and objects are red, so i decide that color is a safe bet...

When I got back there and placed the candle, I notice it is below the window of the elderly Dominicano lady who finally smiled and talked to me the other day when I danced through the sprinkler on her street like a child. Now, she speaks no English, and I have little Spanish, so conversation is not exactly simple. But we manage to establish that she is friends with the mother of the Dominican family from whom I rent, and that she is no more Christiano than I am...I relight one of the candles to her satisfaction, and pour a little beer in the offering cups placed there. I stood and smoked my cigarette while I befriended this very traditional Dominicano senora...

When i got back to my building, the super is hanging out in front with the "regulars", so I ask if i may have a seat. I have been working on befriending him a while as well. I want no trouble in this neighborhood, and from what I have seen, he and the old Dominicano lady are the biggest gossips; so it serves me well to let them know a) I am not your typical blanco, and b) this Americano wants no troubles....

While I sat talking with him, the lwa in my head says, "More cigarettes". I was already hurting from my first walk and really questioning why Legba is wanting me to smoke. His only answer "it's Friday. You offer beer and tobacco to me". So ok, I get the super to translate, and the nice Domincano youth there agrees to walk up and get me a couple of cigarettes... I smoke one when talking to the super, and they are Newports, so I hold one up to heaven in honor of a dead friend as unobtrusively as possible when everyone's attention is elsewhere...just as I spilled out much of my open can of beer to the lwas there on my stoop...

I came upstairs when they all went in, and cracked my remaining 40 oz. I settle in with my glass and the last Newport when Legba says "You are not done yet. On such a hot night you should be outside where its cool. Go buy more beer. And as many cigarettes as that leaves you change for". I check my remaining cash...that means 1 more 40 oz and 5 smokes.

Back up 171st, I check my candle. It and the other I had relit have gone out. Recently, for the wax is still soft. My own I repair, but the other is hopeless, its wick was shit to start and has broken off so deeply in the candle that without a proper knife to dig the wax I cannot get it lit again. I guess it was for this that Legba instructed me to bring a votive, so I pop it in. I also place the shell I was told to take with me that trip....the plastic glasses into which i poured the beer offering are gone. I place the shell where they stood.

This time I stand there for some time. There are some local youth my son's age I have been talking to that also seem to stay in that building. I establish a better rapport with them and finally head home. I stand outside my building, alone this time, watching the craziness of the club across the street while I smoke one of my proscribed cigarettes- back to Marlboro this time.

So I finally come up to tend my little altar. It is getting late, like 4am. I can hear that the club is finally closing. I look to see how many cigarettes are in that bag as I tend the altar and drink my beer. 4 left. "Smoke 3 of these now, my daughter." says Legba. "Leave the last in the silver case on your altar. This is your last tobacco offering to the Lwa, you will make no more. Think, count...how many cigarettes did you smoke tonight?". I count back...the answer is 7. One for each of Los Sientes Potencias Africanos...

After the cigarettes were gone, the last carefully put away in its silver case upon the altar, La Balene told me to go and draw the Veve she had given to me through Legba on the doorstep of this building. So as dawn tinted the NYC heavens,, I went and sat simply like a child on the pavement of the stoop, and drew the whale Lwa veve as I was shown. Passerbys just ignored me. Then I came inside and was told to mark certain things, the marble newels, the stairs near my apt, my door, etc, with stars in the purple chalk I had used. Some I was told to erase and hide, others to leave visible.

Yesterday (Saturday) I was sequestered, mi Madrone asked me to neither leave the house nor speak to anyone I didn't have to. Legba was quiet in my head. But La Balene, for whom I burn a Santa Marta Dominadora (Mama Simbi) candle had plenty to say. More on that in another entry. Now I go to break my fast...]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=94 Mon, 7 Jun 2010 17:31:01 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=93
Monday
May 31, 2010
Mgdln Abyss Working.....Perhaps the most difficult things to give up are not those one wants to keep but those things that one may not want but are ingrained in the sense of self.
Maggie....perhaps the only thing a magician truely owns is their faults. Perhaps it is easier to leave the perfected selves than the damaged selves.

