#jessyka winston

[rockofeye]

Calling Out and Calling In: Jessyka Winston and Haus of Hoodoo

It’s not uncommon for me to receive asks or messages asking me to verify that a particular priest or a particular sosyete is valid/authentic/traditional/etc. By and large, I don’t answer these because it’s not appropriate in that there is no reason for me to comment on a particular person or sosyete. That’s not how you make friends, maintain a religious community, or serve the spirits.

And, there is the truth that, in Haiti and on the island in general, there is variety in practice. I talk a lot about regleman, which is the appropriate order for things, and I talk a lot about what happens when folks just want to grab what they thinks looks cool or spooky for their own purposes (no, Papa Legba is not a cocaine-sniffing demon, no, Ezili Freda does not want to be saluted with twerking). Discernment is a thing, and well-trained priests have it; folks can sniff out fraud versus ‘huh, we don’t do it like that but it makes a lot of sense that other people do it this way’.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of fraud and fraudulent folks who use the trappings of the religion to make a lot of cash. It happens a lot. A LOT. It happens in Haiti and it happens outside of Haiti. The birth of social media has given folks, legitimate and not, a place to showcase what they do and connect with people whom are seeking the spirits or, conversely, whom the spirits are seeking. It was that for me; I reconnected with an old friend on Facebook after at least 5 years of no contact and, through a series of Very Fortunate Events, found my way to my spiritual mother’s door from there.

Social media has given a platform for fraudulent people to really dig their heels in. Instagram (the platform I love to hate) is particularly awful with this. Folks who have not had exposure or training in the religion see beautiful photos and assume that what they are seeing is true and authentic because it looks like it must be, or someone is a very talented writer and uses generic photos along with compelling, persuasive text. This is not the fault of the folks looking—how can they know?--but the fault squarely of the people trying to trade the sacred for power, adoration, and, often most importantly, cold hard cash.

This reality often brings up a very difficult conversation to have that contains a lot of hard truths: the face of fraud in Haitian Vodou is not always white and birthright (or the presumption of birthright) can be abused.

These two things bring us to the topic at hand: Haus of Hoodoo and the person behind it, Jessyka Winston.

Haus of Hoodoo is a small business that began online selling fixed candles and posting lovely photos. Within the last 6 months or so, a retail location opened in New Orleans. It’s a cute shop (I like all the plants), and she portrays it as doing well.

Where things have gone from cringe-y to whose-child-is-this to ‘you have got to be fucking kidding me’ complete with the sort of strangled laugh that doesn’t come from something funny is around Haitian Vodou.

Let me be really clear: I have been watching this for a good long while, and I didn’t want to say anything for the reasons outlined above and because, quite bluntly, I know this is going to bring a whole lot of unpleasantness to my doorstep. Jessyka likes to flex, and how she flexes is making statements that she feels are intimidating/fear-inspiring, going in on character assassination, and, frankly, talking a whole lot of shit. She threatens sending spirits after someone, with the stated intent that a person will die or be made food, and she spins into this cyclone of nonsense that she thinks leaves her looking authentic and traditional. It doesn’t, and I don’t attach weight to those sorts of things or get scared of them. But, I have known that’s what is in store as soon as this is published and I had to kind of have a talk with myself to make sure I have really been willing to take that on. At this point, I am willing because what has been said is so incredibly untrue and, in some cases, downright harmful or unethical. There are times to be quiet, and there are times to speak. This one of those times to speak.

After the cut, I’m going to lay things out the best I can with the receipts I’ve got and the knowledge I have been blessed to gain. It’s going to be image-heavy and with a lot of text, and there’s a LOT of it.

But, before we get there, it’s important to acknowledge some things upfront:

Haus of Hoodoo/Jessyka Winston is alone in what she is saying. She is not gaining support from anyone and no one is standing up to agree with her. She has been a topic in the Haitian Vodou community for at least a year, and no one has said much of anything to her because, sadly, no one seems to be invested in her.  I really do think this is sad. Haitian Vodou is familial in nature, even across sosyetes and lineages. Folks disagree with each other and argue, but they still come back and call each other sister and brother. She has said she is a part of no community and eschews what community means, but I can’t imagine what it must be like to not have anyone who will either support you because what you are saying is true for your corner, or anyone who cares enough to say ‘hey, I know you mean well but you’re really off-base here. Maybe you should walk it back’. I think this is why she has turned so poisonous. I know I have benefited greatly from a spiritual parent and siblings who have helped me right my course and/or given me a kick in the butt. Not having that is a huge loss and a huge spiritual hole.

I also do not think Jessyka is without redemption. She can change what she is doing and change the current course she has set for herself. While the things she has said will never go away, she can take responsibility for the inaccuracies she is spreading, the outright disrespect she is showing to Haitians and the people who made it possible for her to even have contact with the religion, and the harm she is inflicting. With the lwa, there is always a chance to do things differently. The function of community, in this moment, is to call out the hurt and harm she is spreading, and to call her in so that she may come back to center and work on repairing not only what she has perpetuated but work repairing herself as well.

(Quick note, some of the image formatting is weird and some images are darker than others. If you are having trouble reading something, let me know. I regret that I cannot caption each one. Additionally, I have removed the actual photos from the images for time and bandwidth)

With those things in mind, let’s take a look at what has been going on:

To timeline things for context, Jessyka initiated in Afa vodoun and Mami Wata practices in Ghana in early 2017. After her return to the US, she began talking about Haitian Vodou and began attending ceremony in New Orleans with a New Orleans spiritual community and a Haitian Vodou sosyete with their US temple in NO. At some point in here, she did a lave tet under the lineage head of the sosyete, and then followed that with kanzo in Haiti, where she was made a manbo asogwe. This is really fast and potentially really ill-advised. When you initiate somewhere, your head needs time to settle down and you need to get to know your spirits. When you spin through it and don’t give your head a chance to settle, things get messy—you are unbalanced, your head is unbalanced, and your spirits are unbalanced. A wise person once told me it takes 5 years to be proficient enough in something to have a basic understanding, and this rings true spiritually.  

This is where things get sticky. Not too long after her kanzo (about 2-3 months, maybe a little more), she left the house she was made in, stating that she was taken advantage of. At this point, she had left her long-term partner, gotten involved with a Haitian man, and returned to Haiti to have other ceremonies done, somewhere near the end of 2018. I have receipts for these things but, for brevity and bandwidth, I’m not going to insert them all. If you want to see them, hit me up.

This is sticky for two reasons:

She wiped her Instagram of all visual cues attaching her to this house. She had written a LOT about them and a lot about the relationship she had with her initiatory mother, but she chose to try and re-write her history after she left. This is not how kanzo works and, in reality, not how the internet works. I saw a lot of what she had written myself.

Allegations of fraud in the way that she insists happened are hard to address because they often involve matters of secrecy that only another priest can recognize. I can’t say for absolute certainty what happened in the djevo/initiatory chamber she went into, as I wasn’t there. That’s not shade, it really just means what it says: I can’t pass judgment because I didn’t go inside that djevo. I would expect that sosyete to say the same of me in that they were not in the djevo that I went into and cannot judge the absolute correctness of what happened there. Priests are pretty solid on not extending opinions of things that have not verified with their own eyes.

What I can say is that Jessyka has posted things that are very true about kanzo (initiation in an asson lineage), and many, many things that are false. The largest problem with this outside of potentially betraying oaths of secrecy that I know she took is that she doesn’t seem to know the difference between what is true and what is manufactured, either by misinformation she has received or by her own lack of experience, as she has never stood inside a djevo on the other side of kanzo. She never went back to see how it was done, and she didn’t stay long enough to be taught.

I saw her post something once that she should know better than to post, and I addressed it as my one-and-done (or what I thought was one-and-done) shot at saying something, priest to priest, in the hopes that they would right their wrongs:

@anbadlo is my Instagram account that I use to post spiritual work and art, however infrequently, and I’ve mentioned it here before. It has the name I am commonly known by on the internet, which is pretty easy to link up to this blog and to my other online presences attached to Vodou. I wrote fairly quickly in my response below hers because I knew I was on borrowed time, as she blocks anyone who disagrees with her or that she perceives to harm her business (which is her prerogative, of course).

What I didn’t get a chance to screenshot before she blocked me was her further response saying that she would humiliate me with what I didn’t know about Haitian Vodou and that I should try going to Haiti before saying anything to her or anybody else. This was sort of eyebrow raising not because it upset me but because a) there is nothing humiliating or shameful about not knowing something and I am pretty open that I am always learning, and b) she spoke without giving a thought to who might be speaking to her. If someone was to pull me up online for posting something inappropriate or inaccurate, I’d at least click on their name to see who they were before asserting that I was an authority who could humiliate them. I also did not and do not understand why someone who claims to be a spiritual leader or authority would want to humiliate someone. Folks can be corrected without character assassination or purposeful embarrassment.

Far more interesting than those things, though, is that she denies she was made asogwe which is untrue based on her own words:

She’s since deleted this post, but it was a post that quite a few priests saw and saved. To be honest, I sort of chuckled about this because what is written here is not true about being a houngan or manbo asogwe but it digs at something more serious: her attitude and orientation of being more authentic-than-thou and being what she perceives as the most traditional of the traditionalists. Like, I come from a traditional Haitian lineage that is known for doing things traditionally, and all of this is above and beyond. I talk frequently about how Haitian Vodou is a practical religion, and it’s not practical to go bother the lwa if you want to have sex, shave your legs, or stay out late. There are situations where some of the things she has said might be true for a very short period of time, but no one does this nor is it traditional. Haitians are not going to their tables every time they want to get their hair done.

It is possible that she had some deep misunderstandings about what she was taught, it is possible she made it all up, or, perhaps most likely, it is possible that she offered all these things up to her lwa and they took them. Spirits can be opportunists and they love attention. If you commit to giving them a chicken every week, they will expect a chicken from you every week and are going to be displeased when you don’t deliver. If you offer things up, they are going to hold that as their standard. This is why discernment is important, as is maintaining ongoing relationships with a teacher and (IMPORTANT) asking before you make an offer when you are new to a religion and a religious office (priest).

