#afro latino spirituality

[wurasgrimoire]

Mpambu Njila

Other names: Unjira, Nzila, Mavambo, Aluvaiá, Oluvaiá, Vanjila*, Mujilo*, Pambunjira, Bombomzila.

Domains: Sexuality, begginings, tricks, crossroads.

Greetings: Kiuá Tat'etu Kibuko Ngananjila Mpambu Njila! (I salute you, Our Auspicious Father Lord of Crossroads, Mpambu Njila). Pembelê Mpambu Njila (Come help us, Mpambu Njila!).

Symbols: The phallus, trident, keys, the sacrificial knife (pocó).

Animal: Rooster.

Taboos: Animal heads or their feet, beetroot, platain, sapodilla, eggs.

Colors: Red and black.

(names with * are given when he is in his female form)

Mpambu Njila comes from the words "Mpambu", meaning "meeting" and "Njila", "road". Literally, "Where The Roads Meet". He simbolizes movement, the first spark of life. Mpambu Njila is the first one to be honoured in the xirê ("shee-reh", celebration).

He is known for being the hottest nkisi, as in being connected to fire and warmth. And as such, he is also connected to human sexuality. But as Lemba ria Nganga is connected to the procreation and fertility aspect of it, Njila is all of it's faces.

As his personality, he is a jokester, playing tricks that can elevate in danger if the ritual protocols aren't taken seriously. To show this, his warcry is a deep and distorted laugh. And so that he doesn't wreak havoc, he is the first Nkisi to eat and to be celebrated. This is also so we get his good side and he opens up the path.

Chants

"É um mavile, mavilê. É um mavile Mavambu"

"It's milk, it's milk. It's Mavambu's milk"

This one is about male sexuality, emphasizing Njila's virility and his semen.

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"Singangê, mbandaiô, ngangaiô lepê, Mpambu Njilê"

"Priest, moving energy, the great priest Mpambu Njila"

Highlights his role as "owner of cultus", being the priest that inniciated the first priest, and his role as the force of movement.

-----------

"Tenda, tenda, Mpambu Njila, tenda ió"

"Tell the fortune, Mpambu Njila, tell us our fortune"

As he is the mouth that speak to us through the cowrie shell oracle, and the divine messenger, carrying news from this world to the other one.

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"Óia njila mukongo, óia njila, óia njila mukongo, óia njila. Aê, aê, óia njila mukongo, óia njila"

"He governs the hunters on their way, he governs the roads. Yes, yes, its him that governs the hunters on their way"

As he is the owner of roads, be they metaphorical or literal, it's him that we should thank for our living. It's him that let us walk our way to work, so we can put food on our tables. Mpambu Njila is abundance.

Dance

His most common act is the drinking one. While the drums play the fast-paced barravento rythm, Mpambu Njila, in the middle of the temple, dances as if he is drinking.

While he does it, his movements get faster and awkward, resulting in him falling to his knees, still "drinking", until he "faints". He may also grab a bottle of rum and drink from it.

With his rum bottle, he may spit the liquid, inducing the trance state on the initiated around him.

[fivepercentgodsandearths]

"WITH THE COMING OF ALLAH IN THE PERSON OF HIS TRUE AND NATURAL SELF-BLACKMAN-NO LONGER WAS GOD TO BE REGARDED AS AN UNSEEN BEING THAT EXIST EVERYWHERE INSTEAD IT WAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT GOD IS THE TOTAL EMBODIMENT OF ALL LIFE, FORCE, ENERGY OR POWER WHICH IS PERSONIFIED AS WELL AS AMPLIFIED THROUGH THE INTELLIGENCE AND PERFECTION OF THE BLACKMAN.

THE BLACK GODS ARE MERELY THE INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSIONS OF THE UNITY OF ALLAH IN OTHER WORDS LIVING PROOF THAT ALLAH IS ALL IN ALL. THEY MANIFEST THROUGH THEIR INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE BUILDING THE SUPREME ONENESS OF ALLAH ONE UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE RADIATING OPERATING THROUGH MANY BODIES. IN THIS REALM OF CREATIVE ACTIVITY, TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE, SO THERE IS ONLY ONE MIND, ONE INTELLIGENCE, ONE UNIVERSAL GOD WHO RULES OVER ALL LIFE. WHAT MAY APPEAR TO BE MANY GODS IS ACTUALLY ONE GOD B/C ONE IS EQUAL TO ALL AND ALL IS EQUAL TO ONE. EACH GOD WHETHER ALONE OR TOGETHER' MANIFESTS THE NATURE, IDENTITY AND REALITY OF ALLAH.." 5% Unity Publication

[roga-el-rojo]

“Borderlands/La Frontera” - Gloria Anzaldúa

Hello friends,

For my first recommendation this Latine Heritage Month, I want to highlight a famous text that dissects the contradictory identities Latines face inside the “US” from a queer Chicana perspective: “Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza” by Gloria Anzaldúa.

Gloria E. Anzaldúa was an internationally-acclaimed independent scholar, cultural theorist, creative writer, and social-justice activist who has made lasting contributions to numerous fields. This book in particular played a major role in shaping contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer identities.

