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I just received this from Brill Publishers this morning. 

It's the cover of an anthology on African American Religious experience. I am very honored to be included in the work. My piece is on Esoteric Writing in Haitian Vodou. I compared the art of veves to sigil writing in Western Ceremonial work. The commonalities are far to close to dismiss out of hand.

The gestures of blessing, the veves themselves and the proper way to actually draw them (as opposed to slap-dash method I see many folks doing) is a ceremony in and of itself. I was taught that to draw a veve is a dance - moving slowly and deliberating clockwise around the artwork. The houngan who showed me this was named Jean Vale. He would arrive each morning at the peristyle, a cigarette dangling precariously from his lip and a large plastic bag of cornmeal in hand. Eyeballing me and my husband, he'd gesture us over, and through creole accented English, with a voice thickened by smoke and phlegm, he gave us the finer points of writing "the words of the Lwa." The ever present cigarette never strayed from his mouth, while he spoke.

Jean particularly like Don, and spent an hour each day, showing him how to "write" the veve properly.  Bent from the waist for an hour at a time was hard on the legs, but the artwork was stunning.  Jean showed us how to use other materials - coffee grounds for instance -- to color a veve so it would have depth and vigor.  He even drizzled clarin (Haitian Moonshine) over an Ogoun veve one night, then lit it on fire. A spectacular piece of artwork, he then made all the girls present dance over and through it -- said he was heating us up for love later one. (That Jean, quite the ladies man!)

When we worked with Papa Edgard, he was very impressed by Don's artwork, nodding and complimenting him. "Hmm-hmm, tres bon" he would grunt, as Don finished the details on a rather complicated Danbala piece one night. Taking a bottle of rum, Edgard then "foulye" the drawing to enliven it (sprayed rum over it in a fine mist).

I was taken by the artwork I saw, both in person in Haiti and in older books. The floor work was spectacular - huge lacy patterns, some that filled the floor of the peristyle. You couldn't help dancing on the image - there was literally no where else to stand. The hours spent drawing these beautiful pictures was mind boggling. Bent from the waist, with nothing but cornmeal, the houngans would drizzle the cornmeal out in thin rivulets, all the while holding the image in their mind. Sometimes, we couldn't even see the whole piece from one side - it was a 360 degree artwork, meant to be seen from all sides, and enlivened throughout the night with rum, water and candles.

Today, I see Veve's all over everywhere - on artwork, on jewelry even on myself (I am tattoo'd with Legba's veve on my upper arm - the same arm I use to hold my asson.)

The humble veve has moved out of the Haitian temple and onto the world stage. I do hope the Lwa are pleased - after all, they are the ones who chose to enter the world of non-Haitians. Surely they picked the sites and places where they can best be seen and understood. I am always amazed by where the Lwa have landed - from my own simple household to the places as far away as Norway and even Japan. Some day, I hope to draw a veve for them on each land mass of the world. But for now, I am pleased to do it here at Sosyete du Marche. I know they are, too. Ayibobo.

The Vodou Garden

I have been swamped with writing and Kanzo these past four months. My apologies to everyone who follows me on this blog. But there's just so many hours in the day, and a mambo's work is never really done.

I am hosting a one day class on Vodou herbs this September 14th. (go here for details) We will walk the property here at the houmfort, look at weeds and things, then get down to business. Due to the way a distiller operates, I can only make a small amount of hydrosol in an afternoon, so we will vote on either make a mugwort or a spearmint hydrosol (it's also the most prolific on the property, as well!)

I am also working (frantically) on my herbal compendium. It won't be ready the 14th, but I thought I could wet everyone's whistle by posting the occasional tidbit now and then here on my blog. And since my favorite plant produced an abundant crop of flowers this year, I will begin with the Aristilichia Trilobata or Dutchman's Pipe, also known as Tréf  Carayib in creole.

The Dutchman's Pipe is a reference to the shape of the flowers as they bud - like a Sherlock Homes pipe, with a large bowl bottom and curved top. They open into these stellar looking purple faced creatures, with a gaping throat in green and yellow. I know the bees find them irresistible, but they can be rather off putting. They have a simple scent that the honeybees adore, and the blooms last about two days before quickly fading and dropping off. I have found the vine growing in other places in my gardens, so I think it's capable of reproducing itself easily in a sunny location. This plant needs full-on sunshine. It spends the summer here in Philly outdoors in the front yard, where the sun comes up like the star on Crematorium in the Riddick movies, and burns just about anything I put out front save geraniums, roses and now the Dutchman's Pipe.

