COMMUNICATING WITH SPIRITS: SOME THOUGHTS

If you were not aware, I recently had a fantastic late-night discussion with Fr. Aaron Leitch. We talked about many subjects, but chief among them was our personal faith and how our two faith walks inform our magical practices. For all that is different between him and me, one reason I have always felt we vibe so strongly is that we both believe in the power of tradition but also have many branches of practice we work with to give our spiritual selves a sense of completeness.

One of the issues we discussed for some time was spirit communication. After our talk, we agreed to write about the subject and invite each other to comment and expound on whatever the other writes about it. That offer still stands for me, brother!

I could talk about how spirits communicate from many different angles, but the one I will primarily focus on is my years of practice of espiritismo. I share this practice with Aaron, whose teacher closely matches my spiritual upbringing. The part I will focus on in this post is the universality of Espiritismo. By that, I mean it is the most open spiritual system I know. Even in the ATRs, most of its systems are full of rules, restrictions, and absolutes about initiations needing to be taken to progress. But espiritismo or Spiritism is built differently. It does NOT require initiations to practice. LIKE other ATR traditions, it DOES require a consistent process of personal development with yourself first and then your spirits.

Espiritismo is grounded in a context, though. It came from somewhere, Europe, to be exact. In short, it came out of the desire of a university professor to use aspects of scientific method and academic inquiry to verify the existence of Spirit. The man pseudonymously known as Allan Kardec was called by the Good Spirits and began a wild journey that changed his life and birthed a spiritual system that went global.

Most people know that espiritismo works with ancestors and ancestral spirit guides. But many people do not understand that the system works with far more spirits than that. One spiritist can have ancestors, gods, nature spirits, and cosmic spirits in one spiritual court. This is why, during my discussion with Aaron, we started discussing how we are both aware that some gods/deities are divinized ancestors. I have met spirits just like that. I have also met ancestral spirits that are so elevated that you would not be able to distinguish them from a deity.

When you talk about spirit communication in this context, the universality of espiritismo practice allows us to connect to ANY spirit who walks with us. We don’t have to convert to and practice Buddhism to connect to a Buddhist monk spirit who walks with us. We don’t have to practice reconstructed Heathenry to bond with our Saxon spirit. We practice the tools of espiritismo, spend time at our spiritual table, and do work spiritual and mundane to work on our faults and imperfections.

The tools of espiritismo enable you to see, hear and otherwise perceive a spirit. You quickly come to understand that not every spirit talks with words. Some show you visions. Some come in your dreams. Others will touch your body a certain way, and you know that’s their signature. You understand that the more you practice at your table, the more precise the visions, messages, and perceptions come through for you to understand the spirit and the spirit to understand you.

Of course, there is also spirit possession. But contrary to popular belief and desire, possession is not the crowning jewel of the practice. It really is not. To boot, in an ironic act of divine humor, espiritistas who are horses for their spirits rarely remember what the spirit said or did. They have to rely on the people around them to tell them. So, if a person’s ability to pass spirits is legit, God built in an ego-destroyer in not allowing us even to remember what happened!

The last thing I will say for now is that the actual development of these abilities mentioned above takes time for most of us. Yes, I have met people who can sneeze and pass spirits. But the majority of people I have seen in Spiritist reunions—myself included—have to work hard and diligently to be able to perceive the spirits. Why? Because many of us have years of life conditioning that complicates and, in some cases, blocks our ability to perceive. That includes things like: life traumas, toxic family dynamics, abusive relationships, untreated mental illness, and much more. Working on these things, even with mundane means like therapy when needed, is also a part of that personal development I am talking about. It’s not just being some ethereal spiritual being. It is also working on the stuff in our lives that gets in our way of living more fully. This is why you will hear an increasing number of modern espiritistas encourage practitioners to get into therapy.

More on this subject will be forthcoming, and I know Aaron and I plan to talk again because we had a blast! Stay tuned…   

“When magick looks a lot like religion”

Hey Folx,

Faith is something that is important to me. My own faith has been a journey, fraught with ups and downs as I also seek to respond to the sense of call God placed on my life and had confirmed by communities I have served. Like it is for many of you, faith is also an intensely personal thing that I do not share with just anyone.

Equally rare is my connecting to another person, or community, where I feel a sense of being “kindred souls” on a faith journey. It may surprise some that what I mean by that has little to do with sharing the same faith/beliefs but more with the spirit of openness and willingness to teach and be taught. To educate and to learn. I am finding such spaces more and more rare, but I do see them.

One of these people is Fr. Aaron Leitch. When I heard him and his wife, Carrie, speak together on Glitch Bottle, I knew intuitively that they were the kind of kindred people I was talking about. As I have gotten to know them, I have not been wrong. What continues to move me about Aaron’s teaching is the level of vulnerability he shows, especially regarding his early years undergoing the Abramelin operation. Anyone who has undergone a major initiation knows that it changes everything. He is one of the few occultists I have listened to who describes what that means.

You can imagine how giddy I got when he suggested we do a Live together and talk about these things! Yes, we will be up to it tomorrow evening, so I encourage everyone reading this to join us and roll in the weekend with us! There is a nominal fee to hop onto the Patreon, but I assure you it will be worth every cent.

The link to join us is here: https://www.patreon.com/aaronleitch

See you tomorrow!

FIGHTING LIKE CATS AND DOGS: AN OLD-TIMEY INSPIRED HOODOO WORKING

Because of the modern popularity of hoodoo as a tradition, many people practicing occult things are now familiar with the Black Cat line of hoodoo products and workings. Black cats have a long and sordid history in occult practices generally, including the infamous Black Cat bone ritual to find the one bone in a cat’s body that can make you invisible and, in some lore, a bonafide witch. Thankfully, we do not practice that ritual as a standard anymore. However, the spiritual powers of luck and invisibility are still a part of the modern product line I have seen in different places.

It is also, in a way, a kind of “doctrine of signatures” thing in the sense that the products generally reflect the furtive nature of cats. Cats are fierce hunters. They can be whisper quiet, and you don’t see them coming until it’s too late. As a cat owner, I can’t tell you how many times I have stepped on cat tails because I didn’t even know the cat was right under my foot!

The idea of cats bringing luck is a bit ironic, though, especially when attributed to the black cat. As an African American, I grew up with elders regularly cussing out black cats when they crossed the street the wrong way as we were driving by. I used to always be tickled by that because I didn’t understand until many years later that the direction a black cat crosses your path determines whether the luck-power they bring is good or bad. I am sure this is likely one of those more European beliefs that crept into Hoodoo with the cultural interactions between them and those who were enslaved.

Then we have dogs. At some point in Hoodoo, rootworkers discovered that spiritually combining the black cat and black dog made for a potent mix of conflict and confusion. The whole idea of fighting like cats and dogs. We all have seen people fighting like this, especially where I am from. I have seen fights break out right on the streets where people do indeed fight like they are in a WWF Royal Rumble (yes, I am that old!)!