Tuesday
June 1, 2010
There is an odd sound on my audio recording at the swamp. it shows up in a number of the segments of the recording. Gutteral clicking...almost metalic.

Wednesday
June 2, 2010
New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple...drum prayer in courtyard. I follow the sounds of the drum into my self.

Ritual: Oil Will: The spirits of the waters push the oil back into the pipe.
Love: Levee. Rhythms to Legba open and close the gate. gate
Success: Clearer mind / more committed to the stoping of the oi

Thursday June 3, 2010
New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple....
RITUAL: Drum Prayer Oil Will: Oil back down the pipe Love: Legba and Bamboula rhythms
Success: Again I was advised to clean my own internal "Oil" out. All of the weak and poluted emotions, thoughts, selves. Bamboula rhythm appeared to be good for this. Ah! yes, bringing the self to order.......bringing the house to order...bringing the Mar Assi, the Gulf, to order. he twins are out of balance.

Friday June 4, 2010
I burnt out. Too much. The oil the birds the hurrycanes, economy....all to gether. Refuge in Nuit. I got into bed and set my mind on basic body sensations. The feel of the pillow and cover on my skin."Nuit is your refuge." Could not fight any more and there is no dishonor in finding refuge. Like Crowley said, the magician should find their limits.
I was careful to show this weakness to Mshln. So often I am the strong one. She needs to know that we are all in this balttle together. She took care of me which made her feel better, strong. I believe that illustrates a great benifit to others in showing personal weakness.
RITUAL: For Nola: bad reaction to wasp sting. Will: Healing Love: Offering of sugar to insect loa. Called in favors I have done for them to help in Nola's healing. Annie Christmas...Dad's machette in ground with water running down blade (Al rivers run together - Jessica) as a magickal link. Success: Nola well Treated in hospital by Dr. Blackman

Saturday June 5, 2010
I've reassembled a strong self and can hear the Angel again today. She said "Need" is from the Old Norse nauthir which means "distress or compulsion." You can not fight well if you are motivated by compulsion or distress.

Sunday June 6, 2010
Preparation for Babalon. The ritual of the Order of Service is set and valuable as it is. The other ritualI am to do is much more open. having the angel speak through the drums of the ritualists is worthy. I would like to include the oil.
Friday June 4, 2010
I burnt out. Too much. The oil the birds the hurrycanes, economy....all to gether. Refuge in Nuit. I got into bed and set my mind on basic body sensations. The feel of the pillow and cover on my skin."Nuit is your refuge." Could not fight any more and there is no dishonor in finding refuge. Like Crowley said, the magician should find their limits.
I was careful to show this weakness to Mshln. So often I am the strong one. She needs to know that we are all in this balttle together. She took care of me which made her feel better, strong. I believe that illustrates a great benifit to others in showing personal weakness.
RITUAL: For Nola: bad reaction to wasp sting.
Will: Healing
Love: Offering of sugar to insect loa. Called in favors I have done for them to help in Nola's healing. Annie Christmas...Dad's machette in ground with water running down blade (Al rivers run together - Jessica) as a magickal link.
Success: Nola well Treated in hospital by Dr. Blackman

Saturday
June 5, 2010
I've reassembled a strong self and can hear the Angel again today. She said "Need" is from the Old Norse nauthir which means "distress or compulsion." You can not fight well if you are motivated by compulsion or distress.

Sunday June 6, 2010
Preparation for Babalon. The ritual of the Order of Service is set and valuable as it is. The other ritualI am to do is much more open. having the angel speak through the drums of the ritualists is worthy. I would like to include the oil.
]]> General http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=93 Mon, 7 Jun 2010 01:39:17 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=92
And Elegua rides me, and asks of me thrice:

1) Are you ready to give up your tobacco, as you have asked of our assistance to do?