“Borderlands/La Frontera” is a semi-autobiographical work that explores the Chicano and Latine experience through themes of race, gender, identity, and colonialism. The narrative reflects on Anzaldúa's upbringing in South Texas, her cultural heritage, and the struggles of her community, particularly in relation to land and identity. Her writing aims to connect oppressed Latine peoples with their indigenous cultural backgrounds as shown through her “poet-shaman aesthetics,” her poetry, and English-Spanish code switching.

I really appreciated how Anzaldúa examined the pain and trauma imposed on Indigenous and Chicano communities by colonial powers in relation to their struggles for cultural survival as a form of spiritual healing. I also loved how she critiqued traditional gender roles within Chicano contexts and embraced her lesbian identity as a way of standing in solidarity with queer Latines to affirm current and ancestral queer identities in the face of patriarchy.

Another important and controversial concept Anzaldúa unpacks is mestizaje, referring to the blending and intermingling of different cultural, racial, and ethnic identities, particularly in the context of the Chicano and Latino experience. This can potentially be empowering as it allows folks to re-imagine their histories beyond strict notions of identity and belonging, but can also romanticize the idea of cultural blending at the expense of acknowledging that Afro-Mexican, Afro-Latine, and Mexic-Amerindian experiences are unique.

I highly recommend Latines read this text as a part of our contradictory history.

[enchanted-moura]

I was listening to my disco playlist and realized the name of the song was the name of a Hoodoo product I see mass produced. And thats kinda common in Black American vintage music to incorporate Hoodoo elements. Its the same thing all over the diaspora, don't have to try too hard to be spiritual or feel connected to the divine, its just an everyday thing, its life. Afro-Latino music dgaf and isn't do subtle, they will name their spirits in a popular song. Be like "Take me to the ocean Mama Yemaya", song will be a record hit lol

[thesecrethunt]

This is my diary blog so I'll put whatever I want here. Growing up in a Puertorican Afro-Latino family, we were heavily involved in Ifa, Lucumi traditions. Because of that, I didn't have the same naive mysticism around it like others who left the Christian Church, especially Black Americans who find Ifa after wanting to separate from a "European Religion". I think mine is a perspective worth hearing.

I grew up hearing the stories of the Orishas, cleaning chicken feathers and blood, attending the thousand dollar ceremonies. I watched them throw Opele and Diloggun, I knew at least a good amount of the Patakis. I saw what happened beyond the curtain.

I could have been initiated, but I walked away for a reason. The "babalawo" my tia married started beating the shit out of her and my mom had to save her. It was the last straw and my mom and I walked away from the religion. We tried to help and support my tia, but then we had to finally separate ties with her as her continual involvement in Ifa kept bringing dangerous men into our lives. She is still involved to this day. Still being taken advantage of by strange men. That was when I started to question.

A lot of young black folk start questioning and leaving Christianity in favor of ATR because they hope they will find answers in an unapologetically black spirituality. But, let me tell you, it's more of the same shit.

Threats of hellfire are replaced with threats of angering the Orishas or the ancestors for any transgression. Babalawo demand your life savings in the name of "sacrifice" as a test to whether you're truly committed to the path. Every major decision you make, every dream, every sign, you must shell out money for divination to put you on your "true destiny". Any attempts to divine or think for yourself are "malicious trickster spirits" to replace threats of "satan" or "demons" in Christian terminology. Ask your Baba. Pay $70. Ask your baba. Pay $120. The magical Kola Nuts say you have to pay me $500 for Ebo. And if you don't complete Ebo, the Orishas will be furious and ruin your life, probably kill your cat idk.

If you're leaving Christianity because you loathe being subserviant to a wrathful, tyrannous God, you will not find solace in ATR. In many ways, it's worse. You will spend the rest of your life in poverty, shelling out every penny to ceremony, readings, Ebo, all of it. Tens of thousands of dollars.

In times of tradition, money was necessary because it went to paying for the community, opening schools, orphanages, funding farms. And babalawo ran these operations. That world doesn't exist anymore. Now, Babalawo use it as a means to pay their bills, incentivising scamming.

Animal Sacrifices were to feed the family, the community. To thank the Orisha for abundance, not to "feed" them. Now, in a world of grocery stores and refrigeration, perfectly good meat is left to rot on shrines and wasted. Slaughtering an animal without need of food is animal cruelty and I don't care who that offends.

These traditions were designed in a way that was practical to the needs of the villages of the time hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Now we perform these wasteful ceremonies designed for a world that no longer exists. Waste of money, waste of food.

Do you really think that the slaves who preserved these traditions had the money and livestock at their disposal to perform these ceremonies? These "satanic" loud, massively performative ceremonies out in the open of their Catholic enslavers while slaughtering their masters' lifestock? Hell no! They would literally be lynched. And yet somehow our enslaved ancestors found a way to preserve knowledge without money, ceremony, or even dignity.

People think just because it's not mainstream religion, that Ifa, Isese, Santeria, Lucumi, are all somehow immune to the same logic and questioning we don't spare Christianity. But ALL faiths should be questioned. ALL traditions. Or you risk being susceptible to spiritual abuse. And make no mistake, modern ATR is full of spiritual abuse. In some ways, even worse than Christianity.

