#Voodoo Visionary

[rockofeye]

On Haiti's day of ancestral remembrance, one of my siblings shared this letter with us. It is a monumental letter; it has not been often that Africa has collectively spoken to and about Haiti. It's a sad and beautiful love letter, and speaks some really deep truths. They are right; Haiti is dying right now and it is past time that the international community take responsibility for what hundreds of years of international interference has wrought. I hope this is the impetus for action because the reality of Haiti right now is worse than can accurately be described.

Below is an English translation of the above linked article.

EMBARGO: January 1 , 2023

And especially my body as well as my soul,

be careful not to cross your arms

in the sterile attitude of the spectator,

because life is not a spectacle,

because a sea of ​​​​pains is not a proscenium,

because a a screaming man is not a dancing bear.

Aimé Césaire, Excerpt from Notebook of a Return to the Native Land (1939).

Captured in the valleys once trodden by Afarensis, or from Zanzibar, Madagascar, Gorée, El Mina, Bimbia, Benguela, Luanda, Cabinda, savannahs and forests, Ségou, Benin, Sokoto, the banks of the Congo or Oubangui, or along other great rivers, Ogooué, Casamance, Niger, Sanaga, having left the cosmogony that still binds them today to the mother of all continents, enslaved Africans arrived centuries ago in the Americas . In the worst forced migration of all time, the transatlantic slave trade took some of these men, women and children to Kiskeya, also known as Hispaniola, the island now shared by Haiti and the Republic Dominican Republic in the Caribbean Sea.

A land immersed in African traditions, Haiti, the "Pearl of the Antilles" or "Mountain Country" in the Taino language, is the nation where black slaves have shown the greatest resilience.

On August 14, 1791 in the forest of Bois Caïman, the voodoo priest Dutty Boukman organized a ceremony with the support of the priestess Cécile Fatiman, a "mambo" who performed sacrifices. On that memorable stormy night, the enslaved participants solemnly swore that servitude would be doomed, taking an oath to fight or die. They will later obey the orders of Toussaint Louverture in the revolt orchestrated by the remarkable leader. His epic – rare, if not unique – victory over one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity continues to be recounted by many. Toussaint, a Caribbean island strategist and visionary, defeated the stubborn Napoleon, an island native from Corsica. This historic victory has been sung by great poets like Aimé Césaire.

On January 1, 2023, the first black republic celebrates the 219th anniversary of its glorious independence. However, the Pearl of the Antilles is dying.

Haiti was forced to pay a ransom to France as compensation to French slave owners for lost property, or else slavery would be reimposed and Haiti invaded. In May 2022, The New York Times published a well-researched series of articles titled “The Ransom: Haiti Lost Billions” [ The Ransom: Haiti Lost Billions], which recounts this perfidy. Port-au-Prince has so far paid up to $115 billion to France, a staggering sum for Haiti, a ransom that has left the poor country heavily indebted. Poor governance, corruption and invasions add to an already unbearable burden for the Haitian people. In addition, the American military occupation, from 1915 to 1934, had a large New York bank as its main financial backer. Ultimately, all of these factors could only result in a failed state fueled for many decades by the adrenaline of violence and the jolts of anarchy and chaos. The ravages of earthquakes, massive deforestation and the exile of its citizens have worsened the plight of Haiti.

Tormented and neglected, installed in instability, Haiti seems close to shipwreck. The security situation is dire. Famine affects nearly five million people. Shortly after the 2010 earthquake, a cholera epidemic imported by UN peacekeepers broke out in Haiti after no case had been detected there for more than a century. In the face of these accusations, the then United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, had the courage and integrity to issue a formal apology. Today, the resurgence of cholera is causing more deaths. On December 21, 2022, addressing the Security Council, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed said that “Haiti finds itself in a deepening crisis of a magnitude and unprecedented complexity."

One of the biggest challenges is that much of Port-au-Prince – a capital of nearly 3 million people – is in the hands of gangs. Their names are taken from urban tragedies – 400 Mawazos , Chen mechan , Fire-eaters… . The list of gang leaders includes Barbecue, Gaspiyai… . Their only motivation seems to be financial and criminal. The gangs have taken the country hostage: they kill; they rape; they are flying. Sexual violence is the breeding ground for a future in which society may lack cohesion.

The police are either overwhelmed or complicit. The Haitian army, that not-so-distant Macoute memory, was dismantled by the international community in the 1990s. Demobilized soldiers were never properly reintegrated into society. The judicial system is moribund. To date, the international community has been able to fund less than 20% of Haiti's current humanitarian needs, while elsewhere in the world billions of dollars are generously flowing in to alleviate other humanitarian crises.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is caught in a recurring nightmare, as if the country relives the adventures told in " The Comedians ", a masterpiece published by Graham Greene in 1966. The novel, located under the reign of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his Tontons Macoutes, explores the political repression and terrorism that are rampant in Haiti, and particularly in Port-au-Prince.

However, Haiti should not be viewed solely as a tragic and brutal story. The country of Makandal, Toussaint and Dessalines is endowed with magnificent creativity and sustained by remarkable hope. Haiti has always been culturally brilliant and intellectually stimulating.

The iconic Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince once attracted bands such as the Rolling Stones. Afterwards, hellish processions of the Ra-Ra by the "root music" group RAM invaded the hotel. Haiti is also the country of the talented musician Wycleff Jean; the Tabou Combo group; or even the unforgettable Jean Gesner Henry, alias Coupé Cloué or “the African”, the king of kompa mamba, a catchy musical style widespread throughout the world. Writers, playwrights, filmmakers, poets, artists, educators, musicians and artisans abound. The stunning beauty of the countryside is praised in the books of Haitian neurologist, novelist and poet Jean Métellus (1937 – 2014), such as in Jacmel at Dusk. Christophe, tragic king, is immortalized in a masterpiece by Aimé Césaire, the literary giant of neighboring Martinique. For more than a century, Haiti has also given birth to magnificent authors and poets: Joseph Anténor Firmin, Louis Joseph Janvier, Justin Lhérisson, Jean-Price Mars, Félix Morisseau-Leroy, Charles Moravia, Frankétienne, Anthony Phelps, Dany Laferrière , Louis-Philippe Dalembert, Edwige Danticat, René Depestre… and many others.

The biggest tragedies, like the 2010 earthquake, certainly killed and maimed many people, destroying infrastructure. But these dramas have not shaken the soul of this astonishing and endearing country. Like the intrepid Haitian woman, Haiti remains surprisingly upright, and its culture vibrant.

The international community, sub-regional and regional organizations, academics, media, communicators, the private sector, the Haitian comprador bourgeoisie: all have a responsibility towards Haiti. It's not an easy conversation. Migration issues are a hot topic in most Western countries. In September 2021, images of American guards on horseback armed with whips pushing back Haitian migrants at the border with Mexico caused a stir around the world. But these whiplashes from the time of the slave trade cannot rewrite the heroic history that Haitians wrote with their blood, sweat, tears and courage. Haiti is the only slave-led military uprising that was able to overthrow a slave-holding colonial power.

The international community was called upon to step in and fight the gangs. Just as the corrugated iron walls of Haiti's slums will not stop stray bullets, our physical estrangement from Haiti will not prevent tragedy from piercing our souls and our comfort zones. In light of past failures, one can honestly wonder if foreign military intervention in Haiti would provide a lasting solution. Either way, inertia is not an option. Any intervention must revisit history and learn from it, prioritize security, actively promote and support justice while helping to build trust and good governance. The situation must be addressed as a whole, without delay.

What the international community will or will not do is of crucial importance. Nevertheless, we support Haitian citizens who want an end to anarchy and violence, who want justice. To measure the strength and value of a family, one must observe the solidarity with which it protects the most vulnerable of its members. The first black republic, perhaps the most fragile of the family of Nations, lacks food, drinking water, fuel, peace, justice.

