It looks like the long winter goes on, as death continues to reap the living. After the intense period of the Super New Moon in Aquarius, we have all been left shook. New Moons are times of the dead and bad luck. But a Super New Moon is like Mother Nature was on her period and flushed all the nasty negative shit out. And you better watch out that you don’t get swept in it too. s
As mentioned this year we are in the sign of Otura Niko, the Foreman of Death. And this year is full of death in every which way. My friend just lost his other friend to a car accident. I had to perform a ritual to cross him over last night. And there is the incident of the dead woman who was attached to a statue I had gained.
The irony is that the signs of the spirits are all saying the same thing : drop your to-do lists, relax, be present. Don’t worry about the next thing to do. It’s kind of hard to do that when you have friends and family dying off. Or when you have to constantly watch your ass to make sure the sky isn’t falling. I have a headache.
But not a normal headache. It’s more like a spiritual headache. And I need a pill that lasts the whole year.
Oya the Orisha who escorts the dead to the Cemetery
Since writing about Otura Niko, I got curious and wanted to know more about it. I had never heard of this sign before. And I wanted to trace its origin. I think I found the possible origin. Translated from the original Spanish article here.
In the land of Yewe Inle, there was a time when there was a terrible drought. Everything was a great disaster. It was then when the main kings met with the Obá Ikú (king death), Elegua, and Iroko to deliberate in an assembly. The result of that assembly was that everyone should do Ebó. The last three, as they had no money for the Ebó, decided to ask Oba Ikú for twenty-four coins, he accepted.
But with the condition that they pay him back within three days. They formally promised to do so. When the three days passed. Obá Ikú went to Elegba’s house to collect. He found him sitting in the doorway of the house, he refused to pay.
Obá Ikú bashed him with his cane and killed him. And made a hill of crab land (Ilekan) and buried him there. Together with his hand of Ifá, he sacrificed a rooster for him, and said:
“From today onward, you will be the Orisha (God) Elegua,”
Obá Ikú continued to the house of Iroko. And found him in the heart of the mountain. He asked for his money back. But he refused. And so Obá Ikú took his cane and killed him.
Throwing two majá that Iroko had in his room, two white jars, and killing a white chicken, he sang to him:
“IROKO DILOYU, IROKO DILOYU, BABA IKU EGUN LAYE, IROKO DILOYU,”
(ROCO DILOYU, IROCO DILOYU, FATHER OF DEATH CURSED IN LIFE, IROCO DILOYU)
And he said to Iroko,
“You will become an Orisha, everyone will worship you,”
And at that moment a sacred tree rose, which is the Iroko. Obá Ikú sent an envoy to Orunmila. Who by now had made his daily divination and saw the Odu (text) Otura Niko. So he performed an Ebó, feeding his ancestors along with the land and his Ifá, and he prepared a large casserole of ajiaco.
Otura Niko becomes a child when Obá Ikú arrived
An Orula baby doll
Orunmila invited him to lunch, when they finished Obá Ikú thought:
“I killed Elegba and Iroko, I must now finish with Orunmila as well,”
Obá Ikú raised his scythe to land a blow to Orunmila. But he dodged the blow of Obá Ikú. Who then pursued him tenaciously. And while he was escaping, Orunmila performed sarayeye (cleansing by rubbing a sacred object on the body) using the stick known as Espanta Muerto (frighten the dead). A cleansing to keep him safe from death.
And he arrived at the river. Out of fear, Orunmila leaped into the River. But Obá Ikú absorbed the river to catch him. But Orunmila still escaped. Then Obá Iku, disheartened, walked away.
Leaving Orunmila the victor. The river continued its normal course. And Orunmila came out of the water singing:
“IRE IRE WANWAN LELE ASHE IFA”
(GOOD LUCK WANWAN LELE DIVINE GRACE OF IFA)
Then Orula transforms into a child, to avoid being recognized and starts crying. He stands at the foot of a laurel bush, which had a lot of curujey (West Indian tufted airplant) on top and continued to cry. At that moment he meets two women who were passing through. They prepared a jar and opened one of the jugs. And filled it and leaves, some plants and placed the child (Orunmila) inside and took him to the house of Olodumare. One of them suckled him from her breast.