I answered, "YES"

2) Are you ready to cease burning the bitter herb, your curse of recrimination on the iniquity of mankind? Are you ready to give over your valid and proper judgement (even though it is yours to give) back to Justo Juez?

I answered "Insofar as I may still, from this strange Sermon on Media Mount, declare counsel, prophecy and judgement...then yes, I am so willing."

3) Are you willing to choose life over death, with all of its joys, sorrows, evils and blessings, with only the hope that the rest of mankind may follow and choose the same?

I answered, "I will live for this."


_______________________________________________________________________


"When you want of tobacco, stop: Breathe deeply and say "Elegua". Your own strength will be there, as am I at any crossroads".

Later, after I had called him as instructed, Legba said to me:

"You, your addictive mind, want a cigarette when you have accomplished something, a reward. But THINK: What kind of a reward is SOMETHING THAT WILL KILL YOU? Forsake the sweet poison, reward yourself with something which brings LIFE instead....

_______________________________________________________________________

5/18/10 2:45 am

Mi Padre Elegua, grant me true sight to clearly see the strength of life on the path set before my feet.

_______________________________________________________________________


5/24/10

Teaching myself to draw Papa Legba's Veve, the one with the cane. I drew the cane in the wrong place. When I went to scratch it out, I heard him exclaim "NO"..."Por Que?" I asked..."You must leave it in, for you need your own cane as well, Maman..."

Later Legba said to me:

"a room should always have 2 chairs, so the Lwa have a place to sit".

5/29/10
I was restless and went wandering in this strange Dominican neighborhood. You can feel the Lwas being invoked all over this neighborhood. Evidently, I am flashing power as well. As I was hobbling down the side street from Broadway to my place 2 streets over, I passed 2 men enjoying the night's beauty of their stoop. As I walked by, one started tapping out the Legba rhythm. I turned and nodded acknowlegement, and walked along. I was only half myself in that moment, the other half was the Lwa riding me. The man must have seen this. I stayed awake until dawn, awaiting the finish of the 7 African Powers candle I first lit on the 17th


6/3/10

I have accepted Elegua as mi Padrone, while he laughs at me and says I have run from him for over 20 years, since I left Buffalo. He says that now that I, too, hobble along on a cane, he has finally been able to catch me.

I have asked La Sirene if she will be my patroness. I await some sign that she wishes me to serve her.]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=92 Thu, 3 Jun 2010 15:37:53 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=91 BlackMoon....Pass out Dr. John's prayer on the oil spill. It would be powerful to place some of the oil on the cards to be given out. Books and prep for trip to Babalon.

Tuesday
May 25,2010
Operation under left eye. This scar matches the scar over my left eye. Some sort of sword or knife wound brought to karmic frutation. A fairly common process described best in the book Old Souls.

Wednesday
May 26, 2010
The oil would transform the cards containing the prayer into talismanes. A chance to see the monster.

Thursday May 27, 2010
The Road movie....the boy / the man/ the world. To survive and remain the good guys. The basic decision was not to commit suicide. Why? The movie resonates with the vision of the spreading oil.

Friday May 28,2010
Maps for Msln and I. The oil is in parts of Louisiana we seldom visit. We were in Golden Isle years ago.