The Dutchman is a vine, with heart shaped, lemon scented leaves that display pale green markings. A vigor vine, I don't think its hardy here in Zone 6. Friends in the south tell me that it's a nuisance vine there, growing wildly and freely over anything it encounters. My Dutchman is babied in the winter, lounging window-side in the dining room, where it climbs all over the blinds, hunting for full sunlight. The US plant data base says its a perennial, so I guess if you don't have harsh winters, you could have quite the plant in a few years outdoors.

Houngan Ray Malbrough associated this plant with the Ghede and he is right to do so. The lore surrounding this plant is that it grows spectacularly in cemeteries in Haiti. That location, combined with its lemon scented leaves and ugly purple face blooms, make it the perfect "breaking" plant for taking off attachments -- spirit or otherwise.

The plant that actually grows in Haiti is Aristolochia cordiflora mutis. A true tropical, it is not available here in the USA. This plant is known as Fey Kadav Gaté or Poison Breaker.  Also a vine, it's blooms are smaller, and far less ugly than the Trilobata. It's uses are much the same - added to bathes to remove negativity. This plant is also said to remove bad luck, reverse witchcraft and is used in certain guards.

If you can find a Trilobata, I promise you won't be disappointed by it. As a green plant, it's pretty much a weed that can't be killed. And if it does bloom, you'll have quite the conversation piece.  Easy to grow, lovely to look at and handy when needed, the Dutchman's Pipe should be the center piece of any Vodouisant garden.

The Vodou Garden Redux

Summer is coming and that brings me around to thinking about plants, herbs, alchemy and elixirs. It's not a lack of things to do - it's the rhythm of the land. The ground feels alive beneath my feet and I want to dig in, to get dirt beneath my nails, and make time with the devas. Mind you, I am not about horticulture, manicured lawns and things all neat and pretty. No, my gardens are wild, barely tamed and hardly within their perimeters. I revel in big, blowzy plants that take over the fences and trees. We lost a lot material from the winter, so I have been haunting garden centers for replacements.

The mugwort came back in a ferocious way - it's waist high in front bed.  We lost all the wormwood, so I had to plant anew. It's beginning to settle in, though I won't have much to harvest this year. The Lovage is as tall as me and twice as wide. It's dominating the cooking herb beds at the moment. And I just found my precious Dittany of Crete on online. Gonna give it another go round.

I planted my sole Calea Zachatechichi, hoping it will do it's usual habit of turning into a big tree. And the Salvia is doing fine. I finally hit on a solution to keep it happy - basically growing it hydroponically. It's big and thriving - I have never had this plant do this before.

The Dutchman's Pipe (on the left here) is outside, turning green. And even the Mapous survived their indoor stint - they flank the front door, and are beginning to groove on the weather - rain overnight followed by warm sunny days. I hope they will bloom big this year. They are easily three inches around and eight feet tall. I had to top them last year due to blight. Hoping that pruning will lead to a bigger canopy this year.

I went back over my planting plan - I didn't actually get too far last year. Here's my picks for this year:

Moon (Water): Chamomile, Poppies, Mugwort, Orris Root. This year, I need to add Chamomile.
Sun (Fire): Bay, Hops, Hibiscus. NO wonder I am so drawn to the hibiscus plants at the garden center - I need one!
Mercury (Air): Cinquefoil, Damiana, Fennel, Lavendar. Can't find cinquefoil (its wild anyway). I will find Damiana.
Venus (Air): Angelica, Feverfew, Passionflower, Pennyroyal, Vervain, Spearmint. Got them all.
Earth (Earth): Patchouli, Sage, Spikenard, Vetiver. No spikenard to be found in Pennsylvania. I think it's a zone thing.
Mars (Fire): Bloodroot, Cardamon, Coriander, Dittany of Crete, Wormwood. Covered.
Jupiter (Earth): Hyssop, Valerian. Valerian I am leery of, only because it stinks. It stinks so bad, even when you walk by it, it smells like dirty feet. The fresh root is really strong - but it's a great skunk repellent.
Saturn (Earth): Fumitory, Mandrake, Monkshood, Solomon's Seal. Would love to plant fumitory all along the fence line. Still looking.

