liyareadsya

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Eve’s Bayou 1997

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i need some people who actually know about louisiana voodoo to hold a conversation about CaD’s portrayal because i have some thoughts, and i’m nervous.

expanding this: so they have the fusiliers as the ones who are voodooists, and they have tyrone being the one to call to a Lwa by drawing a veve, which is good bc only african descendants should be communicating with their ancestors and the different Lwa in the world. my issue was they didnt address how dangerous it is for white people to call on Lwa, as that’s not their culture, or how both tandy and brigid communicated with Papa Legba which is troublesome.

like, i do like that they’ve done some research and arent demonizing the religion but having white people engage in this is really bad. these are the ancestors and the spirits of fon, ewe, yoruba, esikongo, and enslaved african peoples. there is no reason for the Lwa or our ancestors to help white people even if we’re friends and those are good people. you dont know if your ancestors were corrupt and hurt our ancestors. it’d be different if it were a priest providing guidance, but direct contact with the Lwa who acts as a bridge between the human world and the other Lwas? or direct contact with an ancestor? no.

[liyareadsya]

Finished this Marie Laveau portrait for an upcoming zine by Heretical Sexts devoted to women and witchcraft. 

I’ve been using ink a lot lately and I feel as though I’ve gradually been making progress with each new piece I do. I still have A LOT to learn, but it’s encouraging to see that I’m making improvements. I’ve been experimenting more with stippling and I really pushed that for this piece. I think I still need to strike a better balance between hatching and stippling, because the two can look really lovely together when done well.

Marie Laveau is a really interesting woman because there’s so much folklore surrounding her. A lot of information circulated about Laveau is likely apocryphal, but we do know that she was a widely renowned Voodoo Priestess in New Orleans. We don’t know much about the nature of the rituals she performed or whether she actually had a pet snake named Zombi, but we do know that she had much compassion for the less fortunate. Voodoo was also largely frowned upon by the white upper-class of New Orleans, so it’s said that Laveau integrated Catholic customs into her rituals so that she and her followers could continue to practice freely. There’s a tomb in St. Louis cemetery that tourists often visit because it’s thought to be her grave.. Legend says that if you want Marie Laveau to grant your wish, you must draw “XXX” on her tomb, turn around 3 times, knock on the tomb, and then yell out your wish. If it has been granted, you must return to circle the “XXX” and leave a traditional offering such as pound cake or a rum candle. 

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17 more days! This photo was taken in New Orleans, Louisiana at the House of Voodoo 🔮

[liyareadsya]

Need some help finding Vodou-positive movies.

So Haitian Vodou, as well as Louisiana Voodoo and Santeria (basically any Syncretic religions) are typically very poorly portrayed in popular media and are essentially always lumped together with hollywood black magic and satanism. If I ever see another movie where a Baron Samdei looking character tricks someone into a Faustian bargain it will be too soon.

What I wan’t to know is if you good folk of tumblr can recommend any media, but particularly movies, that show Vodou (or any syncretic religious traditions for that matter) in a positive light, as opposed to being witchcraft?

[liyareadsya]

What's the difference between Louisiana and Haitian Vodou?

Hello!

There are several different things going on down in Louisiana. 

New Orleans was an active slave-trading port, and so there were enslaved Africans coming from both from French and Spanish colonizers. In addition, Native Americans were kept in slavery, too. This created a local religion influenced by both African and Native American practices that grew up in the communities of color (which were stratified along the lines of colorism…quadroon balls are a rather well-known examples) which essentially became the indigenous religion of that general area. Some scholarly work has been done on it, but it is largely something only accessible to native New Orleaneans.

There is a long history of localized Creole folk magic throughout Louisiana that pulls in influences from European folk magic blended (French and Spanish ancestries have loooong histories of culturally-based folk magic) with local Native herb lore and African-derived magic.

And, there is the tourist-y invention of what ‘vodou’ is down there: voodoo dolls, plastic maracas held up as examples of sacred Haitian tools, marketing of pagan and occult-inspired stuff as authentic vodou (think American Horror Story), and a lot of throwing things ripped from Haitian vodou and Cuban Orisha worship in a bag and shaking it all together before putting it all on a shelf with a price on it.

