Peace be with you, my friends! First of all, let me apologize for going so long without making a post! I have been extremely busy working on a novel which I hope to have available in e-book form no later than the 7th of June. Today I have decided to blog a bit on an issue that has come up more several times during my years of practice as a Voodoo priest. At least on a dozen different occasions, I have been called in to clean up messy spiritual situations that have started as simple Halloween parlor games or as a result of rituals conducted by junior high girls at sleep over parties. Holding séances and participating in simple rituals and acts of divination are definitely part of our culture and many cultures throughout the world, but it is always important to take proper precautions and know the potential consequences of what might be released, thereby avoiding the needs for a spiritual cleansing or exorcism ritual in the future.
Sometimes the simplest spells are the most effective!
The following is a simple love ritual, taught to me years ago as a “love séance,” which I deem to be quite safe in terms of possible spiritual fall out. If you decide to try the ritual with a group of your friends, please let me know how it goes!
I first heard of the love séance during my childhood from my babysitter Jodi. She claims to have participated in various gatherings of this nature in the late 70’s and early 80’s, which were perhaps forerunners of the teenage Wiccan covens so popular in the 90’s. It all started one evening when she was attending a sleepover at the home of a classmate. The group of five girls planned on hosting traditional séance to conjure sprits from the other side, but when night fell, the thought of communing with the dead was a bit too much to handle, so instead they opted for a love séance to draw the attentions of various boys at school. According to Jodi, all five of the girls had dates within one week of the ritual. Acts of divination and fortune telling have long been traditional at young girls’ sleep over parties, perhaps because it is only natural to harvest and put to magical use the wild energy that abounds during adolescence. This is a wonderful and simple ritual that can be performed by people of all ages.
You will need:
One pink candle
At least one other person, but as many as would like to participate are welcome
Sit with your friends in a circle and place the lighted pink candle on the floor in front of you. Take a few moments to relax and breathe deeply to puts yourselves in a meditative state.
Think thoughts of love and passion and go around one-by-one either silently or aloud and describe the type of love you’d like to attract or name the specific individuals whose attention you seek.
At the end of the séance clap once in unison and blow out the candle to dispatch the energy into the world. This is one of the rare occasions in spell work that it is advisable to blow out a candle before it extinguishes itself naturally, since you want to release all of the energy conjured during the meditative session.
This ritual is simple and fun to do in groups at parties after you and your guests have had a few drinks! Many people who have tried this over the years have reported tremendous success. Sometimes the simplest spells are the most effective!
Orthodox Easter, St. Expedite’s Day and A quick Romanian folk story
Peace be with you, my friends! I’ve just come back from a trip to the country to celebrate Orthodox Easter with a Romanian family, as I am currently in Romania for work and school. It was an absolutely beautiful experience. We had dinner in a rural farmhouse that was over 100 years old and I met a 95 year old woman who told me interesting stories about local romanian folklore and belief in the supernatural.
A Romanian Folk Story
One story occurred when she was a young girl in the late 1920’s. One summer, many of the cows in a village stopped giving milk and the villagers though it was the work of a local woman everybody knew was a witch. One evening, a local villager saw a cat enter a barn and start to drink milk directly from the cow and threw a rock at the cat which scurried away in pain. The following day the old witch woman was walking around the village with an injury in her lower back. As she finished telling me the story, the old lady laughed it off and said it was just old time village superstition, but I could tell by her tone and expression that she believed to some extent the old legends. I have heard many stories from various cultures regarding the supposed ability of magical workers to morph into animal form. Curiously, I heard of many cases from the southern US, especially the Ozarks, quite similar to the story told to me yesterday by this elderly Romanian village woman.
Aside from Orthodox Easter, I have been busy this week preparing for Saint Expedite’s day, which falls on this coming Thursday, April 19th. Expedite is an extremely important saint in New Orleans Voodoo and I am planning to make a service to him with many offerings and petitions for myself and others. If you are interested in having a service preformed this Thursday or anytime, please get in touch! Since Expedite’s day is coming up, I am reposting an article I wrote a few years ago on this miraculous saint:
Saint Expedite
I wish to share with you a few words about Saint Expedite, an extremely powerful and fast acting folk saint popular in New Orleans among Voodooists and mainstream Catholics alike. His image is housed at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church across from Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1, both very important sites of Voodoo pilgrimage. Lately, in my consultations with clients, Saint Expedite has been showing up more and more and I have been using him in my work. So, I’ve decided to share a little about him and teach you how to invoke him properly to bring about a speedy resolution to whatever issue might be at hand.