With this kind of work, a rootworker is not drawing on those more positive aspects of either animal, except maybe a little of the cat’s invisibility ability to keep the work from being seen by those in the conflict. Depending on how you work and deploy things, I will share a simple recipe that can be adapted for oil, water, or powder. What I mean by that is I can see this being done as candle work, a powder to lay down at a location, or water to spray onto objects people will touch.

The base of the recipe is to get the following: vetivert, marjoram, patchouli, guinea pepper, poppy seed, black mustard, red pepper, black cat hair, and black dog hair. If you will use this as an oil, putting it in olive oil or whatever oil you have is fine. If in water, you could also add essential oils of these ingredients in addition to the hair. If in a condition powder, use a base like arrow root and then add some dirt to it to mask the color of the base powder.

I would recipe Psalm 79 over the mixture, one of the few psalms designed for cursing. I would also have a good supply of hyssop on hand to make a hand-wash after creating and then again after deploying this in whatever form I make it, so I don’t risk having any spiritual gunk on myself. You can also take a hyssop tea bath afterward.  

WHAT ARE SPIRITS LIKE?

I wanted to write this post today and lift up a brilliant and insightful colleague-teacher of mine, Harper Feist. I had the privilege of recently hearing her podcast interview with Alex Eth on Glitch Bottle, and it is FANTASTIC. By the way, if you are not listening to Glitch Bottle, you are missing out on a substantial occult resource for your practice!

I will not discuss everything Harper spoke about because I think hearing her voice and perspective from her “horse’s mouth” is very important. Many people, students, and strangers, approach me and ask me about working with spirits. If it is something you’ve never done or had anyone teach you, it can be hard to get into. This is not because spirit work is overly complicated (it doesn’t have to be) but because we have so much social conditioning on us that all of that can create problems and challenges. Harper speaks directly to this, too, but from her life experiences and practices. Hearing her stories crystallizes many things, even for a worker such as myself who has also been at this for a while.

What also sets her apart from many is that she is a scientist and an occultist. That’s a perspective, publicly, that we rarely see. Her way of seeing things from both worlds and then tying that to her scrying spirit work is fascinating and a feast for the ears! It is the kind of thing that sparks inspiration and imagination. Both are important for any spirit work because they are the keys to opening our own spirits to do the work well.

The last thing I will say for now (besides, again, to subscribe to Glitch Bottle!) is that Harper also teaches her own course on how to experience spirits through scrying. I will write about scrying another time, but in short, it is the art of perceiving spirits through reflective mediums. From listening to Harper, I know, however, that her version of scrying is more extensive than this and has more to do with developing the spiritual muscles to perceive spirits. Every spirit-based practice I do stresses this part as essential to growth. The good news is that Harper did just that with her class!

The course is still open, and I warmly encourage you to take her course if you want to learn a sure-fire way of understanding what spirits are like. The link is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/scrying/.

Check the class out—you’ll be glad you did!    

TO OVERCOME FEAR WITH HOODOO

The more people I read and advise as a rootworker, the more I have seen that most of what bedevils our lives is not some complicated spiritual “throw” someone lobbed at us intending to destroy our lives. Yes, that can and does happen, and it too happens enough that I know to be on the lookout for signs of it with clients. But many times more than not, root issues have more to do with internal work that is still undone. When you add traumas and other very negative experiences, it is easy to see how someone gets stuck in life.

There is no panacea or cure-all for this. Our lives are different, and we live in various shades of joy, pain, suffering, and other challenges. But there are always little things we can do to start the energy and process of helping ourselves. It has been common for me that when I need the help of an elder to get through something difficult, sometimes they cannot drop what they are doing to intervene. Sometimes, I have had to wait a bit. In those times, the elder usually advises me on what needs to be done to fix the problem and tells me to do work in the interim that helps hold back whatever is going on. I have always appreciated that elders gently remind me that I have an agency of my own that does not go away just because I need help. That they are not saving me to the detriment of my own voice. This is a sign of a healthy leader in any scenario.

As the title suggests, this post is a simple way to address fear. I am borrowing again from the insights of the old-timey writer Mikhail Strabo. The first thing he suggests we do is find a quiet space amid our trial and sit and talk to God. Light a candle, then say the following words: “I am my own master. I have the power to do all things that God wills me to do.”

He does not say this, but I suggest saying those two sentences like a mantra rather than a one-time pronouncement. They are potent self-statements and can begin to shift our cognitions in subconscious ways.

The next and final step is to recite Psalm 23. This is one of my two favorite psalms in the Bible, aside from 139. However, I suggest that you also use the Shemhamforash Seal from the 6th and 7th Books of Moses when you get to this point. Part of this seal is in Strabo’s book, but not the whole thing. I would print this out, then cut it out and glue the front and back sides of the seal together.

Once you have the glued seal, hold it in your left hand while holding the “God candle” on your right. Recite the 23rd Psalm while you keep these two things. When the recitation is finished, talk to God about what you desire for the end of whatever fears you carry in your life. I would repeat this over several days until you feel the fear subside or go away.

I pray courage follows you all your days, today and forever!  

HERE COMES THE SUN: A HOODOO WORKING FOR SUCCESS

I happened across this little gem of a book by Mikhail Strabo on the power of prayer. It is written much like his other book on the “Guiding Light to Power and Success,” one of two traditional Hoodoo books on candle magic. However, Strabo’s book on prayer has a curious addition of using the seals and tables from the 6th and 7th Books of Moses. The only problem is he doesn’t tell readers how to use the seals from that grimoire. The prayer book reads like a Science of Mind text, with a dash of the Secret. But honestly, this book predates The Secret by some years!

What I LIKE about this book is how he has people think about prayer. When praying, it’s rare to read anything that makes you aware of your state of mind and spirit. Most of us teachers don’t talk about it either. We just assume a person has all of that worked out. But sometimes, I think some assumptions aren’t a great idea. I say that because even when we know how to pray, it may come from a tradition we no longer identify with. So we must learn a new way to do it, or at least substantially adapt what we were taught.

I am giving a sample from the book I intend to use in a new class. This sample is the kind of work I do, where I will draw upon the wisdom of the past to help shape practice in the present. This ritual is designed to conjure the energy of a spirit of the sun to assist you in any success magic you might do. It is NOT full or traditional Solomonic magic because, frankly, the point is to draw the energy to you, not push the spirit to any visible manifestation. The seal for these spirits is the image attached to this post.

To conjure the spirits of the Sun, you will need the following items:

·      A print-out of the Eighth Table of the Spirits of the Sun

·      A yellow taper, chime, or tealight candle

·      A quiet space from which to work

You conduct this conjuration in the following manner:

1.     Light the yellow candle.

2.     Hold the Table in your left hand and the candle in your right.

3.     Recite the following prayer:

I, [state your full name], conjure you, Wijch by Dalia + Jka, by Doluth + Auet, by Dilu + Veal, by Anub + Meho, by Igfa + Ymij by Eloij + that you appear before me so true Zebaoth, who Moses named, and all the rivers in Egypt were turned into blood.

