Many of you are probably asking why I am posting this. It’s only partially religious. Also remember I am a Christo Pagan. It’s mostly paranormal. Some weird shit that happened to me last night.
But I should start from the beginning.
Santeria and Latin America
A Santeria ancestral shrine
Santeria is a mix of the Catholic religion with traditional Yoruba religion from Nigeria. It isn’t Vodou per say, but it does have some things in common. Santeria also have deep connections to Spiritualism. Spiritualism and Spiritism actually. Especially those things taught to us by Allan Kardec.
In Latin America and in Santeria, magic is usually never practiced during Holy Week. The reason for this, is do to Catholic traditions. In which the crosses and altars are hidden from view during this time. White cloths are placed over the sacred items. And we Santeros and even Spiritualists and Spiritists do the same.
To honor Christ. A spiritualist once told me that during this time, Jesus re-enters the underworld. And he’s there to cross over innocent souls still trapped in Purgatory. Until he spiritually resurrects after Good Friday. In which case he goes back to Heaven with all of the souls he has saved.
So perhaps it’s not right to say we can’t practice magic. We can. But it’s a spiritual type of magic. We pray and study scriptures or spiritual things with our spirit guides. We just don’t burn candles.
Instead we allow the energy or power of God to do it all for us. So Holy Week can be a very sweet and spiritually fulfilling time. However, as I have mentioned before and will keep mentioning, everything has a dark side.
The Dark Side of Holy Week
It’s said that on the day Christ was crucified, there were all sorts of demons reveling. They had failed to stop him from accomplishing his mission. So they decided to celebrate that he was suffering and dying. A small “victory” for their side. And that has become a tradition ever since.
Demons tend to have their own celebrations at this time. And practitioners of black magic tend to perform rituals and honor to their own evil spirits as well. I say practitioners because not every evil sorcerer is a Satanist. But the main belief is that before, after, and even during a holy day or week, they celebrate. All in order to mock whatever higher power has a feast day.
This isn’t just a Christian thing. Similar things can be found in other faiths. Where black rites and evil spirits celebrating can be found during the feast days of other Gods. The point is to commit sacrilege against the holy. We see the same on other holy days.
We see it on Walpurgisnacht (Walpurga’s night) which was originally the Christianized Beltane festival. It was believed the Devil and his followers gather on Mount Brocken in Germany. To celebrate their own black rites. To dance, and drink, and make merry. For this reason the evening of April 30th to May 1st is sacred to most Satanic groups.
Granted, this arose from the Christian perversion of Nordic religion. Even calling Odin or Wotan a “devil”. Regardless of how it arose, in the 60’s Anton LaVey made Walpurgisnacht an official satanic holiday. So it is celebrated by many modern and traditional satanists. And even they say they believe the stories of Mount Brocken are true.
There are many people who think that Satan and his horde still hold court on that mountain to this day. To mock not just the Christian God, but the Pagan Gods as well. So it’s not just the Christians getting harassed by these dark powers. It’s us too. And something similar is found in Santeria.
It’s believed that no Santero, Witch, or Spiritualist will practice magic on this day. Except someone who is intentionally trying to work with the darker spiritual forces. This doesn’t always mean a Satanist though. A Santero might break the taboo. If they think that in order to help their client, they need the aid of darker forces.
Now let me clarify, Santeros and Witches in general don’t have a black and white mentality. We believe in using whatever we can get help from depending on a situation. So if we believe that we need help from the dark side, we will get help from them. That doesn’t mean that we will engage in Devil worship. Or that we will make it a habit of working with dark things all of the time.
But in order to help an abused woman. A child being violated. A person being harassed by a landlord. Or even someone who owes money to the wrong people, we won’t hesitate to dip our toes in the darkness for it. And that is a long Judeo Christian tradition.
Going back to Moshe (Moses) who often used dark arts to help his people. As well as King Solomon who learned to bind demons and employ them against his enemies. So don’t think that we are unholy for doing this. It goes back to Biblical times.
Strange Visions in the Night
” The Flying Head ” from Iroquois and Wyandot religion, it’s considered a demon of cannibalism
Now I am not saying I saw a Flying Head from indigenous religion. I live in Florida. And we have totally different Native groups here. But I did see something and whatever it was decided to come fuck with me in the night. It was strange.
Technically, it started Sunday night. But I didn’t put two and two together until recently. On Sunday I felt….something nasty. It made me uneasy. In the middle of the night I felt that that deep primordial fear of something nearby. It wasn’t in my room though.
But whatever it was, made me feel like a child again. I was scared. I figured it was just a bad dream. Until last night. Because last night I had strange dreams and visions.
And one of them, was of a floating head outside of my window.