When they arrived at Olofin’s (GOD’s) house, the child surprises everyone by speaking to Olofin and tells him that he wants Aiyé to take him home. She rejects this, but because it was a direct order from Olodumare, Aiyé accepted and took him. She prepared a mat next to hers. When night came Orunmila returns to her in his normal adult state and says:
“I am Otura Niko and now I am your husband. With these transformations I defeated Obá Ikú. Because I am the foreman of the Egun (dead). But never reveal this secret to anyone,”
Orula
The woman was engaged and they lived happily. Where the fame of Otura Niko began to spread throughout that land.
After some time,
Shango, Egun, and Oshumare come to visit Otura Niko. To receive them all worthily, he tells his wife, Aiyé, to cook great delicacies. She replies in front of Shango:
“I have no time,”
Then Otura Niko threatens her. And she mocks and insults him, saying:
“You are only great because you are the foreman of the Egun (dead) and capable of shape shifting,”
At the moment, Otura Niko took his Irofá and ran after her. She was on her way to Olofin. But before arriving, Otura Niko caught up with her and gave her a blow from his Irofá and killed her. Then he said,
“I killed you for violating your oath,”
(You see, his power was in that he had become the foreman of the dead. And apparently, no one knew that. Nor that he was such a mighty shape shifter. To know the secret was to share in the power. And I suspect that Orunmila also didn’t want Iku, the Orisha of death, to know the secret of his survival).
Shango and Orunmila
Immediately, he made a pact with Shango. Also giving him the secret and the ashé (power) of Otura Niko. He took Aiyé and buried her. Then he put his Ifá next to her tomb and gave 2 black chickens to the spirit of Aiyé. Along with his Ifá.
And put the chickens with Ekó to Egun. They lowered the vultures and ate them. Letting him know the power of Egun that he had.
Prayer of Otura Niko, Otura Ogbe
“Otura Niko adifafun iku alashona oumbo wa ni eshu ishonshon oba lele iroko oba lele orunmila ore lawa oba iku yen ore amaiyekun belele iya lele lokua ariku omi orunmila oun sede otura niko umbo atefa ni egun agboran iku agboran olofin yewe inle oba iku onika ododo sekun iroko segun gbogbo iya kalalu elebo owunko elebo moyeni iku orunmila akue ye akualosiña iya laye oba iku,”
(Otura Niko, the death of our child’s mother, is the God’s faith, the king, the king, the king, the king of death, the king of death, the eternal friend of the mother, the king of heaven, he is the king of heaven).
It’s unknown if Otura Niko was named after him. Since he ritually becomes the “foreman of the dead” after this. Or if the Odu (text) already existed prior to him taking on this title. But that doesn’t really matter at this point. As the Foreman of the dead, Orula is immune to death.
He’s also shown to be a masterful shapeshifter. So he could take on any variety of forms and escape Iku. And foreman is another term for supervisor. Perhaps it even means he could command the dead in this form. Or command Iku to leave him be.
I’m not sure yet. I have to ask my Babalawo about his knowledge concerning the text. And see from there what happens. Take care of everyone. And as usual, be safe.
– M
The Eggun or dead, looking at their own corpses on a battlefield
Yes this is a year ruled by Obatala and Oshun (or by Exu and Oxum if you practice Quimbanda). But the sign of the year is what seems to truly be reigning this year. Already, it seems that the Ajogún are on the move bringing with them misfortune and death. Yesterday, my friend got into a car accident. A little while later, I learned that my great uncle had died suddenly.