Saturday May29, 2010
Griffins Nest Festival
This is to my knowledge the first pagan festival in Louisiana. TV reporters from Baton Rouge upon arrival. Heard the the local churches actively opposed the fest. About 50 people including presenters. Very welcoming. Spoke with Sam, gate keeper, he said that drummin at 60 cycles a minite induces an alpha state. Cliff is having tha fest.
TARA...I was drawn to a large live oak on the festival field. An immense living being. Walked and touched the low branches. Sat by the trunk...a sense of being enveloped in the above and below ground extentions of the tree. Two people came over who turned out to be presenters. They were teaching a Tara Mandala Dance at the tree. Ah! I felt Mr. Norbu in this. During the Mandala dance, there was a lot of wind and a bug landed on the hand i held the Tara statue. It held tightly; a sense of caring and protection welled up in me. Someone I knew lives ago has come to me for refuge in the storm. The partner of the teacher has brough Wicca and Tibetan Buddism together in a coven he leads.
OIL...text from Mgdlyn. Cap on blown pipe failed. A sadness I felt driving here through the swamps and wet land became overwelming and I walked looking for solitude. The idea of the "emvironment" is too abstract for me but the loss of the beauty; the art I saw on the way up was devestating. My heart broke. I suppose that the oil will bring new, different life forms but the marine life, the birds, the flora will be gone.
SWAMP An 80 foot dock led into a full growth cyprus swamp next to the festival field. I spent a good amount of the time back on the dock drumming to the swamp spirits.
MGDLYN Working / Abyss / "Who am I." With sacrament. I assisted acting as a familiar. I was in the swamp and Mgdlyn in Cincinnati. Celtic music at fai do do in background. Used the unicursal hexagram as the majickal link. AUDIO record "Maegdlyn, who are you? Who are you. who are you? Who are you? Ago yea...Ago yea...you walk you walk....passageways...I come to meet you....agoago....Move upon the water....Such a gathering...Strength...the Word Strength to you...Who are you, Mgdlyn? " A great white bird takes flight before me. The talismine glows lighting the darkness. Thhroughout the tape there is an odd gurgling sound I did not hear. Something to incorporate into the drumming. The talismine shines with the color of magick.
The talismin flies like a white moth over the swamp.
VOODOO Drummed with a House from North Carolina. We knew one another from American Voodoo Fest in Flordia about 2003. Powerful rite for The Lovers. A man and a woman who loved one another and were to be sold to different plantations. They escaped and traveled on the underground railway. they died on the journey, their union torn apart in the Visible World. The rite was to marry them in the InvisibleWorld. The ceremony to be performed by the loa and orisha.

Sunday May 30, 2010
Barbara from Chicago arrives. Talk of slavic paganism.










]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=91 Mon, 31 May 2010 14:25:40 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=90 New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
Doing drum prayer by front altars for quick clean up of oil spill.

Norma came into the Temple and said Dr. John (Mac Rebanack) called the Temple and gave her a prayer he wrote.
I said the prayer and played with the paper on my drum head.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Prayer by Dr. John (5.6.2010)
Recite at Sundown

Great Spirit, Mother God, Father God
Surround your people with white light
To protect them from harm.
Send your spirit guides to keep the earth strong;
Angels to protect the land from the oil;
The waters from polution;
The animals from the storm.

Surround us with your holy light,
Smile upon us to keep us strong,
Preserve the land.
Spare your children and enlighten the masses.
Give us a solution.

Four winds blow; swirl to the sea.
While the white light shines and protects the sacred center.
Remove the earth from the path of harm.
Forgive the transgressors.
Let the light remove the dark.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Tasty....I can hear his voice.
Please share this with others if its to your will.



]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=90 Sat, 8 May 2010 04:35:07 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=89 The dead tumble and twist in the Mississippi. Magnificant. There are some visions only seen when alone. ]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=89 Sat, 1 May 2010 22:30:27 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=88 I had brought the mantras of a Red Tara, a White Tara, a Black Tara, and Mahakala with me. I also brought fresh water, beer, a trio of white flowers and found a dead catfish for meat...the Wrathful Protectors like meat, beer, strong tea, extreme things...I chanted Him first. Invocation came naturally, and I realized I was crouching in one of his positions. My focus was to try to keep oil out of Lake Borgne, which once was a lake unto itself until Katrina.
This, I realize, is a Water Katrina.
My beads have been used both for the Wrathful and for the Buddhas. The beads trailed down in my hand as I counted them off, and the end of it fell into the water I as crouched in. I worked to create a kind of psychic fence between it and the rest of the Gulf. I thought, if we had magickans each giving themselves over to a little bit of the coastline, we would have a stronger fence....
Mainly, my concern is for the birds. who are nesting right now right at the coastline. All of them. Every pelican, every snowy egret.
But my concern was not a part of the rite. My ritual is about protecting the living in the face of an entire sea of oil.