It is also equally important to note that when you kanzo and come out a houngan or manbo asogwe, that’s an indelible mark that cannot be erased. You can point middle fingers at people and walk away, but that doesn’t change what was put on you. Other work and other ceremonies can be done (however ill-advised), but it can never erase what you willingly consented to and had placed on your head. Her desire to separate herself from this and her asson lineage of kanzo doesn’t mean it is erased, no matter how much you want to re-invent yourself.

But, this was kind of a fore-runner and warning sign of what was to come in terms of more-authentic-than-thou and, bluntly, honesty. In retrospect, if someone had sort of nudged her and said ‘hey, you don’t have to be doing the most of the most to be a good manbo’ maybe we wouldn’t be where we are. On the other hand, people have to take their own roads and it is not the place of any priest to really step in when there is no harm done to others. Like, if you want to tie yourself up that tightly, it is certainly within your rights to do so.

More recently, what she has posted has taken a turn for the truly bizarre. Her Instagram is a sort of echo chamber—some vodouizan read and largely do not interact, and a whole lot of people follow her who don’t have other exposure to the religion but, as before, she is standing alone. She says things and presents images that fit a narrative she creates, and it hits a nerve with folks seeking spiritual meaning or it fits an internal narrative they have, even if it is not a narrative reflected currently or historically. This is not a slam to folks who follow her or who have followed her and thought she was reflecting the Real Vodou she says she is, as we are all human and all searching for where our heart and heads feel at home, and sometimes that search has a pit stop or side quest.

She really got going with what amounts to flexing: she presents herself as powerful and untouchable, and makes statements that people she perceives as standing against her or attacking her will be harmed or killed:

At first glance, these things are laughable, literally. It is perhaps not my proudest, most enlightened moment as a person or an houngan, but I saw this litany of fear and I just chuckled because...c’mon. COME ON. This tells a really transparent story: someone got to her or she presumes someone got to her, and she’s Bothered. So, she posts these things about how spirits are going to eat people, she’s going burn things down, people are going to suffer, etc etc etc. This is a traditional internet spiritual song; I Have Been Wronged, Let Me Put On My Robe And Wizard Hat.

In Haitian Vodou, when these moments play out publicly, it is a moment when face is lost. Haitian culture and, as follows, the religion very much has an element of ‘don’t let them see you sweat’. Like, broadcasting that work was thrown at you means they win because acknowledgment is the loss. Haitians can be super stoic when things go sideways, and they don’t tell anyone that will listen (or the internet) that they are suffering. People want reactions, so you don’t give it to them. In some ways, this is where the chuckle comes from. In Haiti, it’s the aunties cackling.

Instead, you do your work. Do. Your. Work. You go to your spirits, you do your thing, and you get on with it because when you have the juice/power to do your work and take care of your business, you don’t have to tell people that you have it. The priests and workers who are the most intimidating and who can back it up are the ones who say nothing about what they can do—they just do it and wait for the conclusion.

And, like, after a chuckle, I have compassion for those moments of outburst because I’ve been there. When you feel you’ve been hit by work or are faced by things that feel like they threaten your livelihood, it can be hard to know what to do with that as new/young priest. These are things we unpack with our initiatory parent and our siblings who have been in the same spot. This is what the family and communal function of Vodou is for.

All chuckles aside, there are things to unpack here.

Intimidation is really about control. Statements (and actions, like she is talking about here) are made not to communicate a truth, really, but to bring about a desired outcome. Like, not having people publicly question the veracity of a statement or to create an environment where, if a person steps out of the perceived line, they are the target of the same vitriolic statements and actions.

There is also the perceive importance of the statements; that the spirits supposedly showed up in a dream and named names, that people will die, bloody imagery, that she has no control over things now. For vodouizan, this is kind of front-street pedestrian stuff. Dreams happen, sometimes they are violent, we keep it moving.

But, this takes what is meant for one person and tries to use it as a bludgeon to illustrate what Jessyka wants to be taken as fact: that she is something powerful to be feared. Beyond that fear is situational only, fear does not translate to respect. When you try to assert power by fear and intimidation, you only hold people by how violent you can appear. In Vodou, that might work for a minute, but it eventually backfires.

And, this sort of atmosphere is only maintained as for as long as those who are watching are not aware that this is fear, not necessarily substance. The folks who are wowed by threats of spiritual violence are the folks who have not yet seen Haitian Vodou is practice. The illusion falls when the cracks show and when seekers see anything else. In some ways, what has been presented is another version of the emperor has no clothes.

These kind of things—the threats, the descriptions of violence—play into a Western-dominated narrative of Haitian Vodou as uncivilized and dangerous. I showed some of these posts to my roommate, who is very much not a practitioner of anything spiritual, and their remark was ‘...and this is why people are scared of Vodou’. They are right. When we start playing up this idea of warring, bloody violence as what Vodou—and Jessyka claims she has ‘real Vodou’--we perpetuate the idea that Vodou is something to be feared, that Haitians are people are somehow inherently violent, and that Haiti is an uncivilized, backwards country. This is the dogwhistle of white supremacy, and has been since the first “zombie” movie was released in 1932.

And yet, there are more serious consequences to sort of gleefully portraying Vodou as something that always punishes and never embraces. For decades, Protestant missionaries have hammered on Haiti as a godless, devil-wracked nation, and used isolated images of animal sacrifice as a bludgeon to withhold aid or set requirements of conversion or church attendance on receiving aid. Those isolated images combined with a Western narrative that amounts to ‘yeah, I’m going to send my spirits at you’ gives that sector more ammunition than they could ever need. It may not hurt Jessyka or me directly, but it hurts Haitians living in Haiti who suffer the consequences.

The thread that gets tugged when even the slightest criticism of this comes up is that what Jessyka has is “real vodou”. She’s said it a few times, in a few different ways:

These are curious statements in a couple ways. From the top, anyone who tells you they have the absolute truth and are here to wake you up or that they have the real deal (versus the “fast food”) is looking for some kind of buy-in, whether it is someone falling into the same thought patterns or a financial buy-in. These are loops to get folks who may not have had access to information before on the hook. Everyone wants the truth, right?

This is manipulative and an attempt to control—if you’re getting the truth here, why are you listening to these con artists who are only out for your money? I’m giving you the TRUTH. The Bonewits Evaluation Frame for cults and new religious movements is useful here. It’s aimed at neo-pagans, but the criteria is universal.

It also perpetuates that everything in Haitian Vodou is secretive and mysterious. It’s really not. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine because it perpetuates this otherness that doesn’t need to be there. The religion has moments of secrecy and seclusion, but it’s really not as much as people would like others to believe. Here, the idea that she has the truth is communicated with videos of things that she seems to think no one will have information about or have seen before, or with commentary that creates this aura of exceptionalism. It’s simply not true.

This is a video of a chèche fèy ceremony; where leaves are gathered for initiation ceremonies or other large spiritual work. Often Gran Bwa comes down and selects the leaves himself, for some folks Simbi might come down and do this work. In the video, you can see several of the folks bearing leaves on their heads are possessed or close to possessed, and they are wearing the country-style outfits that are worn for particular types of work.

This is a pile fèy ceremony, where, as she says, leaves are being crushed for spiritual work, under the gaze of Gran Bwa. In many asson lineages, the act of crushing the leaves is part of a larger ceremony ahead of initiation, stretching for three nights to make sure all the work is finished for the new would-be initiates.

This is a video of a spiritual feeding for Danti, or Danti Bitasyon, Danti Demanbwe, and other names, who is sort of the conglomeration of ancestral spirits issuing forth from a particular plot of land. Generally, Danti possesses people who are blood relatives of the lineage celebrating the feeding. The caption is interesting because it’s an interesting read on what is happening as this is OUR spirit blessing us. Like, it is certainly possible but it’s curious. When you go to ceremonies regularly, you see spirits behave like this a lot (leaning on folks or falling into them while dancing and then dancing around the room/space) and, truly and honestly, what it boils down to is that the spirit is not yet seated fully and is sort of getting adjusted to it’s meat suit or you are simply in the way. Here, Danti is waiting for the sacrifice, which is happening or being prepared just out of view on the right in the corner, and is dancing while they wait.

The idea that it is a spirit that belongs to Jessyka and her husband is...interesting. When people talk about their spirits coming to get something or coming down, it often refers to the spirit mounting their head, ie ‘my Ogou came down at the fete last night and took his bull’. I certainly have face recognition with spirits who take the heads of others, but my spirits come in my head.

It’s also worth checking in on what Jessyka is referring to as the truth.

In Haiti, there are two main lineages of what folks call sèvis Ginen or sèvis lwa; also known as Haitian Vodou. One utilizes the asson/ason and is often called the asson lineage or some variant, and one utilizes the tcha-tcha, and is often called the tcha-tcha lineage or Deka Vodou. Additionally, there are numerable family practices specific to nuclear families that are passed to family members only.

After that, there are things that folks often refer to as secret societies, which is a weird term..they aren’t secret on the island at all. They have many names—Bizango, Chanpwel/Sanpwel, Makandal, Makaya, Zobop, etc—and a good way to describe them is Ginen-adjacent or Vodou-adjacent practices. They operate differently than most/many ason lineages or tcha-tcha lineages, and subscribe to different methods/means of building relationships with spirits and different ways of bringing people together. There are often specific color combinations and symbols (black/red, red/green, sometimes red/yellow, black/blue, coffins, etc) and an understood hierarchy explained with government-related terms like emperor, prezidan/president, renn(queen)/rwa(king). There’s often talk about being given a throne (Googling Bizango throne will show beautiful examples) and being in command and similar. A lot of people have a lot of feelings about these things, but it’s really just another way to do things. Lots of folks who have the asson also will have Vodou-adjacent practices as well; it’s pretty common and fits well together, not unlike folks who have Lucumi and Palo, or Candomble and Umbanda.