I think, in some ways, a lot of what is presented and marketed as ‘Louisiana vodou’ is a way for (majority white) folks to explore what they see as perhaps exotic or scary in a sanitized, whitewashed sort of way that can be traded on for social cache within their own communities. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being curious or wanting to see how other folks do things, but it gets really sticky when any of it is referred to vodou, since it’s not really accurate and isn’t a label that just gets picked up by desire. Folks who participate in ecstatic traditions based down there absolutely have experiences that are important, and should have an accurate, thoughtful label for them…but it’s not vodou, really, just like folk magic isn’t vodou.

I hope this helps–I fear that I took a bit of a left turn. Let me know if I can be of more help or explain things in a clearer manner!

[liyareadsya]

What's the difference between hoodoo, voodoo, and rootwork? I'm kind of a beginner witch and am researching all I can about the different kinds of witchcraft, even the ones I don't practice. But all three get lumped together in everything I read. Are they interchangeable? What even is the correct spelling of "voodoo"? And can you recommend some good places to start researching. The last thing I want is to disrespect anybody!

From an answered ask:

They’re related, but not the same thing. Hoodoo is just an umbrella term for a bunch of other practices that originated in the Western part of Africa. It’s considered just folk magic, not a religion. Southerns of the US practice this, especially Christians.

Voodoo has 2 branches: Louisiana Voodoo, and Haitian Voodoo [Should have been spelled Vodou. You’ll see why later]. It is considered a religion. The only difference really between the 2 is the ritual order (Louisiana Voodoo doesn’t have much of it.) Voodoo is a combination of religion and folk magic (and if you know anything about the history of Voodoo and where is came from, you should know why that is).

Rootwork is just that. Working with roots and flora. Of course, in the past, you used the local plants in your area and today, its much easier to get roots from other places in the world.  

Rootwork and hoodoo are actually interchangeable. Of course, with these definitions they don’t look like it. But if you were to use both words interchangeably to a hoodoo practitioner they most likely wouldn’t bat an eye. And to be a little bit more specific, you use rootwork in hoodoo as it is one of the practices used in hoodoo.

You can also use rootwork in voodoo, but rootwork does not equal voodoo. And hoodoo does not equal voodoo. So~

Hoodoo= Rootwork

Hoodoo ≠ Voodoo

Rootwork ≠ Voodoo

Spelling is actually important to know. I think it doesn’t get talk about a lot in the community except for a random tumblr post or blog post floating about saying how that person hates it when people always spell it one way and dont know the other ways. And why theyre used.

(Correct me if I’m wrong anyone) ‘Voodoo’ is not only the mainstream version of the spelling but usually refers to Southern Voodoo or Louisiana Voodoo. ‘Voodoo’ is actually seen as derogatory and wrong to some in Haiti which brings me to the other way spelling it. ‘Vodou’ (or ‘Vodoun’, ‘Vodun’, ‘Vodu’ and sometimes ‘Vudu’) usually refers to Haitian Vodou. You’re going to see the different spellings used all the time. But know that when Someone is saying ‘Vodou’ they are mostly talking about Haitian Vodou and when people say ‘voodoo’ theyre either lumping all voodoo together or theyre talking about American Voodoo. And, all Voodoo came from Coastal West Africa (From Nigera to Ghana).

Also, when it comes to researching, you’re not going to get much when it comes to Voodoo since information is passed by word of mouth. Hoodoo on the other hand is everywhere on the internet. A quick google search and a quick YT search will get you so much. 

Quick note though, If you see anything related to LuckyMojo, take it with a grain of salt. The owner of the website is a bully, and pretty much infiltrated and made money from a community that was never hers.

[liyareadsya]

WAKE (2010) Dir. Bree Newsome

A repressed woman does away with her domineering father, freeing herself to pursue her heart’s desire. Using a local folk magic called “root work”, she conjures a demon to aid her in creating the man of her dreams. However, she soon finds herself in a waking nightmare.

[liyareadsya]

So I’m Back I Guess...

My school blocked all social media sites from our laptops, except for Tumblr. So I’m going to be here a lot and you’ll be seeing me more often. I’ll still talk about books but I’ll also talk about movies and TV shows now too. if there’s anything you want me to post let me know. See ya soon! 

[liyareadsya]

The Mage

This is the second fantasy class illustration. I have prints of this with me here at NYCC too, table G4. Process will be going up on Patreon next week.