I threw out the alcohol at various periods during the chant, into the sea I threw out the fish. When I was done, I went back into the land, somewhat, rather than remain in the encroaching tide.
I chanted the Taras....there was a kindness and compassion for all the living things that will die from this, and the thought came that they will be reborn, too, like ourselves. That behind this was a warning about the dangers of the increasing oil rigs that Obama had been touting. Something no one could ignore. It is a sorrow that humans must learn things this way. My bead still trailed in the unpolluted water. The people whom I love here, the generations of fishers, who will have to go elsewhere to practice their craft, are out right now, getting whatever they can possibly get before their livelihood White Tara, Red Tara, they were most concerned about the people....Black Tara is wrathful and has a Mahakala-like atmosphere to her.
While the mantras ran on, I put myself in the postion in which she is often seen-one leg under her, one leg out, to pound the earth with her foot. HA HA HE HE,HO HO! Yes, this is part of Black Taras mantra. Pound with the feet! Speak to the earth!
This is a technique that is often seen in Tibetan Buddhist ritual dances...this pounding.of the earth. BAM BAM! part of Red Taras mantra, hit the earth! Stamp your foot and make it listen! Let the will of the Goddess and your personal Will become one, let the Earth become one with Us.
]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=88 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:26:27 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=87 4.29.2010
RITUAL: OIL SPILL: Working on Lake Borgne with Mishlen Linden. We will be conjuring with Mammie Waters and two of the Tara's...swamp and mountain Invisibles.
WILL: Protection. Place the oil spill where it will do the least harm.
LOVE: Drumming to Mama Waters and mantras to the Red and Black Taras.
Offerings of Clean water to all. Beer to the Tibetan protective deities.
Mama Waters -
Hands... Rhythm for drummers is a 2 against 3.
Head..Pure water pushing against the oil slick moving it off the coast and out to sea.
Heart...Share what the shrimpers at Shell Beach are feeling right now.
Red Tara (water)
Om tare tuth Tare, Ture mama, sarva bam bam, tsala bhaya shanti kuru so-ha!
Black Tara (protective)
Om karma tare' sarva, shatrun bighanan mara sona ha! ha ! he! he! ho ho ! homilom bhendha bhendha, phat!
On Black Tara, clap hands after each exclamation point.
SUCCESS: Environmental protection note with the word “Texas” was at the site of the rite.
Calling to Mammie Waters evolved into drumming for Annie Christmas. She walks with a machete and is a strong protector. Image of a large black woman with an apron flapping the apron and pushing the oil back. I gave my voice to Mammie Waters and her breaths pushed against the incoming wind.
COMMENT: Calm after the rite. Maegdlyn did a calling to Red Tara with 7 people.
ps.....This appears unpreventable at this point, the mantra for the Medicine Buddha, the mantra for a quick death with less suffering will be useful a few days from now. This is good to use after any tragic incident:
Ta dya Ta:
Om, bekanzay, bekanzay,
Maha, bekanzay bekanzy,
ranza tamu gattay so-ha!
(this is phonetically written).
Mishlen Linden
]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=87 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:16:08 -0400 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=86 2.8.10
Exhausted from Saints Game I saw yesterday with Priestess Miriam and Allen. Big celebration in the streets. Sunday was the feast day of Saint Cloud or, alternately, Saint Claude. Saint Claude is a major street in Bywater and the 9th ward. Our street, saint Maurice, runs into saint Claude. Saint Cloud and our Saints.

Tuesday
2.9.10
BlackMoon meeting with jo. Discuss the mss Maat and Chaos Magick that will be a part of Maggie’s new book Feather and Fire Snake.
Some skin removed from in surgery. Later I saw the skin a jar. It was certainly “my skin” but it was not “me.” Odd. At what point did it cease being “me?”