It couldn’t enter my room because my house is a temple. There are shrine-altars everywhere. And the home is specifically consecrated through a dedication ritual to block things out. And my room has the most shrines of all. Even on my window.
So it couldn’t enter.
But I felt it saying something in English. It said something about “gathering souls” to eat. It unsettled me. I couldn’t make out any features because it was just a large shadow outside my window. At this point I still thought it was a nightmare and forced myself to become more awake.
I didn’t think anything of it. Until I heard weird noises all around me. Then I heard a scratching sound on the front door of the house. But again, I have protection everywhere. I didn’t do any of my normal protection spells do to Holy Week.
So instead I slept with a blessed confirmation Bible under my pillow. I finally realized it was all real when I used my sight. I could see the shadow of a haggard old woman with native features. She was floating above the roof top of my house.
“What the fuck?” I shouted.
I was almost waiting for an answer. My friend had recently told me she noticed a lot of dark activity near my home. And that I needed to be careful. I live on a crossroads. Which are interdimensional portals.
But besides that, the lands here always had something off with them. There are good spirits here trust me. And the Land Spirit is good too. But there’s also a lot of weird shit here. At some point I had to do a Deliverance to get rid of the spirits showing up here.
Finally, I got fed up with this shit. I took the confirmation Bible in my hands. And I focused on the energies of the entities. And I put them together in one image in my mind. A mental representation.
Similar to a Voodoo Doll. And I said,
“In the name of Adonai Tzevaot (Lord of Hosts) I command you to leave me alone and go to Gehenna(Hell) where you belong,”
Then, I focused in the image in my mind. And I smashed it over the head with the confirmation Bible in my hands. I heard multiple voices shriek in terror and pain. And anger, as if they were cursing my name in another language. And they finally fled.
But it took a good five minutes before they left. If they didn’t leave I had a plan B. After I was satisfied they were gone I began to pray. In retrospect I should have from the beginning. I commended myself and my home to God and asked for our protection.
After that all I had was peace.
I am going to do a special protection prayer and cleanse my shrine-altars again. I have some protection oil my sister got from a Hoodoo store in Georgia. And I will combine that with prayers to the Archangel Michael. But I had the strangest feeling when I woke up this morning. It was actually a memory of a dream I had after this took place.
I heard a nasty, diabolical, voice tell me I was being tested. To prove that I am as good a man as I think I am. I guess whatever it is got pissed off I drove them away. All I know for sure is that whatever this is, it isn’t over yet.
I’ll keep you all posted, be safe everyone. Some nasty shit is out and about these days. And they don’t care what God or Goddess you follow. They just want to feed.
– M
Post Script : This is the continuation of what happened.
Tatagua, the Witch Butterfly of Cuba. It’s said to be the spirit of the indigenous woman Aipiri who was cursed into that form. A beautiful omen of Death or bad luck
This seems like such a morbid subject. And maybe it is. It’s something that’s been on my mind lately. I’m observing the Parentalia. A Roman festival where the gateways of the dead are opened to the living.
When our ancestors are honored with banquets, prayers, and other offerings.
Of Death
Head of the family leading the prayers to the Ancestor shrine and its figurines by Jesus Leon
In the last week of the Parentalia, the Greeks have the Anthesteria (blossoming rites) sacred to Dionysus. Anthesteria has a touch of the chthonic in it. I have been meditating on the dead everyday. On people I have lost. Friends and mentors.
Relatives. Animals that I have loved as children. It’s not all because of the Parentalia or the Anthesteria. It’s also because I have a health scare. I am too obese for my height.
And I am hypertensive now. And pre-diabetic. I gave my mother a good scare today. All I could think of was, if I died today, how will she and my dog be? I’ve been suffering from low blood pressure lately. And I’ve been having these throbbing headaches.
I keep thinking about something my Druid master had been teaching me. I have studied death midwifery as part of my necromancy. I’ve been helping the dead since I first came into my power. Protecting them from predatory spirits. Assisting them with crossovers and also aiding their living families.
After all that, I now realized I should have made a will for myself. And paid a for my own funeral. There was a wise Santero. His wife and him were both masters of magic. And well known in some parts of Miami.
My mom is the nurse that goes to her house to assist the doctor there. She learned this man had paid for his own funeral years in advance. So that by the time he actually died, it would be paid in full. And his family would be okay. He was buried in all honors like King Tut.
Which leads me to other things. To how the ancient Egyptians believed that preparation for the afterlife was so important, you had to dedicate part of your life towards it. So what seems morbid to others is actually preparing for the next life. Necromancy isn’t some morbid fascination with death. It’s the celebration of life and continuing it and even conquering death.
Or at least living with it in a way that doesn’t scare anyone. But now I am thinking I need to set up a living will. I don’t really own much. But I need to make sure my things are taken care of so my family doesn’t have to do it. I need to ensure that my spell books and idols go to someone who would appreciate them.