We issue this urgent call: let us act now, with a new and genuine benevolence, whatever the risks, and without individual geopolitical intentions. Haitian populations are in danger. History will not be kind to those who remain inactive or who choose to look elsewhere.

It would be non-assistance to a people in danger.

It is difficult to envisage the resolution of this Gordian knot without outside intervention. The Haitian people will only be able to vote and freely choose their leaders if there is security.

A member of the family of nations is held hostage by the contours of historic injustices, recurring bad governance and the brutality of armed gangs: the whole family must step in to free this member from the hostage takers as well as the contingencies of previous failures. Haitians would fly with with their wings towards the heights of human development, we sincerely hope so.

Sitting idly by is not an option.

So let's gather our forces for success in Haiti, and as Césaire predicted, there will be room for everyone at the rendezvous of victory .

Otherwise, we will all be guilty of not having helped this heroic people in danger.

Let us respond to the poetic exhortation of Jean Métellus. From his exile a few decades ago, his poem was a beautiful cry, “  Au pipirite chantant ”. His lament has not aged a bit. This is the plea of

“Haitian peasant who with singing pipirite,

despises memory and makes plans

He revokes the past braided by plagues and smoke

And from daybreak he tells his glory on the fresh galleries

of young shoots”

We stand with the Haitians. Let's act now. For Haiti, for humanity.

(*) Signatories:

Adama Dieng , the initiator of this forum, is a former United Nations Under-Secretary-General. He served in the UN as a former Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide and Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He is also a former board member of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).

Macky Sall , President of Senegal, President of the African Union.

José Ramos-Horta , President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste; co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Moussa Faki Mahamat , Chairperson of the African Union Commission; Former Prime Minister of Chad.

Alpha Oumar Konaré , former President of Mali; former Chairperson of the African Union Commission; former President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan , former President of Nigeria; Mediator of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Catherine Samba-Panza, former Head of State, Central African Republic.

The Right Honorable Michaëlle Jean , former Governor General of Canada; former UNESCO special envoy to support reconstruction efforts in Haiti; former Chancellor of the University of Ottawa; former Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF).

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka , former Vice-President of South Africa; former Executive Director of UN Women; Former Co-Chair of the United Nations Descendant Senior Officials Group (UNSAG).

Epsy Alejandra Campbell Barr , former Vice President of Costa Rica; President of the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent.

Graça Machel , President of the Board of the Graça Machel Foundation ( Graça Machel Trust ).

Miguel Ángel Moratinos , former High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations; former Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE; former Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Sir Dennis Byron , former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice; former President of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute ; former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR); Chairman of the United Nations Internal Justice Council.

Serge Letchimy, President of the Executive Council of Martinique and former member of the French National Assembly.

Mujahid Alam (Retired General), Principal of Lawrence College , Ghora Gali, Murree, Pakistan.

Sonia Maria Barbosa Dias , Education Specialist, São Paulo, Brazil.

Mbaranga Gasarabwe , former Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA); former United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mali; former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security.

Souleymane Bachir Diagne , Philosopher; Director of the Institute of African Studies and Professor of French and Philosophy at Columbia University.

Andrew Thompson , Professor of World Imperial History at Oxford University and Full Professor at Nuffield College , Oxford.

Othman Mohamed , former Chief Justice of Tanzania and Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dag Hammarskjöld.

Amadou Lamine Sall , Winner of the 2018 edition of the Tchicaya U Tam'si Prize for African Poetry; Winner in 1991 of the Prize for the influence of French language and literature, awarded by the French Academy.

Sheila Walker, Ph.D. , Author; Cultural anthropologist and documentary filmmaker; Executive Director of Afrodiaspora, Inc.

Jean-Victor Nkolo , former spokesperson for three Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly; Worked in ten UN peacekeeping operations, including in Haiti.

Euzhan Palcy , Director, screenwriter and film producer (Martinique, France).

Bacre Waly Ndiaye , Lawyer at the Bar of Senegal; Former member of the Truth and Justice Commission in Haiti.

Willem Alves Dias , Film Editor, Brazil.

René Lake, Journalist and Expert in international development.

Doudou Diène, Senegalese lawyer; former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

Ben Kioko , Judge, former Vice-President of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights.

Aver-Dieng Ndaté , Lawyer at the Geneva Bar, Vice-President of the African Peace Conference.

Akere Tabeng Muna , Lawyer and International Legal Consultant on Governance and Anti-Corruption; former President of the Pan-African Lawyers Union; former President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC); former Chair of the Panel of Eminent Persons of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder-Kone , aka CCH Pounder , Actress and philanthropist; Art collector; HIV/AIDS activist; co-founder of the Boribana museum in Dakar.

[smventures01]

Inside Voodoo Esports Cafe with founder Pamela Shayne Gozo

 Unleashing the Future of Gaming

Welcome to the digital realm where passion meets innovation, and gaming transcends boundaries. Nestled in the heart of Quezon City, Voodoo Esports Cafe emerges as a beacon of modern gaming culture, redefining the landscape of esports entertainment under the visionary leadership of Pamela Shayne Gozo.

A Visionary Beginning

Established in November 2023, Voodoo Esports Cafe swiftly rose to prominence as a hub for gaming enthusiasts and esports aficionados. Strategically located at Lot 29 Blk 40 Regalado Avenue, near FEU Nicanor Reyes, this high-end internet cafe embraced the dynamic growth of the esports industry in the Philippines.

Embracing Innovation

What sets Voodoo Esports Cafe apart is its revolutionary hybrid concept. Unlike conventional gaming centers, Voodoo blends futuristic aesthetics with cozy charms, creating an ambiance that sparks excitement and camaraderie. From its striking LED-graced walls to top-of-the-line gaming equipment, every detail is meticulously crafted to elevate the gaming experience.

Fueling the Passion

At Voodoo Esports Cafe, gamers not only immerse themselves in cutting-edge technology but also indulge in a delectable in-house menu. From energizing snacks to refreshing beverages, every bite and sip ensures that players stay fueled and focused on conquering virtual worlds.

A Community of Champions

More than just a gaming venue, Voodoo Esports Cafe fosters a vibrant community where players can hone their skills, forge lasting friendships, and celebrate authentic sportsmanship. It's a place where competition thrives, talents are nurtured, and victories are shared among peers.

Meet Pamela Shayne Gozo: The Driving Force

Behind the success of Voodoo Esports Cafe stands Pamela Shayne Gozo, a visionary entrepreneur with a passion for innovation and a deep understanding of the gaming landscape. Her leadership has propelled Voodoo to new heights, earning accolades for its immersive environment and dedication to empowering gamers.

Join the Revolution

As the esports industry continues to flourish and gain recognition as a legitimate educational program in Philippine universities, Voodoo Esports Cafe remains at the forefront of this digital revolution. Step into the future of gaming, unleash your potential, and be part of a community driven by passion and excellence.

[reasoningdaily]

Haiti protesters blame the Clintons for a litany of ills in their mother country

Donald Trump has said the work of Bill and Hillary Clinton in Haiti was a "disgrace". What really happened?

"The Clinton family, they are crooks, they are thieves, they are liars," says Haitian activist Dahoud Andre.

He has been leading protests outside the Clinton Foundation headquarters in Manhattan and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign base in Brooklyn for the last two years.

He said protesters from his small activist group, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, will continue to level their allegations - so far all unproven - if the Democratic candidate wins the White House.

Haiti honeymoon

The Clinton Foundation has raised more than $2bn since its launch in 2001

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised the matter in the third and final presidential debate when he told Mrs Clinton: "I was at a Little Haiti the other day in Florida.

"And I want to tell you, they hate the Clintons, because what's happened in Haiti with the Clinton Foundation is a disgrace."

Mrs Clinton retorted that she was proud of the foundation's work, and pointed out her rival's namesake charity had spent money on a lifesize portrait of himself.