4.     Follow this with Strabo’s prayer for success:

Because God is with me, I can do whatever I will.

Because it is right, I can.

Because I have decided, I can.

Because I think it is possible, I can.

No matter what it is, if I feel it is right, I can.

I have faith in myself.

I have confidence in myself.

I trust my own reason.

I rely upon myself.

I know what is best for me.

I know what is best for me to do.

I am strong enough to accomplish this.

I can.

5.     Continue with a final prayer, addressing God directly:

Because you are helping me, I cannot fail.

Because it is your work I am doing, I will

Because I know that it is right, I will

Because I can do it, I will

Because I am doing it in your Name, I will

Because I cannot fail, I will. Amen.

6.     Blow onto the Table in your hand, then place the Table Seal on a table with the candle burning on top of it. After this, you can begin whichever success work you choose.

Also, my most recent Intro to Rootwork course is closing its enrollment on Monday. If you are interested in taking it, come on in this weekend. It’s a friendly group of active folks engaging each other in their learning. The link is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

May all of you find the success you seek!

CLEANSING WITH CANDLES

I am sure many people do not think about this because I have never read it anywhere, especially in Hoodoo, which is odd. There are plenty of books on hoodoo candle magic and fixing candles, but more is needed on using a candle as a cleansing tool. A lot of bathing and cleansing revolves around herbs, as it should. However, herbs are only one medium that can be used for this purpose. Candles and wax can be as well. Even in a tradition like Solomonic Magic, there are ways of working with candle wax to prepare special spirit seals where one prays over the wax and melts and remelts it, adding herbs and layer upon layer of prayer leading up to the finished product. There is a belief within practices like this that wax is very absorptive spiritually. In this case, we use that idea to turn a candle into a cleansing tool. This method is most effective if you have a preexisting devotional spirit relationship and an altar to said spirit, because that spirit is going to do the heavy lifting of purification.

Assuming you have such a spirit, you will need two stick candles of any size. Some use two white candles, while others will use a black one and a white one if they have both. Color is not immensely important to this, but it can be used to bring greater focus to the cleansing. A black candle is understood in many traditions to draw to itself. It is thus an ideal candle to draw something out of yourself or someone else. We do this in Hoodoo by swiping the candle from head to toe (and under your feet, moving OUT from heel to toe). You can do this cleansing motion a specific number of times or keep repeating it until you feel something being lifted off of you.

You will swipe the other candle, usually white, on your body in the opposite direction, from toe to head. As you wipe up on yourself, pray for the negativity to be removed and replaced by the blessings of that spirit you’re working with, good health, mental stability, and so on. This can also be repeated several times as needed.

You then place the two candles at opposite ends of that altar space. Light the black candle or cleansing candle first, then light the white candle. White is understood to reflect or send out.

Additional elements, such as psalm recitations, can be incorporated but are unnecessary. You can sit and meditate before the altar for a few minutes while the candles burn. Rest assured, these candles will work to relieve any negative energies.

If you’d like to learn more about this, check out my ongoing intro class on Hoodoo here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

DREAMS IN HOODOO

Many spiritual traditions, occult and otherwise, place a lot of importance on the significance of dreams. Even the biblical traditions from the Old Testament to the New give us numerous stories of how people used dreams as revelations from God to know what to do. Figures like Joseph used his dreams to parlay and negotiate a better life for the Hebrews in Egypt. Like Jacob, who dreamed of the Angels’ Ladder and those spirits going up and down from heaven to earth. Prophesies talking about old people dreaming dreams during hopeless times. And perhaps most dramatic, the entire book of Revelation could be understood to be a waking dream (one greatly aided by hallucinogenic mushrooms on the island of Patmos!).

Hoodoo is one of these traditions as well. Between the indigenous African remnants, which always have dream interpretation as part of the spiritual practice, and the Abrahamic elements I just named, Hoodoo developed its way of working with dreams. Chief among them is the tool of the dream book. There are many of these things across the history of Hoodoo. They typically contain lucky numbers, basic astrology to orient how things like the lottery are best betted, and other related information. They also often have a correspondence key that tells you that, for example, a dream with dogs dying means a good friend may betray you.

As I understand this tool, only some people are good at prophetic dreaming. Some have the skill, while others do not. I think we also have the ability to varying degrees, shades, and means. For me, the biggest challenge in working with dreams is getting the accuracy of what they mean and not assuming every single dream I have is essential or has some profound spiritual message. That is an absolute, and I am suspicious of too many of those in my spirituality.

I don’t cover dreams specifically as a unit in my flagship courses. But it’s something I likely will at some point because I know we all DO dream and often have no idea what to make of them most times. In the meantime, I would love to have folks join me in my recent cohort of my Introduction to Hoodoo class. If you do, see you in class!

The link to join is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

IS HOODOO CEREMONIAL MAGIC?

I am part of a group that is discussing ceremonial magic and, on some level, where it comes from. I am familiar with different forms, or what I call branches, of ceremonial magic. To me, its roots are ancient, but it has evolved and formed different traditions across cultures for thousands of years, if not longer. One group member was surprised at my words, equating Hoodoo with ceremonial magic.

I clarified to him that I did not say Hoodoo WAS ceremonial magic in the completist and most traditional sense. It just is not. At its core, Hoodoo is African-derived folk magic that has influences from numerous ethnic/spiritual cultures. Hoodoo is also continuing to evolve, incorporating newer cultural and spiritual forms. This fact freaks some people out, but others of us understand that the evolutionary impulse stems from the more profound impulse of Hoodoo to recognize power wherever it comes from and use it.

So, what exactly is the link between Hoodoo and ceremonial magic? The depth of this is too big to dive into entirely in a blog post, but suffice it to say that the main aspects of this connection relate to Hoodoo being influenced by a branch of ceremonial magic known as Solomonic Magic. Within Solomonic magic, there are many ways to practice it. The core of Solomonic magic is the basic instructions in books called grimoires that unpack how a practitioner starts spirit work to connect and establish formal relationships with spirits. The spirits are typically angels, demons, nature spirits, and spirits of the Dead.

What distinguishes Solomonic and ceremonial magic generally from other forms of magic is the formality of its protocols. To perform a traditional Solomonic ritual, you need to fast and purify yourself, wear certain clothing and jewelry, have certain preconsecrated tools and observe specific days and times according to astrology. I would say Solomonic magic is of moderate difficulty to learn and expensive to practice. Most of the hard work of its conjurations relates to the first instance of contacting a spirit. After this first contact, the practitioner should have negotiated a more straightforward method of calling the spirit forward, using the complete conjuration for more significant issues.

Hoodoo, on the other hand, has a system that has a flexible protocol about how and when the magic is practiced. Protocols are there, but they can vary wildly depending on who teaches you Hoodoo and how that teacher works. Some observe astrological considerations in their rootwork, but just as many do not. Like ceremonial magic, rootworkers do use tools and things of nature to create talismans, mojos and other things. Both traditions also conjure spirits, with Hoodoo using some of the Solomonic “pantheon” toward more practical aims like infusing a protection mojo with a prayed-over Pentacle of Mars.