Between yesterday and today, some of my magical charms for protection against death, started to become overwhelmed. I had to call on the spirits to reverse whatever it was that was sending death this way. And I had to cleanse, re-bless, and recharge all of my charms. And right now as I am writing this, I found out that my neighbor whom I always talked with, died from a heart attack recently. Either just before or after New Years.
I didn’t want to ask the date because that’s disrespectful and insensitive to his poor wife. But it was recent. So either just before or just after New Years. This year is not a good year. It’s not a year that we should all be cheering for.
It is the year of Otura Niko, the Foreman of the Dead.
Friends, things are only going to get worse from here. Before in 2020, COVID was the force used by the Ajogún to spread terror and disharmony. But this year they are mixing the tactics up. Now it’s more like a mix of 2020 with 2019. In 2019 it was more personalized attacks sent to different people.
Personal problems. And 2020 was a massive problem that struck us all. This seems to be a hybrid of both those years. It has all the force if not more, of 2020. But disseminated in ways that will effect us directly.
A friend of mine who has mixed white and native ancestry told me something recently. Now his magic is strong. He works with indigenous spirits. And when my ass has been in danger, he’s protected me. But he has this thing.
And he had the feeling before I even knew it, that this year would be bad. And now here we are. But it gets worse. Last month a fellow blogger named Librarian of the Multiverse had also had a conversation with me. That she sensed that death would be coming this year as well.
In my head I was like, fuck because that’s really what we need now. Maybe it is. Because clearly humanity refuses to awaken from this walking coma we’re all in. I wonder if we have fallen so deeply asleep that the Ajogún have seen us as easy prey. That we’re being targeted now because they see us as dumb sheep that are easy to take out. But now I want to move on to something else.
The Divination (letter of the year) says to stay away from lakes and rivers and even rain water. A friend of mine who is a seer told me something that spooked me. You see, she had no idea what the letter of the year had said. I didn’t have the time to tell her. But she said that something is in the water.
That something is in the water that’s going to kill people this year. No, she’s not a nut job. No, she doesn’t normally say stuff like that. For the very first time in my life, I understood the true meaning of the term “my blood ran cold”. Because I felt ice in my veins hearing her say that.
I feel a rising death wave like in 2020. But this one is worse. Part of me feels like I’m on a roller coaster. I want off of and I am screaming my head off into the void. But no matter what no one is going to save me.
So with that said, I think I am going to give you all a simplified version of the Ebbos or karmic cleansings for this year. Along with some additional advice that may come in handy.
The Ebbos given for this year include animal sacrifices. Which I am against. But I also understand traditions and what not.
I am no one to judge my people and how they follow the ways of the ancestors. I just don’t like or agree with all the ways of our ancestors. I don’t always follow those ways. I actually considered saying nothing for fear of being rebuked by other Santeros saying I am “exploiting our religion”.
Or some other horseshit that the zealots in my faith come up with to silence dissent.
My spirits and my Orisha do not care about whether or not I kill an animal. They accept fruits and vegetable offerings. But they also accept cooked animals. In other words, instead of giving them an animal that is being sacrificed and discarded I give them food. If the Ebbo asks for a roaster, I go out and find a cooked roaster.
It’s not impossible to find. There are some animals that are sacrificed in Africa that don’t exist here. So with divination and research I find what they would accept and grant them that dinner. In places that are sacred to them. I also add the fruits and vegetables anyway as an added offering.
If blood is what they want that isn’t a problem either. There are butcher shops that are willing to grant the meat and the blood. As long as they get paid they don’t care. Again, this is how I do it because my Gods and spirits allow me to. Because my Orisha allows me to.
Do a divination, meditate, and find what works for you. And if any Santeros out there have an issue with how I approach our faith, I don’t care. It has served me well up until now. And until they (the Orishas) or my spirits tell me otherwise I will continue. I am accountable to them, not to you.
Now the offerings in IFA, you can skip because that’s for the order of IFA. The practitioners of IFA divination and magic under Orula. I am going to give you a simplified version of the regular Santero offering. A medium rooster and seven colored strips.
