#conjure women

[my-reading-list]

Books 2024: July-December

Giant Days 10, 11, 12, 13, & 14

With these, I’ve finished the series. Gonna miss those characters.

The Fault in our Stars, by John Green

Read this in basically one sitting.

Lost Tales, a collection of short stories compiled by Marx Pyle (Cabbit Crossing Publishing) and others.

I’ve backed all of the Kickstarters from this group. The latest collection is in 2 parts and arrived recently. I plan on savoring them by keeping at least one in my car to read while waiting for carry-out or doctor appointments.

Conjure Women, by Afia Atakora

Story jumps back and forth through time on a plantation in the US South before and after the Civil War. About a mother and daughter who were healers, and the community they sought to protect. Loved this one!

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee.

So much knowledge! A collection of the many ways Black Americans have been targeted by the government and capitalist’s machinations to the detriment of us all. Totally worth the read.

Transit, by Rachel Cusk.

Honestly, this wasn’t a favorite. Not realizing it was the second book in a trilogy probably didn’t help either. Not sure I’m interested enough to ever read the others in the series.

[happilylostinwords]

Civil War fiction, from an enslaved woman's perspective

Conjure Women ⭐⭐⭐⭐ author: Afia Atakora awards: James Fenimore Cooper Prize (2021) & RUSA CODES Reading List for Historical Fiction (2021) publication: April 7, 2020 by Random House genres: historical fiction / fantasy / magical realism / adult / literary fiction / African American content warnings: rape / abuse (physical & psychological of adults & children both male & female) / racial…

[semper-legens]

126. Conjure Women, by Afia Aakora

Owned: No, library Page count: 395 My summary: The baby is a bad omen. His skin is pale and his eyes are pure black. Rue knows he is a curse, but what can she do about it? The former slaves are free. The Big House is no more. The white masters are all dead. But emancipation does not mean there are no more problems. Secrets are built on secrets, lies on lies, spells on spells - and when it all starts to come unravelled, the ghosts of the past come knocking at the door. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

This was an interesting book. I just picked it off the shelf because it looked as though it could be worthwhile - I really like stories about folk magic and folk healers - and it turned out to be a thought-provoking read about the legacy of slavery and the nature of race in the United States. While I wouldn't go so far as to describe a book filled with atrocities against black people as 'enjoyable', per se, it was interesting and engaging and certainly told its story well.

(Warnings for slavery, anti-black racism, and systemic abuse under the cut.)

Our protagonist is Rue, a titular Conjure Woman and folk healer in a black American community just after Emancipation. She is something of an outcast, not quite having the same level of respect that her mother once did in the community, but is completely dedicated to them and wants them to both live and thrive, as they could not under slavery. The book is told with narration in the present day and extended flashbacks to the past when the characters were enslaved, slowly revealing pieces of a larger picture until the reader understands the context behind everything that is happening. Rue is a woman on the edge of desperation. She is doing all that she can to keep her town alive, but faces the constant threat of white soldiers from without, and from the tension within. The people never really trust her, not fully and completely. And they're never really demonised for that - the reasons they don't trust Rue are understandable, and she's far from a saint, which makes the push and pull between her and the town far much more engaging.

Magic plays a huge part in the story - magic and Christianity. Oftentimes Rue, a folk healer and traditional herbalist, is contrasted with Bruh Abel, a Christian preacher who is slowly converting the town to a more devout Christianity. Rue notes that in the slavery times, they had been trooped up to the church and forced to participate in the service, but Bruh Abel's brand of Christianity is from a black men, for black people. Rue's healing, on the other hand, is slowly being seen as demonic or evil, despite the fact that she has a lot of success, and that the people still go to her for charms and curses. Sometimes she'll make them, sometimes she'll give more of a placebo or practical cure. Interestingly, as with the conflict between Rue and the town, neither side is really treated as being 'right'. Bruh Abel offers one thing, Rue offers another. We are led to be mistrustful of Bruh Abel, but that's largely due to Rue being our point of view character - she mistrusts him, so we do too. It's an examination, really, of the distinctions between folk beliefs and practices from Africa, handed down through family lines, and newer Christian faith, originally forced onto the enslaved people by their enslavers, but later genuinely believed and practiced in their communities, for their communities. It's a dichotomy that persists to this day, and the book shows the beginnings of it.