The Clintons' history with the world's first black republic dates back to their 1975 honeymoon, when they met a voodoo priest and visited a hotel where Ernest Hemingway once stayed.

The January 2010 earthquake killed an estimated 220,000 people

Few could have guessed the two young Americans touring the attractions that December would one day wield such influence over the impoverished Caribbean island nation.

Mr Andre is not alone among his compatriots in blaming the once-and-perhaps-future first couple for a litany of ills in Haiti.

Kim Ives, editor of Haiti Liberte newspaper, told the BBC: "A lot of Haitians are not big fans of the Clintons, that's for sure."

Bill and Hillary Clinton at the grand opening of the Caracol Industrial Park four years ago

"The fact the Clintons kind of took over things after the earthquake and did a pretty poor job of it translates to why the Haitians have a pretty dim view of them," he added.

Replicated mistakes

Mrs Clinton was Secretary of State and Mr Clinton was UN Special Envoy to Haiti when the January 2010 earthquake struck, killing an estimated 220,000 people.

Some $13.3bn (£10.9bn) was pledged by international donors for Haiti's recovery.

Mr Clinton was appointed co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), along with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with former Haitian President Michel Martelly

But the IHRC found itself under fire as frustrations mounted at the slow pace of recovery.

Its mandate was not renewed by the Haitian parliament in 2011.

A US Government Accountability Office report discovered no hint of wrongdoing, but concluded the IHRC's decisions were "not necessarily aligned with Haitian priorities".

The bulk of it went to UN agencies, international aid groups, private contractors and donor countries' own civilian and military agencies.

For example, the Pentagon billed the State Department hundreds of millions of dollars for sending US troops to hand out bottled water and keep order on the streets of Haiti's ravaged capital, Port-au-Prince.

The Clinton Global Initiative - a part of the Clinton Foundation - is billed as an annual gathering of "foremost thinkers" and "visionaries"

Jake Johnston, an analyst with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a nonpartisan group that has studied the quake reconstruction, told the BBC "it's hard to say it's been anything other than a failure".

But he believes the State Department and IHRC simply replicated the mistakes of the whole foreign aid industry by chasing short-term gains instead of building longer-term capacity on the ground.

"They relied too much on outside actors," Mr Johnston says, "and supplanted the role of the Haitian government and domestic producers."

While the Clintons in their respective roles clearly had a say over where some of the quake relief cash flowed, their political enemies have wrongly claimed the family foundation directly controlled all the billions in funds.

The foundation itself raised a relatively modest $30m for aid projects in Haiti.

A spokeswoman for the charity told the BBC: "Every penny of the more than $30m raised was deployed on the ground, with no overhead taken by the Clinton Foundation."

A Haitian protester outside New York's Hofstra University, scene of the first presidential debate in September

'Friends of Bill'

Mrs Clinton's campaign has said she never did anything at the State Department as a result of donations to the Clinton Foundation.

But potential conflicts of interest have emerged.

After the earthquake, disaster capitalists flocked to the nation of 10 million people, which is about the size of the US state of Massachusetts.

Private contractors were eager to sell services, in what one US envoy described in a Wikileaks-disclosed diplomatic cable as a "gold rush".

In email exchanges with top Clinton Foundation officials, a senior aide to Mrs Clinton, who was then-secretary of state, kept an eye out for those identified by the abbreviations "FOB" (friends of Bill Clinton) or "WJC VIPs" (William Jefferson Clinton VIPs).

"Need you to flag when people are friends of WJC," wrote Caitlin Klevorick, a senior State Department official who was vetting incoming offers of assistance coming through the Clinton Foundation.

Since 2010, the Clinton Foundation has raised a total of more than $30m for Haiti

"Most I can probably ID but not all."

Ms Klevorick told ABC News she made the comments about Mr Clinton to help pin down whether would-be contractors had a history in Haiti or with disaster relief.

The emails, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Republican National Committee, have fuelled claims the Clintons were running a pay-to-play operation, though no hard evidence of this has emerged.

House Republicans are already laying the groundwork for a volley of congressional hearings into the Clinton Foundation in the event the Democratic candidate wins the White House in a week's time.

Possibly the most enduring criticism of the Clinton Foundation's work in Haiti stems from its signature project, a garment factory known as the Caracol Industrial Park.

The foundation, working with the Clinton State Department, helped arrange a US-subsidised deal with the Haitian government to build the $300m factory complex in 2012.

Several hundred farmers were evicted from their land to make way for the 600-acre manufacturing site, which produces clothes for retailers such as Old Navy, Walmart and Target.

South Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading Co, which is the main employer at the facility, subsequently donated between $50,000 to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

Mr Clinton declared 100,000 jobs would be created "in short order".

But the Caracol Industrial Park has created only 8,000 jobs.

An injured Haitian receiving medical care in Port-au-Prince

Sae-A spokeswoman Karen Seo told the BBC: "The rate of job growth depends both on the efficiency in building facilities, as well as customer demand - including the long tail of the recession. Momentum is growing and we are optimistic."

In its defence, the Clinton Foundation - which has raised more than $2bn from over 330,000 donors since its 2001 launch - points to its A rating from philanthropic monitors.

Charity Watch says 88% of the Clinton Foundation's budget was spent last year on programme expenses.

But the watchdog's president, Daniel Borochoff, told the BBC the high mark was not intended to reflect whether Mrs Clinton kept donors to her family's foundation at appropriate arm's length, or provided favoured access as secretary of state.

Questions 'fester'

The Clinton Foundation rebutted any suggestion of special favours, saying that in the aftermath of the Haiti quake they worked with a "wide range" of partners to mobilise relief efforts immediately "and many people they had previously worked with responded to this call to help".

The charity's statement to the BBC continued: "President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation's only goal in Haiti is to help the people of Haiti.

"Since 2010, the Foundation has worked on the ground in Haiti with a range of partners - helping more than 7,500 farmers lift themselves out of poverty; improving the Haitian environment by planting more than 5 million trees and installing more than 400 KW of clean energy; and supporting women through literacy training and job skills for over 2,000 women."

Mrs Clinton's presidential campaign did not respond to requests for comment from the BBC.

In the Little Haiti neighbourhood of Miami that was visited by Mr Trump this September, the head of a local women's advocacy group has questions for Mrs Clinton.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, believes that Clinton-backed projects have helped global investors more than they have benefited poverty-stricken Haitians.

She told the BBC: "The more Secretary Clinton refrains from responding to the concerns and questions from the people of Haiti, this perception that she's trying to evade responding will continue.

Will Donald Trump's pitch to Haitian-Americans work?

"Instead of allowing these questions to linger and fester, why not come clean? The questions will not go away, they will continue."

As for Mr Trump's attempt to woo Haitian-American voters, it may prove a longshot, given his threats to round up millions of undocumented immigrants.

There are an estimated 150,000 members of this electoral bloc in Florida, a crucial swing state where the presidential contest is on a knife-edge.

Jeff Lozama, chairman of the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, told the BBC that regardless of misgivings about the Clintons' work in Haiti, his countrymen and women in the diaspora overwhelmingly hope she wins election on 8 November.

He says many of them fear what a Trump presidency could mean for their US status.

"Haitians cannot afford to have any mass deportation," he said.

"Immigration is the number one item (among Haitian-Americans) for these candidates."

[wiccaindia]

Readings From Psychics And Black Magic

In the event that you experience the ill effects of some sort of hex and spell, Dark Sorcery in School of occult is what you really want to find out about. There is a ton of dim energy around nowadays in both spell casting and black magic structure and it assists with knowing something about it.

Any sort of dim energy is noxious and out to give you trouble. However you can accomplish something sure about it, read on to figure out more.

Dark sorcery maneuvers you toward being an individual who is helpless before disconnected and terrible energies. To be engaged against dark sorcery then, at that point, figure out more about how you can invalidate it and what you can do about it in real life.