The seven colored strips symbolize the Seven African powers. The other ingredients are only for Santeros. So this simplified version is to ask the Seven African Powers for help. Tie them into different parts of the house. Such as door knobs and in windows to ward off death.
In fact consider making a bracelet of these seven strips for yourself. As an amulet. The cooked roaster is the sacrifice that will empower the charms. They will work against death. Which will be very important because there is an article I wrote which is about charms against death.
In addition to that :
– Honey for Oshun, Brandy for Eshu, Incense or anything holy for Obatala because he’s the King of Heaven. And because Santeria is mixed with Catholicism, Christian things like blessed white candles or incense for him will do.
– And you could get another roasted chicken for Orula, his wife Odu, and the spirits of IFA and ask for their blessings and protections. If you approach them with respect, they won’t care what faith you belong to.
Leave these offerings at a crossroads with three pennies for Elegua so that he will send the offerings to the Orishas. Also this is very important, to a point even more important than the offerings mentioned before.
You need to use any form of protection the dead can give you. Sacrifice to your ancestors. Light candles and incense to them, give them Hades Money, etc… don’t be stingy. And if you don’t already have an ancestor shrine to them, now is the time to make it happen. Because our primary protection comes from the dead.
And also our non human spiritual guides such as Angels, Nature Spirits, etc..we need all of their protections. So when you have a chance give offerings at a cemetery to Oya.
– Nine Purple Grapes
– 9 Red Roses
– Nine Pennies
– A Bottle of Red Wine
For her and for all the dead. You don’t have to enter the cemetery. Oya brings the dead to the front gates. Leave the offerings there and she will share it with the dead. Ask them and her for protection and blessing.
And for mass purification in all its forms. And dedicate that entire cemetery to her and the Gods of the Dead. You should feel different. As if something negative left your body when you pray to her. When you are done, leave a candy offering to Elegua in his Eshu form.
And ask him to send these offerings to Oya and the dead. And then leave without looking back.
Now it’s important to also work within your own religion. If you don’t believe in Santeria but want protection, research these Deities and find someone in your own religion who matches them. For instance, if you’re Christian, the Archangel Gabriel is the Messenger of God (Elegua is the Messenger of the Gods) and he’s one of the Angels of Death.
So he’s perfect for this. And instead of a crossroads or all these offerings, you make a massive donation to your church for him in Jesus name. And Jesus died and rose again. So any offering to him works. And he’s the intercessor between humanity and God which makes him a messenger as well.
Any offering you give to him, give with an open heart and perfect love. If you’re Hindu, do this with Ganesha. And look up who the God of the Dead is. One you are comfortable with and work with them instead. If you are Celtic, work with Morrigan.
She hangs out at the crossroads and she’s associated with the dead. There’s so many options out there. Protect yourself well. But most importantly of all is this.
– Personal offerings to your spirit guides
Whoever your guide is. A God. An Angel. A Faerie. A Ghost. As well as all of your ancestors.
Whoever it is, divine with them and ask what they want and keep giving it to them all year long. By feeding your spirit guide, you are keeping yourself safe. And sacrifice to your loved ones Spirit guides as well. Even do it for your pets. I am.
Finally, I leave you with this. These were special warding rituals I did when the pandemic hit. They kept me and my family safe at the height of the pandemic. We survived 2020 without getting the disease. Even though my Mom is a healthcare worker and she had to enter places that weren’t safe.
Meanwhile people around us were dropping dead. Even those who were supposed to be safe. This protected us. So please, read this old blog carefully. And adapt the rituals for what’s happening now.
Just like on that blog I will keep you updated on events with updates here. Do offerings to all those spirits and Gods. And make the same kinds of charms. Do the same things I did back then. Just adapt them to whatever fresh hell we are going to suffer this year.
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.
An actual hotel guest room from a real hotel, the Royal Mandaya Hotel (royal?). Which makes this both hilarious and disturbing at the same time.