Preferably someone who wouldn’t abuse them or separate them. Or sell them. They are a family and belong together. Some of them are spirits I made friends with. They need a new friend and caretaker.
Furniture and clothing to go to someone who needs it. And finally, rituals done. Funerary rituals done for me. And a 13 day purification ritual done on my home so that the spirit of death can be chased away. And my family can live in a clean and cleansed home.
In my case I don’t want or need a grave. I want to be burned. Most Cubans I know want that. Most people regard corpses as empty shells that have outlived their use. For necromancers not so much.
We understand they can have all manner of uses. But I don’t want or need someone digging me up (no I haven’t done that). And I don’t want my shell. All I want is for the ashes to be tossed somewhere and that’s that. Not even kept.
I have heard there is an environmentally friendly use for ashes now. It’s a way to contribute to life. No, I am not suicidal. I am worried. Worried that if something happens, I’m just not ready for it.
I mean if I passed away tonight, none of you would know it. I don’t have a contingency plan for it. I realize now that I need to make one. And entrust several people with how to send out the message should it happen. And not just for here.
Old relations that I have fallen out of touch with. To make sure they are aware of me gone. To get a network of people to do special prayers and rituals on my behalf. To ensure I cross over. And of course from different religions because that’s just how I roll.
To reach out to certain women I have loved in my life. Who I didn’t treat the way they deserved. To tell them that I have passed. I have been trying to make amends lately for being such an asshole in the past. But I have been unsuccessful because I lost touch with so many people.
I have been thinking of some ex girlfriends, and realized they really did love me. But I was incapable of truly loving them back. Because I didn’t know how to. My father wasn’t a good role model. Between cheating on my mom and also being an abusive prick who even stalked her.
All of my examples of a “healthy” relationship were patriarchal and sexist shit. Do I even deserve to be loved? I had it before. And I sneered at it. Mocked it. Abandoned it.
Betrayed it.
Which is why I deserved what I got a few years ago. Someone I wanted to marry, left me. She said,
“I can’t be with someone who is so angry with life,”
And she was right. In the end she did us both a favor. For her sanity and mine. I get it now. But back then I didn’t.
I lost everything I worked so hard for in just three days after our breakup. I lost the respect of my peers. I lost my job a few months after this. I lost my will to truly live my life. I lost respect in the eyes of certain relatives who told me, that my reaction was “unmanly”.
That figuratively speaking my manhood was taken away by my ex.
She basically insinuated that I lost some of my worthiness by falling apart. That I should have just let her go and move on. I couldn’t believe this person told me this and thought it was helpful critique. I didn’t know what to say to that. Which is why I didn’t even bother telling any of the male relatives, it probably would have been worse.
I ended up a thousand dollars in debt to the hospital. Turns out heartache in general feels suspiciously like a heart attack. My purpose in life was to help build us a life. I wanted her to have all of her dreams. But me taking the caretaker role was probably sexist to begin with.
Maybe she didn’t want that. Maybe I was being domineering without meaning to be. I don’t know. All I can think is that I lost myself somewhere along the way. And then lost her.
Of Dreams at Night
An aerial view of Takis Shelter in Greece
I keep envisioning my life alone in the future. With animals in an animal sanctuary somewhere off the beaten path. There’s this man on a Greek Island called Takis. He gave up everything to save the dogs of Crete. Guy was a nightclub promoter and he gave it all for them.
And now he has a massive land in the middle of no where with animals he saves. He gets up at dawn and works until 2am everyday. Did I say alone? Never mind. Fuck that shit. Maybe I wouldn’t go that far.
I would get bring many homeless people. And we would have a commune. And the work would be divided between a night shift and a day shift. That way it would work around the clock. We would grow our own food.
Be Vegan so we wouldn’t kill animals. Heck maybe a bunker. Why not? If some idiot presses a button we could at least survive. I’d love to just have a Mount Weather style bunker within a mountain. But I would want it to be like the Dwarf fortress in Lord of the Rings.
Some badassery right there. Maybe invite others and grow a community. Scientists and mystics, hippies and free thinkers, and artists. Librarians with every book you could imagine. These are things I often dream about but have not done.
So much I want to do. But right now I need to focus on keeping my health. And on making special plans in case something were to happen to me. Florida has become too insane even by Florida standards. Now we have road rage shootings.
Now you have to be prepared for all things.
These are just some of my thoughts at night. I lay awake in the early hours of Saturday morning. Afraid to go to sleep in case I not wake up again. The worst part? Not having romantic love. I have familial love.
And the love of my dog and friends. But you need other types of love. Someone to warm your bed at night. To lay next to and tell you everything will be okay. A true partner to adore with all of your heart and soul.