And before anyone can tell me, "oh it was just a bad babalawo". No. One Babalawo is a lone instance. Five Babalawo in a row with supposedly good reputations with their community? That is a sickness in the culture itself. You think we didn't try to do our homework after the first bad encounter? Try to find a good honest elder we could trust?

Babalawo, these spiritual leaders, guides, elders that we're suppose to look for wisdom from? Listen to the way they talk to people. Cussing out and insulting anyone who questions them, tripping over their own egos. Don't believe me? You can go to r/Santeria for a little preview of how these "sacred leaders" speak. Pretty sure I watched one of them call someone a bitch last time I scrolled. No, that's not just online behavior. They are like that. I lived it and saw it. Those are the people "chosen" to be your oh-so-wise guides. The once holy title "babalawo" means nothing anymore. People who bought the title with cash but without the iwa pele, the character, to back it up. All of the money in the world and none of the inner work. It's blasphemy, but more importantly, it's embarassing. They dishonor the orishas and the ancestors who risked their lives to preserve the sacred knowledge. Maybe you will find a good man, a kind babalawo with his heart in the right place. A REAL babalawo. I can't generalize and say there isn't a single good leader in ATR, because of course there must be. But I haven't met him. I met wife beaters, perverts, deadbeat fathers, manipulators, and scam artists. All of the most monsterous people I ever knew were priests. And in my experience? It's not worth wading through a sea of monsters to find one angel. Especially not at the cost of your life savings (and maybe even the cost of your life). And I can tell you one thing, if there is a single good babalawo out there? He is not cussing out people on internet forums.

Homophobia, transphobia, misogyny is rampant. Maybe you will be lucky enough to find a more welcoming ATR community nowadays than when I was growing up queer in the early 00s, but you will have to wade through all the crap first.

As for the divination, I have a lot of reservations for ANY religious practice that promises to find the meaning or "destiny" of your life through divination. Conveniently, the only way to receive divination is to shell out $$$. Orishas can conveniently only communicate through this singular, overly complex system of divination that is paywalled behind a Babalawo. You MUST complete whatever the divination demands (which will usually cost more $$$) or else you will anger the spirits or your problem will get worse of the orisha will punish you. Blah blah blah, empty threats of hellfire and damnation but with an African Theme.

First of all, the Orishas sound more and more like the tyrannous Christian god who will torture you in hellfire for any transgression against him. Any wrong move, any offense or taboo and they will hurt you, they will hurt your family, they will hurt your friends. So give money to your babalawo to fix this problem we made up for you. For the right price, he, and only he, can fix you. ...Sounds like my aunt's abusive ex husband.

Let me ask you something, if the answer to life and our destiny could be found in tossing shells or drawing in the sand, then why couldn't it prevent the Atlantic Slave Trade? Why couldn't it save us from European Conquerors who stole us from our home and colonized our homeland? Where were the answers then? Why does every tribe, village, and clan in Africa run by divination and fear of supertition live in abject poverty while begging USA and Europe for food and medicine? Sure you can blame some of it on colonization, but colonizers laugh while these easily manipulated people don't have the critical thinking skills to resist them. Meanwhile countries that are moving away from supertition and divination like Nigeria, or Ghana are rising as World Powers in their own right.

That sounds callous, that sounds cruel, that sounds insensitive as fuck but I need to drive home how fucking poisonous superstition and overreliance on divination is. We (black and latinos) already have issues with poor education in our communities. High drop out rates, poor underfunded schools, low college enrollments, poverty. And now you want to further poison our already struggling communities by adding superstitious fuckery to the mix? I can already hear our white masters are laughing at us from beyond the grave. There is nothing wrong with the occasional tarot reading or astrology as a little spiritual comfort or advice. But relying on them for your life path? No divination method will find the answers to your problems. You will NOT find the answers to your life or destiny in shells and sand. It is NOT something you can buy with money.

The Orishas are not wrathful tyrants. They are our mothers and fathers, here to guide and help you. They won't harm you for asking them for advice or giving offering without a Babalowo. That is just religious spookism there to control you and control your money, and make no mistake, it is a form of spiritual abuse. But the Orishas will not give you the answers either. ATR loves to famously say the Orishas will never speak to you through tarot cards, or any other oracle outside tradition, but wait till I tell you they won't speak to you through seeds or dead snails or magical chains either. Blasphemous, I know. But, just because it's ancient tradition, doesn't mean it's right or correct to follow. Blood letting was an ancient practice too. So was drinking mercury. Live in the present.