Welcome to the dark time of the year everyone. I hope you’re all comfy by your fire or space heater. I also hope that you have sufficient food to eat. And a nice warm blanket to be tucked inside of. The dark time of the year is here again.
Providing both comfort and fear for many.
During Christmas, it was an English tradition to tell ghost stories in the winter. Winter being the dark time of the year, when the Fae and all other spirits had full run of the land. It seems natural for people to have associated it with the dead. After all, things go bump in the night when the sun is gone. And only the holy power of fire can keep them at bay.
But there’s one problem with that. We don’t use fire hardly ever anymore. We don’t even have proper Hearths. And people don’t believe. Does that protect them? I’m not so sure it does.
If anything it debilitates them. Like an immune system that’s been weakened. How are you supposed to protect yourself from things you don’t even know are there in the first place?
This story was so good I just had to share it with all of you. It’s a YouTube video for your listening pleasure. Enjoy. Sit back and relax.
Authorities believe these skeletal remains are that of an Ancient Native American group buried on a Beach
The beach is already legendary among us Floridians. The official name is Chastain Beach. It’s on Hutchinson Island. But most people call it Seven Skulls because once seven human skulls were found there. Every time a Hurricane hits that area in just the right direction, skeletal remains are always discovered.
It’s led to many believing this is an indigenous burial ground. As you can read from the article on it, it’s also believed to be a mystical place. People who live in the town of Stuart say that the bones should be buried again. That interfering with the bodies is bad. Unfortunately the authorities don’t listen.
They were removed from the beach already. Probably on their way to a Museum.
Recently I had talked about a strange Supernatural occurrence during Hurricane Ian. In which I believe a Wild Hunt was unleashed. Some people in Central Florida heard the hooves of Horses on their roofs during the Hurricane. Something none of us have ever reported hearing before. I tried debunking it.
And couldn’t. So I turned to magic. And I saw a horrifying visions. They looked like legions of angry souls. All of them seeking revenge in one form of another.
Go to 1:18 on the video to skip to the part about the unearthed bodies
This video show it from the beginning. The Seminole Nation has claimed the bodies and the beach as belonging to their ancestors. I just thought this was something odd and interesting to put here. Be blessed my friends,
The Mexican version of All Saints and All Souls’ Day! With some indigenous flavor. Even though I’m Cuban and not Mexican. But I celebrate this day with a particular zest as if it was a Yoruba holiday. Other Santeros do as well. It’s mostly based on the Aztec version of the days of the dead.
Miccailhuitontili (Feast of the Little Dead Ones) for dead children. And Miccailhuitl (Feast of the Adult Dead). The original dates were August 9 and August 10. But with the coming of the Colonizing Spanish Empire, trying to forcibly convert the indigenous people, they changed the dates to All Souls and All Saints Day. Which is even funnier because those days were a Christianized version of the Celtic Pagan Samhain.
So Catholics, attempting to convert Pagans from an indigenous non European Pagan background, converted their holiday to a European Pagan background instead. So for me these two days are awesome for celebrating both! I have many images and videos to show you. But first, here’s my son on Halloween!
He was a Cuban Pimp for Halloween
On this day, the traditions of the indigenous peoples, mix with Folk Catholicism and Spiritualism. As well as Spiritism. Tomorow it will be the same.
Hurricane Ian was the fifth most powerful storm in terms of speed to ever hit the US
The first time I had ever written an It came with the storm story was due to a hurricane that hit Honduras. The story was so fascinating and strange, I took time to transcribe it and translate it into English. I never thought I would end up creating a series on this. But here we are. And to make it stranger, it’s about something that happened here in Florida.
People say that “things” come with storms. That a storm is a doorway into another world. And spirits can hitch a ride on them to our world. That’s why the story from Honduras I translated didn’t surprise me. If anything it reaffirmed the old tales.