Assuming you know about the energy around you, both positive and dull energy in Occult Sciences & Tantra, you have undeniably more decision throughout everyday life.

The hazier sort of black magic wizardry or witchcraft is serious business if you experience the ill effects of it and you maintain that should effectively invalidate the adverse consequences of this sort of spell. Here is the thing. It brings a lot of pain and inconvenient encounters into your life.

It is difficult to accept somebody would do this to you without regard to you. No torieties and vocations endure, and frequently your own relationship is in question. Maybe it is the human feelings of outrage or envy, who can say for sure? Anything the reason for dark enchantment and voodoo type energy coordinated at you one thing is sure, and that is you deserve to safeguard your energy and to live however you see fit.

Any sort of clairvoyant assault will just deplete you and drain you of your energy. There is a great deal of negative energy around nowadays. In the event that you experience the ill effects of a revile or spell it is what is going on to be in. Act to switch this up quickly.

The world is loaded with dead spirits who appreciate actually hurting others and take pleasure in seeing the hardship of their kindred people. A disgrace, truth be told, yet by and by evident.

Basically, at times you meet individuals who wish to hurt you. Human instinct won't ever change, however it helps assuming that you know about it. On the off chance that you are don't know you have dark black magic energy, get a clairvoyant perusing and find out without a doubt. best tarot website in india

The motivation behind dark sorcery is to control you and to cause limitation. It helps in the event that you track down assurance. You are many times rebuffed in this world for being a decent individual, not a terrible one, and the great experience initially is an old otherworldly banality rehashed commonly among the people who know.

The embodiment of dark sorcery is that it is a sort of concentrated dim malicious energy intended to restrict your life opportunity.

To invalidate the dark sorcery set upon you, then you unquestionably can. It expects ability to recognize it in the early phases so you can accomplish something certain about it. Dark enchantment is evil in its way to deal with control and obliterate your life.

Wicca India are the way to independence from its adverse impact. You can ask during your mystic telephone perusing for the visionary to recognize if for sure you have a spell or revile of some sort or another. Then make the following stride towards opportunity and get your life back.

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[roehlove]

Grand Rising . ↂ The Revolutionary | The Creator | The Visionary | Psychic | Medium | Astrologer | Spiritual Life Coach | Exclusive Content by Roeh Love Only on Patreon. SUBSCRIBE TO GAIN ACCESS ↂ . Link in bio . #explorepage #roehlove #psychic #medium #astrologer #spiritual #lifecoach #fyp #tarot #hoodoo #voodoo #goetia #gnostic #veteranowned #blackowned #lgbtqiafriendly #womanowned #momowned #linkinbio https://www.instagram.com/p/CkYVEnhuquC/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[hokeoutsider]

“Voodoo Magic”     Hoke,,,Ebay Outsider-Art Auction...Sept 26-Oct 1...  Acrylic Painting on Wood...

https://www.ebay.com/sch/metrolux6/m.html?item=353216204684&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

[pwlanier]

Three coffins by Pierrot Barra (b. 1942, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; d. 1999, Port-au-Prince). Wood, felt, metal, plastic, ribbon. Fowler Museum at UCLA.

[trevor-9god]

from @pod_junkie Repost from @tariqelite • Reports are circulating that a white woman named Katelyn “Kat” Restin was allegedly found dead after she drowned in a bathtub, according to posts on social media from her friends. Restin’s unexpected death came just two days after she claimed to have seen Papa Legba apparently after trying to practice #Haitian voodoo and summoning spell people warned her not to try. That #voodoo ain’t for everybody. (🗣Yooooooooo!!!! Y’all Trippin SMH 🤦🏽‍♀️and this was also a episode on American Horror Story... Hollyweird encourages the youth to open up these portals and now look 👀 the WORLD GONE 😡 #podjunkieinfullaffect😎) #THEUNCHAINEDKING #GETINFECTED #GETFAMILAIR #TUNNELVISION #KINGTREVOR #LADIES #GENTLEMEN #WORLDWIDE #GLOBAL #KINGSHIT #ACTOR #PROMOTER #GODSENT #VISIONARY #MOVIES #KING #VIDEOJAM #COMINGTOAHOMENEARYOU #BEARDMODEL #👁SEEU #ΚΙИ𝕲 #ΚΙИ𝕲ΤЯЄ𝗩ΟЯ #COLOSSUS #KINGPHAROAH #PHAROAH #KEEPLOOKINGFORWARD (at The Spirit World) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAt_0msgiPA/?igshid=7qhgcj1257dv

[divasdamselsandsmudgedmascara]

Film Commentary: “Sugar Hill” (1974) starring Marki Bey in a unique anti-hero performance

Sugar Hill came out of an era where there was a LOT of changing ideas about race, gender, and power dynamics. The civil rights movement had taken place, the Black Power movement, the women's liberation movement. The oppressed all around the country were throwing out the old constraints, challenging the old prejudices and repressive way of moving, and this shift in society was being reflected in a BIG way in cinema. One of the emerging aspects of social change was the Blaxploitation movie trend that started in the early 1970′s and brought forth now-beloved classics like Blacula and the Shaft series. Things were beginning to reflect a new way of viewing the world and members of an historically victimized community were being shown in a wide variety of bold, heroic, sexy, take-charge and all-around bad-ass ways. One of the earlier 'quiet revolutions' in cinema was the race film era which started in the earlier part of the 20th century and stretched all the way to the 1940′s. Many of the films made in this period were created by the cinematic visionary, novelist and Black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux (I highly suggest his movies!). The strong focus then was on middle-class and wealthy representations of African-American life in order to challenge racist, false and mean-spirited caricatures of Black people's images, ambition, and place in society. However, when the '70s and Blaxploitation films rolled around, Black people from MANY corners of life-- the urban, the fighter, the vigilante, the reporter, the detective, the cop and in 1974's underrated horror classic, Sugar Hill, the female boss of an army of the undead, were put on center stage, and man was it a a unique time for cinema. Not to mention, a whole lot of fun!

Voodoo has been used very frequently in the horror genre, an ongoing theme of retaliation used by the persecuted, that has usually had all sorts of racial and cultural symbolism attached to it. In Sugar Hill, it is used as a tool of achieving justice by a young woman and brand new club-owner, Diana 'Sugar'  Hill (played by the remarkable Marki Bey), who would otherwise be ignored and dismissed by the authorities and the whole unjust, racist, sexist set-up. Diana, a photographer in Houston, Texas, is a woman alone after her boyfriend Langston is killed by gangsters headed by a ruthless boss called Morgan, who are after control of the club he owns, which now passes to her possession after his death. 

Langston is brutally murdered, beaten to death, and Diana goes vigilante. How is she doing it? Through supernatural means of course. And she does not fail to exact the vengeance she feels she is due, with the powerful spirit, Baron Samedi, lord of the dead (played by the theatrical, scenery-chewing and utterly fabulous actor Don Pedro Colley who became somewhat of a horror/scifi legend himself in other ‘70s films like Beneath the Planet of the Apes and THX-1132).

Helping her every step of the way is Mama Maitresse, played by the experienced actress Zara Culley in a pivotal and genius performance. 

Diana and Baron Samedi along with a hoard of blood-thirsty, yet totally controlled zombies, go after the gangsters responsible for the death of her beloved in increasingly grisly and campy ways. 

Diana's mission of vengeance is peppered with sharp and memorable one-liners, as in one scene where one of the gangster henchmen is tossed into a pen of some VERY hungry pigs, "I hope they like white trash!" and it is obvious that Diana is written very pointedly as an anti-hero but with an emotional core. She is slapped around by several members of the mostly white gangster crew, called racial slurs and degraded, particularly by the crime boss’s ragingly insecure and hateful White girlfriend who *violently* tries to make Diana feel two inches tall. Which by the way is a scene that Diana wins in her own self-defense.

Ooooh! Put some butta’ on that burn.