And, of course, there's the subject of race. A lot is made of skin colour in this narrative. Rue is quite dark, her friend Sarah is quite light and is probably the illegitimate daughter of the plantation owner, and Sarah's child is so pale as to be basically white, but with pure black eyes. The kid (Bean) is seen as being a curse, and that curse is tied to Rue. Mostly because of those eyes. It's interesting that the light skin is not really commented on so much, but the dark eyes are, especially when other characters are mentioned as having 'deep brown African eyes' and the like. Colourism plays a huge part in the story, with constant emphasis on characters' skin colours and the role that plays in their lives. At the end, Bean ends up leaving for the North alongside a white woman, completely passing for white - Bruh Abel is very light-skinned, which helps people trust him, while other enslaved/ex-slave characters are dark, and aren't given respect as human beings because of it. It's a constant part of the checks and balances the characters place on their world, and the portrayal is interesting for how it's woven into the narrative in a sensitive and subtle way while still being plainly apparent. The knife-edge the black characters live on is obvious, and the fact that even after emancipation they're all still far from safe really brings home the reality of being black in 1800s America.

Next up, World War Two, and a glint of hope in the midst of a concentration camp.

[sir-illmatic]

[jareckiworld]

Vanessa Smith — Conjuration (oil and acrylic on canvas, 2024)

[propheticeve]

If someone claims to practice Hoodoo but says they don't pray, then they are not truly practicing Hoodoo. Don't let the trend followers on social media make you believe that prayer is bad. Praying as a beggar is bad because it spiritually opens a portal, and begging is a form of low vibrational energy. This low vibrational energy allows spiritual leeches and parasites to attack you, leading to spiritually transmitted demons, psychic attacks, mental episodes, and freak accidents. However, with proper prayer and an understanding of how your words can access different realms, you are truly practicing Hoodoo correctly.

[poeticsapphicism]

if barbie belonged to GLORIA and she lived in a DREAMHOUSE does that make barbie gloria’s DREAM GIRL ??

[in3fin]

guh.,..,

[morrithal]

I can watch all things through hot women who strengthen me

[iamwinklebottom]

For the last several months the yoni space has been a more highlighted area of focus within myself and my clients. I always push the importance of genital wellness, but lately I’ve had to push it more.

My ceremony was private today, but I will share this art and these divine messages.

It’s mentioned here and there by others that we should take better care of our womb space. It’s great that we are paying attention to it more and more when it comes to sexual partners and self love, but y’all… what else is knotted up in there: bad gossip, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, evil eye, etc?

Literally, most of my current clients are being assisted with toxic generational patterns, PTSD, and even black magick being trapped in the womb.

Herbs, magick, discipline, and devotion continue to help me, heal me, and keep my womb safe. It’s an honor to be able to help many of you keep your yoni spaces happy, healthy, powerful, and protected. Get to know your womb and listen to what your womb needs!

[sir-illmatic]

[lovelydwyn]

When I was in my twenties I sat down with a journal and wrote a letter to spirit about who I wanted to love through a list of physical, vocational, and personality attributes and characteristics, similar to little Sally in Practical Magic, though I had not yet seen the movie at the time. The universe delivered exactly what I asked for with terrifying accuracy. As the years pass by, that accuracy reveals itself to me more and more.

The first mistake I made was that I did not specify that I wanted the person I would come to love..to love me back. I sometimes wonder how things would have turned out had I written that down. The second mistake I made was that I referenced a fictional character and said I hoped he’d be “like” him. Naively, I did not specify that I wanted nothing to do with the horribly cruel attributes that archetype possessed and only sought the good. The cruelty inflicted on me broke me to my core, made me suicidal, cost me tens of thousands of dollars, humiliated me, silenced me, kept me hidden, caused me to endure the loss of a child, the loss of friends, the loss of two jobs, damaged my relationship with my daughter, and extinguished my spirit. What I manifested impacted not just myself, but the lives of every person that has ever loved me, some who simply just knew me, and even some who never crossed my path.

In another dimension, my higher self and a team of spiritual elders have orchestrated all of this for my higher good. They heard (or rather read) my call. Karmic justice is always being served. I know that despite my suffering, I have always been divinely protected. I learned how to speak and interpret the language and symbolism of spirit, to become a shape-shifter, to rebuild from nothing, to transmute my pain into prosperity, the meaning and feeling of unconditionally loving someone, how to conjure multi-dimensional beings, that we all have the spirit of the phoenix laying dormant within us and the power to awaken it whenever we choose, and perhaps most importantly, to be careful what I wish for.

[propheticeve]

[doctorforks]

you forgot…..that you made an entire au…..that received fanart and everything………

it felt like a fever dream but I got to experience the joy all over again

[vampvice]

Women in Horror I Love #3! This time I am interviewing my friends about horror movies!

[pretend-erin]

18/31 women in horror - Valak