Why go into all this here? Jessyka codes and displays things a particular way that describes a Sanpwel-influenced practice, whether she knows it or not. Sanpwel is often very rooted in more rural areas and might combine with a family practice or exist alongside one. The temple complex in her videos is painted red and black, some of the dwapo displayed are styled like many dwapo in Vodou-adjacent practices are, and a lot of her language around being part of a manbo-houngan pair or the ‘chiefs’ who over see a ‘bitasion’ (bitasyon in Kreyòl Ayisyen) reflects this. None of this is a bad thing, but the idea that it is the true Vodou or the real Vodou on the island stems from folks like E.A. Koetting (of Become A Living God infamy) who got wow-ed by skulls with mirror eyes and manufactured the idea of more-authentic-than-thou. There’s no need to go all cloak and dagger about what you do, unless the cloak and dagger serves your agenda.

This sort of coding shows up when she talks about her ‘bitasion’/bitasyon. She has posted extensively about what a ‘bitasion’ is in the last few weeks, and she seems to have some confusion about it and is mixing it with other concepts from Haitian Vodou. A bitasyon is literally the physical seat of your home; your lakou/yard where you were born or where your parents had their home or where your family has lived over time. There are certainly spirits tied to place there—a family may have a Simbi who really likes one particular basin, or Freda may show a great preference for a particular tree—but how she is talking about it is curious:

There’s a lot here that is weird, but there’s a few things to pull out specifically. She describes her ‘bitasion’ as the land she and her husband have inherited, the specific land from where her lwa spring, and the land that her family has lived and died on for generations.

So...if she says that she and her husband have this ‘bitasion’ together, she is communicating that her family and her husband’s family are related and/or the same. This would be a huge oddity in Haiti. Even relationships between initiatory siblings can be frowned upon, nevermind actual blood relations. Further, she is saying that her family has lived on this plot of land for decades, so they’d be REALLLY related. Like, brother-sister related. I can’t imagine that, if true, this would be something she would talk so much about on the internet. I assume she has misspoken or misunderstood.

It could be that she thinks you inherit a ‘bitasion’ when you marry a Haitian, as she had, but she has an odd idea about it. Like, if that’s where she is thinking on it, she’s close. When you marry a Haitian, you become acquainted with their bitasyon. Like, your spouse brings you around and you greet the land and the spirits there and are welcomed as their spouse, but you are not greeted as a blood family member would be. Marriage doesn’t change things like that. Like, folks joke rather crudely that I am Haitian-by-injection (since I am married to a Haitian man) and I am acquainted and welcomed by his family, living and dead, and can go visit his various bitasyon as his spouse. If he was in some sort of trouble, I could go to one of his bitasyon on his behalf and ask for their help...but none of that makes those my bitasyon.

She uses this idea of ‘bitasion’ to batter people, saying over and over that you must have a ‘bitasion’ in Haiti to be able to initiate into her idea of true Vodou:

She repeats this all over the place over and over. She hammers on it.

There’s a lot to unpack here. A LOT.

She out and out says that Haitians born in the Diaspora are not real Haitians and cannot be called a priest in the tradition. Not only is this deeply inaccurate, it’s jaw-droppingly disrespectful and displays a lack of understanding of Haitian Vodou. A Haitian child born in the Diaspora (outside of the country) has a bitasyon. Several, in fact, and more if they have two Haitian parents. If I have a child with my Haitian husband, they will have several bitasyon in Haiti.

The same goes for Haitians who were adopted out of the country, who were orphaned, and/or Haitians who don’t know where their bitasyon are. These realities are deep wounds in Haiti and for many Haitians, and who goes around deciding, essentially, who is and is not Haitian? Like, this isn’t even addressing the spiritual fucked-upness of those statements, but purely from a human standpoint. No one gets to decide who can access their Haitian lineage or call on their birthright. It’s not just insensitive, it’s rude.

This pulls up what actually made me upset when I read a lot of these posts: the temerity of a non-Haitian to make pronouncements about Haitians and dictate what Haitians can do. Like, a legit priest is a legit priest and has the authority to speak on the religion, but the caveat—PARTICULARLY for non-Haitian priests—is that you speak with grace and a bit of elegance, especially around issues of identity when it comes to the identity of the people who allowed you into the religion.

There was a particular example that tapped into some anger and was the straw on the houngan’s back that made me decide to write this entire post. Unsurprisingly, it comes from a post about ‘bitasion’:

I missed it on my first read because there’s just so much to read, but when I saw it I had to put my phone down for a bit and go do something else. Out of all the stuff that’s here so far (and all the stuff to come), this is truly what made this post a reality.

How do you show up and do this in a country where the average weekly income WAS (because ain’t nobody really working right now when it is essentially civil war) less than $4USD a week for Haitians living in urban areas? Are you really going to put poor rural folks through the indignity of having to ask to cut some firewood? This is a brand new version of an outsider trying to show they are a gwo blan via power and control. These days, people in Haiti are used to it because it comes via missionaries and NGOs and the voluntourism of folks who show up to take pictures with orphans and hand out candy.

There used to be a different word for an outsider who punished folks working the land to survive: overseer. 

This is the re-institution of colonial systems, and it’s pretty ugly, particularly coming from someone who is not Haitian. You can certainly be the sort of priest who wants to punish rural folks for cutting some firewood and then brag about it, but should you be? Really?

But, the biggest issue about her saying that you must have a ‘bitasion’ in Haiti is that she seems confused about where her ‘bitasion’ actually is. First she was born in Cuba:

Then she was born in the DR with lots of family memories and history from there:

To be completely blunt, I have a hard time swallowing someone else’s requirements about a Haitian bitasyon when they do not have a consistent story about their own bitasyon.

Next to the thread of what Jessyka believes is true vodou is this thread of confusion. It’s visible when she talks about her ‘bitasion’, her background, and it leaks out in a lot of other places:

There’s so much here that it is basically word salad:

There is no religion in Haiti (or on the island) called Asogwe. Asogwe is a rank of initiation in the asson lineage

Any temple that only has one manbo or one houngan is not a thriving temple. The idea that a temple will only make one houngan and one manbo per generation is hilariously uninformed. Go into any temple in any part of Haiti, and you will find a wealth of houngans and manbos spanning generations because the ceremony doesn’t go without many hands made to do the work.

Yes, initiation costs money. I paid $8,500 plus airfare for mine, and, after going through it and going back to work the ceremonies each year since, I think my mother should charge more. I know exactly what was purchased with my money (I got an itemized list), and I know that my kanzo was done ethically and as equitably as possible—each person who worked on my behalf (at least two dozen houngans/manbos, innumerable singers, drummers, people who cooked, people who slaughtered animals, people who did laundry, people who drove, and on and on) was fed and was paid for their labor. No one should be asked to work for free, and no one should want a low-cost kanzo because no one should be wondering if corners were cut in the making of their head.

If she thought her kanzo was empty and meaningless, perhaps it was because she left before she could learn.

 It is true that I and other non-Haitians do not come from a bitasyon in Haiti, but I descend from my spiritual mother’s demanbwe (essentially a field of ancestors not tied to place), which is a key facet of why the asson lineage exists and why it has spread...there must be ancestral approval before extending the asson for ‘adoption’.

It is perversely amusing that someone who left an asson lineage less than six months after they completed their kanzo elects themselves as an expert who can dismiss literally hundreds of years of lineage and ancestral work and Haitians, all to sell some candles.

She has a core misunderstanding on what a “zombie” (zonbi in Kreyòl Ayisyen) is. A zonbi, at very base, is a soul held in servitude and controlled by the person who created it or by the lwa who owns it. They don’t mount people and they aren’t given in kanzo as she thinks. White folks and non-Haitians get mounted and it’s not uncommon. There’s even video out there, embarrassing as it may be, of me beginning to get mounted with a spirit. She’s uninformed and is speaking on things she has no experience in.

People should read these posts very closely. Remember when I said way up there that I like to watch people because they will show you who they are? This is Jessyka Winston showings us who she is.

She is out of ceremony less than a year. She walked from previous commitments after two months. Now, she is telling you how she will initiate you. She says over and over that an asson lineage initiation is a scam, but this is a blueprint to take money and do nothing.

She will initiate you only as a hounsi, but you’ll be the manbo of your ‘bitasion’ IF your ‘bitasion’--the land and the spirits passed to you by your family—tell HER you are valid.

If they tell her yes, she’ll give you a manbo/houngan initiation so you can go be a manbo/houngan of your own plot of land….but you are not a manbo/houngan in their temple because There Can Only Be One

You can’t fake it, because they will know.

There are no lwa involved in any initiation.

They’ll know if you’re lying, but it will also come out in divination.

You can only serve your spirits of your ‘bitasion’, but the spirits of theirs will recognize you as a hounsi

Ancestors cannot be sold or bought.

They are going to do things differently

So, to serve your ancestors as a priest, you must pay for two initiations, and it’s going to be pricey because, as she says, her work is VERY expensive:

She is willing to charge $157 for a non-specific half hour spiritual consultation, and will require a $28 fixed candle and a $12 headscarf be purchased for that as well, so it’s not going to be an initiation that tries to keep costs low.

That first initiation is to hounsi, which makes you a servant of the house. You’ll be expected to show up and help with things, and probably financially contribute.

If you have the desire to be a manbo or an houngan, she is the one who is going to speak for your ‘bitasion’, which is a plot of land but also ancestors, and tell you whether or not you have a future as a houngan or a manbo. If you do, it’s another initiation which you will pay for and probably pay quite a bit more because you’ll be a priest. When you start propitiating a bitasyon, that requires big ceremony to feed them...so animals, people to dispatch animals, cook the animals, drummers...all kinds of stuff. In Haiti, with the way things are going, you’re looking at more than $10K for that...and they’re going to have to do it for you, because you’re not a manbo or a houngan yet.

There are no lwa involved in this, because that’s a scam. There can’t really be any ancestors involved, because you can’t buy or sell them and so they can’t really do anything for you there except feed your ancestors….? Except she thinks that’s a scam, too:

Even after you’re a manbo or a houngan of your ‘bitasion’, you’re still a hounsi with them and still have a responsibility to their spirits..even though you aren’t from their ‘bitasion’. I guess that means you’re still dependent on them, right? It keeps you a servant?