None of this rack of bigots and thugs know her true secret weapon however, and it is with this supernatural power that she takes control of her life and makes those who brutalize her feel the pain of their own actions. It is quite honestly, a fascinating representation of the rage of an oppressed woman, simply in horror form, and with a bigger budget and more nuanced writing, it might've been a significant horror AND social commentary work on racism, misogyny and and how they meet in the middle for women of color like Diana, and the lack of respect she receives in her interactions with the powerful White people surrounding her. However, the 1970′s was so often the era of quickly cashing in on movie trends, so the depth that could've been here, is not as present as it could've been, with occasional flashes of brilliance however.

Strutting and swaggering through dark corners, she wields her pack of shambling assassins with a cool authority  like a '70s mob boss of the underworld. With a police detective (played by Beyonce's step-daddy, the seasoned character actor Richard Lawson), slowly beginning to get hip to her diabolical plans, she stays in control, not even breaking a sweat as she lures the last (and most important) person responsible for her fiance's death, the White kingpin Morgan, to his demise.

The cool thing about this movie is the utter gutsiness of it! It just doesn't give a damn. It's pure gloriously campy entertainment from beginning to end, combining a whole bunch of horror and blaxploitation elements in the mix--from the tried and true voodoo and walking dead tropes to taking Marki Bey and trying to fashion her into a horror version of Pam Grier who was herself at the height of her popularity during this time. But I cannot stress enough how much Marki Bey's interpretation of a modern woman deeply enmired in ancient rituals, lifts what could've been a formulaic flick into something dynamic and exciting! She wrestles the movie away from the routine and through the sheer force of her feisty, charismatic performance, it becomes a stylish thriller instead of shlock like many of the B horror movies from the decade. And while showcasing Bey's character Diana in a genre that had commonly overlooked Black women's presence, it also showcases a woman in charge taking action outside of what had been the usual moves assigned to women in horror, a genre that so often had assigned females to being trapped in mortal peril, either ending up as targets or weak characters needing to be rescued. It’s a presentation that becomes doubly significant because of what race and gender bring to the story.

All of it has an organic, even gritty flow, even within the context of the campiness and pure outrageousness!

In further exploration of the racial, gender and even color dynamics of Diana's presence as a horror movie anti-hero, it gets even more complex, at least to me, when you go digging deeper. The casting of a more ambiguous, lighter skinned actress of color amidst the violent themes of these specific types of voodoo rituals and revenge shown, I don’t really feel was all that random. There's been a curious depiction of association of Black women with voodoo in horror movies to the point where it's become a genre trope. And from my own personal observations as a horror fan and a woman of African American heritage myself who has tried to pay attention to representation particularly in the horror genre, it seems that it's also at times been closely associated with women of mixed heritage in both fiction and screen...call it the "Marie Laveau effect". 

(Films that are examples of this stretch all the way from the 1930′s like Ouanga: The Love Wanga starring Fredi Washington, Chloe: Love Is Calling You starring Olive Borden and The Devil’s Daughter starring Nina Mae McKinney to 1987′s Angel Heart starring Lisa Bonet.

(Fredi Washington in 1936′s Ouanga)

(Nina Mae McKinney in The Devil’s Daughter)

(Lisa Bonet in Angel Heart)

There seems to be some type of cinematic history where mysteriousness, seduction and intrigue becomes so intense, it damn near tips over into the supernatural with ambiguity and “mixed-race-ness” in women of color.  Perhaps it’s been a subtle commentary on the nervousness a racially divided American society has had with even the barest hint of miscegenation--a quiet anxiety with the physical proof of Whites and Blacks having had children together. 

History lesson: a large number of Creole families in Louisiana and the Caribbean ultimately descended from the offspring of African women and French and Spanish men. The action of Sugar Hill is set and shot in Houston, Texas and from my own personal knowledge of the Creole community and from family connections to that community, I know many families migrated westward to Texas out of Louisiana years before. Some interesting info on the migration:

In the decade following World War I, thousands of Louisiana migrants with French surnames began moving to Houston, most identifying as Creoles of color. The first wave of migrants came in search of labor. A second wave of migrants moved to Houston after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 ravaged parts of Louisiana. They established a community on the city’s north side called Frenchtown.

LINK

So, there could be an unspoken 'Creole' link they attempted with Diana Hill's character in this movie--combining Hollywood smoke and mirrors with this imagery of a specific corner of Black American history and mixed heritage peoples with voodoo magic. If you can get past that somewhat stereotypical aspect though, you *can* still enjoy how Marki Bey the actress skillfully handles the utter and supreme confidence Diana has in herself as a woman entitled to justice, as warped and off the wall as her actions may be.

But off the wall, unconventional and outright crazy WERE some of the qualities describing some of the most fun Blaxploitation films of the ‘70s (Cotton Comes To Harlem was another wild ride).

Marki Bey herself was someone who was beginning to make a splash on movie screens, having previously co-starred in the razor sharp satire on race and *attempted* gentrification called The Landlord where she played a Biracial go-go dancer Lainie (hey, it was the ‘70s) who has a romance with an earnest but clueless rich White guy, played by Beau Bridges. Bridges becomes the brand-new owner of a tumbling down inner city apartment building to unexpected and hilarious results with Lainie falling deeper and deeper in love with him, despite the barriers his snooty uber-WASP family tries to put up.

She was a refreshing personality in the acting world--talented, feisty and brimming with charm! She also had a sophistication that worked really well to underscore the manic intensity of Diana in Sugar Hill. It was a fascinating juxtaposition of elegance with menace. Charm with *albeit justified* venom. 

As I mentioned before, with a tighter screenplay, it could've been damned near a masterpiece, maybe even approaching the level of one of the old Universal horror movies. But as it is, it's a rollicking good ride of thrills, chills and gore, with an interesting social message.

Marki Bey left the acting world after her cluster of appearances in the 1970′s. Her heyday was during this very exciting period of people of color throwing away the discarded assumptions of their humanity and making new ground for a bold, fresh kind of filmmaking that broke all the rules and created new icons.

Sugar Hill may not have reached the level of fame or artistry within the Black horror genre as a Blacula or even Ganja & Hess, but not only was it entertaining as hell, it was also a cool time capsule of attitudes, style and personality that will never come again. A preserved moment in cinematic and African-American history. And for that, it's definitely worth the watch. Enjoy!

Full movie for free on YouTube: 

[bitter69uk]

“Did you ever happen to hear of voodoo? Hear it and you won't give a damn what you do …” 

Released on this day ninety years ago (9 September 1932): Blonde Venus, the wildest and freakiest of the seven cinematic collaborations between visionary filmmaker Josef von Sternberg and his glamourpuss leading lady / muse Marlene Dietrich.

[tipsycad147]

Stones and Gems

Written and Compiled by George Knowles

Since the first time man struck two stones together causing sparks to create fire (a magickal act to primitive man), stones have been viewed as possessing magickal powers and influences.  In times of old stones were carried as talismans when traveling or going on journeys; they were believed to hold a connective source of power back to the homeland.  (See “Charles G. Leland” and the 'Black Stone of the Voodoos' as an example.).  This tradition eventually evolved into the wearing of amulets and rings decorated with stones and gems.

Stones have a long association with witchcraft being used by witches for many magickal purposes.  Stones, gems and crystals contain their own unique powers and energies that can be used to influence differing occult functions.  Many contain healing properties; some are used for protection and to ward of evil, while others are used for divination and spiritual communication.

Below is a list of stones commonly used for magickal purposes.  For other associations and correspondences see:

Amethyst - is a spiritual stone, it brings serenity in times of grief and stress, and is a good aid to meditation.  As a calming stone, if placed against the forehead it can ease headaches, and if place under the pillow can aid in restful sleep.  It can be used to strengthen commitment, and as an aid to chastity.  Amethyst stones have a violet and purple hue, and are associated with the birth signs of Sagittarius, Aquarius, and Pisces.  