The Orishas speak to you when you embody their lessons in your life. When you walk as they did and learn from their wisdom and their mistakes. They live in you. Not in silly statues you get from thousand dollar ceremonies. They don't speak through anyone or anything but your own Ori. Your crown. What Orisha has your head? They all do. They're not fucking hogwarts houses to sort yourselves in. They are all there to guide you at various stages and events of your life. They are the embodiments of the human experience, and they live within you. If you connect with a particular Orisha? Embody them. Learn from them. When the Orisha live in you, you honor them by taking care of your mind and body. If you have thousands of dollars and time and energy to spend on ceremonies and rituals, then you can afford to go to school and get a fucking education. If you have thousands of dollars, you can afford books in science, philosophy, and mathematics. Knowledge you won't find tossing dead snails on a mat. If you have thousands of dollars to spend on ritual, you can afford a healthy diet to nourish your body. You can afford a gym membership. You can afford a therapist and regular doctor visits. If you have the time and devotion to spend ritual? Put it to better use volunteering for your community. Honor Ochosi by volunteering at an animal shelter or honor Oshun by volunteering to clean up your local rivers. Your job is to learn and grow throughout your life and come to decisions with the brain Obatala tirelessly sculpted and put in your head, not look for answers in shells and seeds. Money and superstition will never replace lessons and experience. You are meant to live your life, get hurt, and grow. You must bleed and suffer for your wisdom. That is real sacrifice. It doesn't happen at an altar. Knowledge and wisdom is not given. It is earned. You cannot buy it. You are not meant to know the answers. You are doomed to carry your own cross. Stop looking for shortcuts. When my mother and I did things the "right" way. Through tradition and ceremony, our lives were nothing but pain. And of course they were. Our lives were being run by predatory men, lusting over our money and bodies. It was when I walked away that I found peace within myself and with the Orishas. And I continue to honor them independently outside ATR (the real Orishas, not the spiteful spirits that need to to feed off blood and money that ATR loves to paint them as. I see that as an insult to them in its own right). I really don't give a damn about what anyone has to say about me not "doing it the right way" or no going through the "proper procedures". I had more than my fill of that cult. And if you’re here to tell me the beings I’ve been praying to, who have been giving me blessings and watching over me is some malevolent spirit, please keep your mystic spookism bullshit to yourself. Please go find someone else more gullible than me to intimidate.

I'm never going back, but nor am I walking away from the Orishas that have been there for me since I was small. And if they are dieties worth having in my life, then they will understand why I will never initiate or have anything to do with those practices again. I never want to speak to another ATR priest as long as I live. I've suffered enough. I would never let anyone I love or care about get involved with ATR. Ever. When my friends find out about my past with Ifa and ask if they should get involved, I always tell them to run the fuck away. Any diety, orisha, god, that threatens to harm you for any reason is not a diety you should follow or worship. Period. So either the Orishas are kind and patient like a parent should be to a child, or they are abusive and unworthy of worship. I choose to believe they are kind, otherwise I would not follow them. So far, in the decade or so since I have been honoring them, praying to them, they have not harmed me. Nor will they ever. Because they are not monsters.

Atheists live closer to the divinity of the Orishas than any priest, babalawo, santero, or iyanifa. I believe everyone should walk the path of an Atheist before coming into spirituality. When you live a life of logic and knowledge, it's easy to see through the bullshit. Being good and kind for goodness sake, not under threat of divine retribution. I don't care who that hurts, I don't care who that offends. All organized religion is corruption, no matter where it comes from. Ase!

[therealgothambychelsealauren]

Chapter II: Arkham Asylum

In my Criminal Law class, we've been learning about the abolitionist movement and prison reform. I've found myself agreeing with a lot of the stances and reasoning the Abolitionists have petitioned for eradicating the prison system - primarily for petty crimes and those incarcerated for being homeless (the criminal legal system has systemically and historically served as a means of punishing poor people, but more on that later).

While lawyers and Abolitionist activists have been trying to reform and free oppressed people from the Big House, I've been having my own housing challenges.

After undergrad (where the events of the prequel series, The Real Gotham: Origins, occurred) I moved to the South Bronx, New York City. It was a 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom, for me and 3 coworkers who all served for a nonprofit organization centered on education reform (though how much The Organization combatted versus condoned educational inequality is to be debated throughout this series). The apartment was nice - very nice compared to the apartments I grew up struggling to complete a lease in. We were in an ideal location for public transport. The local eateries I frequented almost compensated for the inevitable contribution to gentrification I caused by moving here in the first place. Until a select group of neighbors moved in upstairs and before the block became increasingly more policed (2 homicides occurred within a month's span of each other at the start of summer), it was actually a nice place to live.

So when my roommates suddenly decided not to renew our lease, I felt like our T.J. Maxx rug had been pulled right from under me - but I didn't completely hate the idea of moving elsewhere, either.

Part of orientation with The Organization encouraged us to be proud of the NYC burrough we were repping. One of my roommates was born and raised in Brooklyn, and ofc with the hype Brooklyn gets on NYC-Transplant-TikTok, she earned respect and gas from the rest of our cohort quickly. Another roommate repped Staten Island, which earned love and hate both because of Pete Davidson. My third roommate was from New Jersey - but they never said "New Jersey", it was always just "Jersey."

I obviously was not a New Yorker and was not at all proud to hail from such a conservative state in the Midwest, so I decidedly attempted to embrace the pride of living in the Bronx, arguably - with Brooklyn, hence the constant shade between BK and The BX - the home of modern hiphop and rap (suck it Jay Z).

And there were good reasons to be proud of living in The BX; it's the only borough that begins with "The," it's a melting pot of Afro-Latino culture (something I had not at all encountered until I moved here), it took my virginity of eating tostones, churros, and quesabirria tacos.