But, what’s a little dependency and servitude when you’re a manbo or houngan of your own ‘bitasion’. They’ll assign you a ‘main ancestor’ to work with...but that’s not like a met tet that they would pick out of a magician’s hat. So, you’re good, right? Oh:

I want folks to go look at the Bonewits tool again. I want folks to have that open in one window, and this open in another. Read carefully. She is not yet saying she is doing this, but she is paving the road to make this look authentic. It’s not, it’s psychobabble word salad with a price tag attached. She is telling you right upfront—doing things differently, changing the fuckery—that what she is giving is not traditional Haitian Vodou. She is making things up and planning on bankrolling her retirement home on someone else’s back.

She doesn’t even have any support for this because she doesn’t consult elders, she just goes ‘straight to source’:

Haitian Vodou is based on family. Vodou-adjacent rites have hierarchy. If she is not adhering to this, she is not practicing Vodou, she is practicing Jessyka Winston with Haitian trappings and accessories. The religion changes and grows, but it is never at the behest of one individual and her husband—it is at the behest of the lwa, who we serve and there are ways that happens, which is well-documented over the last couple hundred years.

She is telling you who she is right now, PAY ATTENTION.

If you have been saving up for a $157 half hour consultation/$28 fixed candle/$12 moushwa value meal, you are better off throwing your money in a bonfire and cracking a beer. Don’t buy pretty packaging when the insides are rotten.

It is one thing to create this atmosphere of disinformation on your own, with your own name, but literally within the last 24 hours, she’s gone further:

Now she is naming specific people as not being real Haitian Vodou. The kicker? Manbo Carmel was the manbo Jessyka did kanzo with in 2018. In roughly a year, Jessyka has decided she has enough experience and knowledge to determine what is real and what isn’t, and what is Haitian Vodou and what is not. The sheer balls it takes for a non-Haitian to say that what a fairly well-known Haitian is doing is not Haitian Vodou is staggering. This is not brave or anything, it’s just unchecked and uninformed arrogance.

This is not the first time Jessyka has done this, though. Not that long ago, she came for my mother and the sosyete I’m initiated into:

She sings an old tired song and performs a busted old dance. The line that white people are too stupid to function is one that she likes to repeat regularly, and she keeps going in on cost like she won’t be asking people to pay for her back-issue-magazine-collage version of an initiatory experience. She brings up a rumor that’s been dead for years, and makes it clear (for folks who have been around for more than 10 minutes) where here info comes from.

The worst part is that this is what she did when someone shared their process, and she did it as a priest because she had already kanzoed at that point. That’s a level of immaturity that someone needs to be better than when they call themselves a manbo or an houngan. Operating on rumor and spreading gossip is what teenagers do, not priests who care when people are coming to them asking questions.

And, like, “not to talk shit..”? Come on. Come correct on stuff like that. If you are going to talk shit, then talk shit and own it and own that you are spreading rumors that you were not a party to because they have been floating around out in the ether since before you even thought about making kanzo.

 There are also ways to speak to and about elders when you think misaction or harm has been done. If you really thought Manbo Maude was out here hexing her children and hurting her lineage, there are ways to approach it. Like, she’s not hard to reach or hard to find; you could call her directly. I know she’s spoken about it to people before, one of them being me because I asked when I heard the rumor. Or, you could approach one of her numerous, visible children and ask them out of concern for their well-being and safety. Or, you could approach any of the priests who make their friendship with Manbo Maude and Sosyete Nago known, which is easy to track down on Facebook or in any of the documentation about what the sosyete does that’s online. But, when your goal is to defame so you can elevate yourself above all of that, this is what you do.

Since she proclaims she knows and understands Haitian Vodou, she should understand the culture Haitian Vodou has high expectations of how children and younger people treat elders, both in age and in religious settings. You don’t do this. You don’t go out of your way to character assassinate an elder, even if you think they are absolutely 100% fraudulent. You can disagree, you can say it politely, but you don’t act like an ill-mannered playground bully and you don’t pot-stir. This is basic cultural knowledge.

My initial reaction when seeing this was ‘well, she really tried it, didn’t she?’, and that was followed by showing it to a sibling or two and noting that if I ever did something like this, my manmi (Manbo Maude) would have my head on a platter. Like, I would get a phone call and the conversation would go something like “right or wrong, you do not do this. I raise my children better than this”. I have been very gently pulled up for much more trivial things, and when that has happened I have wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole because I was so embarrassed. Not because Manbo Maude embarrassed me, but because she sat across from me, looked me in the eye, and told me she expects better of me because she knows I can be better.

Sadly, Jessyka does not have this grace in her life, because, as noted above, she believes elders are a scam.

And yet, she keeps digging. This morning, she went in on a transwoman who pushed back at her assertions that everything that does not flow from Jessyka is fake news fake Vodou and called her a man:

Like, you can disagree with someone (and Blair, the person Jessyka is talking about, and I have disagreed) and still not disregard humanity and gender. Again, Jessyka is showing us who she is.

Then, she starts flexing, because she’s catching some heat:

First it was send the spirits, now it’s haul out the Masons. Maybe it’s watch out for little green army men outside your door? Like, folks who have the power don’t need to say they have the power. They don’t need to say their boys are coming, because their boys are already there. This is immaturity on display, and she should know better and be held to better by people who care about her…that freedom horn is just the sound of her own voice, echoing into the depths of Instagram, of all things.

 And none of these people who she keeps posting quotes from are speaking for themselves. Not her husband, not her Mason friends, nothing. Anyone who has spent five minutes in a group of Haitians knows that, when folks have something to say, they don’t need someone else’s mouth to say it.

And, like, why not try some chante pwen on your *Instagram story* when you need to look hard? Girl WHAT? I had some inappropriate laughter because This Is Not How Things Work:

She goes on at length about people not coming to her page to discuss with her…but why? Like, why invest that way when she deletes and blocks and throws Instagram temper tantrums? She doesn’t want to hear anything but what she knows, but desperately wants engagement. She tells Haitians how to be Haitian, but then doesn’t understand why the folks she aims at—houngans and manbos who have had the lwa on their head for longer than she has been alive—won’t engage with her.

There’s a really simple and straightforward answer that has come up already and that is really at the root of all of this: they don’t care. They are not invested in addressing whatever random, strung-together nonsense some blan who cannot describe where she comes from or how she came by what she has post on the internet, because their spirits and their lineages speak for themselves. Likewise, she keeps wondering why non-Haitians keep speaking up, and it’s because it’s the job of non-Haitians to collect their own. Why would anyone expect Haitian practitioners to dig in to this?

If someone did care and was invested, maybe she would have gotten some mentoring around this. Maybe they could have talked things through with her and helped her clarify what she was thinking and feeling so that she could post organized thoughts, instead of a stream of consciousness laced with words she might think give her an air of authenticity and threaded with threats and intimidation. Maybe someone could pull her up privately.

But, we are here. There’s a lot more and it looks like she is posting more by the minute. She couches it as it being co-written by her Haitian husband (maybe for authenticity?), but it is her name on it and no one else’s. She wants people to be scared, but there’s nothing to be scared of. She wants people to be intimidated, but there’s nothing intimidating here when you know how to see past the frothy, frenetic posting and really see what she is/is not saying. She wants to keep identifying people and why they are not valid in her eyes, she can keep going.

She’s probably going to try and tell me some things about myself or insist that she’s going to have her spirits kill me or that Masons are outside my house right now and….whatever. It’s okay. I know who I am.I don’t walk around scared.

But, I mean what I said in the beginning: Jessyka is not beyond redemption or repair. She can turn all this around in a heartbeat and make a different choice. The lwa have immeasurable grace for us and all our human failings and, if we can be humble, they can give that to us when we need it most. She has a spiritual sickness and deep spiritual problems, but that’s nothing that can’t be treated because we have the treatment.

We. Us. Community.

She has set herself apart, but she doesn’t have to be alone. We are a community, and if she reached out there would be an answer. Part of calling out bad behavior is calling someone in to heal. She can heal what is clearly a hurting heart and a confused head because we can heal a hurting heart and a confused head. When one suffers many suffer, and her suffering is palatable. I would invite her to bath with cool water and fresh basil, and to sit with Legba for a bit and look for the other path. We are always given two paths, and we can always make a change. Ginen promises us balance, but only if we seek it.

Today, for Jessyka, for folks reading this, and for the general atmosphere of dis-ease and confusion, I pray for cool heads and peaceful hearts, and for the knowledge that, if we are brought to the table, there is a unique place for all of us.

Blessings,

Alex Batagi/Bonkira Bon Oungan Daguimin Minfort

Pitit Antiola Bo Manbo, pitit Selide Bo Manbo, pitit LaMerci Bo Manbo

Sosyete Nago/Kay Manbo Maude, Jacmel and Boston

October 2019

[viadescioism]

Haus of Hoodoo: Jessyka Winston Wants To Teach The Truth About Vodou

[grimoire2020aa]

Witchy Podcasts

WitchWave- with Pam Grossman, who is a writer, curator, and teacher of magic and its history. She is the author of What Is A Witch and her writings have been featured in Sabat, Huffington Post, MSN, and Abraxas Journal. Her art shows have been featured in The New York Times and Art in America. She also launched a WitchEmoji sticker pack for iMessage. She currently lives in Brooklyn. Each episode is an interview with someone who is a leading visionary in art, culture, or the occult and they discuss witchcraft. Recommended episodes: Judika Illes (author of 5,000 Spells and other essential witchcraft books), Jessyka Winston (of Haus of Hoodoo), and Gabriela Herstik (author of Craft: How to Be a Modern Witch).

Hippie Witch- with Joanna Devoe, who is a writer, an artist, and a front-woman of the band Obedient Waves. She’s a very peppy, high-energy host with episodes that talk about Harry Potter philosophy in witchcraft, Stephen King book club, and discusses modern-day topics in a fun, newsie way. Recommended episodes: Rethinking Toxic Terms + Black Panther Magick, The Life of a Psycho-Spiritual Witch, and Spiritual Rewiliding.