I relish that love that I took for granted once.
How I wish I could have it again. How I wish this loneliness would just die and leave me be. How could I feel so alone in a city filled with 455,075 people? I wish I knew the answer to that.
I found this fascinating. And it actually gives us an idea of how to do Apotropaic magic without anyone figuring out what it actually is. It would be hard for anyone to discover it as being magic in the modern day. Really good investigative article on the subject.
Olokun, one of the Orishas of the Ocean. His Sopon or vessel contains actual water blessed for him, my Godmother in Santeria once cleansed me with water she personally blessed in Olokun’s name.
Tonight is Hekate’s Deipnon, and I figured I would write this. I was also asked to write this by a client who needed her home and personal space cleared of negative energies. After I took a heavy curse off of her. The following is a ritual I came up with from various practices. But I made this ritual neutral so that it can be used by any religion and any God.
Idols come in both genders or can appear genderless
In Ancient Greece they used sacrificial animals, people, food, or even idols called Pharmakoi. The idea was that they were vessels that retained the bad energy. And that when you sacrificed them, you were killing the bad energy. So the first part of this is a Pharmakos cleansing. You’re trapping the bad energy into a vessel.
You have to map out where you are going to go. For instance you need to know every nook and cranny in your house. Every corner. If you have an attic, start there. And make sure you go to every spot in your property and home.
Ending in the basement as well as outside your prosperity. You have to pray, or chant, or do a spell. And you command all negative energy and bad spirits to be bound to the vessel. You do this while you are walking around. The vessel is a sacrifice that soaks up all of the bad energy around.
You also rub yourself, all members of the house (including pets) with the vessel. This is done so that any attachments or bad vibrations can be drained into the vessel. You’ll know it’s done because you will feel the property be instantly lighter. And you and those around you will feel lighter as well. If this was a bag of garbage, toss it into a public dumpster or community dumpster ASAP.
And say that no one will be harmed by this bag. That you consign the dark energy to its own dark world never to return. To be bound to chaos forever. Chaos meaning the primordial void. Then turn around and walk away without looking back.
If it was food, you need to go to a crossroads, railroad, or body of water, even a pond will do. And call upon the spirits of those places (in the name of your God/Goddess) to remove the bad spirits and energies. And that as the animals eat the food, they will not be in danger. That they will destroy the negativity. Again turn around and walk away.
Position your car so that you don’t have to turn around to face the spot when getting inside. You don’t want to look at the area even by accident. Make sure you can leave and leave fast without turning around. The reason for this is that all the negativity will go to you worse than before if you do. Or worse, you might see the spirits that are going to take away the bad energy.
Which can be dangerous by itself. Another possibility is you will see the bad spirits that you bound and they will be freed instantly to haunt you. Make sure you leave the proper offerings at the site for the spirits or God you called upon. Go home.
Part 2 : Casting Aspersions
An Asperger also known as an Aspersorium or Aspergillum, a device used to cast aspersions of holy water. This Aspersorium comes from Rowan Morrigan
The term “casting aspersions” comes from this. It’s a form of cleansing with holy water. You basically flick holy water on the walls. On the ground. On anything and on everyone even pets.
That’s what casting aspersions actually means. This is to bless everyone and everything the water touches. So with the water you blessed with your own prayers, bless the home. You will need an Aspersorium which is a fancy word for an object that you can use to flick the holy water with. The church uses fancy metal devices or even brushes or small buckets to do this.
But any object will do. You cast the aspersions from the outside in. From the front and back yard. Call on your God or Goddess and their spirits to protect and bless the property and dedicate it to them. Say,
“I dedicate this home to be your divine temple. This I holy ground and only that which you allow can enter,”
Bless the outside in. And enter the front door and bless the house from the basement all the way to every nook and cranny up into the attic. You should feel another wave of relief come upon you. Make sure you flick the water or asperse it everywhere.
Sometimes I even use the cap from the plastic bottle I keep my holy water to asperse everything. If all else fails just use your hand. You will feel the wave of relief hit and once that happens you will know the dedication ritual is done. Granted some people don’t choose to dedicate their houses to their Gods. Instead they just do normal blessings.
I’m just not one of those people. My house is a temple to the Gods. I want them to live there. Sure the upkeep is a little more stressful but ultimately it’s better.
Part 3 : Reclaim your Authority
Think of your Will as a personal forcefield. And as a reality altering force. Your enemies, including evil spirits, have no power over you.
With this part, walk around with a holy item that represents your faith after the cleansing.
Used Horse Shoes are powerful talismans and can represent many religions and folk practices, from El Tarot De Yemaya (the tarot of Yemaya occult store)
And command that any unwelcome or negative spirits need to go. Command them to leave in the name of your God/Goddess/Gods. And say that only the Gods and their divine spirits can be in your home. Do this to reinforce and reassert your control over the home and property. It restored the natural barriers that exist to keep bad spirits out.