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Thanks @a-nerdy-little-me for the idea

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Beautiful

“Dark Alter” Original Illustration premiered at NYCC – dip pen and photoshop

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Book order to read the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas

So, I’ve seen a lot of people ask what order they should read the ToG series. And I’ll admit, it’s a bit confusing. So I hope this helps:

Throne of Glass was published in 2012 and is the first book

Crown of Midnight was published in 2013 and is the second book

Heir of Fire was published in 2014 and is the third book

The Assassins Blade was published in 2014 and is the prequel to the whole series

Queen of Shadows was published in 2015 and is the fourth book

Empire of Storms was published in 2016 and is the fifth book

Tower of Dawn is being published on September 5, 2017 (according to Good Reads and assuming it does not change) and is the sixth book

Throne of Glass Book 7 is slated to be published in Spring of 2018 and is the final instalment

TAB is the prequel novella to the entire series. BUT IT DOES NOT NEED TO BE READ FIRST. You can read the series before you read TAB. HOWEVER, I highly recommend reading TAB before reading QoS simply because characters come back that were in TAB.

While they are re-introduced in QoS, as if they are new, reading TAB gives you a better idea on who the characters are and what they mean to Celaena’s journey as a whole.

ToD is basically Throne of Glass Book 6. It is not a continuation of the story, but it is what happens simultaneously to Chaol while the events of EoS are taking place. According to what SJM has said, it is IMPERITVIE to read ToD in order to understand what happens in Throne of Glass Book 7.

Whew, well I hope this makes sense and that I helped you guys.

Have fun reading :)

[liyareadsya]

This gave me si much life!😂

What Sarah said at her book signing

- Rhys’s last name is Hotpants (then she retracted and said his name might be revealed in future novels).

- She doesn’t think Aelin and Rhys would fight if they met, they have to much in common. If they met Aelin would be like “I’m too distracted by how attractive you are.” If they got into a verbal fight Aelin would win. Her mean streak runs deeper than Rhys’s. Then she’d feel guilty because “he’s too pretty to cry.”

- If Amren and Manon were tapped in an elevator they’d have a stare off until they both got too hungry to continue. Manon would tear off the elevator’s ceiling panels with her claws and Amren would climb the wires. Then they’d go get a cup of blood together.

- Sarah likes to write “not nice” female characters like Amren and Nesta because she doesn’t think she was always the nicest person in high school. She also believes that no one is ever completely sweet and kind all the time, we’re all a mix of good and bad (except her sister-in-law who is apparently the nicest person in the world). 

- She wrote 20 000 words of Tower of Dawn her first day sitting down to write it. 

- Tower of Dawn will be told from the perspectives of Chaol, Nesryn and Yrene.

- If her characters order Starbucks Amren would be super strong expresso, Rhys would get a latte with pretty foam art and Feyre wouldn’t drink coffee but she’d get English breakfast tea.

- If she could bring her characters anywhere in our world she would bring Feyre to the Louvre. She would just watch Feyre look at the art for hours. She would bring Aelin to the Metropolitan Opera House, which is her favorite place in the world.

- Page 666 of ACOWAR was completely coincidental. When she was reading the version with numbered pages for the first time she burst out laughing when she saw what happened on that page.

- She refused to answer who has the longest wingspan but says she might throw it in at the end of the very last novel. Until then we can choose for ourselves who has the longest ‘wingspan’ and the best ‘flying skills’.

- It upsets her that people feel like they need to apologize for reading fantasy or romance novels. She gained most of her knowledge of healthy romantic and sexual relationships from those kinds of books.

- She still has her copy of Pride and Prejudice from ninth grade where she drew hearts and wrote Sarah Darcy in gel pen.

- Throne of Glass wasn’t a huge success right away. If Crown of Midnight hadn’t sold well she only would have gotten three books.

- She went off on a really long but super sweet tangent about how much she loves her husband. She says that despite common fandom belief he is not the inspiration for Rhys (their only similarities are that they have dark hair and are tall) but their relationship did inspire the tone of Feysand’s relationship, especially the importance placed on equality and partnership. Josh was smiling like crazy the entire time to the point where Sarah had to stop because she kept laughing at his “goofy grin.”

- The very first scene of ACOTAR was inspired by the first song of the Princess Mononoke soundtrack while the last scene of ACOWAR was inspired by the last song on the soundtrack. This was a coincidence.

- Her dog sleeps in Sarah’s office while she writes. She goes there after her walk every morning like she’s going to work.

- She gets inspiration for her female characters through music. She gets inspiration for her male characters by trying to figure our how to get their shirts off in a rainstorm.

[liyareadsya]

I love this, it's so cute! The accurate representation of Mare is a plus!😄

So I made this on an app called Recolor but I got really excited because I could make my number one die for OTP marcal life is amazing ❤️ @vaveyard