First of all, let me say that the origins of this popular religious figure are at best obscure. In any case, there is no doubt that there is a saint in Heaven named Expedite who rushes to help those of us here below that love and venerate him. There is an urban legend regarding this saint that many New Orleanians swear by. When Louisiana was under Spanish rule, a statue of a strange and unidentifiable saint arrived at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. He was a beautiful Roman soldier dressed in red and on the shipping crate was stamped the word “Expedito,” so for lack of a name they began calling him Saint Expedite and when invoked, people were amazed at how fast their prayers were answered and they began to flock to the chapel to venerate his image. Anthropologists and folklorists alike agree that this story is most likely an urban legend, as similar stories exist in France and Sicily where Saint Expedite has a huge following, but whatever the case, there is no doubt that he answers the prayers of those who invoke him.
The Roman Catholic martyrology does make mention of a Roman centurion named Expeditus who lived in the 4th century AD and suffered martyrdom under the emperor Diocletian, a ruthless persecutor of Christians who was responsible for the martyrdom of other famous saints such as Saint Barbara and Saint Philomena. Expeditus was the commander of a Roman legion and faithfully served the empire. One day, while on the battlefield, Expeditus received a divine revelation and was compelled to convert to the Christian faith, the very same heretical sect he had sworn to eradicate. Upon hearing his profession of faith, a demon in the form of a crow appeared to him and chirped repeatedly the word “cras,” which in vulgar Latin meant “tomorrow.” Not wanting to put off his conversion another day, Expeditus squashed the bird with his foot and proclaimed “Hodie!” meaning “Today.” He immediately found a group of Christians who welcomed him into their community and baptized him into the faith. When the emperor Diocletian learned that Expeditus had defected from the army and embraced Christianity, he ordered his execution, and the saint received the crown of martyrdom on April 19th 301 in what is today Armenia. In popular iconography Expedite is often depicted stomping a crow and brandishing a cross with the word “Hodie” written across it. Due to his desire to serve Christ immediately, Expedite became known as the patron of prompt solutions.
I will say again that whatever the origins of this saint, there is no doubt that he is powerful and answers prayers quickly. If there is a favor of which you are in urgent need, making a service to Saint Expedite may help to manifest it quickly. Saint Expedite is not a typical Voodoo spirit and he is not of African origin, so his service is a bit different and less complicated. In New Orleans, Voodooists go directly to the church and invoke his intercession, but he may be invoked just as effectively from home. Saint Expedite’s day is Wednesday and a service to him is most effective if done on this day. You take an image of the saint and light a red glass encased seven day candle in front of it. Leave the candle burning until it goes out and then fill the glass with water and place a bouquet of red flowers in front of the saint as a thank you. Also, when your favor is granted, it is customary to offer Saint Expedite a piece of Sara Lee pound cake in return for his help. You can invoke his help in any matter, but he is especially helpful when it comes to money and finance. Once your favor is granted, I would advise you to thank him with a proper offering, as the luck he brings can dissipate just as quickly. His feast day is April 19th and it will bring you many blessings to offer him service on that date.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about St. Expedite and hearing about my experience in rural Romania. Until next time, I wish you peace, love and happiness!
Get My Groove Back Bath
Peace be with you, my friends! Yesterday marked the beginning of Holy Week, an important time of year for Voodoo people and Christians throughout the world. During this week, Voodooists take time off from their busy schedules of readings, serving the lwa and spell castings to center our thoughts on God who is the source of all life.
A ritual to cast off the buildup of stagnant energy.
It is also the beginning of spring where I currently live. The trees are starting to bud, flowers are blooming and the weather is becoming warmer with each passing day. I am finally feeling energized and renewed after a long gray winter.
Yesterday, when I was feeding my spirits and saints I was inspired to perform a ritual to cast off the buildup of stagnant energy that happen during the long winter months and usher in a new period of good luck, positive energy and general happiness. I decided to make a spiritual bath under the patronage of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba. I call it my “Get my Groove Back Bath.” You may wish to try it yourself at home. If you do, please let me know the result.
First, as with any spiritual work, I began by making an offering to my ancestors and spirit guides, asking them to bless the work and open the gates for communication to the spirit world. In this case, I offered a plate of corn meal mush, a glass of water and a shot of homemade plum brandy.
Then I set a pot of river water boiling on the stove. When working with the Caridad del Cobre, it’s best to take water from a river, her sacred spot, to use in her services. Then I added to the boiling water dried orange peels, mandarin orange leaves, dried ginger and cinnamon, all ingredients sacred to the Caridad del Cobre. I allowed the mixture to boil for seven minutes and then strained the liquid into a basin.
I placed the container of liquid in front of an icon of Our Lady of Charity and lighted a yellow candle. I prayed over the liquid and asked her to bless it so that when I bathed in it I would be filled with her blessing and positive energy. When the candle burned out, I added a few drops of holy water to the mixture and then added it to a tub full of water and soaked in it making sure to submerge myself completely so that all parts of my body were touched by the sacred liquid.
It has only been one day, but I do feel lighter and more energized and I was contacted by an old friend I haven’t heard from in over three years, so it looks like the good luck is starting!
I hope this post has been informative. If you would like me to prepare and consecrate an herbal bath for any purpose: love, money, luck, purification, to break a curse or bad luck, please do not hesitate to contact me. I wish you a Happy Easter and a Happy Spring!