And it also re-empowers them to keep things out you don’t want.
Part 4 : Warding
From the Sacred Signs Archive drawing sacred symbols or hanging up magical charms is a common method of protection
This part is a long term project and it’s not something you can do in one day or night. You go through the process of learning special prayers. Or getting or making amulets to ward off negative energy. Or talismans to bring protective energy. Also drawing symbols or writing special words or letters of power is important.
You have to research your own religion. Or your culture and heritage. And find out what is useful in keeping bad influences away. This will increase the power of the dedication and/or blessing.
There’s all manner of rituals and magic for protection and cleansing in the New Year. There’s some amazing things in tradition that one should consider adding to their practice. My witch sister (as in my actual sister) has been practicing magic here with me. Preparing for the New Year’s as well. These traditions come from different groups.
Also known as a Growth Cleansing or a New Year’s Bath, this is a bath with flowers. It opens up the spiritual channels in a person’s body. This is to allow them to release negative or unnecessary energy. While also allowing good energy to enter. The following is a formula we use in Spanish folk magic.
One prescribed by mediums for the new year.
Ingredients :
Note* ingredients must be natural and freshly harvested
1) 5 Sunflower petals
2) 5 Red rose petals
3) 5 White rose petals
4) 5 Pink rose petals
5) 1 Rue branch
6) 5 Jasmine branches
7) 2 yellow candles
8) 2 Rosemary branches
9) 5 Daisy petals
Instructions :
To start doing the bath, heat six liters of water in a pot or saucepan. You’ll have to leave the water heating about 10-20 minutes. Until it starts to boil. Once bubbles begin to appear in the water it means that it has reached the ideal temperature. Remove the pot from the heat and carefully put all the materials in the water.
Once this is done, place the pot back to heat. But this time you only raise the temperature a bit and stir the materials. After another 15 minutes, put the pot to cool. When the water cools put it in the bathtub with the other ingredients. If that water is not enough to bathe, you can put a little more water without any problem.
Essentially the water you prepared, will bless and charge the regular water.
Once everything is ready, light the two yellow candles and take a bathe. Imagine yourself illuminated by the energies of the flowers. Allow the souls of those flowers to enter you. All things are alive. And when you bathe in flowers, the souls of those beings enter you.
So this isn’t just a normal cleansing. It’s a soul cleansing. It washes through you and over you by using pure souls. Those of the flowers themselves. That’s how this works.
Embrace them. Feel the negative energy disintegrate inside you. And then be flushed out naturally from your energy pathways. Allow the calm, nourishing, energy to enter your pathways. Feeding them.
Renewing them. Once you finish the bath, dry with a white towel. This is because white is a color associated with purity. If you have a special color that empowers you, you can use that instead. Then do a regular shower.
And scrub with soap as you normally would.
As my Druid Master recently told me : in our tradition, any form of washing with water is a cleansing. And this is true in more ways than one. In Jewish mysticism, it’s said that water loves bad or impure things. It was made that way by God to absorb the impurity out of things and people. That’s why most cleansings use water as a basic ingredient.
How my sister does it
My sister’s special batch
My sister uses the same traditional flowering formula as described above. The only difference is that she uses Christian Magic to empower it further. In conjunction with the new moon prior to the new year. She also used my balcony shrine which is filled with various plants and astrological idols to empower it. She also adds a few secret ingredients to make hers stronger.
She also added some power to it from a portable altar she brought with her.
But because they are a secret taught to her by her teacher, I can’t reveal that. What I will say is that she combines it with Catholic Masses. She does a mini mass in the bathroom with a specific Gregorian chant playing on her phone. The combination of the potion with the holy music adds to the power of the cleansing. She uses special rites associated with the Catholic Church.
As well as the new moon, and Saints to empower the water. New moons are good for new beginnings.
I do it also not only with Christian Magic but with Santero magic as well. I appeal to Ossian the Orisha of nature and plants, Aroni his faithful servant, and Inle the Orisha of Medicine. I do special Santeria prayers with them. And I charge the potion on my balcony shrine as well. It’s a shrine to both nature and the astrological signs and celestial bodies.
I ask for them to charge it with their powers over night. And once I do this, I leave the potion in a plastic container for the night and allow them to fill it with their Ashe (divine grace). It’s pronounced Ahhh-sheh. Sometimes it’s spelled Ache by Cubans. Which confuses the hell out of English speakers.
I also add Cascarilla and some secret ingredients to the brew like my sister does. Though mine are different. Once charged, I wait until New Year’s Day to bathe. Like literally a few minutes after midnight. Then I try to dress in light colors.