But I think the biggest pride of The Bronx is that it's the last borough to be massively gentrified by white transplants. Even now, I see many people sharing community on stoops and I hear Hispanic music being played in the streets. Some of these houses/apartments are living testaments of history, not having been hardly touched by the decades of families and friends who resided in them. The gentrification is definitely still happening, but it seems to be consuming The Bronx at a much slower pace than the other boroughs.

So keep all of this in mind as I tell you about my sublet.. with two white sisters of the Catholic church.

I have nothing against Catholics - I myself am spiritual/Christian and I went to a Catholic university. I have nothing against white people - I myself am half-white.

But considering everything I've come to know and experience as a Black woman (yes, mixed technically but still definitely perceived as a Black woman - in both good and bad ways as you could probably imagine), it's hard not to wonder about the historical implications behind this setup.

I mean, I read those news stories when so many bodies of Native American children were found where Catholic elementary schools once stood. I see how out of place these white Catholic sisters look amongst the Black and Brown neighbors on our street, and I notice the odd glances (sometimes even winces) from these neighbors when they see the two 70+-year-old sisters taking out the trash. In a city where the standard is to mind your business and avoid eye contact, where the norm is to trust no one, I witness so many neighbors get nervous seeing these dainty old sisters on the sidewalk.

And though they are kind - and clearly generous to be letting me stay with them at such an affordable rent - the lawyer/social activist in me recognizes the historical implications of two white sisters living in an old 4-floor house in a neighborhood dominated by Black Hispanics.

It's almost comparable to what living in Arkham Asylum must be like; though I am out most of the day, I cannot help but have some anxiously intrusive thoughts about how they may think of me or plan to treat me. Have they prepared a lecture for me about my curls shedding in the shower? Are they planning to guilt me into sacrificing school/free time to fulfill unreasonable household/cleaning responsibilities? Do they assume I'll be irresponsibly smoking weed on the weekends with friends and should I expect to have my shit searched while I'm at school because of that racist stereotype? (thanks War on Drugs)

I hate having such anxious thoughts, but when you're a poor Black person living in a historically white-owned house with two white Catholic sisters who moved here as part of a community/nonprofit initiative built on white saviorism, it's hard not to wonder.

Not to mention the house is lowkey haunted.

Supposedly, this house once belonged to an extremely wealthy family; there's a knob in the center of the living room floor that used to be a button to ring for the servants. Ironically, it is directly under this button, on the ground floor in a small room off-side from the kitchen which was once the servant's quarters, where I am staying. How this house came into the possession of the Catholic church is still a mystery to me, but hopefully I'll be able to give y'all the history lesson on it soon.

[curanderas-and-brujas]

University of New Mexico's Free Course on Curanderismo (Traditional Medicine) and its Impact on the Community

Cheo Torres, alongside other university and non university affiliated community members, help host free curanderism courses where people can learn more on traditional medicinal practices.

Courses taught include:

Curanderismo: Traditional Healing using Plants with modules on how to prepare plant tinctures, microdosages, juice therapy, herbal oils, etc.

Curanderismo: Traditional Healing of the Body with demonstrations ofempacho (intestinal blockage), manteadas (shawl alignments), ventosas (fire cupping) and sobadas (traditional massages).

Curanderismo: Tradtional Healing of the Mind, Energy, and Spirit that shows how to perform limpias (spiritual/energetic body cleansings), temazcals (Mexican sweatlodges), Dia de losMuertos (healting grief through Day of the Dead), and sonido y musica terapia (healing with sound and music).

Curanderismo: Global and Cultural Influences of Traditional healing from Uganda and Gabon Africa, Afro-Latino rituals from Cuba and Puerto Rico, healing with sacred tobacco from Peru, and acupuncture and abdominal massage from the Mayan culture.  

May 13, 2019

(4/8)

[reasoningdaily]

Enox J. Rios became an Iyawo this past April. And so for a year and seven days he must only dress in white. He is to eat all his meals on the floor. He is forbidden from looking into a mirror and cannot be outside after dark. He’s also not allowed to make any physical contact with the uninitiated. That means no handshakes.

As Yawo, Rios is a newly ordained priest of an ancient diaspora religion brought to Cuba by Congolese slaves. From Cuba it spread throughout the Caribbean, to the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, and later to the US. It’s called Palo Mayombe, and its dark rituals involving human and animal remains and even grave robbing, is practiced in extreme secrecy. Like another Afro-Caribbean religion, Santeria, thousands of Latino New Yorkers are adherents of this syncretic faith which involves ritual dance, song, and drumming.

Botanica Babalu in the Bronx. Photo by Neil Giardino.

Rios is the owner of Botanica Babalu, a folk medicine shop in the Bronx that sells spiritual herbs, candles, and statues of saints. It’s a one-stop for Palo accessories including medicinal plants for aura cleansing. “This is a place I like to think of for healing and guidance,” he said.

As a palero, Enox said he has been ordained or “crowned” ocha. This means that an Orisha, or holy being of his faith, is aligned with his inner head. In essence, it gives him the ability to act as a spiritual medium.

“It’s very dark. Very draining. But if it’s used for the betterment of the people and for protection, it is amazing,” said Rios.