Hoodoo also shares the parallel of using herbal materia, stones, and other natural objects, like the more folksy and practical aspects of ceremonial magic. Sometimes, the correspondences of stones, trees, and herbs line up, but sometimes they do not because Hoodoo has influences from cultures such as First Nation herbology that would overlay a different set of meanings and values.

The chief difference between these two beautiful traditions is that a Solomonic worker doing Solomonic magic alone might feel limited in their ability to handle urgent or emergent needs. In contrast, rootworkers use what they have when they need it without consideration for timing or only specific materials. Rootworkers always make the magic work for them, not vice versa.

That said, there is a historic synergy between Solomonic Magic and Hoodoo that cannot really be denied. You can do Hoodoo without Solomonic magic, and vice versa, but I wonder why a person would want to limit themselves and not avail themselves of the natural connection of the seven planetary archangels with their fixed candles for the blessings each of those angels brings into a person’s life. There are people besides myself doing just this sort of magic, and what they offer and teach is nothing short of amazing to me!

My flagship classes on Hoodoo dive into this, and by the end of them, you will have a definite sense of how the two go together. When practiced together in a thoughtful and meaningful way, a person has a freestanding method of spirit work that can sustain them for years.

If this interests you, please join me and a group of extraordinary people studying together in the current “Working the Roots” cohort. The link is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

Come on in; you’ll be glad you did!         

CHRISTIANITY AND HOODOO: DO THEY MIX?

A well-known former New Age occultist-turned-ardent-Christian recently asserted that Christianity is incompatible with other religions and spiritual practices outside of the Christian purview. It got me to thinking about a few things. Aside from the mountain of evidence across the world that such a claim is historically untrue, it is also a way to sanitize the Christian tradition itself, which at its start began its worship in the underground graves of Europe. The Eucharist was celebrated on top of the bones of the dead in the catacombs of Rome and elsewhere. Scholars have even found spells, written not long after Jesus’ death, where Jesus was called upon by sorcerors of the day in their magic. So, even people outside of the faith saw that this new religion had power and used it.

This is also a part of Hoodoo history in a way. Those enslaved then freed, and all the other ethnic groups who eventually practiced adjacent forms of rootwork all weaved aspects of Christianity into folk magic. Powwowers do it. Appalachian Conjure in its different forms does it. We all have. At root (pun intended) is the spiritual instinct of recognizing power wherever it is encountered and making use of it.

Sometimes, throughout American history, that has been covert and subversive, like when enslaved folks would gather quietly and pray in basins of water so the slavemasters did not hear their prayers. Other times, it would be in moments like when a conjure doctor was dragged into court for practicing medicine without a license and would chew Little John and spit it out in the courtroom to dominate the judge and everyone opposing him, murmuring a Psalm for victory in court under their breath.

Making broad, absolutist declarations without putting scholarship behind them will only convince those who do not want to think for themselves. For the rest of us, it never flies. Christianity, Judaism, and Hoodoo have always had a symbiotic relationship with each other because of how American life played itself out during and after American Slavery and all the other watershed moments of early American history that came about. Studying this history will show you a counter-vision of this country that was not as messed up as other things we know happened. It is a place where you can see some of the counter-cultural forces that conspired to come together and sustain diverse communities of practices during historical periods where our majority culture desired separation and oppression. In American history, a small but dedicated few have continuously withstood the tides of ignorance and hatred that gripped most of us. Hoodoo is a part of that history.

My introductory class is well underway and already shows the promise of a beautiful, diverse, and dynamic group of people coming together to learn and grow. If you would like to learn more about this lovely tradition that emboldened so many who came before us, I warmly invite you to join us. The link is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

Hope to see you in class!   

AN OP-ED ON INITIATION

I was a part of an interesting online discussion last week about something called the Abramelin Rite. I am going to assume everyone reading this may not know what Abramelin is, and so will give the short-story version. Abramelin is an initiation ritual that has a six and eighteen month version of itself. The end result (or, is it the beginning?) is that you receive your Guardian Angel IN your head for the rest of your life. This rite is considered the beginning of a lifelong practice of magic as well. You connect with your Angel then go about procuring demonic familiars and a general command over chthonic spirits.

The reason I am bringing it up, though, has to do with my own general sense about people’s perceptions of in-depth initiations. In our contemporary time, we tend to have two versions of initiations. The newest comes from the New Age tradition, and to me this aspect of New Age has become an overculture that dominates the view of what an initiation is. What I mean by that is that you can go through a distance-learning process of initiation to a spirit or tradition and then practice it, usually within a day or a few hours time. I am not knocking this. It is its own spirituality, and it works for some people.

But, as I said, the beliefs around this sort of initiation process is dominating the minds of people and becoming the gold standard through which other initiation processes are considered. So much so that they are bringing that perspective into ages-old processes that are more indigenous. Thus, there is an uptick in folks asking if there are shortcuts and ways to procure something like an Abramelin Guardian Angel or Orisha without going through the hassle of an in-depth process.

Yes, indigenous initiations are a hassle, and that hassle is precisely why it is not for everyone. I think even some of us indigenous practitioners know this is how our ways are perceived, and sometimes we too will capitulate toward these New Agey notions. I actually saw someone advertising a virtual initiation and revelation of secrets of the Congo spiritual tradition. Based on me knowledge of Congo spirituality, that is not even possible from a distance. But I know people will jump on it, and then end up coming to someone like me to fix what breaks when they do. Lordt!

To these ends, I am going to speak to the process of becoming a Santero. Not the secret stuff, but what it takes. It is public knowledge that a person who chooses to become a priest in any Orisha tradition goes through a seven-day rite, then spends a year in white with a LOT of restrictions on their personal life. But, it is far more than that! The process takes years to complete.

The first step is you enter into an Orisha house. For that to even happen, the Godparent-to-be must bring you before their Head Orisha, and they divine to see if that Orisha even wants you in their house. If they say no, it’s a no. The no could be for different reasons. One could be that Orisha is not your life path. This bucks a lot of our egos. Most of us want what we want. But this is the beginning of an important reality check: you are not in control of your process in the Orisha world. The no could also be that you are not a fit for that house, or vice versa. If you get this sort of no, take it seriously. It is acceptable to also ask why if you’re not told why.

If you make it past that step, then you soon after arrange for receiving your elekes. These are the pretty beads you see Orisha devotees wear. As you are preparing for that entry-level initiation, your godparent will start to teach you espiritismo. I have written extensively on espiritismo already. But espiritismo in the Derived African traditions is how we compensate for losing the connection to our Egungun ancestor reverence due to American slavery and European colonialism. The ancestors are foundational in Orisha traditions, so much so that you will not progress if you do not develop your mediumship with them.

I have had people come to me with spiritual problems from houses that fixate on Orisha and almost ignore eggun/ancestors. 90% of the problems these people bring is because there are unaddressed problems with their ancestors. In some cases, their ancestors were never consulted to see if they even gave blessings for them to engage the Orisha tradition. They then have to fix what is wrong with their eggun to be able to progress spiritually. I have seen this so much as a diviner that I know it is a problem.