I have a specific color I use to be empowered.
Santeria Cleansings & New Year’s Traditions
Orisha shrines to Yemaya and Oshun
These are cleansings taught to me by my Godmother in Santeria. The traditions here I also learned from my Babalawo. First up is the feeding of the Earth.
This one was taught to me by my Babalawo Warning! Do not do this ritual. Only a Babalawo or high priest of Orula cando this. I am just outlining the basic ritual and the origin. Doing this the wrong way can actually kill you. This isn’t a joke.
You’ve been warned.
According to our sacred texts, it’s said that when the daughter of God ile Oguere reincarnated, she became the planet Earth. Orula the God of Divination and Magic told her she needed to do a special cleansing called an Ebo. This is sort of like a karmic cleansing to change your fate. She did not. As a result, her children (humans) abuse and hurt her.
The Ebo would have prevented that.
Mother Earth herself
A few years later after humanity had populated the Earth, the Orishas (Gods) had invented death itself. This was to prevent overpopulation. They assigned Iku to be the Orisha of Death. And everyone hated Iku. They all wanted to live forever.
What was worse is that back then when people died, their bodies just lay around. Burying a body hadn’t become a custom yet. Imagine seeing your loved one’s body just laying on the ground. And it looks as if it’s still them. Just sleeping.
One day ile Oguere and Iku were spending time together. She complained that her human children abused her. And he complained that her children hated him for doing his job. So she had an idea. She made a pact with Iku.
“If you kill as many of my children as you can, I will absorb their bodies into my body,”
The problem was, it was going to be difficult for him to do it on his own. So he said,
“My wife Arun (disease) will have to do this work with us. She must be given power over everyone equally. The rich and the poor, the young and old, kings and their vassals, the wise and prideful, thieves and honest people. Everyone equally,”
She thought about it, and finally said,
“I accept, however I demand that all people grant me tribute of whatever food they eat. And if anyone does not do this, you will be in charge of collecting their debts,”
From that day forward, Iku sends natural disasters and all manner of unnatural death to fall on humans. And in exchange, ile Oguere will suck down human bodies into her own body. When this happened, human bodies began to decompose. Because the Earth began to call them home. Now since then, many rituals to appease the Earth have been made.
As well as many rituals to ward off Iku. And some ceremonies like this one, do both. The Jorojoro is a hole, representing the mouth of the Earth. Usually, a group of Yoruba practitioners led by a Babalawo go into a barren land. They open the Jorojoro, and perform a ritual which has many prayers and components.
But part of it is a technique called Sarayeye. Basically, this is cleansing your body or a place with a ritually charged object. This can be an idol. Food. Or even the body part of an animal like feathers.
In this case, everyone carries a plate full of food and perform Sarayeye with that food. The cleansing absorbs all the bad energy. Bad luck, death, disease, curses, obstacles in the New Year etc…then one by one, the food is dumped into the JoroJoro to feed the Earth. The Jorojoro has to be deep so that it can absorb all of the food. Then, the ritual is closed, by sealing the Jorojoro shut.
The Earth Mother will be appeased and she will give you powerful blessings. At the same time she is draining all the osorbos or bad energy away from you. Including Iku or death. This is done every new year by Babalawos. The ritual is expensive but well worth it.
But I must warn you that only a Babalawo has the authority to perform this ritual. If anyone tells you they can do it without being a Babalawo, run away. Because doing it incorrectly angers ile Oguere. And it results in death. This is because the Earth is hungry.
And the worst thing you can do, is to leave the hole open. She will devour the energy of the person who didn’t perform the ritual the right way. Pull their soul down into death.
This cleansing was taught to me by my Godmother in Santeria. Oshun and Yemaya are the Goddesses who symbolize cleansing and prosperity the most. Inle does too. But a lot of people leave Inle out. What you do is take a bottle of melao or sugar cane syrup to the beach.
And once there, you pour some in your hair. And the rest into the water. Obviously you have to be in the water when you are doing this. This is an offering to Yemaya, the Goddess of the Seas and Oceans. Really all water everywhere belongs to her.
She is the Mother of the Earth in our tradition. Because without water, no planet can survive. Now, when you do this, it’s an even more powerful cleansing than the flowering ritual mentioned above. Yemaya can open your roads to greatness and bestow blessing so powerful than no force or enemy can stop you. It may take a while with the flowering bath to disintegrate the bad energy.
As well as renew your strength. But this cleansing with the beach is faster. It’s also more powerful because this is a loci specific ritual. A ritual that uses the power of a location to help you.
A variation of this ritual, uses a honey comb or honey. Personally, I prefer to use a honey comb. You can buy those in the supermarket. It’s like a bar of soap made out of honey. You can scrub yourself with it.