But most people don’t think anything like that could happen here in North America. The US and Canada are considered too modern for such superstitious fancies. Are they now? I’d argue there’s just as much strange activity in the Americas in our age as there is in our countries. And a series of such things happened during the Hurricane. So this is the story of, possibly, Florida’s Wild Hunt.
A Door Between Worlds
Some believe that storms or other weather phenomenon can bring things to this world. Picture.
For many years there have been stories of portals in the sky. Opening at odd times and showing strange lights. And that can happen even under normal weather. Storms can tear into the dimensional fabric even more. How this is possible is unknown.
Science dictates you would need the power of a small star just to power a small worm hole. Although a spiritual being is an entity of a higher universe. And in theory they could conjure up power at a greater level at their finger tips. Is that what’s happening here? Do they just call up a storm with their power?
Or do they hijack an already existing storm? We may never know.
What is known, is that many people have reported strange things happening in storms. Even seeing strange things. Specifically during hurricane or tornados. In Ancient Times, Gods and spirits traveled the skies on storms. Which leads us to the Wild Hunt.
The God, Arwyn Pen Annuvin (Arwyn of the Inworld or inner world) leading a Wild Hunt with his ghostly dogs. From the Celtic Oracle by John Matthews
Essentially, the Wild Hunt is a Supernatural Hunting Party. Sometimes in the sky, or sometimes even on Earth. Wild Hunts very. Some are led by Faeries, and other are led by the Dead. Some are led by Gods and Folk Heroes.
Everyone from Odin, Arwyn, and Arthur have led Wild Hunts. Sometimes they’re led on land with wild dogs.
Wild Hunts were normally considered bad by most non magical people. Because it was believed the Hunters were pursuing evil spirits. And people were scared that witches were astral projecting as spirits to join the Wild Hunt. (1) Not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact it sounds like good fun!
And they appear in almost every culture. From Polytheistic religions to Monotheistic religion.
A Wild Hunt in Heaven, with Satan being cast out
The Hoofs on the Roof
But this time my family and I didn’t have to go through this. The storm went to Central Florida. A strange place to go to. The people there were so sure they would be missed, that even the authorities slacked off. Big mistake.
The Governor and local leaders didn’t bother issuing warnings to the populous until it was too late. And no one could do anything about it. And the storm roared forth. Like a giant wave of pain and darkness upon the land.
In addition to what you are seeing here, entire roads were either flooded or blocked by debris. But I won’t spend more time on this post on that. Instead I will talk about the strangeness. There was something weird about this storm.
Something the other storms never had.
The feelings in the air was just eerie. It wasn’t even Samhain yet and it felt like the dead were in the air. Some people think that when certain events are going to happen, spirits gather. Is that what was happening here? I wondered as I was throwing the trash out in the days preceding the landfall of Ian.
Many heard it across Florida
For many days we had all been feeling as if someone stepped on our graves. I prayed like crazy and left offerings wherever I could hoping we would be okay. In addition to all the weirdness we were all feeling in Miami, the storm seemed to be alive. I mean storms change courses all of the time. They are alive to a certain point.
But this was different. It seemed like it had a destination it was mapping out. And when it finally touched ground wreaking all that devastation, people talked about their experiences. A lot of people said it sounded like a freight train was hitting their houses. That’s to be expected.
Most hurricanes actually sound like that. Or they have this really deep whistle in the air. That’s how it was for me when I was a kid during Hurricane Andrew. It also sounded like the lightning was actually falling on the road. And it felt like a flood was about to crash through the barricaded front door of my house.
But then, weird stories started to come out of Central Florida. A few people were claiming that they heard what sounded like horse hooves running atop their houses. Now when I heard this, for some reason I felt this electric shock. Like that feeling you get when you know something. I felt like this was a sign of the Paranormal.
But just because I have a feeling doesn’t mean that I am going to come out and say “it’s the Wild Hunt,”. Obviously, that won’t ever be proven by science. What I can do is draw on my paranormal training to try and debunk what I believe. If I can disprove it then than means there’s at least a possibility that it’s nothing paranormal. And I would have to adhere to that unless I have proper proof.