Marriage Bath
Peace be with you, my friends! I would like to first apologize for not writing a post for so long, but my schedule has been crazy for so long between school, and moving and of course my spell work and taking care of my spirit guides and saints. I am however very happy that the long gray winter seems to be warming into Spring!
This is a service performed under the patronage on Ochun, the Yoruba Orisha of love.
In the past, I have briefly touched on the subject of magical baths in Voodoo which can be done for a variety of purposes; love and money being the most popular. Today I would like to share with you a very traditional and popular bath whose aim is to bring about marriage. I highly recommend it for anyone who has been in a relationship for a long time and is waiting for a marriage proposal that does not seem to come. If you decide to try the bath, please let me know your results!
Marriage Bath
The following bath is a bit more intense and time consuming that the spell and rituals I normally describe here, but it is extremely powerful and meant to bring a relationship to the next level of commitment by eliciting a marriage proposal from your current partner or attracting a marriage minded individual into your life. This is a service performed under the patronage on Ochun, the Yoruba Orisha of love. This particular bath has been in common use in Puerto Rico and Cuba since Spanish colonial times, which does not surprise me since it addition to being highly effective, it smells absolutely wonderful!
You will need:
5 liters of River Water (make sure it’s from a non-polluted source)
5 Shiny Pennies
Women’s perfume (your choice, any kind will work)
Holy Water
One yellow and one white rose
A Cigar
One yellow taper candle
This bath is best taken on a Friday, but remember to allow enough time for the necessary preparations.
First go to a river and take five liters of water. As you are taking the water from the river, ask Ochun to bless it and infuse it with her powerful love energy. When you finish taking the water, drop the five pennies into the river to thank her.
At home, pour the five liters of water into a large plastic or metal container for which you have a cover. Add the rose petals, five drops of the woman’s perfume of your choice and five drops of holy water. Mix well.
Next light the cigar and take one big puff. Blow the smoke out onto the surface of the bath and as you do say a silent prayer to Ochun asking her to bless the bath and infuse it with her energy to bring about the marriage proposal that you desire. Repeat four more times for a total of five and then cover the bath.
Light the yellow candle on top of the covered bath and make your request to Ochun again and tell her of your desire for a marriage proposal. Allow the candle to burn out on its own.
You may take the bath by adding the blessed liquid to a tub of warm water and soaking in it as long as you wish or by pouring it over your head in the shower. While you are bathing, remember to concentrate on your desire for marriage once again and when finished always thank Ochun for her blessing.
I hope you have enjoyed learning to prepare Ochun’s marriage bath. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. As always, I wish you peace, love and the sweetest of blessings!
Maman Brigitte
Peace be with you, my friends! I hope you are staying warm where you are. Here is seems like an endless winter, but I do know that Spring is on the way, especially since next week is the last week of the Carnival season with Ash Wednesday falling on the 22nd. I wanted to share briefly some information about one of my favorite lwa, Maman Brigitte.
Maman Brigitte has her origins not in Africa or Haiti, but in Scotland!
Below are some statistics on Brigitte and I would be happy to perform a service to this powerful Queen on the Spirit World on your behalf for teach you to perform one at home. She is extremely powerful and showers blessings and protections on those who are devoted to her.
Origins: Haiti. She is the Haitian manifestation of the Celtic goddess Brigid brought to Haiti by indentured servants from Ireland and Scotland in the 1700’s-1800’s.
Offerings: Tobacco, rum, kleren (a drink make by steeping hot chili pepper and black pepper corns in rum) black hens.
Sacred Place: The cemetery. She is the Queen of the Cemetery and consort of Baron Samedi, the gatekeeper of the cemetery.
Catholic Counterpart: Loosely associated with St. Brigid, although she is rarely if ever invoked under this image. She is often depicted as a white woman and she is believed to be a powerful witch.
General Observations: Maman Brigitte is a particularly important lwa for many reasons, not the least of which being that she demonstrates the absorbing of other cultures’ beliefs into Vaudou and also the strong feminine ideal of the religion. The most peculiar aspect of this lwa is her physical appearance, as she is portrayed and a fierce, bold white woman in charge of her own destiny. Her Caucasian appearance is due to the fact that she has her origins not in Africa or Haiti, but in Scotland! As state above, Brigitte is in fact the Caribbean manifestation of the Celtic goddess. Maman Brigitte is the wife of Baron Samedi and the grave of the first woman buried in a cemetery is consecrated to her and she is also believed to protect all the graves in the cemetery that are properly marked with a cross. Brigitte is a strong, aggressive and protective female spirit who often punishes those who disrespect the dead and fail to give them a proper burial; she is invoked for luck in gambling as well as to punish an enemy In matters of love, she understands the importance having a stable partner who will treat you with respect. She is often call about my women to prevent their husbands from cheating.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about this particular Voodoo spirit. Until next time, I wish you peace, love and the sweetest of blessings!