Aquamarine - is a water stone, it is used for calming the nerves, strengthening the spirit, and as an aid to healing internal organs.  When used to aid communication, it helps calm and relax the overactive mind.  If used in conjunction with meditation, it inspires love, peace, serenity, and greater self-awareness.  Aquamarine stones are associated with the birth signs Virgo and Aquarius.

Bloodstone - is a healing stone, and is helpful in clearing energy.  It is used with blood related disorders and to strengthen blood circulation, as it is thought to toughen and oxygenate the bloodstream.  Women may find bloodstones helpful in the regulation of the menstrual cycle, and for painful periods.  Bloodstones are also used to stimulate physical strength, and are revitalising and balancing.  Bloodstones are green with red flecks and are associated with the birth sign Aries.

Carnelian - is a healing stone, it vitalises the blood and aids tissue regeneration.  It is used to aid concentration and helps to open the heart bringing joy, sociability and warmth.  It is also used as a protector from evil.  Carnelian stones are orange in colour, and are associated with the birth sign Virgo.

Celestite – is a peace stone, it reduces stress and provides a sense of relaxation, bringing with it peace of mind.  It is also used as an aid to creativity, and clarity of words and thoughts.  

Citrine – is a healing stone, believed to be of great benefit to sufferers of diabetes.  It also aids tissue re-generation and is especially efficacious to the digestive system.  Used to improve self-confidence by encouraging self-esteem, it enhances friendships and relationships in general.  Citrine stones have a pale to deep or smoky yellow colour, and are associated with the birth sign Gemini.  

Clear Quartz - as a healing stone, it is physically good for the heart and spine.  As a protective stone, it is a generator and activator of energy that repels negativity on all levels.  As such it is beneficially used to aid self-confidence, and against real or imaginary slights and injustices.  Also used to bolster courage and as an aid too peaceful sleep.  The milky or opaque quartz has a receptive feminine aspect, while the clear quartz have a stimulating male force.

Fluorite – is a healing and spiritual stone.  Associated with the strengthening of bones and teeth, it also aids knowledge, spiritual growth, and unconditional love.  Fluorite is a variable coloured stone often containing purple, white and green.

Garnet - is a peace stone.  Used to balance sexuality and soothe emotional disharmony, while encouraging love and compassion.  Its healing properties protect from infection and aids with mental fatigue.  Garnets are a deep red in colour, and are associated with the birth signs Scorpio and Capricorn.  

Jade - is a healing and protecting stone.  Red jade serves to stimulate the emotions; it aids friendships while promoting prosperity.  Green jade serves to calm and soothe.  Both have a general influence on the inner motivations and urges.  Jade is associated with the birth sign Taurus.

Lodestone - is a metallic and magnetic stone with both drawing and repelling properties.  It helps to draw out and alleviate illness and pain from the physical body, and eases emotional trauma by increasing resistance to stress and disease.  It provides protection when around people or in places that impart feelings of depression or agitation, it repels these feeling and helps you grow strong.  Black in colour, its energies are clearing and building.

Moonstone – is a spiritual stone used to draw the aid of the noon’s spirits and the favours of the noon goddess.  They are also used to aid the development of the subconscious and psychic mind.  Moonstones have a watery white, pearly sheen that is supposed to open the heart to giving and receiving love, and when exchanged between lovers, arouses passion.  Moonstones are associated with the birth sign’s of Cancer and Pisces.

Malachite - is an inspirational stone used to aid eyesight and visionary powers by raising hopes and expectations.  It helps to combat fear by understanding its source, and assists us to back free from limitations by increasing courage and determination.  It is also good for arthritis and is thought to attract prosperity.  Malachite is an opaque green striped stone, and is associated with the birth sign Sagittarius.

Peridot  - is a healing and spiritual stone used in divination.  Peridot is a semi-precious stone and known as the “stone of the seer”.  It counteracts negativity and aids the development of inner vision by attracting occult powers to the seer.  It also enhances feelings of inner joy and lightness and opens you to giving, receiving, and expressing this joy.  Used in healing, it has a beneficial affect on cleansing the liver when “charged” in water.  It accelerates personal growth, resonates well with the heart, and aids in reducing stress.  Peridot is light green in colour, and associated with the birth sign of Leo.

Rose Quartz  - is a feminine love stone.  Used to draw positive energies, it increases fertility, friendships and brings contentment to the aged.  Placed over the heart area, it filters and harmonises energies passing through it in either direction.  It is a very comforting stone that promotes tenderness and sweet things, joyfulness and peace.  It also soothes heart pain.  Rose Quartz as its name suggests, has a pinkish rose colour.

Sodalite  - is a calming and balancing stone.  It alleviates fears and strengthens the metabolism.  It is a slightly sedative and grounding stone that lowers blood pressure and aids sleep.  It also clears and calms the mind bringing clarity, enhanced communication, and creative self-expression that widens the perspective.  Sodalite is a bright blue stone, often criss-crossed with white lines and flecks; these symbolise the spiritual light that comes with a balanced mind.

Sources

An Insight into the Magical World of Crystals

(A pamphlet issued by Rainbow Crystals)

E-mail  richardnjo@rainbowcrystals.fsnet.co.uk

Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft  - By Raven Grimassi

Wiccan World - http://www.WiccanWorld.co-inc.net

https://www.controverscial.com/Stones%20and%20Gems.htm

[love-elijah]

=========================================

THE BASICS =========================================

Name: Corinne Adele Thibodeaux Nicknames: Cori, C.A.T.

Gender: cisFemale Age: 30 Birth Date: 7/7 Birth Place: Salem, MA

Occupation: Architect Currently Living In: Chicago, IL -> Salem, MA Ethnicity / Race: African American/Black Religion / Beliefs: Agnostic (Voodoo)

Romantic Orientation: Homoromantic. Sexual Orientation: Homosexual.

Astrology Sign: Cancer

========================================= FAMILY ========================================= Father: Omère Thibodeaux Age: 60 Relationship: TBA

Mother: Jolene Everwood Age: 59 Relationship: Strained

Brother(s): 1. Older Brother Age: 32 -34 Relationship: TBA

2. Oldest Brother Age: 35 -39 Relationship: TBA

Pet(s): Black Cat named Oshun

========================================= PHYSICAL FEATURES: =========================================

Height: 5′8 Weight: Frame / Build: Athletic Hair length: Hair color: Dark Eye shape: Almond Eye color: Brown Complexion: Deep Brown Tattoo(s): 7 Tattoos Scar(s): TBA Other notable accessories: Any other identifying mark(s):

========================================= SOCIO / ECONOMIC / POLITICAL =========================================

Politicial Affiliation: Liberal Economic Class: Social Class (nobility, artisan, merchant, commoner, etc.): Occupation: Income: Residence: Transportation:

========================================= INTERESTS =========================================

Favorite Food(s): French Food Favorite Sport(s): Women’s Soccer/Futbol Favorite Book(s): Anything by James Baldwin/Zora Neal Hurston/Langston Hughes Favorite Show(s): Favorite Music: Soul/R&B, Classic Rock Favorite Color(s): Red Clothing Style / Preferences: Classic. comfortable Hobbies: Drawing/Sketching, Role Model(s): Likes: Dislikes:

========================================= PERSONALITY =========================================

Good Qualities / Trait(s): Vices / Negative Trait(s): Strengths: Weaknesses: Habits / Idiosyncrasies / Quirks: Phobia / Fears: Loves: Hates:

Select one personality type below that best describes your character:

PROTECTORS

[] Overseer (ESTJ) – Thrives on facts and details. Has a clear set of standards and beliefs. They are hardworking, responsible, and self-confident. They rely on experiences rather than speculation, and make decisions based on these. Very good at enforcing laws and rules. Loyal and hard-working. Like to be in charge. Very organized, tends to be a stickler for the rules.