So I am a true Mars girl - I have all of the martian plants except Bloodroot, and even then I have it dried in the apothecary cabinet. Hmmm....I better print this out and carry with me, so when I swerve into garden centers on a whim, I have a method to my madness here.

One plant that has been doing exceptionally well are my mandrakes. No, not Mayapples - real Mandrakes. They have warty, twisted thick roots that look like a human body. They'd make Harry Potter's Professor Pomfrey proud.  I have White, Finnish and European Blue. They are producing serious amounts of leaves at the moment. I believe they need to be four years old before flowers begin. But they survived indoors for the winter, and are now languishing on the screen porch, soaking up the sun and rain. I have high hopes for those bad boys.

All this is to say that come August, I expect a bumper crop of crazy plants for Vision Quest. Once we are past Kanzo, I will have time to dedicate to the plants. I am currently writing the next class on service styles for the Vodou. That one will be followed up by the Herbal book. Stay tuned ~

Medical Volunteering this August in Cap Hatien, Haiti

Honor folks,
I am currently running a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for my medical volunteer mission to Cap Hatien in August. I have worked with the VOSH folks in the past, but this year, they have asked me to be an ambassador with them to Cap Hatien, in the north of Haiti.  VOSH is Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity, and the local chapter is hosted by my dear friend, Dave McPhillips.  Dave has been doing eye work all over the world, and has turned his amazing talents to my favorite island Haiti.  I have done translation work for him, fund raising, donations and tried (failing spectacularly) to teach him creole. Well, he's medical skills are impeccable, even if his creole is not.

Dave has a large family, a big medical practice, a passion for collecting sports memorabilia that borders on fanatical and he still manages to work in Haiti four times a year. I wish I had half his stamina. So having spent many years saying I would go, this year, I am. I will be going with him to translate, carry bags and do paperwork in Milot, which is outside of Cap Hatien. Last year, Dave and company saw a staggering 1500 people in a little over five days. The need is always pressing, but those numbers can give even the most stalwart of us pause. 500 people a day - in the course of a ten hour day, that's 50 patients an hour by four doctors and eight volunteers. Staggering. Maybe I need to start drinking rum now.

VOSH numbers in general will give you pause: from their Facebook page - "Since 1997, more than 235,000 patients have been treated, over 160,000 eye glasses provided, and 16,455 sight-restoring surgeries performed."  Like I said, the need is staggering, but these folks are doing it the right way. They are training local doctors to do the eye exams and critical care, not just giving them a hand out. And its working. There are three new clinic in Milot, Cap Hatien and a small village just outside of the Citadelle.  Having gotten those practices established,  Dave is now turning his talents to my hometown of Jacmel, where the local need is just as big as it is in the north of Haiti. With the help of some of my contacts and friends there, Dave hopes to have at least one clinic up and running by next year. Ayibobo to that!

I am asking for some help to get there and back. I am running a GoFundMe campaign to help with my own costs of getting there. Anything money collected that is above and beyond my immediate expenses will be donated to VOSH for eyeglasses, contact lens, medicines and surgical supplies. I will take lots of photos, blog heavily, cry a lot and try not to be a burden to anyone, much less you all.

If you can spare me some money, I promise you will not regret sending it. My campaign page is here:
http://www.gofundme.com/8i44vs. Thank you for helping me get to Haiti, so I can participate in this very worthy cause. Ayibobo!

April is Mambo Petro

April:  Mambo G picked the Mambo Petro card:  Legba said, “This can be a sexual or physical alliance.  Sometimes it means exercise.  Sometimes it means physical konesans.  Let go of things that hold you back.”  Traditional meaning: Be willing to dive deep this month, to find the answers you seek – whether it is inside of you or somewhere outside.

This card has always given me pause.  As a Mambo I am always hyper-aware of myself and my words, actions, and gestures.  I constantly review what I am doing, how I am doing it. When I write to you either as a group or individually, I check and re-check my words – to make sure I said what I meant to say and did not imply something else. On a recent TV show, one character said “I always examine my feelings for motive.”  I feel much the same – what am I saying and why am I saying it.  Hence, my pause over this card.

The traditional meaning is one of intimate power. We see a nude woman sitting astride a bright red snake, flames extruding from its mouth.  The card exudes sexual innuendo galore – she is Babylon of the Bible, or Pomba Gira of Quimbanda, displaying her female sexuality in full command of the allegorical snake she is riding. But she is also the Queen of Wands in the traditional deck.  There she is imagined as a woman with a small black feline at her feet, a sunflower in one hand. The implication here is one of fertility, sensuality, life.