This first part alone can take a few years. In addition to these issues, you will be working on yourself from the moment you step into an Orisha house. The self-work never ends and actually INTENSIFIES the further you go into the tradition. Each initiatory step also means more is expected of your behavior.

Also, and this part I have written about a bit too, this whole time from beginning to priesthood, you will be at a lot of ceremonies working your ass off. A Kariocha ceremony to make someone a priest takes the entire community. You will be tired and exhausted from ceremonies that last 12+ hours, well into the night. Then you come back a few hours later and have worship, which can last another half day. That whole time you will be working and doing whatever a priest asks you to do. And none of that changes when you are a priest.            

The next step is to receive your Warriors. This step means you now have Orishas you have to bond with and take care of. Here is where you learn what it means to have Orisha in your life. You also start learning the sacred songs, the chief sacred prayer, and also how to divine with them. This period of time you are receiving a lot of information that takes time and study to achieve proficiency.

The final step (for most) is making Ocha, becoming a priest. There are other steps prior to this, and a few after, depending on your personal destiny. But the time between receiving Warriors and becoming a Santero will take a few years. There is a ton of learning to do, on top of the fact that you need to put in the time of working ceremonies. You work ceremonies because they are where you learn the tradition. When you sit around plucking chickens with priests, they talk about some of the secrets. Who Orishas are. How they do what they do. And when you go to a worship session, the Orishas will also come down and tell you that they see your heart and faith for the tradition.

The entire process toward the crowning of an Orisha on your head takes five years minimum. I believe my process toward priesthood was more like 7 or 8 years. Other indigenous traditions are much the same. I heard that Candomble is even longer, and that you don’t even get to take your Orishas into your house until your godparent says you’re ready to!

Finally, the other thing often not said is that priesthood is not meant for everyone. Not everyone needs to become a priest to fulfill their destiny. Many do not progress beyond the step of initiation into the tradition because that is all they need.

All of this is why Santeros and Santeras do an eye roll when people say they have an Orisha fully in their life. Yes, they can be with you spiritually. But being with a person spiritually does not equate to having them the way an initiated Santero has them. No one “has” them unless they go through the initiations. The steps are in place for a reason. Your soul has to be aligned with the energies for it all to even work. The Crown must sit properly on the Head, and it is a heavy Crown! There is no shortcut or workaround.

It is not wise to try to shortcut an initiation to a Head Spirit. The same danger exists in Abramelin. You are building the power and authority to be able to command the demonic host, including the big demons like Satan and Astaroth. Why in the world would you want to shortcut that and not receive the medicines fully? Resist the urge of New Age processes dictating how we all should practice. They have a truth, but it is not the whole truth, nor is it universal. The medicine of initiation is there for us so we can achieve our destiny. Don’t let anyone take that from you. 

INSPIRATION & TEACHING HOODOO

Every time I start a new cohort, I am reminded of why I embarked on this journey of teaching Hoodoo. There is something about teaching the basics of something that always feels enduring, and is the thing you tend to return to, no matter how far and deep you go into a practice. But more than that, I am driven by the desire to create a safe space for people to learn and grow together, a space where they feel welcomed and valued.

I have said this in posts in the past, but I have taken other people’s Hoodoo and Rootwork courses. Many I found informative, meaning they were full of good information about the practice and its techniques. One such course, in particular, equips you with a year’s worth of invaluable information. But none of them I took from others spent time teaching how to form yourself into a rootworker, let alone a professional one. Even less focused on how a person’s identity and origin story is a tremendous point of power. What I termed social location (to borrow a fancy term from academia). I had not taken a course anywhere that weaved technique and information with how to form a new identity and also how where we are from can significantly aid in shaping who we become as workers. I didn’t find that, so I decided to make it myself.

This brings me back to a bible study I did many years ago on the Book of Revelation from the Bible. In seminary, I thought that book was so crazy that I took courses and did independent studies to gain a deeper understanding. I quickly saw that Revelation had a lot to teach us and speak to in our current day and age. But the crowds I tended to traffic with were liberal Christians who tend to have a great distaste for the Bible. I remember the first class too (almost thirty years ago now)! People came tense and a little defensive. I copied an article from my favorite New Testament professor, who said that scripture is the Word of God when God’s people gather and study it. And by learning, I meant arguing, debating, and even sometimes rejecting it.

Long story short, those groups of bible study participants had a lot of religious trauma. They wanted to know if I was picking the craziest book of the Bible to bludgeon them more or if I was creating a safe space where nothing was out of bounds. Once they saw that I meant it when I said it was the latter, I couldn’t stop them! They grew together to see how those words were relevant for them, in their lives, with all of what was happening in the world then.

I am deeply passionate about Hoodoo. I teach it because I see too many strands and threads out there that need to be pulled together. I want people to have that safe space to learn and grow together. I am driven by the desire to keep the fires of the tradition burning so that I might someday pass it down to my posterity.

This is my vision, and it inspires everything I do as a Hoodoo teacher. I would love to have you join us on Monday so you can experience this yourself!

The link to the course is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/. See you in class!  

WHY I TEACH HOODOO

A few years back, I reconnected with my college academic advisor. When we got around to talking about the state of the school and the trends he saw in education. Generally, he started to really lament how much things had changed with the quality and character of students since my class graduated. A little context is important here: if you know much about liberal arts curricula pedagogy, its core prerequisite is intense critical thinking and writing skills. He said shortly after we graduated, he could tell that the educational philosophy and approach shifted in grade school. Kids were being educated to pass tests, not really to write anymore. When he went to his class, he said many needed help stringing a coherent sentence or paragraph together to articulate their thoughts or informed opinions about the work.

Given his students' lack of developed critical thinking muscles, he was prompted to go back to the drawing board and reconfigure how he taught. He said, and I agree, that writing and rhetorical skills are pivotal to academic excellence and critical thinking. But he painted a grim picture of the future of American education.

That conversation stayed with me for years, especially when I got to the point in my development where I considered becoming a public instructor. Before I made that choice, however, I took several courses over time. Partly because I like to learn and partly because I wanted to see how others taught what they taught. Many people teach the material well, like how to go to Barnes and Noble and find excellent introductory books on Wiccanism. The material was solid and, if absorbed well, would give a person knowledge.

However, gaining knowledge and manipulating data is one thing. Learning to practice art, thinking beyond correspondence lists, and adapting art to less ideal situations are teaching talents only some have. They don’t. I know this because in some classes I took, when I would ask a question, going deeper with the material and maybe thinking beyond the confines of the class data, some teachers struggled. Very few admitted that what was being asked by myself or someone else was something they didn’t know. Teaching is not easy, but teaching how to think critically is even more challenging!

I was in a work training this week, and the presenter was talking about how, in short, we must all protect the Protected Health Information in our grasp, or we could get fired. This conversation concerned a new documentation system being implemented in the next couple of years. He noted an issue with the new system where searching for patients brings up every single patient with that name or similar name in the system. If we in any way click on the wrong name and stay in that chart for over a few seconds, we could lose our jobs.