Wednesday
2.10.10
Very tired from surgery. The Tibetans say that if you don’t practice when you are well, how are you going to practice when you are sick?

Thursday
2.11.10
RITUAL: Cleansing.
Will: Break an aggregate that has 5 people close to me in some sort of physical distress.
Love: White foods and “pearls” to Madame la Lune to move and stretch the aggregate to a point where its integrity could not be maintained. Stretch it to dissipation.
Comment: I’m using an unusual amount of blanc offerings.

Friday
2.12.10
RITUAL: New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
Will: Drumming for Chicago group down to celebrate a Birthday.
Love: The woman with the Birthday gave presents to and danced with her friends.
Comment: Birth is a choice to be celebrated. My drum was weak. Possible due to the distracted mod of the woman’s friends. Ah! What can one say? The loa bring people into the Temple. It is the Invisibles choice.

Saturday
2.13.10
Mgdlyn wrote and made the point that the operation on Tuesday could be seen as part of the cleansing. I certainly shed blood.
“Perhaps the blood is a sacrifice, maybe you are being bled to cleanse something... All of these are bringing to light problems that needed correcting, maybe you are already in the recovery phase you just didn’t notice before now....” I had not thought of that.

Sunday
2.14.10
RITUAL: Beginnings – Losar - Beginning of the Tibetan year.
Will: Set a mark in time for these beginnings. Create a point; a context for the beginnings.
Love: Drum to Legba and the Marassa ( the Marassa insisted). Mantras to Chenrizig.
A great wind of spirits blew through the courtyard.
Comment: Ah! The Marassa included themselves. Smart…what was I thinking of the leave them out of a celebration of Beginnings.
]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=86 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:08:16 -0500 http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=85 2.1.10
Rite to Manman Bridgette. Blanc rite / white foods. Manman Bridgette and Brigitte walk the same road. I had a strong contact with Manman in Dublin.

Tuesday
2.2.10
Charlotte’s Question:
How do you define blood, within the context of your own experiences and beliefs?
Is this definition just applicable to venous blood, or does it apply to menstrual blood as well?
My Reply:
Blood is more of a metaphysical term to me. I would identify it as a substance possessing certain necessary characteristics. Blood is a liquid, life embracing, personal substance that flows within the body of its host. Liquid means flowing or capable of flowing; life embracing means carrying the grace of life, and personal means that the entity identifies some portion the self with the blood. This way of seeing blood certainly includes menstrual blood.

Given the above understanding of blood; what constitutes blood to one entity would not be blood to another entity. It would be tremendously ethnocentric to think of the red stuff in us as the only form blood takes.

Referenced to myself, water is not blood but water is the blood of the earth. This is particularly apparent to me on an experiential level when I’m fortunate enough to be in the presence of a stream of water spilling out from a hole or serration in the earth. There is such grace, such mysterie in this. In a practical ritual sense, the loa walk a water road. I pour water out from the veve (signature/ritual drawing) creating a Water Road for the loa.
I had a friend who worked as a janitor. His friend was angered by a supervisor so his friend got a red ink pen and scribbled 12 pages of everything from pictures to grocery lists in the red ink and gave it to the supervisor. Also, I teach in a High School here and it is very bad form to use red ink in most any capacity. Here a red liquid carries the power of human blood and is or becomes, in a very real sense, blood.

Your question brings up other questions. For example, “Do the loa have blood?” There is an odd invulnerability to injury when one is possessed. Blood does not flow easily. I have done things that later on do not make me happy to hear about. If a body shared with the loa does not bleed easily, this may mean that the loa have a sturdier form of what we call blood.