The spirits that paleros are in contact with are both ancestral and of the natural world. Worship for paleros like Rios centers on communication with these deities by using iron or clay pots called ngangas. The nganga is to a palero what an alter is to a Catholic priest. Palo means stick in Spanish. And that’s what goes into the pot along with earth and bones. But that’s not all that goes into a gnanga.

“You want the spirit to keep you safe from a gun, to keep you safe from a machete, from a blade, somebody pulling out a blade on you. So we implement all those things in the pot,” explains Rios.

Palo faithful believe that a spirit of the dead also lives inside. The spirits of Palo communicate through ordained mediums like Rios. Earthly items like guns or knives help the palero channel these spirits and summon protection from them. Clients pass through his doors seeking spiritual cleansing. He offers spiritual baths with medicinal herbs. Rios claims his prices are lower than other botanicas. “I’m here to give back. I remember having cancer, looking for some kind of positivity, some kind of light, some kind of hope to keep me going. And so that’s what I try to do.”

One patron needs a blessing before a job interview. Another isn’t coping with a death in the family. Some are trying to keep their marital vows sacred. Requests to keep husbands or wives faithful are common. Rios said instead he focuses on light and healing. But he explains that some paleros not only overcharge in times of crisis, but also use the spirits in their ngangas recklessly, to harm or worse.

A scale for medicinal herbs is hung above a holy statue at Botanica Babalu. Photo by Neil Giardino.

“You can kill with a nganga. That’s how dark it is. It’s like a dog. Somebody comes into your back yard and your dog is trained. If that dog gets loose, who knows what you’re going to be in by the time they get the dog off of you,” he said.

Palo is almost always linked to Santeria. And ritual music and dance is fundamental to both. There is one main distinction: Santeria comes from the Yoruba people from Nigeria and Palo Mayombe comes from the Congo. Since Congolese slaves were brought to the Caribbean much earlier than the Yoruba, it’s harder to trace their music and culture directly back to Africa. In other words, Palo’s African origins are darker and more mysterious.

Peter Manuel is a professor in the department of Art and Music at John Jay College who has written extensively about music of the Caribbean. “Palo songs have some Congolese words in them, but mixed with a lot of Spanish. It’s just more syncretic and more acculturated,” he said. Manuel added that although the often feverish dance, pounding drums, and call and response incantations of Santeria and Palo are similar, tracing Santeria to the Yoruba is much easier because these Nigerian slaves were brought to the Caribbean as late as the 19th century. That direct line between Palo and the Congo is much more indistinct.

One similarity in both Palo and Santeria is ritual sacrifice. Every so often news about sacrifice of animals makes headlines in Greater New York City. When asked about this, Enox J. Rios is unequivocal. “This is an Afro-Caribbean religion and it’s one of the oldest religions. This is the way it’s been done. It’s tradition. But there’s room for growth.” he said.

And as an initiated Yawo of Palo Mayombe, Rios will now embark on his year and seven days of austerity as an ordained palero. He acknowledges the darkness of his religion, but says he’ll continue to use it for the sake of wellness and healing.

“There is bad and there is good in everything. Palo is heavy but at Botanica Babalu it’s used for love, stability, and everything that is positive.”

[kalma-latino]

KALMA - Riachuelo, Moodboard 4 RIACHUELO (Stream)

Description: The meandering streams and rivers that flow through the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and the lush landscapes of Central America.

Connection to Afro-Latino People: Rivers and streams have always been vital to communities, providing sustenance, transportation, and spiritual significance. Afro-Latino traditions, like Candomblé in Brazil, hold water bodies in high regard.

Suggested Fashion Collection: Spring/Summer collection with fluid designs, reflective surfaces that mimic the play of light on water, and patterns drawn from the flora and fauna of riverine ecosystems.

[jebloguemoinonplus]

NOËL GOSPEL » LES 9 ET 10 DÉCEMBRE À LA SALLE PIERRE-MERCURE

« Noël Gospel » est un spectacle mettant en vedette les réputés Jireh Gospel Choir et Montreal Gospel Choir menés par Carol Bernard. Lors des trois représentations, présentées à la Salle Pierre-Mercure du Centre Pierre-Péladeau les 9 et 10 décembre, c’est 100 interprètes qui seront sur scène!

« J’adore l’évolution de la musique gospel – des Negro Spirituals au hip-hop, et j’adore Noël! Nous travaillons fort pour présenter au public une vraie expérience gospel, remplie de joie : un cadeau pour tout le monde. Notre message de Noël est : paix, justice et amour pour tous,» déclare Carol Bernard.

C’est un rendez-vous en prélude au temps des fêtes hors de l’ordinaire que propose Carol Bernard, la directrice des célèbres Jireh Gospel Choir (composé de 15 membres de la communauté afro- montréalaise) et Montreal Gospel Choir (85 chanteurs montréalais d’origine africaine, asiatique, caraïbéenne, européenne et latino- américaine). Au menu de ce spectacle de 90 minutes des chansons de Authentic Gospel, du Black American Gospel, du Negro Spiritual, du hip hop, plusieurs classiques du Noël ainsi que des compositions originales en français et en anglais.