Naturally, I raised my hand and asked, “So, if you know the new system is going to have a vulnerability where a large number of employees who have never used it can easily open the wrong patient file, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you would engage the vendor and insist they correct that?”

He responded that he was not the person who deals with quality issues. LOL!

Not thinking critically or not having the learning space to figure out how to do it can be disastrous. It can also set us up for failure before we even begin to learn a tradition such as Hoodoo. My classroom cohorts are not like this. I not only encourage but also empower any and all questions, including challenges. My skin in the game is to create and nurture virtual learning communities where nothing is out of bounds; people walk away with an understanding of the tradition AND how that tradition, by its nature, thrives and evolves on innovation. Yes, you learn the correspondences, but you also know all of those lists for whatever are means to an end and not the end itself. Hoodoo was built to uphold underrepresented communities through the worst of times so people, their families, and their communities would emerge as intact as possible when it became the best of times.

If this challenge excites you at the possibilities, I warmly invite you to join me in the next cohort of “Working the Roots.” You’ll be glad you did!

The link to the newest cohort is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.   

INITIATIONS AND SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT: SOME THOUGHTS

Over the past several months, I have noticed a massive uptick in the number of divination clients who come for advice or guidance, who also happened to get burned by an initiatory community. Unfortunately, it is not a unique or isolated experience. In ADRs/ATRs (African Derived or Traditional Religions), the problems being burned can run the gamut from shoddy initiations to being scammed out of thousands of dollars to people paying exorbitant amounts of money for indigenous medicine and never receiving it. I have heard them all, I think, and it is making my heart break for the religious abuse I can see with my own eyes.

When I encounter a client or stranger like this, I remember not long ago that I had my own experiences of such burnings. I have talked with practitioners across traditions in and outside of my own, and most of us agree that the KEY to an initiation is the initiator themselves. Most of the focus in ADRs is on the godkid and everything the godkid is expected to do to progress in any tradition, as it should be.

However, this is a BIG. However, everyone needs to bear the same commitment to their work themselves. It is a huge red flag in any initiatory tradition if the elders do not periodically self-reflect out loud with their charges. It is a huge red flag if they speak harshly and do not apologize. It is also a huge red flag if the elder gives you just enough information to start to resolve a problem you bring to them, but they always require you to come to them to fix your life, and you never learn how to do it for yourself. I could keep going!

Some of us have a destiny to be initiated in a tradition. We can feel it in our bones. The first public worship may cause something to click. The first time we go for a divination session, something may click. If this is you, then by all means pursue it.

But remember this: in the Orisha tradition, Ori is “king.” Your Ori is, for all intents and purposes, your spirit. The image of God in you, to use Christian language. If an elder cannot respect the power of Ori and force issues to suit their agenda, take a hard look at that dynamic. Ori is so significant that, in some ways, it is more powerful and holy than the Orishas themselves.

Like an abusive relationship, rarely is it that the abuse appeared out of nowhere. When we look back, we can see that elements of abuse were probably going on from day one. But when love and other emotions get involved, we overlook what is not working. Let your Ori guide you to what’s right for you.

This brings me to my main point: initiation is only for some. For many, it’s likely not even necessary. In Palo Mayombe, most people do not advance beyond the first initiation. It is similar to the Orisha tradition. There are also other modalities one can study, learn, and practice that WILL give a sense of fulfillment to a person’s life. One reason I teach my hoodoo brand is to introduce a tradition that does not require any formal initiation whatsoever. If someone initiated you into Hoodoo today, they likely made it up. There may have been initiations in the fledgling years of the practice, but I have not heard of any modern rendition.

I am not knocking anyone for creating an initiatory system out of the Hoodoo tradition. Doing so strikes me as unnecessarily making things way more complicated than they need to be. As I understand it, the whole history and character of Hoodoo conspires against that because it was, first and foremost, evolved and created to sustain the family and the community. It was not a practice for the select few who had specialized access. Again, that may have existed in some families back in the day. But the modern iterations of Hoodoo put this power in the hands of those who feel called to it.

This is the spirit behind my Hoodoo classes. I celebrate who my students are, understanding that their identity and social location will power their work. Students will receive what they seek from my classes and learn how everything weaves together and where to innovate their unique personalized practice.

If this interests you, my “Working the Roots” course is still open for registration. I would be honored to be a part of your spiritual journey! I hope you’ll join me, and I look forward to seeing you in class.       

ETHICS: DOING THE RIGHT THING IN ROOTWORK

One of the other bedrock threads tying together my classes on Hoodoo, especially my “Working the Roots” class, is how important it is to be a worker with an ethical foundation. Before diving into that, though, I want to talk a bit about what I believe ethics are.

The essence of ethics can be summed up as the personal decision to do what's right, even when no one is watching. This definition implies that the individual making this choice has a clear understanding of right and wrong. In our complex world, filled with identity politics and other complexities, this can be a challenging task.

Or is it? Is it that hard to do the right thing, especially when no one is watching? Sometimes it can be. I often see this in the hospice healthcare world of which I am a part. Sometimes, an End-of-life choice an adult child has to make for a parent comes down to risks versus benefits. But even more deeply than that is the ethics of the choice. In that situation, the ethic is for the child to decide based on what their parent told them they did or did not want in their end-of-life care. Or, the child has to reflect on earlier life conversations with their parent. This doesn’t make certain choices less complicated, but it prevents most people from having any crisis of conscience because even if it is a choice I would not make for myself, I am honoring what the person told me.

Ethics in Hoodoo is much the same. You use the classroom laboratory to work out your ethics. The result of this is if you decide to be a professional worker, then when people bring dubious cases to you, you have your own compass to follow. That compass will give you the boundaries and, in some cases, barriers you will or will not cross. As an example, a no-no for me is working on or against children for baneful magic. Even if a child is horrible to another child, they are still children, undeveloped, and with a whole life ahead of them to reflect on their destructive behaviors.

In teaching about ethics in Hoodoo, I don’t tell people what’s right or wrong. I realize context is a significant determinant in shaping moral and ethical situations. What I do is present material, discuss the moral or ethical dimensions of it, and invite the cohort into a conversation with myself and each other to determine what kind of rootworker each person wants to be. I will exercise examples of how I feel or believe in ethical issues so people can see what living by certain moral principles can look like. I think this is authentic, allowing each student to shape themselves with the support of the virtual learning community.    

If this sounds interesting or would benefit your practice, please join us. You will be glad you did!

HOODOO & SOCIAL LOCATION: WHY I START HERE

There are big, ten-cent words and phrases from academia that often are unnecessary to convey a concept. But now and then, throughout my academic studies, something was taught to me that I had carried forward all these years later. One of them is this idea of social location. The basic premise is this: all of us come from a place, no matter who we are. We are born from two parents in a specific place, time, family, etc. All of that shapes and forms who we are and how we see things, good or bad.

