Black Spirituality - A Journey

My personal story

When I got my first ancestor reading, I was nervous. I wondered if they were proud of me. The person who did the reading gave me a lot of insight. And what they told me was that my ancestors had a better understanding of religion and spirituality now that they were “on the other side”.

So that's the gentle way to put it.

What they truly felt was anger. Anger around what they understood of their religion, of religion in general, while they were alive. There was a great desire, from them, for me to not follow that path.

So when it came to things like hoodoo I wondered how I was meant to go about it.

The first "spell” that I did was a jar. It was a self-love, goddess, sweet jar. When I did the jar I knew little to nothing. That's being honest. Most of what I did was truly based on a few things I found in studying and intuition. I did research on herbs, oils and crystals to see what would be the most appropriate items to include in the jar. I used both honey and sugar. I took a very good spiritual bath prior to doing the work. I even pulled cards to ask what energies were supporting me in the success of the jar.

No Bible verse though. Nothing Christian. I wasn't raised a Christian so I definitely didn't resonate with all of a sudden tapping into that type of energy. Regardless of the way you feel about it, that book is Christian. If you want to be generous you can say it is abrahamic. It is not African though. It's not black. At least it's not black beyond the color. And I didn't resonate with using it, though it is so prominently used by some of the more prominent practitioners. I felt out of place.

So I pulled the jar together and I prayed over this jar and I'd give the jar all my intentions and I give thanks to every herb and every stone and everything that goes into the jar. And then I take it out and let it charge under the light of the Moon.

When I brought the jar in the house it was vibrating. Almost literally. The energy coming off of it was immense. And I had one question,” did I do that?”

The next jar that I made was a money jar. I was following someone on YouTube who's tarot readings I had been watching for quite some time. I trusted her because of the egregious accuracy of her readings. In my spirit I trusted her. Rather my Ori trusted her. I watched her video several times. I took notes. And then I did research. I think that the step that a lot of people miss is the research. Why was she using the things that she was using? One thing I liked about her jar was that she incorporated water and honey. Her logic was that the water moves slowly, I mean fast. Honey moves slowly. That concert made a lot of sense to me.

Along the way I studied more about different herbs getting their associations. I made washes, jars, oils, and teas.

Still with none of this work was there ever a Bible. Even with every dream that I ever had with the one you've actively called Jesus, never did I feel called to the Bible.

So that question became am I missing something. By this point I have found myself as an Iyanìfá. Not working or practicing, still learning and studying. However, at this point I am trained in divination. So I go to my ancestors and I ask the question. Do you want me to use the Bible for my work?

The most emphatic no is what I received. So I go back and say how am I supposed to do this. Am I supposed to do this? Still along the way signs, that I'm clearly ignoring, are showing up. 

Go ahead and learn how to make this wash. 

Learn how to make this soap. 

Learn how to dress this candle. 

Learn how to do this spiritual medicine.

All of that sounds like hoodoo to me. The difference would be that instead of using the book that so many are fond of, I have the Odù. 

People who know me know that spirituality needs to make sense to me.. This is why I could not see myself using that book. Because my ancestors were enslaved Africans. And as Africans they would have used other spiritual texts. Maybe not written down as they have become today. But they would have said different types of prayers and incantations and the things that they were doing, before that book ever crossed their hands. Then knowing historically they weren't even allowed to read, let alone read that book. So then the question becomes, what were they doing? 

Who were they calling on if they weren't calling on you know who?

They were calling on the divinities of their ancestral practices. That is who they called. They went to Esu at the crossroads. If they were in the woods they were calling on the hunters. If they were near water they were calling on the water Energies. If they were in white they would have called on the FunFun divinities.

Where I’m at currently

So when you see me make my jar, a bag, or any other ritual item, or working aka Akose; know that it was prayed over, an offering was given, a divination was done, and confirmation of acceptance was made sure of. 

There is also the recognition that any river that forgets its source will surely dry up. I have no intention of letting the African-American Magic dry up because people want to disengage from Africa. That is Mother. That is our Source. There is no diminishing of the river because the river knows where it came from. That's a black thing. We constantly tell each other “don't forget where you came from”. However when it comes to our spirituality we want to say that this stood alone like it wasn't birthed from some place.

The fact that my existing as African-American is not diminished or minimized by my acknowledging my African heritage. Sometimes I think that's what people think. They're going to diminish something by acknowledging it originated from some place. No. When a tree acknowledges its roots it has a foundation. There is structure there. This is why we do ancestral veneration. 

Ancestral veneration does not diminish us. Learning about our African Spiritual Systems does not diminish our African-American Spiritual Systems. This is us venerating our ancestors through our ritual practice.

Are you still reading? I haven't lost you? Good. That means we can continue.

What’s Coming?

We are honoring Ifa via Isese here in Black America.

We are honoring Hoodoo via Ifa.

We are honoring our ancestral wisdom pre-slavery and re-integrating it into Hoodoo.

Hoodoo lacks nothing.

This is our Hoodoo.

Before they forced that book in our Ancestors faces.

This is our Hoodoo.

It’s Time.

I will be doing a series of blogs. I will then be doing a spiritual lab live. This will be an opportunity for you to complete a ritual of some kind with me. You will get a list of the materials you need, including offerings. Yes, you are able to order the materials ahead of time from me to ship to you (shipping cost not included). 

Future Blogs and Live Spiritual Labs

You must either be a registered student or friend of the temple in order to read future blogs.

Lab access is via a suggested donation of $20. You will get an invite with a link for the labs. These will most likely occur on Wednesday or Thursday afternoons, depending on schedule.

Please Note

• Ebo (offering/sacrifice), “Medicine”, Charm/Akose, Presence - These are all rituals. 

• No training or night work unless it is Ori. I will not be training you to work with Oro or The Mothers on this particular journey. They are higher level mysteries.

• Any PM work you do on your own, you take full responsibility for. Please refer to any Elders guiding you in that space.

• I can not teach you how to use Gospel music in your work. I don’t have a relationship with Gospel music to be able to do that.. I can teach you how to incorporate secular and Orisha music though.

• If I share it, I consulted Ifa.

• You will not learn how to make the Akose from an Odu. This is a higher level mystery and requires you to be a Babalawo or Iyanifa. 

• You will learn how to apply the Wisdom of Ifa to rituals that you would call Hoodoo in nature

• Deepening your practice requires training in Ifa, and, at minimum, Isefa

• You will not learn baneful work. We will honor Ifa principles at all times.

• Protection work will be learned

The First Lab

Just like with anything else, we will begin with the self. You will learn how to conduct a ritual for your own Ori. If you're one of my current students you will recognize some of the elements that you will need in order to complete this ritual. As you do this more and more you will become proficient at understanding what it is that you will need for the ritual on an individual level.

April 28th at 5pm EST. This is a before bed ritual so that’s why the timing. 

Future Blog Topics

• Moon Cycles and Timing

• Ritual Space - standards to include

• Consecration vs Blessing

Future Labs

• Divinity Self Love Jar (formerly Goddess Jar. Fellas come work your majick with us)

• Road Opening

• Money Jar

• Protection

As other topics and things I’ve done come to mind, I’ll expand the list. If there is something you’d like me to discuss or teach, please let me know.

4-Cowries Training and Workshop Coming

I will be hosting another training on how to divine with your Ori and your Egun using 4-cowries. I’m still deciding on if I’m going to do this as a 4-week training or a 1-day, 8 hour intensive. I’ll keep you posted.

I am looking forward to finally sharing this journey with you.