I studied everything I could find online on storms.
Jana Houser standing next to the Rapid X-Pol radar instrument, a new type of rapidly-scanning mobile radar system, during a storm chase on 8 May 2012. Credit: Jana Houser via AGU from this article
I have been waiting since Ian and after Ian. I researched with the mind of someone who doesn’t believe in shit. Who believes there is a reasonable explanation for what happened. First I assumed it was that the storm sounded that way. So I looked up Hurricane sounds.
And while many articles and videos show that they can sound like freight trains or have those same whistle sounds I have heard, nothing about horse hooves. Nothing anywhere. And I used multiple search engines including DuckDuckGo. Nada. Zip.
Zilch. Next I tried psychology. And I tried to reason that because there is such a large farming community in Central Florida, people there reasonably associated storm sounds with sounds they might hear every day. Sounds they were used to. At first I went with that explanation.
But then I realized, that’s BS. We have many farms here in Miami. There’s a place called the Redlands. It’s an agricultural district with mostly wealthy families living there. Gigantic mansions and properties you couldn’t imagine.
Sometimes I just go there to watch the big houses and to buy fruit from the farms. And even in Miami, there are smaller farms and urban farms. Heck it’s not even outside of the normal to see random wild animals and farm animals in the city streets. I have a chicken that somehow made it into my apartment complex. We all feed her.
And I looked at the reports. None of the people who heard the horse hooves had farms. They were all regular people who lived in houses. I’ve probably been to more farms than they have. So it couldn’t be that.
And if living or being near farms would make us believe hear “horse hooves” in a hurricanes I would think we would associate those sounds the same way too. We have had hurricanes for years. And no one here or in any other part of Florida mentioned the hurricanes sounding like horse’s hooves. So that’s a bust too. After all this time researching and attempting to debunk it, it came up empty.
The only other explanation is Oh the Hurricane just happened to sound that way this time. Which is lazy thinking. I have heard half cocked bullshit explanations like that by skeptics and cynics alike. They always end up creating the most idiotic explanations and then pass them off as reasonable ones. I remember a Sheriff tried to tell a family that witnessed a UFO, that they had seen a large owl and became “hysterical,”.
And what’s worse is that the same BS is used by skeptics for that case. It’s a woman and her kids so they have to be hysterical. I am so tired of people who think that way. It’s a lack of intellect and just lazy reasoning. If you can even call it that.
Point is, there was nothing to debunk it outside of lazy reasoning and speculation. None of which holds up to scientific scrutiny. So it’s just as likely that it’s something paranormal as it is non paranormal. So debunking was a dead end. Time to do what I do best.
As the description from the article says, the Gods of death, sleep, and dreams were considered Gods of Prophesy. Normally I call them and other beings to give me dreams to tell me about stuff. But right now I can’t. I lost a friend and am mourning his death. According to Greek tradition that means I have a 13 day mourning and purification period.
But my Druid Master has told me the Tuatha dé Danann have no such restrictions. But instead of a God, I decided to call the spirit of a Druid Seer. I thought this would be a nice concession to all sides of my magical life. After all, as a British witch once told me,
“Why call Gods to know or do things when your dead Aunt Tilly or one of the Fae can easily do the same? If not better?”
So I spoke to an old friend……Fedelm.
A depiction of Fedelm in the Celtic Oracle by John Matthews. She had blond hair that was braided, with black eye brows. And this was supposed to be what she wore.
Fedelm is a dead Druid poet and prophetess. She had exceptional powers when alive. And many people believed that her black eye brows were the sign of the triple iris. Showing that she was meant to be a Seer. Among her many powers is Imbas Forosnai.
A sort of trance state. Where one calls down the Gods to ask for answers to questions. I haven’t read about it in years. But I believe you need a triangular stone and raw ham and cheese that you chew in your mouth. Then you place the chewed up ham and cheese on the stone.