CREATORS

[] Artist (ISFP) – Creative, quiet, serious, loyal and sensitive. Do not like conflict. Takes great value in personal freedom. Private and prone to confusion. Gifted at creating and composing. Good appreciation for beauty. Not interested in leading or controlling others. Very original and creative especially in the arts. Can be trendsetters and into latest styles and art / fashion / etc.

INTELLECTUALS

[] Strategist (INTJ) – Introspective, analytical, has great leadership ability, independent, original, and determined. Does not mind other people’s leadership as long as they are competent. Can bring ideas from concept to reality. Expects perfection from themselves. Chessboard thinkers with contingency plans. Hard to impress and likes esoteric things. Independent individualists.

VISIONARIES

[] Dreamer (INTP) – Tend to be very private, and does not let a lot of people get close. They are loners and tend to avoid conflicts. The act of creating can already be an accomplishment of instill a sense of satisfaction. Constantly search for values in life, and tend to use their intuition to do so. Logical, original, creative thinkers. Can become very excited about theories and ideas. Exceptionally capable and driven to turn theories into clear understandings. Want to be recognized and valued, but without attention. Never lose their sense of wonder.

Define your character’s personality based on the following aspects:

a. Physically (outward interaction with his environment, personal strengths) b. Psychologically (intellect, mental stability, morality) c. Spiritually (his faith, convictions) d. Emotionally (willpower, under stressful situations, expressiveness) e. Socially (how others view him, how he interacts with people)

Others things to know:

========================================= HISTORY =========================================

1. Describe the character’s childhood.

2. Name the good incidents that have happened in the character’s life. How has this shaped his personality?

3. Name bad experiences that have happened in the character’s life. How has this shaped his personality?

4. What is the character doing when first introduced? What are his goals at this point? 4a. Do these goals change at any point in the story?

========================================= STORY DEVELOPMENT: =========================================

1. What are the motivations for the character’s actions?

2. What are the character’s goals / ambition / dreams?

3. What external conflicts would you wish for the character to overcome? 3a. What are the obstacles in the character’s path that might make this difficult?

4. What inner conflicts would you wish for the character to overcome? 4a. What are the obstacles in the character’s path that might make this difficult?

========================================= AUTHOR’S NOTES / MISCELLANY =========================================

Character theme song:

Celebrity / IRL lookalike: Anna Diop

List down any future plot twists / conflicts you are planning for the character here (for series, companion books, etc.):

[screen1ne]

LABYRINTH 35th anniversary Limited Edition Debuting On 4K Ultra HD On August 23

You remind me of the babe (What babe?) Babe with the power (What power?) Power of voodoo (Who do?) You do (Do what?) Remind me of the babe... LABYRINTH 35th anniversary Limited Edition Debuting On 4K Ultra HD On August 23

LABYRINTH classic trailer From visionary filmmaker Jim Henson comes the unforgettable fantasy favourite LABYRINTH, now celebrating its 35th anniversary and debuting on 4K Ultra HD™ on August 23 courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.Starring Jennifer Connelly (Academy Award® winner Best Supporting Actress, A Beautiful Mind, 2001),  David Bowie and dozens of creatures from Jim Henson’s…

[i-am-iya]

HERBS TO ENHANCE YOUR INTUITIVE and PSYCHIC ABILITIES.

There are many herbs that you can easily use to enhance your own natural intuitive and psychic abilities. I believe that we all have these special psychic powers, especially women, but because we are usually so busy in the outer world, with all of it's distractions and demands, it is difficult for some people to tap into their natural psychic power. So the trick is to learn how to quickly and simply change gears. When we learn how to "turn on" our psychic abilities, then it becomes much easier for us

to divine and interpret information from the "inner world".

One way to cause that shift is by using certain herbs. An easy way to do this is to make some herbal blends and then burn them. The incense mixture that is

created can be burned, and the smoke and fumes that are let off are breathed In to facilitate getting into a psychic state. One way this works is to use herbs that "cleanse" the aura, which enables our Light Body to get rid of the everyday energies that have us distracted or even blocked.

Another method is to use herbs that are specifically designed to open our psychic center, the Iwaju in Yoruba, also known as the Third Eye, and allow us to get into a visionary state.

I really think that it is a good idea to use these in combination.

First, cleanse your aura. Then use an herbal mixture for enhanced psychic ability.

Some cleansing herbs are: sage, cedar, palo santo, juniper, sweet grass and sandalwood.

Some visionary herbs are: mug-wort, patchouli, sandalwood, laurel and Frankincense.

Make your own special mixtures by allowing yourself to mix and match any or all of the appropriate herbs together in whatever proportion you feel is right. You really cannot make a mistake. To empower your herbal mixture chant your Intention over and over while putting the mixture together. You can do this out loud or silently. Prayer and visualization of the appropriate outcome will amplify the mixture and it's intended purpose significantly.

Then burn your special mixture in an astray or a special container that you designate just for that purpose. A clay potpourri burner makes a fine vessel for such use.

You may want to use the herbs in this way prior to doing any divination work or before meditation..

HERB LIST: (there are others)

Anise: Raises vibrations to the highest possible psychic level. Good for bringing about changes in attitude (re-focusing) , for astral travel, dreams,

crystal gazing and meditation.

In a pillow, it is said to keep away nightmares.

For any type of clairvoyance or divination or mental exercises.

Osun loves anise!

Anisette (liquor) is used during Voodoo initiations to anoint the head.

Bay Keaf: a powerfully protector - even when used alone. Also a power and commanding herb, used for banishing. In some traditions, it’s used for hexing. It can be combined with other herbs for love and money rituals. Burned to induce visions. The leaves Are put under a pillow for inspiration, lucid and prophetic dreams.

Cedar: psychic and protective. Has a way of keeping psychic channels open while protecting the operator. Used to anoint the Iwaju, 3rd eye.

Cinnamon - aids in Improving your psychic ability by increasing your vibrational frequency. An incense stick or essential oil may be lit or burned before or during a psychic activity or practice. Psychic herbs in incense or oil form may also be enjoyed when you simply want to add some fragrance to a room you are in. This way, the herbs' energies get Infused with yours, and you get the same effect. They work well in this manner when you meditate.

A friendly reminder - confirm with your doctor if the herbs you intend to use will agree with your body and medications. Don't worry, there are lots of various herbs and Flowers out there which can also be used for boosting your psychic ability.

These are just some examples of what you can begin with. You can add to your choices of herbs and flavors as you learn more about them.

Buchu leaves: used for psychic enhancement

Celery - boosts your psychic ability by helping you concentrate and focus more

Eyebright: used for clairvoyance and to see the “little people”.

Honeysuckle: attracts friends, business and instills confidence. Also used to attract wealth, money, prosperity and clairvoyance.

Lemon Grass: used to aid psychic powers.

Lilac: good for inducing "far memory" and recalling past lives. Also good for Clairvoyance in general.

Lotus: a common additive to psychic incenses. Said to reach the highest realms Of mystical insight.

Mint: excellent for intuitive matters and studying

Mimosa: a commanding herb which also inspires courtesy in others. Used to anoint purple candles. Used to bring on prophetic dreams and healing.

Mugwort: clairvoyance, summoning spirits, manifestations, dreams and for Consecration of any spiritual items used in this manner

Poppy Seeds: for dreams, visions clairvoyance

Rosemary: used in pillows for dreams and visions. Good for memory!

Sandalwood: used to heighten spiritual vibrations, to cleanse, heal and Protect. Often used to stimulate clairvoyance.

Osanyin tells us there is an herbal/plant based cure for every illness and disease experienced on this planet. Reach out to them and they’ll assist you in healing, growing, elevating and staying healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually! Ase !!!