Serpent Cast- a weekly podcast about sex and spirituality by VICE/Broadly astrologer Annabel Gat and GQ/Allure sex writer Sophie Saint Thomas. Featuring expert interviews, magical product reviews, esoteric books, and musings on aliens, herbs, feminism, queerness, and the occult. Recommended episodes: The Fitness Witch, Ammo O’Day, Bri Luna, Hoodwitch, Chelsea Selby, Witch Baby Soap, and Khi Armand: Shaman, Root Doctor, and Houngan.

Living Open- is a podcast for mystics and seekers hosted by Tarot reader, Reiki practitioner, and yoga teacher Eryn Johnson. Explore these topics along with crystals, meditation, travel, entrepreneurship, activism, and more. Recommended episodes: Folk Tarot Reader and Witch Tess Giberson on Magic as Your Birthright, Crystal Resonance Therapists Christel Alberez and Nerissa Alberts on Intuitive Crystal Healing, 11-Minute Chakra Opening Meditation, and Yoga Teacher Kassandra Reignhardet on Lunar Yoga and Yin Yoga as Shadow Work.

Self Service- with Jerico Mandybur, who is an LA-based writer and editor of Girlboss Radio. This is your cosmic comfort zone, an “inner-beauty school” where self-care is celebrated, where getting real with emotions is a treat, and an interest in thoughtful, funny conversations, weird wellness and astrology is unabashed. Episodes have astrology reports with Jessica Lanyadoo. Recommended episodes: How to Be a Spiritual Activist, Crystals 101 and What to Do with Crushes in Astrology, What About Women of Color in Wellness?, A Sober-Curious Guide to Sobriety with Ruby Warrington.

The Fat Feminist Witch- Paige, the self-acclaimed fat, feminist witch. It’s a podcast with ranting, raving, and wand-waving! Paige examines witchcraft and paganism from a modern perspective featuring topics such as author interviews, magical ethics, social justice, law, and witchcraft from around the world. Recommended episodes: Chakras Plain & Simple, #WitchNBitch-Witch, Ya Basic!, Glamour Magic with Deborah Castellano.

Your Own Magic- hosted by Allie Michelle & Raquelle Mantra. This podcast connects you with inspiring artists, wellness experts, humanitarians, spiritual leaders, entrepreneurs, and other influential visionaries who are living magic and making an impact. Recommended episodes: Energy Muse: the Crystal Episode, Koi Fresco, Enlightenment, Soulmates, and Astral Projection, Jill Wintersteen: Astrology, Dreamcatchers, and Strengthening Intuition, Shaman Durek: The Spirit Hacker, Sahara Rose: Doshas, Dharma, Kriya, and Karma.

WitchCraftsy- with Amy Lynn. This podcast is a place for any Dreamweaver looking for healing, inspiration, and conversation about all things occult and taboo. Topics include healing heartbreak, spirit guides, astral planes, sex magick, death, community, and breaking patriarchy. Recommended episodes: Craft of Conjure: How do you Hoo Doo? With Loretta “Loo” Ledesma, Spiritual Factors of Illness & Health with Herbalist Raven Rose, Queer Hip-Hop with Kitty Crimes, Witchy Spiritual Lessons- Where the People Are.

Sovereign Society- hosted by Sabrina Riccio, a medicine priestess, soulistic alchemist, and speaker from Joshua Tree ,California. This is a detailed, extensive podcast on topics such as kundalini yoga, astrology, psychedelics, shamanic breathwork, Reiki, sound medicine, chakra system, spiritual leadership, business design, metaphysics, self-love, and conscious health living. Recommended episodes: Upleveling to Your Authentic Radness with Luke Storey, Connecting With Loved Ones on the Other Side and Radiating Your Holiness with Arielle Ford, Spiritual Bypassing + Upleveling with Kundalini Yoga with Krisa Reierson, Aligning and Activating Your Sacred Business with Brianna Rose.

Priestess Podcast- with Julie Parker, founder of The Beautiful You Coaching Academy where she trains people to become life coaches, and is the Editor-in-Chief of COACH magazine. She is a published author and speaker. She is a priestess that focuses on Celtic, Balkan, Iberian, and Greek lineage. This podcast has interviews and intimate conversations about the divine feminine, goddess culture, women’s spirituality, and spiritual business. Recommended Episodes: Mariah McCarthy on the Divine Feminine & Being Non-Binary, Gala Darling on the Modern Witch, Jessica Reid on Clairvoyancy and Channeling, Sarah Magdalena Love on Queer Magic, and Hibiscus Moon on Crystal Power.

Almost 30- with Krista Williams, creator of The Hundred Blog and has been featured in Women’s Health, Self Magazine, and Refinery 29; and Lindsey Simsick, actress, singer, model, and SoulCycle instructor. This podcast focuses on wellness, entrepreneurship, spirituality & self-development. Recommended podcasts: How to Expand Your Consciousness + Align Your Chakras with Reiki Healer Milana Snow, Modern Mystic + Sexuality Goddess Alexandra Roxo, Relationship Coach + Teacher John Wineland Parts 1 & 2, and Jill Willard on Becoming Intuitive.

Highest Self with Sahara Rose- she is the best-selling author of the Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, which is critically acclaimed by Deepak Chopra. She discusses how to tune into your life, find your purpose (or Dharma) and how to be the best person you can be. She goes into detail on Ayurveda and other similar practices that can transform your life. Recommended podcasts: How to Balance Your Chakras Through Dance, Activating Your Shamanic Roots with Shaman Durek, Who is Your Highest Self?, and How to Spiritually Grow Through Ease.

That’s So Retrograde- Elizabeth Kott and Stephanie Simbari have been coined “the Ab Fab of the new age.” Merging pop culture, wellness, and spirituality together in one podcast, these women deliver conscious conversations with realness and humor, all while providing tips and expert insight to guide listeners to their most enlightened path. Recommended episodes: Magical Sabbatical with Sage Goddess, Fairy Godguru with Guru Jagat, The Genius Life with Max Lugavere, and Full Circle Moment with Andrea Bendawald.

Balanced Blonde- with Jordan Younger, an entrepreneurial and wellness blogger. She discusses everything from branding and writing to friendships and things that set your soul on fire. Recommended episodes: Jasmine Hemsley-Ayurveda Meets the West, Nicole Cogan-Girl Talk with NOBREAD: Numerology, Trevor Hall- The Spiritual Power of Writing Music, Psychic Medium Mayhem! With MaryAnn DiMarco, and Biet Simkin-WHO ARE YOU?

Elevator- with hosts Britt and Tara of Elevate the Globe, the spiritual lifestyle movement. Their mission: elevating the vibration of the planet, one person at a time. They discuss ancient and modern spiritual principles, practices, and tools to elevate the vibration of your own energy. Many episodes are interviews with guests who talk about their favorite way to elevate themselves and what their journeys are like. Recommended episodes: Elevate Your Intuition with Jill Willard, Helping Others Get Stronger + Heal by Taryn Toomey, Bringing Mysticism + Yogic Practice into the Arts with Jamie Wollrab, Britt + Tara on All Things Kundalini, Everyday Rituals to Tune into the Real You with Energy Muse, and RISE UP: Everything You Need to Know About Your Chakras + Allowing Yourself to Live a High-Vibrational Life.

Source: Wanderlust Soul

[voicesfromthelight]

The Story of “Abuela,” Simon, and Millicent: On Astral Party-Crashers (and How to Avoid Them)

Today, to celebrate the Halloween/Samhain season, I’d like to explore the somewhat spooky phenomenon of astral party-crashers.

Astral party-crashers are spiritual entities that sometimes pop up in mediumistic settings - or in your home! - who have no readily apparent association with any individual in the room, but are drawn to present themselves out of curiosity, benevolence, boredom, or, in some cases, energetic hunger stemming from unresolved issues that keep them hovering close to the physical plane.  Luckily, the intrusions of astral party-crashers have been fairly infrequent in my personal experience. However, when I have encountered them, the evidence has been strong enough in terms of physical manifestations of synchronicities, etc., that I think it’s important for students of mediumship to know that they exist, and plan for them without apprehension.

Much of the work of a competent medium consists of understanding how to attune oneself to the spirit world, and receive accurate, verifiable information from it. However, far from being one uniform field, the “other side” is a multifaceted realm: a spectrum of different frequencies. Different types of entities dwell in different “layers” of the spiritual plane, of varying densities, much like different colours of light occupy different ranges on a spectrum of wavelengths. Accordingly, the emotional, spiritual, physical and energetic qualities of a medium determine which frequencies they are able to attune themselves to most easily. This is why Lorna Byrne speaks to angels, Jessyka Winston works with her Lwa, Tyler Henry passes messages between people and their dead loved ones, and I communicate most easily with Salvador, Natalie and my other guides, who dwell in a layer of the spirit realm somewhat higher in frequency than the astral. The reason I refer specifically to astral party-crashers when talking of this subject, is that the entities in question will usually pop up because they dwell in the frequency band commonly known as the astral realm, which is closest in density to that of the physical plane. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the types of ghosts who would cause physical hauntings, but I do find that they seem to have an easy time firing off synchronicities that manifest in the physical realm. Although they are usually harmless, and easy to miss altogether if one is not psychically open, if you find yourself frequently bumping into astral party-crashers, it may be an indication that your baseline energy level and psychic protection measures could use a boost.

The first time I bumped into an astral party-crasher was a bit over a year ago. The incident started on the same day I spoke about in my piece on clairaudience, during a time when my mediumistic ability was going through a bit of a spike. I had been working on a film set in Harlem that day, and took the opportunity of being in a neighborhood with a large Latino population to visit a local botánica. Salvador and Natalie are quite protective of me, and have more than once shooed me away from dabbling in working with any spirits outside of my circle of personal guides. However, I was curious to see the place, and wanted to buy a candle.

The botánica was a large space, with hundreds of different candles of all colours to choose from, soperas, and a plethora of pre-packaged oils and incenses for every magical purpose, stacked on shelves that reached from the floor to the ceiling. The energy there felt a little scattered to me, but not uncomfortable. I chose a candle for myself, and went home happy with my purchase.

The next day, as I was tuning into a channeling session, an unfamiliar spirit popped up and greeted me. In Spanish. Which I barely speak. 

“¡Hola, Emily!” 

