Peace be with you my friends! Today I would like to continue my series of posts on the types of spirit guides commonly found the New Orleans Voodooist's pantheon of magical helpers. We have already discussed the importance of the Native-American spirits and now I will share with you some information on the most common spirit guides of African origin.
High John the Conqueror and Candelo are two powerful sprits in New Orleans voodoo.
It goes without saying that Voodooists in New Orleans serve and work with a huge pantheon of African spirits. This spirits serve as a link to the mother land and come directly from the ancestral paradise of Guinea, the final resting place of all souls after proper purification and elevation. The first category is young African women who often lived in a state of slavery in life. One might petition such a spirit for help in a love related matter or for a favorable outcome to a difficult situation. The second category is the “madama” who represents the stereotypical plantation Mammy. Those who are blessed to have one of these matronly figures in their spiritual repertoire often have clairvoyant powers and live long, healthy and protected lives.
Male African spirits while rare, are still severed by Voodooists and Spiritists. They usually appear in the form of elderly men with white hair that represent wisdom and tradition. Those who serve such spirits often have a sharp knowledge of root work and herbal medicine as well African and Southern folklore. Two male African spirits that have achieved a level of high fame are Candelo and High John the Conqueror. Candelo is represented as a little, skinny, ever-smiling, elederly African man. He is also associated with San Carlos Borromeo of the Catholic faith. Those who serve Candelo often exhibit superhuman qualities while under possession. My friend Valerie from Puerto Rico is a devotee of Candelo and I have seen her consume an entire bottom of rum without becoming succumbing to alcohol poisoning and extinguish a lit cigar on her tongue without being burned while under possession. Candelo often blesses his followers with prophetic dreams and unparalleled good luck.
High John the Conqueror is more from the folklore of the American South rather than from Voodoo per se and he is completely unknown in Haitian Vodou. According to legend, High John was a powerful wizard from what is today Angola, when he saw that his people were being taken into bondage he decided to go with them to America to show that he had not abandoned them. In the American south, he would fly from plantation to plantation helping slaves escape or get revenge on a cruel master. Therefore he is invoked today for cases of justice. I often perform services to High John for clients who are involved in legal battles and I have had phenomenal results.
I know a woman named Susan who was going through a nasty divorce from her abusive husband of twenty years and it looked like she was going to lose her house. I performed a consultation and immediately High John the Conqueror was all over the case! I instructed Susan to write her husband’s name on a piece of paper and place it in the freezer to prevent him from doing further harm. Then I gave her a purple pouch containing a piece of High John the Conqueror root (a bulbous root associated with this folkloric figure). Susan carried this charm to court and the case swung mysteriously in her favor and her husband’s bankruptcy plans were foiled and she was awarded the house as part of the settlement. Due to the fact that he is not of Caribbean origin, High John has no Catholic counterpart and I have yet to see him depicted in statuary, but his color is purple and his day of the week is Wednesday.
I hope you have enjoyed learning a bit about the common spirit guides of African origin and in the next installment I will write about the spirit guides or European origin. I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and if you would like to determine the identity of the spirits that surround you and learn how to put them to work on your behalf, please do not hesitate to contact me for a reading. Peace and blessings!