Applying the concept of social location to occultism, it becomes clear that our origins and experiences are significant sources of our power. Even if our backgrounds are challenging or toxic, the fact that we have endured and thrived is a testament to our personal resilience. This resilience is a key connection to the sources of our spiritual practices, such as rootwork in the case of Hoodoo.

Let me give a personal case in point: I grew up in projects in upstate New York. It is no secret that most affordable housing projects in America have become multigenerational dwellings. Many living in them do not even know the history that affordable housing was NEVER intended to be permanent. It was transitional living designed to give low-income, working-class people enough economic relief to one day afford a home. But the combination of socioeconomic trends, federal and state politics, and things like environmental racism made sure that the “separate but equal” social politic continued in this insidious form.

The first 12-13 years of my life was spent there. My parents divorced, and my Mom moved there to restart her life with me. During the twelve years we lived there, my Mom told me repeatedly, like a mantra, that this place was just where we needed to be until she saved up enough money to get us a home and get out of the projects. For over a decade, I watched her scrape by and save every penny she could until she had enough for a down payment. And when I was about 12, she bought a home. She did all that without help from any man, husband, or family member. She did it with the grit of her mind and the strength of her hand.

This seminal moment marked me deeply. I saw that, even in poverty, there are ways to rise, even when everyone around you says otherwise. I saw the value of saving and having a vision of something that still needs to come. And I saw one of the most influential women in my life do what many would not have considered possible on a guidance counselor’s salary.

This part of my social location strongly colors my basic approach to Hoodoo. I know that the tools of my people have the ability to alleviate suffering and restore dreams. I know we do not need to resign ourselves to fate but instead use our tools to “change our stars,” as they said in A Knight’s Tale. Indigenous African spiritualities generally do not put a lot of stock in fate. Destiny, yes; fate, not so much. Sacrifice, ritual, and being in the right community are the bread and butter of navigating life. It is also the lifeblood of Hoodoo.

We all have unique starting points in life. This is just a glimpse into my journey. I'm eager to hear about yours. In my “Working the Roots” class, we delve deeper into these personal narratives. If this resonates with you, I look forward to seeing you in class on the 22nd!        

A PLEASANT SURPRISE: WORKING THE ROOTS IS ON AND POPPIN!

I was delighted yesterday when I met with Blackthorne School Director Calahn, who informed me that several potential students were eager to enroll in my “Working the Roots” class! We had initially planned to launch another class in the coming weeks. However, upon hearing this, we both agreed that it was a unique opportunity to restart Roots and guide individuals on their Hoodoo journey.

Even before I became an instructor, I talked to many people and asked them what they found was the best material to teach or turn into a book. Almost without exception, people tell me that introductory subjects are the way to go. Even if someone like me has advanced knowledge of a topic like Hoodoo, beginner material carries the most sustained interest across categories. Until hearing and seeing this with my own eyes, I had always assumed that people would eventually tire of the same beginner subject matter and yearn for deeper dives. And to an extent, they do.

But then I think about my years of experience as a martial artist. At my current dojo, there is a phrase under a picture of belts from white to black. The caption reads, “A black belt is simply a white belt who did not give up.” I also remember that when I received my black belt, my then-sensei put the belt around me, stood back, and declared, “Now you’re ready to learn!”

When he said that way back then, it really struck me. The first mastery in most systems of life is mastery over the basic principles that uphold the entire enterprise. This principle holds true for Hoodoo as well. You can use herbs in countless ways, from candle work to making a healing tea for a bad cold. But regardless of the method, understanding correspondences, substitutions, etc., is crucial. The knowledge of these fundamentals about herbs is the foundation for a world of possibilities.

Anyone taking my intro courses WILL get a firm foundation in the art and practice of Hoodoo, a foundation you can carry into just about any other modality of occult practice and make it work for you. You can go as far and wide as you want, but what you learn from me will keep roots under your feet (pun intended!), so your practice begins with a depth seldom found elsewhere. This is my commitment to my students and their development.

The next cohort of rootworkers-in-training begins on April 22. If you haven’t studied Hoodoo but would like to or know a little bit about it but would like to learn more, I warmly invite you to join us. You’ll be glad you did!   

SHADOW WORK: SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT

Watch the stars spark the sky makes me wonder

Who’s looking down

There don’t seem to be any angels

Only devils hanging around

I close my eyes and try to find the courage to

Move in the dark

I know that I’ll find my way

‘Cause Music is never too far

“Zachary Ross and Desolation Angels”

I know shadow work is one of those phrases that gets bandied around carelessly, often without any indication of where it came from. Without going into that too much, I will say that much of the concept has its roots in Jungian Psychology. Jung took seriously the spiritual nature of humanity as part of the human psychology and what can lead to mental illness.

Today I am going to teach by telling a story. It is about an earlier time of my life, over twenty years ago. It was a difficult time. A series of misfortunes happened that caused triggered an intense blow to my mental health. As fate (or God?) would have it, I was driving into the parking garage for work and this parking attendant I befriended stopped me. He took a long, concerned look and asked me if I was okay. I told him I wasn’t. He nodded sagely, then reached into his backpack and pulled out a CD. He told me that the man on the cover was his cousin, and that something told him I needed to hear the music. I was puzzled, but something made me accept his gift. Of course, it took several things to dig myself out of that dark place. But I listened to that CD every day, sometimes several times a day, for that entire year.

Shadow work is important. Facing the bottom-of-the-barrel aspects of who we are and why we do messed up stuff is important. But I have always felt that the negativity of what we go through in life is most damaging because those things cause us more than anything to doubt ourselves on a deep level. That doubt can take on a life of its own and twist us to become very unkind and judgmental on ourselves. It is then only natural that this shadow-response become externalized. Externalizing it lessens some of the pain. But we don’t find any healing that way. We get in a psycho-spiritual rut.

Coretta Scott King, fearless social justice advocate and wife of the late Dr. King, was asked before her death what she felt was most missing in our world. She responded that the thing she saw most missing at the end of her life was compassion.

Compassion, for me, is rooted in my ability to see myself in others. To see someone’s struggle and remember my own. And in that remembering, to recall all the people in my life who were merciful, loving and most importantly did not give up on me when I thought I might give up on myself and life itself. I can look back on that fateful day over twenty years ago and look upon my younger self with kindness and, as Dr. Howard Thurman always said, “with quiet eyes.”

If I could talk with my twenty-something self going through that dark time, I would say

I know you’re suffering.

I know you don’t see any hope or light,

And that God feels so far away,

But hold on

Listen to Dad; he loves you so much!

I am you, and you are me

There’s no judgment, only Love;

Love is with you in so many people around you

Even though you can’t see it.

I am many things, and life turns out pretty good for us

But we cannot be like this if you give up.

I love you, and you’re gonna be okay, someday.

I end with the refrain from “No Worries”:

When I see the smiles on your shining faces

Something tells me we all gonna be fine

We aint got no worries child

No worries, no worries…

May it be so. May your shadow work teach you kindness to yourself.