Somewhat taken aback, I asked whom I had the pleasure of speaking with. “Soy Abuela,” she replied. (“I am Grandmother.”) She then switched to English, and went on to give me specific instructions on how to burn my candle for best magical results, and which herbs would work best with it. (Damiana and vetiver, on an alternating basis, she said.)

My psychic protection practices always include specifying whom I wish to communicate with before my channeling sessions, so when “Abuela” declared her presence, I was a little suspicious, but also, I admit, somewhat intrigued. If she was who she claimed to be, it seemed someone’s magically savvy grandmother had followed me home from the botánica, wanting to teach me her craft. I wasn’t so sure it was something I should be getting involved in, but appreciated her attention. I thanked her for visiting me, and said goodbye.

Abuela turned up again intermittently in my sessions over the next couple of weeks, and I remained somewhat wary of her. Salvador told me that she was harmless, but there were other incidents not directly associated with her - not all of them pleasant - that had me a bit on edge. My energy around this time was running low due to working very long hours on film shoots, and once in a while, I would notice astral level spirits that needed to be crossed over tagging along with me from my excursions out into the city, or otherwise subtly tugging at my spiritual sleeve. A woman from a small Finnish village I had never heard of before wanted me to warn her relative about a fire hazard, giving me her full name and place of residence. A gay man from a few states over wanted me to take a message to his husband. After sending them home, I would usually end up googling their obituaries, and try to find clues as to how to address their various requests. I attempted to make the most of it and gather at least some kind of mediumistic evidence. However, I knew in my heart that working outside of designated “office hours,” and being vulnerable to astral interference, was neither smart nor sustainable.

Because of these incidents, I began working long-distance with a shamanic healer and psychic named Joy. Joy, who specializes in working with other practitioners, was helping me tune up my psychic self-care and patch up my energy field to stop uninvited energies from seeping in.

At the end of my first phone session with Joy, I described some of the latest incidents of tag-alongs I had been experiencing. I mentioned my encounters with Abuela. Joy said that it was probably fine, but if she hung around much longer, it might be a good idea to ask her if she needed some help to move on.

Right after we ended our call, I decided to check my Instagram account to wind down from the session. As I opened up the app, through a slip of my hand, I unintentionally ended up on a feed that was not my own - which is something I rarely explore. And there, one of the very first posts that popped up was not a photograph, but one that only showed a screen capture of this text, in bold letters:

“¡SOY ABUELA!”

I do not recall hearing from her since.*

Perhaps the strangest incident I ever experienced of astral party-crashing happened in connection with a séance I attended a while ago, which I briefly outlined in my recent post on “getting the wires crossed.”

At the time, I had been shopping around for a new psychic development circle to join up with, and visited one I had been to once before, a few months earlier. I had already had some misgivings about the way the circle had been conducted before, but publicly announced séances are surprisingly few and far between in New York City, so I decided to give it a second shot.

As in most message circles, the protocol at this one consisted of the leader of the circle taking us through a series of meditations and psychic protection practices before moving on to passing messages to those present. However, my alarm bells soon went off, when after our initial meditations, during a quick break, the somewhat grandiosely inclined leader started to explain that there were demons attracted by the spiritual light generated by our circle, attempting to interfere. As he began to give a graphic description of the “demons” he had seen, I covered my ears and walked out of the room. (For the record: If you ever see anything menacing during a mediumistic meditation, unless you are specifically doing some kind of shadow work or banishing, the last thing you want to do is to feed it with attention and anchor its energy down through verbally describing it.) I did not care for the man’s foolish attempts to impress the novices at the event, nor was I intimidated by what he had said, but decided to let go of my reservations to get my own mediumistic practice time in.

When the break ended, I returned to the circle, and we moved into the section of the séance where messages would be delivered. As I meditated, I became aware of a middle-aged, stocky man, wearing leather boots and a cap. I heard the name “Simon.” He seemed to be a farmer. I placed him to have been alive around the 1970s. I did not recognize him, but he reminded me a bit of a character I had seen bizarrely stomp through a precognitive dream, the previous summer, flashing a set of very unlucky Tarot cards at me before declaring, á propos of them: “Nobody wins!” - the night before my fiancé had broken up with me.  Then, in my mind’s eye, I saw a slender woman with long, brown hair. Her name was Millicent. She was wearing something that looked like a prairie dress. Perhaps a hippie. They seemed to belong together. I jotted down all the details, anticipating the end of the circle, when I could speak up and find out whose dead relatives I had brought through. They certainly weren’t mine.

The leader of the circle worked his way around the room, delivering messages to each attendee in turn. Then, he turned to me and said: “When I tune into your energy, I am aware of two spirits. There is an older man, whose name is either John or Simon. I’m not quite sure. And a woman with an M name. She comes across as a hillbilly. I think she’s Irish.” I concurred that I had picked on those exact two people, but my ancestral roots went back exclusively to Eastern Europe and Finland, and I definitely did not have any relatives from Ireland named Simon or Millicent. Surely they were there for someone else! However, nobody in the room recognized the rustic duo any better than I could.

The séance eventually trailed off, and I noticed that the leader never formally closed the circle. This worried me somewhat, but I told myself it wasn’t a big deal. I also wondered what exactly was going on with Simon and Millicent. Why would two such random characters show up for me, when we didn’t seem to have any direct connection? Still, for all my concerns, I was happy that the session had resulted in the information I had received on them being corroborated so closely by the other medium.

That night, as I was falling asleep, something very unusual happened. Right as I was dozing off, in a hypnagogic state, I heard a male voice loudly say my name in my right ear, almost as if it was physically coming from outside of my head. (Usually, when I receive clairaudient  information, the impression is one of simply having a verbally expressed thought, and it feels like it is situated more near my left ear. Furthermore, it almost never happens unbidden.) “Ugh.” I thought. “Here we go. Someone followed me home.”

Life went on as normal for a while. Salvador confirmed to me the next day that the problem had been that the séance had not been closed properly, and I should avoid that particular circle in the future. I tried to shake off the incident.

About a week later, I met up for coffee with a dear colleague, and as we were catching up on what had been going on in our lives, I shared with him the strange story of Simon and Millicent. By then, I was laughing about it, and my friend was also amused.

Towards the end of our visit, we stopped by a large bookstore to look for some inspiration for a project we were working on together. My friend took the opportunity to visit the restroom, and as I was waiting for him, my eyes wandered to a book sitting on a stand in the children’s section: “Dear Mili,” read the title. It was a book illustrated by the illustrious Maurice Sendak, author of “Where The Wild Things Are.” I had already had several other, sweet little synchronicities happen that day, and so, my first thought was “Hey! My spirit guides must have wanted me to see this, since they always call me Dear Emily.” As I leafed through it, I discovered it was a somewhat creepy little story, discovered in the early 1980s in a letter written by Wilhelm Grimm to a young girl in 1816. The story made me somewhat melancholy, but the pictures were beautiful. I texted a picture of the cover of the book to a friend of mine who not only had been one of my first mediumistic clients, and was quite familiar with the lingo my guides use, but had also been at the séance with me where Simon and Millicent had made an appearance. “Look what Natalie sent me!” I captioned my photo.

Then, I opened the book up to its dedication page, and my jaw dropped open.

“For my sister, Natalie.” - M.S.

M.S.  - Millicent and Simon?

Barely believing my eyes, I texted my friend a second photo of the page.

A moment later, she replied:

“Wait. Dear Mili - MILLICENT?!”

And that, as they say, was that.

These two incidents of astral party-crashing illustrate well some of elements that can contribute to being vulnerable to psychic interference. They can be summed up fairly simply:

Attempting mediumship when energetically run down either through physical tiredness, negative emotions, poor diet, illness, or while under the effects (or after-effects!) of mind-altering substances such as alcohol or drugs. (Yes, this includes cannabis for most people. CBD, however, is usually fine, as it isn’t psychoactive.)

Not practicing proper psychic self-care through meditation, energy-clearing, and psychic protection. This includes not only your personal energy, but your personal living space, as well.

Dabbling in practices that are not aligned with your spiritual integrity.

Spending time in places with negative energy, that attract low-vibration entities. These can be spaces associated with addiction, abuse, or violence. This doesn’t mean mediums need to avoid such spaces altogether, of course, but energetic clearing is doubly important after being exposed to that kind of energy.

Focusing on images, thoughts, or stories that invoke fear or unease. Don’t watch horror movies before doing a mediumistic session! At least give yourself a few days to detox.

Asking for trouble by intentionally invoking fear-based entities. (Duh.) Just don’t. It’s not worth it.

Being afraid of the spirit world, and of one’s own mediumistic tendencies.

Not properly opening and closing your mediumistic sessions.

On the other hand, my guides have a slightly different take on the matter. From their perspective, every experience is an opportunity to learn something new. So, here are some points that my guides conveyed through clairaudient dictation around the time that Abuela was visiting me. (Parts of this were cited in an early post on this blog about empathic vulnerability.)

Question: “Why are uninvited energies interfering with my mediumistic sessions? Am I not strong enough to keep them out?”

“Your guides know when an energy can be helpful even if you yourself have not set up the meeting. Even if you are being told something you think you do not want to hear, the energy itself may have something useful to tell you. Have no fear. You are in good hands. Wear an amulet if you think it will make you feel more safe, but this is not necessary or helpful if you do not trust your guides to help you. Call your guides to help you raise and strengthen your energies.  Allowing the information that comes through to reach you as just that, information, and not as an energetic intrusion, will give you the best access to knowledge of all stripes.

Allow your guides to act as informed gatekeepers and let in the spirits covered in your opening prayer. [Being very adamant about proactive,] careful vetting places an undue burden of self-protection on the practitioner. If you feel unsafe or drained, plan ahead and look to your sources of strength to hold you in a higher vibration. Ask the lower energies to step away. You are safe […] Do not succumb to the influence of fear. You are OK. Pay attention to any disturbances in the atmosphere of your home, Work to become a better arbiter of your own boundaries. Nobody can enter your awareness [unbidden] if you have placed high enough barriers on your consciousness.”