Wednesday
2.3.10
Mishlen…in love there is union and yearning. Separation is necessary for there to be yearning. We are divided for loves sake, for the chance of union. (LiberL)

Thursday
2.4.10
Charlotte’s Question:
I think one of the main reasons that I thought that it was important to talk to you as part of my research is the work that you have done merging the beliefs of the New Orleans Voodoo and Tibetan Buddhism.
I’m particularly interested in how you apply this integration to traditions of blood sacrifice. Although New Orleans Voodoo is syncretism and a living tradition surely blood sacrifice is an integral part of its core practice?
My Reply:
Yes, Blood sacrifice is a traditional part of our core practice. It is an important part, an essential part, and I now use the blood of trees. Red palm oil is an amazing substance. Okoko introduced me to it in the early 1980s and I have yet to sound the depths of its power.

I was able to spend a year with the Tibetan refugees between 2000 and 2001 and then, after Mademoiselle Katrina, they were numerous exchanges when we ourselves refugeed to a town populated by many Tibetans.

The Tibetans and their spiritual teachers were respectful of New Orleans Voodoo and would always politely indicate that blood sacrifice created problems for the voodoosant. They referred to “karma,” something I do not understand from their perspective.

Mr. Norbu, a head of the Tibetan resistance movement, would simply say, over and over and over, that all beings were at one time my Mother. He repeated this till one day I had the shattering AHA! That he was speaking literally. Given an infinite number of incarnations, every animal that I sacrificed was at one point my Mother. Shit! Man, I just fell out when this got through to me. My Mother, Charlotte, was so very kind to me and here I was sacrificing beings that had stood as she stood to me. I was in ceremonies that used them (her) as scapegoats. I get a little sick just thinking about it. Would I kill Charlotte to save my own skin. Fuck no! I stopped my own use of animal blood.

Blood sacrifice is a continuum and I am certainly still on the continuum. Shortly after stopping using blood in rites I was drumming for a rite conducted by an African Priestess based, I believe, in Nigeria and ended up drinking blood. So who would have known what was in the calabash? The point is that for me, doing the least harm possible is a matter of degree and we are all in this together.

The Tibetan people, in the past, used animal blood in their rites. They do not practice blood rites at present and they can successfully call powerful spirits. The same could be said for the type of New Orleans Voodoo that I practice.

Mammal blood is used in our rites for a variety of purposes. It is used for the sheer grace and power it contains. It is used to feed the loa. I have found red palm oil to be effective in both of these instances. Animal are also used for scapegoating. The Tibetans, and now I, believe in the transmigration of souls. Given an infinite number of incarnations, every sentient being one encounters has at one time been your mother. It seems cowardly to transfer my sins on to another being that has been my mother. Its like if someone shot at me and I was willing to pull Charlotte in front of me as a shield.

I am sure that at one time our loa ate people. This practice is infrequent now. The loa are not that far removed from us. As our tastes change so also do their tastes change. My ritual work has a level of success without using mammal blood that is satisfactory to me. My point is to get the most benefit for myself and others while doing the least amount of harm possible.

Friday
2.5.10
Signing copies of Voodoo at Café Puce with Severine. Severine has The book was done I 2005 right before the hurricane. Severine is one of my oldest and closest friends. I believe that the first time I saw her was in the late 80’s as she was doing a ritual with an African drummer named Tuesday.
Saturday
2.6.10
I am sorting through the last of the Katrina boxes. What once was quite a mountain has become a smaller, though not insignificant, hill of boxes. The Temple was flooded in Katrina and I have waited so that the Temples objects can be disposed of properly. Some will go to the levee but I’m saving much of the now quite moldy Temple objects for Mgdlyn for use in her art.

Sunday
2.7.10
Oshun dream…Ah! Decades ago I moved away from Santeria for Voodoo. This dream is a reaffirmation of a link with Santeria through, it would seem, Netzach. The location of the dream was a gasoline station. This is significant. My decision to move away from Santeria took place in a gas station when Ellegua locked me out of the car I freezing weather. My Angel appeared to Mishlen and told her to go and get me. My temperament is much better suited to New Orleans Voodoo than Santeria.
]]> Magickal Records http://blackmoon7.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=85 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:37:49 -0500