ON DISCOURAGEMENT

Everybody is prone to getting discouraged at some point. Failure and disappointment are experiences in life, and I don’t think it matters who you are or what you do. I was reminded of this this past weekend when I went to and participated in a martial arts tournament. I agree with my Sensei that such events are not about beating anyone as much as the literal event seems to be. They are about proving something to ourselves, those who choose to participate.

Even then, though, things can still not go in our favor. It did not for me. Not only did I not place, but I also got a nice injury! Discouragement set in for a night as I returned home and nursed two wounds: the literal one and the one to my ego. I can cite many reasons I didn’t do well or as I had hoped. But they don’t really matter.

What matters is my plan moving forward. How I am going to dust myself off and get back at it.

I have someone close to me who talked about her days horse-riding. She told me she was thrown from her horse a few times during her training. She said it was scary as hell, and it also fucks with you on a deep level with the fear it leaves you. But she knew that the ONLY option for both her and the horse was for her to get right back up there as soon as possible. Doing anything else would leave an impression within herself of fear and make a mark on the animal’s psyche and ability to bond.

I think of her words often as I walk through my own life. I have been thinking of them even in this American political climate that vacillates between utter despair and the stubborn rise of new forms of evil. It is easy to get discouraged when you look at how broken America feels.

Honestly, My only antidote to this is my study of history. And I do not mean just what I was taught in school. Like most Americans, how American history is taught is pitiful and leaves out the most inspiring parts of who we have been. Let me give just three examples of what I mean:

First up is John Brown. He is a white man who is mentioned in most American history classes when students review American slavery and the Civil War. Most times, he is a footnote, but he is mentioned. He was a white man who not only rejected slavery but put his money where his mouth was and fought against it with his own life. He and Harriett Tubman were very close to collaborating on their attacks against the South, in fact. He is one of a few fascinating characters of history!

Second is Captain Newton (Newt) Knight. He is the man the movie “Free State of Jones” was inspired by. I won’t retell the story, but the short version is he turned against the Confederacy in the middle of the Civil War and led an insurrection that brought together enslaved, freedmen, and white Confederate soldiers, annexing portions of the South and weakening the Confederacy’s efforts to create a separate America. He also eventually married an African American woman, which was still pretty unheard of and controversial then (major understatement there!). He is a walking example of a white man, the most privileged of us, saying no to tyranny and doing something about it.

White women were no less forceful in their representation either. I would be remiss if I did not mention Lydia Marie Childs. She was the writer and songstress of the children’s song “Over the River and Through the Woods.” But she was far more. She was all at the same time an Abolitionist, Women’s Right Advocate (especially voting rights) and pro-Native American. She never stopped being outspoken about any of these causes. She continued even after the white American establishment blacklisted her in the publishing world, so her literary work never saw the light of day in a book.

The key to injustice, then and now, is for everyone to choose to pay the price for justice together. It is not enough for those oppressed to do it. The system will not change. It takes the consciousness shift that every single one of us is damaged by oppression if one of us is. Dr. King said this as a core teaching when he asserted, “All I'm saying is simply this: that all mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of identity. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

How do we combat discouragement? We start by learning our shared history. Learning it gives us something we seldom have, as Americans: the wisdom of context. Most of what we see in our country is part of a pattern of cycles that has gone on since America was founded as a country. These patterns are consistent, even if this current manifestation of it is unsettling and unpleasant to live through. I have given just three examples of people who stood against this tide. There are more. Our mission is to remember this, should we choose to accept it.   

THE BLACK MAN: WHO HE IS?

As the title of this post suggests, I am dipping my toes into the broad and deep cultural matrix of African American spiritual culture and expression. This post also honors Black History Month as it nears its end for this year.

I have recently had conversations about the elusive and mysterious figure known as the Black Man of the Crossroads. His origins are shrouded in lots of unknowns, different folk American traditions, and, I think, various groupings of us around the country. I also want to be upfront and honest that I know little about his origin. I don’t think anyone does at this point. Much more was probably known from elders who have long passed. And maybe some Hoodoo families have carried on traditions they keep within their family. That’s always possible when we are talking about Hoodoo in America.

I can see, though, that because it is so unclear, some people need clarification about how to work with him if he is or aligns with other Crossroads spirits (like Voodoo/Vodun Lwa Papa Legba). In some cases, if there is any danger in working with a spirit we know so little about.

I feel all of that! I had to work through all that to sort out how I would approach him myself, let alone introduce him in my flagship and one-off classes. I teach him based on my own gnosis, spiritual work with him, and as much scholarly and general study as I could find. I have also written extensively on who I think the Black Man is, so I will not belabor that and recommend folks read back on my previous posts.

It is acceptable for people to equate the Black Man with other spirits like Papa Legba, who DOES have spiritual ways of working with him. By spiritual, I mean that working with him does not require initiation into an indigenous tradition. New Orleans Voodoo is an example of this. I believe this to be okay because, from all my years in Lucumi, Espiritismo, Palo, and a few other things, I know that the Crossroads Spirit of these traditions has an energy that is in ANY spiritual tradition that recognizes the crossroads as a locus of power. And no, I am not saying the Black Man, Legba, and Hekate are the same spirit. Not at all. What they are is universal because the crossroads are everywhere on our planet.

My most extensive advice on this issue is if you feel a draw to him, and there’s this sort of uncertainty around how you should approach, then get a reading with someone you trust and ask. I know some teachers discount the role of divination, but I go to people I trust when I need clarity or answers, and they are seldom wrong. The person does not necessarily have to understand what Hoodoo is, but they need to have sight. They need to have a developed enough third eye to perceive a spirit like the Black Man and hear what he has to say about them beginning a devotion to him.

Others of you may take a class like mine where we work with the Black Man and have another spirit come through instead. This has happened a few times in my courses. When it does happen, it makes sense. Either the person is a practitioner of another system, and a similar spirit from that tradition shows up, or the Black Man himself will point to another spirit on that person’s behalf that fits more with that person’s makeup. In both cases, the Black Man is doing precisely what his nature is. He guides and directs a person’s development and ensures they move in the right direction. In all the traditions, I know I have a crossroads spirit that spirit guides. They ease communication. They give clarity, especially if you have a good heart.

Part of the issue we are having generally is that we have become accustomed to neat systems of spirit work that tie everything together nicely. But Hoodoo is anything but neat! Not only that, but a REAL spirit system should teach those who do it that books and even an instructor will only carry you so far. At some point in your development, if you have been diligent in your work and taught well enough to establish a real relationship with Spirit, you will have a spirit-ally who will start teaching you magic only you will know. I have experienced this time and again with my spirits, so much so that by the time I got to teaching about a spirit like the Black Man, I knew that something similar would happen with him. And it has! Students have come to me well after a cohort ends and told me of their forays with the Black Man. Lessons learned. Guidance given. New possibilities to their magic.

You will know the power and depth of a spirit like the Black Man by the fruits he produces in your life. So, take a bite if you choose, and see where the spirit of Hoodoo leads you!