All of this can be summed up into the principle that the stronger your connection is with your personal team of guides, and the better care you take care of yourself as well as your environment, the less vulnerable you will be to interference. Lately, I almost never experience these kinds of incidents anymore, and when they are about to happen, Salvador and Natalie will quickly warn me and nip them in the bud. The bottom line is, these are not things to be feared. At the limit, I would use this information to encourage my readers to treat themselves with love, self-respect and kindness, stay true to themselves, and build a strong relationship with own protectors.

Have you ever experienced an astral party-crasher? How did they make themselves known?  How did you deal with it? How would you deal with it if it happened again? Let me know!

------------------------------------------------------

* In case you are wondering if this was a result of an algorithm being triggered by my phone “spying” on my conversation with Joy, I can only say that it wasn’t the first time that Spirit had used social media for synchronicities. The first time my guides gave me a timeline for an event using astrological timing, citing only the symbols for Venus and Scorpio, I had no idea what it meant - until I opened up Instagram after the session. The very first post on my feed was captioned with a long piece on the astrological implications of Venus shortly moving into Scorpio. There was no technological record of my channeling session to feed into any algorithm at that time. I also had never had any interest in astrology until that moment.

[andrehoraart]

Portrait of Jessyka Winston @hausofhoodoo she is gorgeous, she is powerful and she is inspiring! ♥️ #portrait #digital #andrehoraart #hoodoo #nola #neworleansqueens #art #kunst https://www.instagram.com/p/But-IWOnX8n/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xc8xi8jdow4s

[appletriacruz]

"I’m not everything I want to be, but I’m more than I was, and I’m still learning. I’m happy. Just sitting here. Knowing I have a few friends. Knowing I have a dream to work on. Knowing I have somewhere to go if it starts raining. A pillow to rest my head on. Someone to call when I get lonely. Nature to walk in, pure air, early mornings, seasons and weather. This is enough. This is more than enough. and most of all, I am enough. Everything changed when I forgave myself." ♡ Charlotte Eriksson [Illustration: Jessyka Winston] https://www.instagram.com/p/B6NJKmVgxrpqcaaMmIudgx7DvZkwpo0iijHd3w0/?igshid=1vvxkoarbb4s5

[empressempathidi]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Idiongo aka Idi E (@empath_idi)

Love sharing light rather than of fear, racism, & lies. #HIStory vs #Truth #generationalcycles #generationalhealing #generational #genetic #memory ✨ Yesterday, I came across @hausofhoodoo Jessyka Winston's HuffPost interview on YouTube. My fave parts (besides the historical accuracy of the devil, demons, & all that scary Hollyweird "movie magic" originated from European culture, yet it served to keep many of us away from knowing ourselves & connecting with our #ancestors for generations) was how she pronounced her motherland Haiti (Ah-E-Ti). Of course, Jessyka isn't the first or only. It just served as another reminder it's not just what you say, but how you say it that also matters. Intention is everything. ✨ I also admired the fact that bc she grew up with her culture all around her singing invocational prayers is as natural to her as breathing. It's far more difficult having all these questions from a young girl, asking your parents & watching them exchange silent eye communications & have it still be a mystery, but still feeling like you don't quite fit or something is missing. I still feel like I'm putting Ifa puzzle pieces together. Spirit/DNA comes through the bloodline regardless. And a child will lead... ✨ Huff interview https://youtu.be/uwpqsxm4iHI ✨ My fave: Jessyka's "Wild Women Healers" interview https://youtu.be/JH5zpao4jIY ✨ High Priest Robi's "Free Tours by Foot" interview: https://youtu.be/aksVg8mNtPg ✨ Reposted from @thevoodoolovegoddess Catch the full video on YouTube... by Free Tours by Foot, NewOrleans Voodoo (a virtual tour). ——— Look em up: vieux dieu, vodou, voodoo ------ 𝕀 𝕒𝕞 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥! @highpriestrobi 💙 #voodoo #vodou #vieux #dieux #oldgods #purelight #love #ancestor #ase #ayibobo #congo #spiritualnotreligious #congosquare #neworleansvoodoo #haitianvodou #ancestralhealing #ancestralwisdom #iamthatiam #bethelight #lovelife #healing #peace @thevoodoolovegoddess https://www.instagram.com/p/CQEQFr3B0xD/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rockofeye]

Calling Out and Calling In, Part 2

It’s been a wild 24+ hours since I posted this post in an attempt to address problematic behavior and open a door to doing something different. I absolutely did not expect to hear from people who would be sharing experiences and, in many cases, horror stories:

Numerous folks with very similar stories detailing discomfort with products purchased, unusual and unwanted experiences diverging greatly from the stated purposed of the work, and some nervousness about how to dispose of them so that they didn’t have to be used further.

Stories about feeling coerced to purchase things, and return and purchase more.

Stories of feeling unsatisfied in a consultation where the need for spiritual work was described, but no options were given other than ‘well, it will cost a lot of money..’

Messages all the way from Haiti from folks in Bainet, where Jessyka went for what she has identified as ceremonies done for her, and beyond, detailing that someone who had been touched in an asson lineage could never, ever be made makout/djakout, that what Jessyka thought was happening versus what actually happened was very, very different in part due to her lack of fluency in Kreyòl,   and that people were paid to remain silent on the fact that the manzè can only carry the candle and not the makout (meaning she can only fulfill the function of a hounsi/community member and not the function of a priest in that tradition).

A lot of hurt was detailed across the board, by folks from the US and from Haiti, and there’s a lot of sadness here because things do not ever have to be like this. It’s not just sad for folks detailing these things, but it’s sad for Jessyka because she can do better. She’s clearly a good businesswoman, but she needs to take a seat right now and figure out where she went wrong.

Later in the day today, a post was made here on Tumblr and re-blogged on my post:

There’s a lot here, but pay attention to what this brave person said about a pot tet. 

A pot tet is the most sacred item an initiate has in an asson lineage house. It is created for you while you are in the djevo, and (very boiled down version) it is the seat of your soul. It is the most valuable thing a priest own. We guard them carefully, to the point where they mostly live in the djevo, the most sacred and guarded part of a temple.

Stealing a pot tet is akin to stealing the consecrated host or the altar lamp in a Catholic church, stealing the Torah scrolls from a temple, destroying someone’s family copy of the Quran, and similar. Imagine the most holy object you can think of being taken.

What Jessyka did is multi-step in it’s awfulness: she entered a djevo (the most sacred place in an asson lineage temple) not her own, took an item that did not belong to her and that she did not create, and then kept it and worked on it. She was a person trusted to be able to enter the sacred space of the djevo because she had been initiated in it, and she violated that and she violated the sacredness of the bond between people who enter the same djevo. We have few serious taboos about how we do spiritual work, but doing work on or against a sibling of yours? BIG TABOO.

Stealing a pot tet of your sibling and then utilizing/trying to utilize it to control or harm them is possibly the worst thing a person could do in the religion. Like, I could spit in my mother’s face in the middle of her temple during a ceremony and that would be less bad because I am only disrespecting her, the community, and the lwa. Stealing a pot tet is disrespecting your sibling, disrespecting and soiling the djevo, disrespecting your initiator, disrespecting the community, disrespecting the lwa, disrespecting the ancestors..everything.

I had honestly never conceived that someone would do this. It’s so low and dirty and I am genuinely shocked that someone would be just that low and dirty. Like, it’s entirely possible she didn’t actually do it (though there are receipts showing that she was gonna) and just let it play out that she did and use the good ol’ Jim Jones inspired lines of ‘why do you need to see it? don’t you trust me?’...but even saying that is mind-boggling in it’s manipulative cruelty.

There’s an interesting side-by-side thing going on here, too. Jessyka insists that the asson lineage is totally fraudulent and there’s nothing there...but there’s something there enough for her to want to steal a sacred item. She speaks at length about the lwa and how they punish or kill folks who betray them or the promises that were made to them...but doesn’t seem to believe any of that is actually real, because who in their right mind would steal a sacred item if they did?

I have talked a lot about redemption and being able to choose differently, but this kind of puts that to the test. I am grateful I will never be in a position to determine if it’s possible or what amends could be made, because I am not sure I could. Like, if I pulled this, if the lwa themselves did not end on the spot, it would not surprise me in the least if my mother took the loss and ended me herself. It’s unreal.

This is why we return to the idea that people will show you who they really are. Think carefully about what gets put on pedestals and what you endorse with your money. There is sickness here, and it needs to be healed before anything can be whole.

Tonight, blessings and feelings of comfort for all. Peace to our hearts and our heads, strength in our spines, and the knowledge that each day is a chance to do something different or to do it all over or to choose a different path.

[rockofeye]

An important flipside to naming a whole swath of Haitian Vodou as fraudulent is to recognize when we repeat over and over that the asson is always a fraud, it’s just about money, etc is that we are not really maligning who we think we are maligning. 

If we unpack this a bit, these words look like they are being used to try and shut down a conversation..which indeed they are. A closer look gives us a deeper message.

If we say ‘manbo and houngan asogwe are frauds and will initiate anyone who pays them’, what we are really saying is that Haitians are untrustworthy, are people who seek to exploit others, and that they will disregard religious ethics to make a dollar. This reinforces the caricature of Haitians as conniving, malicious folks out to harm people...which is one of those persistent and ugly dogwhistles of white supremacy.

Further, we are making sweeping, blanket statements that tell Haitians that their history is invalid and that it doesn’t matter and that we really know that their spiritual and religious beliefs are just for show or are somehow lesser. Haitian Vodou has been derided as primitive and backward for a long time, and reinforcing those stereotypes by speaking over what is a cultural hallmark is, at best, insensitive. It puts us as an individual in a position of being more important than the whole...and, if there is anything that is un-Haitian, it’s that.

If we say that ‘real Vodou’ or ‘true Haitian Vodou’ is only for XYZ class of people, period, we are stripping Haitians, both individually and as groups, of their autonomy, both personal and spiritual. Haiti and Haitians get spoken over a LOT out in the world, and it’s incumbent that non-Haitians not repeat colonial-overseer patterns. Haitians don’t need folks to gate-keep for them; they are perfectly capable of doing that for themselves.