Iya NikoTitilare

[randomvarious]

Phuture - “Acid Trax” Mad on Acid: A Comprehensive History of Acid House Music Song released in 1987. Compilation released in 1998. Acid House

Before we talk about the legendary Chicago house trio, Phuture, who are fully responsible for launching the acid house phenomenon that would eventually take the UK by storm with its 1988 Summer of Love, we need to talk about the Roland TB-303, the electronic instrument that inadvertently ended up revolutionizing electronic dance music with its distinct, squelching and chirping, “acid” sounds. Just about everyone has heard the TB-303 used in a song before, but virtually no one has ever heard it used the way that Roland originally intended. Released to the public in 1982, the TB-303 was supposed to replace and replicate the sound of a bass guitar, but in actuality, it didn’t really sound like a bass at all. As a result, it failed commercially, and Roland ceased its production after only two years.

But that was before Phuture got ahold of it in 1985. Composed of a trio of young Chicagoans who were caught up in their own city’s burgeoning house scene, Phuture began as an idea to produce tracks that member Pierre could mix into his own DJ sets. Initially, Pierre was content with just spinning records, but his friend Spanky was adamant that they start making their own music. Pierre was still reluctant, though.

However, all that hesitancy seemed to disappear when Pierre heard a Roland TB-303 for the first time. A 2014 interview in DJ Mag has more:

Pierre was round at his friend Jasper G's house one day, listening to a track he'd made, and heard a unique sound coming out of the speakers. “I asked what he used to create that sound, and he said the Roland 303,” Pierre remembers. “He was using it to function as Roland intended, but immediately that light went off for me and I thought, 'If we got that machine, we can do some damage'. This is just from hearing it, I didn't even know what it looked like at the time.”

Pierre told Spanky he was in, he wanted to make music (“Yo! Lets do this!”), and Spanky bought a 303 from a second-hand shop for 40 dollars. “Spanky got it and started messing around the same day,” says Pierre. “At one particular session at his house, Spank had a beat going and I just got on the knobs and started twisting them. We kept going, man. We had a jam session for over an hour. We knew there was nothing out there like what we were coming up with, and we knew what it did for us on the inside. We knew that there was something there that spoke.”

Spanky, Pierre and other Phuture pal Herb J started getting alien voodoo out of the machines, jamming, with Pierre being the one twiddling the Roland TB-303. “Spank programmed a beat, and we just went with it,” Pierre recalls. “I got on the knobs and Spanky kept saying, 'Yeah, that's it! Keep doing that'. We all knew, man. It was natural and pure.

Another interview in The Fader provides a little bit more detail of that fateful day:

[Spanky] had it hooked up, running with the drum machine, but it wasn’t [working]. If you get one of those 303s it’s not going to have any baseline sounds in it, so you got to squeak and squack it till it makes some noise. He said he didn’t know what was wrong with it, how to program it right, so he said, “Could you figure it out?” So when I came over by it, I started twisting the knobs, seeing what they do, because that’s what I do: twist knobs. So I was doing that and we fell in love with the sounds it was making. We fell in love with how I was twisting the knobs with the beat. And then I started twisting them a certain way, and putting emotion and feeling behind it, and Spanky was like, “Yo Pierre, keep doing that, I like that.” I was like, “Yeah, this is something!” We were like, “Yo, that’s style.” We said forget trying to make a baseline, let’s program it like this and just twist the knobs. And so that’s what we did, you know.

And thus, the acid house sound was born.

Phuture would take this wholly new, alien sound that was unlike literally anything that had ever been heard before, and jam with it for hours on end. They knew they had something special and they wanted other people to hear it, too. They ended up recording a song called “In Your Mind” and decided to give it to the house DJ whom they admired most and also thought was most likely to play it: Ron Hardy.

From a Discogs review by user Alain_Patrick:

As soon as they gave Ron the tape, the visionary DJ listened to it and said, smiling: “It’s ok... When can I get a copy?”

That night, Hardy played “In Your Mind” a total of four times. As a song that clocks in at almost 12 minutes alone, that means he dedicated at least the better part of an hour of his set to this one song. Legend has it that the first two times he played it, the crowd wasn’t feeling it at all. A less confident DJ could’ve then very easily taken those reactions into account and decided to never play the record again, but Hardy seemed determined to get his audience to believe in this track the same way he did. There was a transformational moment in dance music history taking place right before people’s very eyes and Hardy was going to force his fans to embrace it. By the time he gave “In Your Mind” a third spin, the collective opinion of the club did a complete 180 degree turn and the dancefloor mutated into spiritual bedlam. 

Word soon then spread about this otherworldly bit of cosmic funk. Fans dubbed it “Ron Hardy’s Acid Tracks,” and possibly because of how relentlessly Hardy had pushed it, people assumed that Hardy had made it. But he didn’t; he was just its primary evangelist. However, in order to avoid confusion, Phuture changed the name of their song from “In Your Mind” to “Acid Tracks.”

It wasn’t until 1987 that “Acid Tracks” would finally appear on wax. Executive produced by now house legend, Marshall Jefferson, the song was released on Chicago’s Trax Records, and despite their vital contribution to the history of both popular and underground music, Phuture has only seen a total of $1,500 in revenue from that record. It goes without saying, but that’s some really shameful shit.

Anyway, a song like “Acid Tracks” represents the absolute potential of the “acid” sound. It’s an experiment that uses the TB-303 as a maker of both melody and rhythm in a way that no one had ever previously thought of. As Pierre twiddled and twisted away on its knobs with purpose, like how a guitarist plucks and strums on their strings, he managed to unveil a full, undiscovered range of never before heard, nearly impossible to describe, fat and thick, funky sound. Spanky laid down the constantly changing series of hats, claps, snares, cowbells, kicks, and whistles to provide minimal layers of accompaniment to the leading, unpredictable heaps of acid, and unsung member, Herb J, who was also in on the action, played a part in co-writing the song with Pierre.

It’s impossible to know what the history of electronic music would’ve been like without “Acid Tracks.” Literally tens of thousands of songs that use the TB-303 like Phuture did have been released in just about every electronic music subgenre since. Had Phuture never chosen to exploit their discovery, or had Ron Hardy given up on it after its first two spins, all those acid tracks that followed would have likely never happened. It’s entirely possible that someone else could have discovered that sound accidentally, too, if Phuture didn’t, but who’s to say that they would’ve thought it was usable? Without “Acid Tracks,” there’s no 1988 Summer of Love in the UK, and there’s no incorporation of acid house into popular alternative music like The Happy Mondays or Stone Roses. The future that we would come to know about electronic music is highly improbable, if not impossible, without Phuture.

One of the most important tracks in electronic music’s history, bar none.

[bitter69uk]

Released ninety years ago this month (9 September 1932), Blonde Venus represents the wildest and freakiest of the seven cinematic collaborations between visionary filmmaker Josef von Sternberg and his sultry glamourpuss leading lady / muse Marlene Dietrich. And the Lobotomy Room film club is commemorating the occasion with a free screening THIS Thursday 15 September! Considering Blonde Venus is the absolute summit of sinful 1930s Art Deco glamour, it’s the perfect film to watch in the decadent surroundings of Fontaine’s cocktail lounge in Dalston! 

So, who wants to come watch Dietrich as a nightclub singer on the skids over cocktails? Sing along with me: “Hot voodoo / dance of sin / Hot voodoo / worse than gin / I’d follow a caveman right into his cave …" 

Lobotomy Room Goes to the Movies is the FREE monthly film club devoted to the cult, the kitsch and the queer! Third Thursday night of every month downstairs at Fontaine’s bar in Dalston! Two drink minimum. Inquire about the special offer £5 cocktail menu! Numbers are limited, so reserving in advance via Fontaine’s website is essential.  Alternatively, phone 07718000546 or email bookings@fontaines.bar to avoid disappointment! (Any difficulties reserving, contact me on here). The film starts at 8:30 pm. Doors to the basement Bamboo Lounge open at 8:00 pm. To ensure everyone is seated and cocktails are ordered in time, please arrive by 8:15 pm at the latest.

Event page.