You put this behind the front door. And either sleep or enter a light lucid dreaming state. There you talk to the Gods and inquire what you will. Fedelm was a master of this ability, and probably didn’t even have to do this ritual all of the time to gain answers. She could predict anything at any time.
Even in death, a Prophet’s connection is strong. One would argue it’s even stronger. So I gave her an offering at my shrine for the dead. Invited her to come visit me. And went to bed.
My dreams were weird as fuck. It was like being in Woodstock. Sometimes in my sleep I was awake enough to know that I was talking out loud. Then I woke up and tried to piece together what I was dreaming. I remembered some bits.
I ignored the ones which were obviously my subconscious. But I paid attention to those things that were out of the ordinary. I dreamt of a tidal wave made up of people. But there was no water. Or rather there was.
They were hiding in the water.
In non-corporeal form. And yet they were still able to influence the physical world. I saw them rise up and create the storm from beneath the waters. They were restless. Some were just angry and wanted to destroy things.
And their faces were deformed. Some died of suicide and others of COVID. They were railing against the world. It’s not fair, I felt them saying. It wasn’t our time yet!.
And they just fused into this collective mass of dark water. And I could see lightning inside the water too. And hear many angry voices roaring from within it. And that’s when I woke up. My heart beating and me drenched in sweat.
I felt like I was there. Somewhere in the ocean. Like I had to be quiet so that I wouldn’t catch their attention. It was one of the most intense and fucked up visions I had ever had. Like these were people who died in 2020 and onward till now.
Or from the many suicides that happened in the pandemic. I waited, calmed down. And for the next few days I put it out of my head. And when I felt I was calm and centered enough, I tried normal divinations. And they all confirmed in one way or another what Lady Fedelm had told me.
Of course this is magical “evidence” for myself. I can’t expect any of you reading this to believe. And I’m sure other magic users in Florida have different opinions on the subject as well. But I know, and many of us here in Miami who felt it know, Ian wasn’t a normal Hurricane. Something did come with the storm.
I’ve decided to copy and paste what the petition itself said. Because it acts as a wonderful obituary to Carl. While also talking about that nasty Youthful Corrections Officer who along with friends murdered Carl the Rooster.
Carl, a rakish and friendly community rooster beloved by children and local businesses, was kidnapped and killed and his limp and lifeless body dumped less than 15 minutes later by a youth corrections officer in Ocean Springs, Miss.
Brokenhearted citizens who realized Carl was missing put out a public call for information, then gathered surveillance video from businesses Carl was known to frequent to visit his human friends, according to People.
Ocean Springs police used that footage to issue an arrest citation for animal cruelty to Kendra Shaffer, a juvenile corrections officer who has since been fired from her job with the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
Shaffer has not cooperated with officers during the investigation and has refused to identify the other people with her during the kidnapping and killing, according to The Sun Herald.
Meanwhile, city residents have erected shrines for Carl, and a local funeral home has donated a customized coffin, complete with pictures of Carl and the inscription “Legends Never Die.”
Showing the depth to which this innocent bird was loved, Ocean Springs also is planning a New Orleans Style second line funeral for Carl, including a jazz and funk band to commemorate his life and the joy he brought to residents, according to one business owner.
This innocent and beloved bird, who made a positive difference in the lives of so many and harmed no one, did not deserve to endure this callous death.
Which I think it’s disgusting she’s even claiming that at this point. And even more disgusting that she’s protecting her co-conspirators. I hope they throw the book at her. And that they find these monsters and shove them into prison as well. Apparently, a homeless person found Carl’s lifeless body and brought it to where it was eventually found.
He must have done this so people would know what happened to Carl. It’s usually the poor and mistreated of society who have the most compassion. Good night Carl, enjoy your rest. You deserve it, in the afterlife you’re probably pouring yourself a Coffee ins a land that only knows morning.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 