They’re usually in square plastic containers like this. Though if you can’t find honey combs, just rub regular honey on yourself. Then pour the rest in your hair. Like the offerings of the sugar cane syrup. Oshun is the one you call with this cleansing.
And you are asking her to pull all the impure energy out of you. All bad luck, everything out of your energy field. Then, you toss the honey comb into the water as far as you can. That will be the offering for Oshun. But I would recommend you bring a change a clothes with you.
Bring shorts or a bikini to enter the water. Because regular clothing in sea water smells like a rotten animal. Better to remove the wet clothing and change back into your normal clothes afterwards. Bring a bag with you for your wet clothing to seal it up until you can wash it. Likewise you can do something with Inle as well.
She is the Doctor of the Orishas. And has great power to heal. What I normally use for her are vines and leaves which symbolize healing. I ask the Earth to charge it with great power. Then when I go to the Ocean, I ask Inle to drain all that is bad from me, to the vines.
And all the good energy from the earth and water to enter me. Then I toss the vines into the water far away from me. And that will be Inle’s offering.
We have already discussed the powers of the Sarayeye technique. And how ritually charged objects can be used in cleansings. This is such a cleansing. My Godmother taught me this one too. The one and only ingredient here is an egg.
If you want you can bless the egg to make it stronger. That’s up to you. On the first Monday of the new year, in the morning, rub an egg from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. And pray to Elegua. Ask him to take all the bad energy out of you from the old year.
You will wait until you feel lighter. As if everything that was on and in you will be devoured by that egg. Eggs are living objects. They have living organisms inside them. So they are the best things to use for a sacrifice.
Once everything has been pulled from you, you throw it backwards so that it will break. Do not look behind you. Because if you do, whatever negativity you had removed, will return to you. And worse than before. Now you cannot eat eggs for seven days.
Because if you eat the same food you cleansed yourself with, it will also return the negativity to you. Seven days is the cut off point. After the egg fast the day after the seventh day, you will be able to eat them again. You can wash the egg with holy water to give it an added charge. Or anoint it with a holy oil or powder.
If you can’t do this in the morning then do it at night or the afternoon. The point is doing it while it is still Monday. Elegua is the God of the Crossroads in Yoruba religion. He opens all roads and brings success in all things. No ritual or prayer can be done without giving the first and last offerings to him.
He is the Lord of the New Year and Old Year and will open and close all doors. Doing this ritual with Elegua will be sure to remove all obstacles. He is the divine child God and Prince of our religion.
Throwing Water out the front door, the Window, or the Balcony on New Year’s Day
In Latin America and Spain, people throw out a bucket of water at the very moment of midnight of New Year’s Day. Others like the people of Uruguay, do it from December 31st. The water absorbs the old energy of the old Year. So when you cast out the water from your home, you are casting out the old year. Santeros have our own variant of the ritual.
My Godmother puts Cascarilla into the bucket so that the positive energies of the new year can be invited in. Some use a bucket of Catholic holy water.
Puerto Rican women of the older generations also did the same thing. But they would follow that up by burning church incense inside the house to bring blessings. They’d be doing this and praying deep into the early hours of the night. And to ward off evil. I burn Gold Rain incense that I dedicate to the laughing Buddha to bring in money.
The Christian Magicians in the Ozarks in Arkansas have similar beliefs. They believe in sending out the old year. And bringing in the new year. But instead of using a bucket of holy water, they open their windows. Just a crack, not open all the way.
The old year slips out through the same small opening. And at the same time the new year slips in. There are other beliefs concerning the New Year’s in the Ozarks. Namely that a visit from strangers isn’t very good. But especially not from a woman.
Why that is, has never been explained, at least not to me. Only that your year is supposed to be crap if a woman is your first New Year’s visitor. That actually happened to me once. And it wasn’t just any woman, it was an extremely neurotic neighbor. One that drove her family crazy.
Like literally every once in a while there were cops or some other trouble in that apartment. She visited us to wish us happy new year just as I was about to throw the water out the front door. I actually debated tossing the water at her.
“Maybe if I throw the water at her crazy ass it’ll exorcise the bad year or cancel it out,”
I didn’t. And man did I regret that decision. Because it really was a shitty fucking year. I don’t know if it was the power of suggestion or not. But at least that time it was right.
I know in the Ozarks it usually is right. On New Year’s Day they tend to stay home. Almost in lockdown pattern. Until the next day. They also seem to have a taboo against taking something out of their home.
They seem to believe removing anything from their houses on New Year’s Day will bring poverty. For a visitor to be allowed in, that person has to bring something inside with them. Even if it’s a twig. This symbolizes prosperity. Now with me it’s the opposite.