L’album « Get Up » du Jireh Gospel Choir a reçu le prix de l’Album gospel de l’année, décerné par Gospel Music Association Canada. En juillet 2022, les 15 chanteurs et 5 musiciens ont pour une 3e fois enflammé la scène extérieure du Festival international de jazz de Montréal devant de dizaines de milliers de personnes; en 2019, ils ont participé aux trois concerts de Noël de l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal diffusé par Ici Radio-Canada Télé.

[enchanted-moura]

When you speak to your spirit team/ancestors/your idea of universe/source, do you experience receiving different answers depending on the source?

My understanding is that most people would. considering spirits/ancestors/etc have different personalities/experiences and mastery...

If the answers vary, how do you make the right choices/decisions? or how do you know what advice to take?

I know what you mean and its a tough question cause our spiritual courts can really be huge and communicate in many many ways. Only my main spirit guides from my spiritual court or "cuatro espiritual" as its known in Afro-Latino traditions interact with me every other day, attend to my "beck and call".

The spirit worlds are also initiatory and highly organized so most of the guidance I receive is tailored to my path not just an endless stream of information. Most people will not be able to access what they are not initiated into less they be a wanderor in the desert land forever.

[oshun67]

Black Voices.

[tredawakandan]

There's a reason why you can't know your true history or practice your own spirituality..

[eremiie]

aot nationalities / ethnicities headcanons

❥ content warnings: none

❥ notes: take all of these with a grain of salt, it’s obviously not canon but i simply know the cast on a spiritual level so smh

eren is german, carla is the german one, grisha has some german backgrounds, but carla is fluent in it— taught eren it, yada yada. however i must mention he’s a bit racially ambiguous thanks to user alert-arlert. that being said i think he needs to take an ancestry test because although it’ll come up as 90% european im dying to know what the 10% may be.... i can see him having north african roots thanks to user miekasa, as well as possible middle eastern or south american or hispanic roots too, that is carla’s doing. 

armin is a white man we all know it... but i’m gonna say german canadian because he’s simply not american that’s not him. european background; some people said swedish too so take that as you will. his grandparents know carla very good friends with carla, boom, him and eren childhood friends (to lovers)

levi definitely racially ambiguous, he’s got family from everywhere so he’s like a little tea blend. french, eastern and southern asian, greek, he needs an ancestry test and that’s okay

jean is french-german, mother has french roots and father has the german roots, as a matter of fact he probably knows bits and pieces of both languages cause i just feel like his mom was the type to put him in language / music classes of the sorts

connie is afro latino, maybe even to be more specific and go into the nationalites afro-dominican, new york raised like timb stopping in these streets okay. you can’t tell me connie wasn’t helping his uncle work the corner store & going to the salon with his mom when he was younger cause she couldn’t keep his ass home alone??

reiner, i can see being german-american or german-slovenian. braun is a german last name, and then i can see some of his family having a jewish religious background as well, just you know, a european man.

bertholdt, german-syrian, bertholdt is apparently a german name and then he just has kind of syrian features so i would give him that!

colt, hella european countries, finnish, german, maybe even austrian??? 

porco, italian-american, raised in new jersey i mean man was getting down with the family business, rollerblading in the 90s, leather jacket and all talk to him NICE.

zeke, german, norwegian, icelandic, english like at least 3% of all european countries come on, probably damn stayed in sherlock holmes house and shared that pipe with him come on now

erwin, english. i’m talking taxation without representation is bullshit, just drink the damn tea kind of english. 

niccolo is french-italian, yall thought them cooking skills was not anything fancy white?????? no but he definitely has french-italian grandparents i mean like... i don’t think he knows any french OR italian but it’s really the thought that counts okay.

marlo is lebanese!!! he actually just kind of looks lebanese to me so it just clicks!!! i don’t want any debates about this it just works too perfectly imo. he’s a bit ambiguous too so i can see some asian in his bloodline as well.

mikasa is japanese, this is canon so this isn’t up for debate, she’s wasian so she does take some european roots from her dad. i think she knows some japanese as well, probably even taught armin a few words per armin’s request

sasha is european obviously, going into the hungarian, romanian territory. but i can also see her not even knowing she has a bit percentage of argentinian or brazilian in her— so some south american. or some middle eastern like turkish as well... i’ve always connected her and hange on some level probably because of their looks so i’m adding turkish haha. but she doesn’t know too much about her background especially growing up in the countryside with more than just her family so she never learned too much about herself apart from being white

hange, racially ambiguous, to be specific turkish, iranian, north african like egyptian maybe? some european roots and maybe just maybe even some south asian background in there 

historia, english as well. i mean she probably visits some family in london or something like, she’s no better than erwin (wise words from user miekasa) and that’s a fact. i don’t make the rules.

ymir, racially ambiguous european, asian mainly eastern but both south and east asian roots, african roots to her, and definitely indigenous roots, i feel like she'd also have like one parent whos like pretty white and then the other who is racially ambiguous with more african / asian / indigenous features

hitch, like this doesn’t even really count seriously but she’s a damn valley girl, i’m talking empty starbucks cups in her car, sleeping in her skimpy dress & makeup after her college party kind of girl and it works for her and we love it. she’s american yada yada

annie i see being german, russian, roman, maybe estonian, maybe slovakian? just that kind of mix, lots of european countries, and i had to add in rome because the “hook” nose she has is known to i think originate from rome!

pieck is greek!!! why would i pass up an opportunity to give her the beautiful people of greece. she’s just so pretty and it’s too fitting. i can see her having albanian blood too, even croatian.

yelena def has russian in her, probably slavic too, numerous european countries as well, but i see her being russian because of her name.