Glassman’s queen is all that and more.  The traditional little black cat has been re-imagined as a fiery red serpent and she communes with it in a green field, in the nude.  Her sunflower has been blasted into the flames that the serpent breathes out, and the entire image is one of energy and power.  This queen is stripped down, there is no need for decoration or decorum. She does not need the trappings of her office to command the serpent.  This queen is a take no prisoners kind of woman.

When this card comes forward, the meaning is one of cleansing and clearing. The Petro Mambo is a stern queen. She does not mince words, and doesn’t candy-coat the discussion. It is what it is. Her ability to speak clearly is supported by the fiery breathe of the serpent – her very konesans in physical form, writhing between her legs, lending her its strength to conquer what’s in front of her.  One way of looking at having the serpent as an ally is to acknowledge the gifts of knowledge, transformation and secrecy. It also means taking the plunge for yourself.  The Serpent in the Garden of Eden did not make Eve eat the apple - he merely implied that if she did, wondrous things would come her way. This serpent on the card is making the same statement - embrace all that I have to offer and find the truth of your divine nature.

This month, be prepared to hear the hard truth.  It won’t be easy and it won’t come with sugar to make it more palatable. It will be tough talk that will hurt - not intentionally, but for your own good.  That hard talk will bring about transformation, hot and fast. It will be a change for the better, even if it doesn’t feel like that at first.


As Betty Davis once said, hang on – it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Time to Talk About the Ugly Stuff

Kenny Klein was a Wiccan leader, a pagan elder and a musician. He was also a pedophile, a known creep who followed young kids around at pagan festivals. And no one, not his wife, nor his coven nor anybody in the pagan universe said, or did anything to curb it, end it or call him out on it. Yesterday morning, he was arrested for owning child pornography. He didn't even try to hide it - owned up to it and got himself arrested. And now, the blogosphere is -- what?  Well, doing exactly what they did all the past years of Klein's pedophilia career - ignoring it, hoping it will go away and blow over, without tainting anyone in the community.

Guess again. How we stand up as a community says a lot about who we are and how we are perceived in the world. Frankly, I find the silence deafening.

It's ugly, but let's review the facts. Klein and his wife started out in the Blue Star tradition. It was a pretty big deal here in the Philadelphia PA area during the 70s and 80s. I was not a part of it but I know many who were. Klein also appeared as a regular entertainer at pagan gatherings up and down the east coast. Many folks have some of his music. But those festivals are magnets for pedophiles. Kids are generally allowed to run wild through the camps. Clothing is optional, and parental over-site is near-sighted at best. It's a pedophile's dream, actually.

Notice I keep saying pedophile? That's because that's what Kenny Klein is  - he is a pedophile. A man who to see children as sex toys for his own amusement and pleasure. He hunted for small kids at festivals and the Feds found over 3500 photos as well as hours of videos showing children engaging in sexual activities on his computer. His excuse - they were for his own viewing pleasure. Wow.  Just Wow. I find it morally reprehensible and absolutely disgusting. So what is the blogosphere saying?

Well, some folks are saying, he was a good leader, that one should not throw out the magic with the man. Really? Are they that blind? From one side of the mouth, we say a leader should walk his talk, be an example to to his students. I have read reams of writing talking to this very point - the sterling attitude and positive outlook every leader needs to exhibit. How a leader must be upright, of good character, doesn't have ego, doesn't abuse his students, doesn't prey on younger members. F*&%ing REAMS.  That if said fictitious leader does not exhibit all this, then run as fast as your little Frodo feet can carry you, this is the wrong person, run away, run away!

What hypocrisy.

Here's what I think (don't candy coat it Mambo - ok I won't...) Your leader lied, Blue Star. He was a fake, a phony-baloney leader who hid his sickness in plain sight. How about this - just take a look at some of the books attributed to him - The Flowering Rod, Girls I have Known, Faerie Tale Rituals. Ick.  He was such a good liar, that all pagans have been accomplices to his pedophilia. Yup. If you were at a festival and saw that letch leering at kids, and you didn't go find the organizers to have him thrown out, then you just helped him hide his illness. People have said they remember him leering at kids in the pool at Free Spirit. Those same people are now saying they thought he was a creep, they thought he was a letch. Well, he was always a creep, he was always a pedophile and we let him come amongst us; we let the wolf into the lamb's pen and by god, we are lucky he didn't devour them whole before our turned-away eyes.