I throw shit out as quickly as possible. I like my energy uncluttered. But every place has its own set of rules. All of this information comes from a Folklorist known as Vance Randolph. His research on the Christian faith healers and magic users of the Ozarks is considered Gospel.
Even by the faith healers themselves. He did everything he could to properly catalog, analyze, and preserve Ozark culture. Especially the magical and mystical aspects of their folk religion. He’s in essence, the Eliphas Levi of Ozark and folklore and folk magic. His second wife was a premier folklorist named Mary Celestia Parler.
And together they created the Arkansas Folklore Society. Unfortunately the society which was started in 1950, ended in 1960. But any books or papers you can get from them are good. For they are necessary if you really want to understand the culture and faith of these amazing mountain people. I became fascinated by Ozark magic and folk religion years ago.
I thought this entry would be incomplete without mentioning them.
Chalking of the Doors : Blessing your home for the whole year with Baby Jesus and the Three Kings
The blessing formula drawn over the inside or outside of the front door to bless the home
It was once believed by Christian denominations from Europe, that Satan temporarily losses his powers. Every year around the time of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Some believe it’s on Christmas Day. Still, it’s important to perform special wardings and blessings. The most common blessing during this time is the Catholic Epiphany blessing.
In fact, practitioners of Hoodoo also perform this blessing themselves. While traditional Catholics only allow a Priest or the head of the family to do it. Anyone who practices the root can do this. When a Priest does this, they do it as a representation of Christ. This is commonly referred to as in persona Christi(in the person of Christ).
This is a fascinating concept. It essentially means that the Priest is making themselves empty of their personal nature. And they ritually “become” Christ. They allow themselves to be filled with his authority. Like a form of divine possession almost.
In Christianity, divine possession doesn’t always mean that a spirit takes you over. Sometimes it refers to inspiration. Gaining prophetic visions and such. In this case it’s the actual authority of Christ being transferred to the Priest temporarily. When this happens, any blessing performed by the Priest, is the same as if Jesus himself were doing it.
Traditionally, a Priest does this. But the father of the family can also do it. I find that kind of sexist because the head of the family could be a woman. So really any head of the family can do it. As long as they are baptized.
Because then they are, they’re included in the “universal priesthood” (belief that all Christians are priests of Christ). In addition to this, practitioners of both Voodoo and Hoodoo can also perform this ritual. In fact this was an old tradition for many years. I was going to write about this. However, there are some amazing articles I found that I decided were better than anything I could write.
* Worship of Jesus in his child form (Divine Child) a theme you can find in many religions
* Worshipping him through a household ceremony as if the house was his house
* Calling on the Three Pagan Kings to aid in the warding and blessing of the home for the whole year until next year by chalking the door.
Using the Blessed Chalk to make the inscriptions
Then
* Blessing the home with Epiphany Water and special prayers.
Again this is me dumbing down the ritual for you. The actual ritual is a ceremony the whole family just participate in. And you are giving cultus to the Christ child by using an image of him. Now, the Catholic Church explains that the formula for blessing the house is Latin. And that the initials mean, Christusmansionem benedicat – (Christ bless this house).
However, these are also the initials of the Three Kings. Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar. And as I said, this is an old tradition done even by Rootworkers in the old days. Granted when we do it, it’s normally just the initials C.M.B., the plus signs are crosses and the numbers are the year the blessing is taking place in. For instance, the formula for this new year will be 2023 so the formula will be,
20+C+M+B+23
Rootworkers also believe that this chalk blessing offerings protection against witchcraft. It calls on the power of Christ and the three kings to block any malevolent influence. Be it magic or evil spirits.
How I do it
I do follow this formula almost identically to the way it’s performed by the church. I find that the chalking formula they use is better than just writing CMB. However, I don’t just write what is there. I add some things to the blessed incantation. For one, there was a Fourth Mage King known as Artaban.
He followed Jesus all his life. There are stories of heroic deeds and even people whose lives he saved along the way. But he never did catch up to Jesus. Finally he died almost at the same time Christ was crucified. And Christ himself crossed him over.
Saying that in everything he did, including saving the lives of the innocent, it was as if he had done those things for him. And There was also a Roman Witch the Magi Kings were friends with. We don’t know her true name. But she is known as La Befana in Italy. So over there it’s a Christmas Witch and not Santa Klaus who delivers gifts.
She was to join them to see Jesus as a child. However, she said she couldn’t because she was too old to make the journey. Later she regretted it. And tried to catch up to them, but it was already too late. So the sack of gifts she intended for the Child Christ, was instead given to the needy children of Rome.
So my formula is :
20+C+M+B+A+LB+23
To invoke all of their protections.
Other Traditions
There are a bunch of other New Years traditions to mention but they are all too numerous to write about here. So instead I brought you links and pictures from Atlas Obscura.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 