[wickedghastly]

Where can I find info on princess nokia blackfishing? I thought she was Afro latina, im not saying she isn't blackfishing I just want to find more info on it

I have no idea how long ago you sent this but:

Literally if you just look at images of her you can physically see her morphing herself over the years into looking Black.

I had to research/come to the conclusions and look for this all myself. Some keywords that might help is that she used to go by themermaidgirl and wavyspice with the word tumblr on google (those were the names she went by before she switched to princess nokia.)

On her Blackfishing:

I basically found out through google after seeing what she looked like in her infamous “so juicy so fertile” Vogue video that she Blackfishes because I noticed she obviously uses tanner (Face lighter than body with different tones). I started googling her old pictures and social media names and...yeah here we are.

She deadass darkens her skin artificially, wears fake Afro wigs, and gets lip injections to make herself look Black, and is lying about being AfroPuerto Rican, she’s been lying about being Indigenous as well.

How you go from this: 

To this: 

Her own ex-friends have said she’s not Black and called her out for it. Actual Taino Indigenous people have repeatedly called her out for lying about being Taino.

If you look at pictures shes posted of her family literally none of them are Black. They’re more than likely white or majority white/mestize. None of them in Puerto Rico would be considered Black. None of them. Like my mother’s family is literally all very much white Puertoricans who come from white European colonialists in PR, and that side of my family look JUST LIKE the people in these pictures. She’s not ambigious mixed Black, she’s straight up Blackfishing and pretending to be Black.

She is literally mestiza/white Latina cosplaying Afro-Indigenous Latinidad. Like straight up fucking cosplaying being mixed and cosplaying being spiritual/in Afroreligions. 

Like who tf sits there for instagram smoking cigars with a golden headwrap showing the viewers a Yemaya oracle card like she’s really doing something except for people who are using ATRs and shit for social media clout liiikkeeee.......She can smoke all the cigars she wants, that’s not gonna make her AfroPuertorican or Afrotaino for shit. It’s fucking embarassing.

I swear the reason she’s always going on about being mixed Afro-Indigenous is because in Latino culture, including PR culture, there’s this incorrect idea that we’re all European/African/Indigenous, therefore any Latino can claim Afrolatinidad. Obviously that’s not true. But I’ve even heard this stupid shit in progressive/activist circles. 

And with ATR/ADRs and Brujeria becoming more visible and popular in recent years, why wouldn’t she jump on it to capitalize off the craze, considering that’s what made her popular? So I deadass wouldn’t be surprised if this is why she tries saying she’s Black when clearly neither she nor either sides of her family are any sort of Black Puertorican. But she’s been called out for this shit so many times, nobody can say she’s just ignorant, at this point she’s been telling people straight up lies.  

She wears Afro styled wigs and then lies about it being her real hair. And people have apparently called her out before but she was adamant that its her real hair. You can tell that its not her real hair, and that her actual texture is wavy, not curly.

Those are all wigs. All 3 of them in the images. You can literally tell they’re wigs. Esp in the middle/second pic, look at those roots. You can see the braids underneath and how the curls aren’t actually connecting to her scalp. Bc those are fucking wigs. Even in the bruja video, she was wearing a fucking wig.

Why do you think she goes from a light tan, to a much darker warm almost orange shade, to a neutral medium shade, back to a super dark but more olive/green toned shade? Because that’s not what her actual color is. 

Have you noticed how in a lot of photos of her, her skin is sort of patchy with random spots, or her face is super pale without makeup compared to a much darker body, her body most times being a much darker color than her hands? Why sometimes her nails look dirty?

It’s literally because she uses artificial tanners/spray tan on her skin. She’s always a different shade because it goes between being fresh and faded or she switches up the brands/colors/products she’s using.

Like look at her fucking hand compared to her face (and check out the injections) like wow:

She gets mad fucking CCs of injections into her lips to make them look fuller than they actually are. And she’s been getting it done for ages. In recent moments she’s been doing.......alot.

She’s 100% A Blackfisher like it’s fucking crazy because I didnt know that wasnt what she naturally looked like. honest to god this had me so fucked up and I’m still so fucking mad over this. I had heard people repeatedly saying she wasn’t Black and figured it out through just searching up on google. She’s absolutely fucking wild for profitting off of the idea that she’s AfropuertoRican and acting like shes supposed to be some sort of representation for us when she’s been fucking lyinggggg. Faux-spiritual and faux-Black as fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucckkk and making money off of it.

I even saw that she apparently tried to argue with a visibly Black woman who was calling her out, that the Black woman’s skin looked fake and orange and was probably a tan on twitter. Like. GIRL GET AWAY FROM THE MIRROR BECAUSE....

She’s fucking WILD.