We can't say the magic was good, but the leader wasn't - it doesn't equate. If a leader is supposed to be an upstanding person of good moral character, with no ego, is helpful and insightful, then they cannot simultaneously be sexual predators, pedophiles, and morally bankrupt characters. No they can not. And I got one more news flash - a pedophile is born that way. Not made, not led to it, or forced into it or moves to that side or any of the other idiotic and stupendously ignorant statements I have seen today. Pedophiles comes into the world as pedophiles.

Pagans need to begin policing their own or the world is going to come calling and do it for them. And it won't be pretty. The rest of the world follows a pretty strict moral compass. It's very simple - don't touch children. Do whatever thou shalt to your adult partner, but leave the kids alone. That's it, plain and simple. And the punishment metted out for breaking this rule is just as simple. The Law (however you wish to define such a thing) places the pedophile in the general population of prison, and allows said population to level the playing field. Right now, I actually feel a tad sorry for Klein. He's about to learn what the repercussion of his illness is about to bring to his person.

Kenny Klein is and always was a pedophile. He found an easy way to satisfy his sickness. He joined a Wiccan coven, became a pagan leader, and then used his position and status to gain access to our most vulnerable members - the children.  He attended pagan gatherings where young children ran free (and often naked) for his viewing pleasure. The real question now is: who else is hiding in sheep's clothing?

Think about that while you've got your head down that hole. Just remember, your ass is still showing.

LaSiren's Pwen - Part Two

We consecrated the pwen on Saturday at Loko's fet. It sat front and center on the Rada altar, just soaking up the power.  The client adored her - as did everyone else. We sang, we danced, we saluted, and then I realized that C was here. She is a child of LaSiren, and a pretty powerful medium. As she is four months pregnant, she was sitting down at the point in the service.

 I was singing through Agwe and Siren, when I got to C's chante vayan (her valiant song).  My legs turned numb - a wierd enough sensation, but then the numbness crept all the way up my body and I found myself being propelled over to the other side of the temple - and then I was gone. Siren was in my head and blessing her child and the child-to-be in her womb.

Should have  known Siren wouldn't allow her child to leave without her protection and blessings. Anyway, back to the pwen - she was gorgeously consecrated by the spirits and handed over to the client. But as promise, here are a couple shots of her for your viewing pleasure:

Siren very much had her own desire when it came to how she was going to look. First was the demand for a cowl of wavy, fin like structures to the back of her head.  The wave structure was continued down her face and over her cheeks. At this point, I thought she resembled a Lion Fish, with the waves and  projections.

Her body was determined by the bottle that I used as her armature.  It was basically square, but twisted 45 degrees around, giving it a sense of motion in stillness.  I also did wave like appendages and fins off her back.  I used a subtle imprint of stones and building edifices, like a submerged Atlantis for the body embellishments. I also sculpted cockle shell attachments, and sea-snakes that undulated down from her arms.  The hands were heavy covered in clay and decorated with sea sigils, as Siren is a sorceress and commands the dead of the waters.

The face was another challenge. I did not want her to look like a baby doll, nor did I want a Disney-esque visage with doe eyes and wavy hair.  If she spends her life in the water, I mused, submerged, then she would resemble a fish.

I sculpted out the nose entirely, replacing it with a smoother, more fish-like profile. The mouth I modeled after my beloved Parrot Cichlids, whose mouths are heart shaped and open. I also obliterated the cheeks in favor of a gill-like shape, also modeled on the cichlid face. Finally, I painted and repainted the eye, but it still looked too human. Again, refering to the cichlid, I painted out the entire eye and simply dotted the pupil over the iris. It looked eerie, not human and perfect in rendering.  This is the first time I have used Interference paints.  I used them to highlight her head so it had a bio-luminence to it. And I diluted it as a wash on the fins and wavy cowl. I think it lent the right amount of "otherworldliness" to her overall visage.

I kept to a blue green palette and added a touch of red to hint at her Petro nature. And finally, I doused her in matt finish help tone down the sheen that makes this look so plastic. All in all, I am very satisfied. And I believe the client was as well. Here's a couple more shots of her completed:

Like I said, creepy cool and I can't wait to sculpt her again for my own altar. Mesi anpil Legba, for opening the way between myself and LaSiren. I will again complete her next week. Ayibobo.