Digging a little deeper into making broad and sweeping statements about spirits and people, we come to this fork in the road, essentially. Either we believe the spirits have the autonomy to do what they will, or we do not. Either we believe the spirits can make their own choice--even/especially when we don’t understand,or we do not. Either the lwa are capable spirits who see bigger and broader than we can, or they are not. Either Haitian Vodou is a balanced religion as dictated by the lwa, or it is a human-focused construction only where we are the center of all our actions. There is no having things both ways.

So, it’s important to think we really deeply about what we say, the attitudes we project, and what we really mean when we discuss our history and our present.

Often times, when we say these things it is really just a reflection of how WE feel about Haitians or how WE treat spiritual practices. To be blunt: people who don’t value the rich culture of Haitian Vodou are the folks who say a lineage isn’t real, and people who talk about Haitian houngan and manbo asogwe existing only to take money are folks who are only interested in taking money. People will always show you who they are.

This is where the asson comes from and from what we who have the asson descend from:

The commentary is flawed at times, but this is asson lineage Haitian Vodou in Haiti. The calendar has changed, but this is unbroken--asson lineage Vodou is done the exact same way now. We sing the same songs, trace the same veve, utilize the asson in the same way to communicate that, no matter how we found our way here, nou menm la.

And, as towke asson/toke asson is utilized in the first video to ascertain that the holder is empowered to use it, towke asson is used the same way here; to prove the validity of the initiation of new priests in a temple full of houngans and manbos. This is the language of the asson, passed to assure the bonds created are thorough and valid. Anyone who passes through a djevo is taught how to make the asson ‘speak’, and anyone who claims to be a manbo or a houngan can be challenged to respond and prove that they are who they say they are.

The asson held Haitians in Diaspora together, which reflects a reason the asson lineage is so large and widespread. This is a video of a maryaj lwa ceremony from 1989, filmed in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

This is an asson lineage ceremony for Damballah Wedo and Loko in the Bronx in 1989.

This is an asson lineage ceremony in Jacmel, Haiti in 2016.

This is what is being called fake. These are the people who are being called frauds.

[rockofeye]

Did you see what Jessyka is saying about you?

Hey there,

Yes, I did...a couple folks sent me it. As expected, she has tried to tell me about myself and 'gotcha' some things that she thinks makes me look bad or something.

Folks that have just followed me here may not know that I am white, but that's not and has never been a secret. I've written quite a bit about race and what that means in Haitian Vodou, but I don't center my whiteness on this blog because it's not the point or the focus. Instead, I do my best to write about my experiences and reflect information in a way that reflects staying vigilant about the influence of whiteness and white supremacy. My hope is to hit the mark more often than not and to be able to recognize when I have not and be pulled up.

She also tried to gotcha some things I've written about fairly frequently (though not recently about my experiences with my beloved Ogou. She incorrectly identified who my met tet/head is (that's private information) because I take the name of a spirit (Ogou Batagi/Badagris) as a last name out of love and because of what he made for me, and tries to gotcha that Ogou has smacked me with his machete in his temple.

I've written about it a lot and talked about it a lot because the initial experience of it was something transformative...which is why Ogou does those sorts of things. He let me feel the machete and then stood me up, where he told me he loved me and that I needed to do things differently if I wanted to walk with him. It was a profound moment for me and a wild time in my life.

Of course, Ogou doesn't just discipline with his machete. I've had him knock things off of me with a head-to-toe machete 'massage' and I've had him impart strength into my arms with well-placed taps. Most recently, he dug the handle of his machete into my belly and stuck the point in his to remind me we are connected. None of those instances hurt because it's not about harm, it's about getting something done, and if Ogou wanted to hurt me, he wouldn't lift a finger. I am a child of a house and lineage dedicated to Ogou; getting a smack is basically a butterfly kiss from the Mèt kay la. I mean, we practically emerge from the djevo with the imprint of a machete on our forehead...

None of that is unique to me or because I am white, and if Jessyka had seen the inside of different temples or even taken a look at ceremony on YouTube, she'd see that. Ogou comes down a lot and punctuates his sentences with his machete.

But, none of what she has posted is really about me. It's a whiplash reaction to her getting called out and not being able to control the narrative. She tries to redirect the heat she's getting to me because folks have stopped buying in to what she is saying by pointing out my whiteness as if it delegitimizes what I've said about her history and current practice of spreading incorrect and potentially purposefully false information. She tries to intimidate me by saying things which she thinks I will be embarrassed by or try to hide. She tries to gather in Black folks by creating what she feels is a cognitive dissonance, literally "you Black folks are mad at what I'm trying to do, but there's a WHITE PERSON here":

This is all about control. She cannot control the narrative, so she tries to defame others and state what is pretty boring fact as something salacious, in the hopes that it will sway things to what she feels is her favor.

Control is the crux of the issue from the jump, like I talked about in that beast of a post. Jessyka wants control and authority and thinks she has it by default because she presents herself as such.

Her authority ends at the tip of her nose. She has no say over Haitian Vodou (any of it) or over anyone in the religion short of someone who chooses to let her touch their head when she starts up what she is calling 'initiation'. When she says Ogou Batagi/Badagris has no business with me or that I am upset because I want what she says I can't have, she is trying to extend this authority with the expectation that I will swallow it and, perhaps more importantly, that other people will swallow it.

She's not my spiritual authority and so what she says is just in the wind, and that's okay. I know who I am and what I've got and am happy with that.

So...whatever. She can call me a rodent or a roach or whatever it was, and it's also okay because I can take it. She can point out my whiteness and try to use it to batter folks into agreement with her, but that's not how life works..but it's also okay. Sometimes when we are upset and are being faced with the fact that we have made some mistakes, we lash out. It happens, we are human. She can change these things, though, and heal. She can stop trying to manipulate and control, and instead can step back and allow her head to cool and to come into order.

My hope for her, person-to-person, is that she does this and re-orients her head to Ginen. She doesn't have to keep spinning on her stuff like this. She's started rewriting her history already and it's just like...don't. Don't continue down that road.

But, we all make our own choices.

[rockofeye]

I had no idea about Jessyka. I thought she knew true voodoo. I feel like i believed a charlatan. :(

The internet makes it easy for folks to dress up what amounts to dust and dirt. No one should feel bad if they didn’t know that what Jessyka is saying is not accurate because how could you know? Folks in Haitian Vodou are not her target audience–she wants folks who have no background. 

I posted a lot of videos yesterday of Haitian Vodou, both asson lineage and tchatcha lineage because it’s super easy to believe something is fake when you have never seen what it is. These religions are beautiful, vibrant, deeply rooted cultural mainstays, and even a video can move your heart.

Be nice to yourself about this…you didn’t do anything wrong.

[rockofeye]

So a friend linked your blog to me and I genuinely had now idea how big this drama surrounding hausofhoodoo had gotten. I haven’t read all your posts yet so if this was already mentioned my bad. Something that truly bothers me the most about jessyicka’s posts are the stench of anti-Semitic sentiment in them. Is it just me?

Hi there,

I can definitely see where that could be a valid read of what she has written. She employs a lot of the cultural assassination techniques that are present in coded anti-Semitism, specifically around money and how she portrays Haitians regarding money. It goes without saying that these are harmful and hurtful statements and, you know, aren't true...but, like outright anti-Semitic statements, she uses these things to create, control, and illustrate a particular narrative that leaves her looking like she is pulling back on a curtain what is a deceitful culture.

Like anti-Semitism, none of this is actually true...it's exploitative and about control. She can wield it like a bat and spew lies and folks who have not had any exposure to Haitians or Haitian culture will swallow it because it exploits a desire of many folks, particularly BIPOC folks: to find a spiritual home where they can embrace all of who they are and belong.

It's devious because it takes a lot of unpacking to really expose the decay at the center of it all, and the folks front this sort of stuff are invested in people NOT looking past the initial candy coating. When folks start to push back, tactics change to threats (these folks are going to be spirit food), attempts at humiliation (tell folks how Ogou smacks you around), attempts at misdirection (you Black folks are all mad at me, but do you know this is a white person talking, this is all just white tears), self-martyring (endless posts about self-fragility, rising above, etc), straight-up removal of posts, and outright public relations spin (post after post of apparent/supposed emails from folks who love the Instagram and it's supposed truthiness, screencap after screencap of comments made in support of perceived truthiness). The goal is to overwhelm and bury the ugly stuff in the hopes of folks forgetting it existed, which allows this thread of cultural assassination to stand.

It can be really hard to look past what looks like reasons why folks have not been able to find what their hearts have sought, and it puts folks in an a spot where they are left doing the work of unwittly engaging in character assassination by scapegoating a whole lot of people.

It thrives on the same basic principle that anti-Semitism originally thrived on: lack of exposure. It's easy to agree that something is fake or damaging when you have never seen it. That's why I have started posting videos and historical documentation...we cannot be responsible for what we do not know, but when we have opportunities to see and then choose otherwise we are complicit in this cultural assassination.

Like anti-Semitism is not new for Jewish folks, this isn't new for Haitians, either. Folks have said stuff like this or similar things for ages as a means of evoking feelings to manipulate an outcome and reinforce stereotypes of Haiti and Haitians. Same song, same dance, Instagram provides new packaging. It's something to be aware of when viewing depictions and narratives about Haitian Vodou.

A good question for a Saturday morning, even if I am probably too wordy in response. Have a good day!

[rockofeye]

What did the part of your post mean when you said that if you had done that, the lwa or your mother would end you? please excuse the ignorance on this.

Hi there,

This was from the post re: Jessyka Winston/Haus of Hoodoo stealing a pot tèt/sacred item from a djevo/initiation chamber, which is basically the worst thing you could do in the religion.

What I meant was that I would end up dead. Would my mother actually kill me? Highly, highly unlikely since she's not that kind of woman...but I would never be welcomed back in her home or her temple, as the disrespect would be far too great to ever be forgiven.

Would the lwa destroy me? Absolutely. If I didn't die very quickly in a freak accident or fall ill with some mysterious, fast-moving untreatable illness, I would probably be driven insane and that would get reflected in my behavior and interactions with others. Like, they'd light the fire and let me burn myself up. There's a very true saying that when we have betrayed the lwa so deeply that they will let us go, the first thing they do is remove our sanity and stability because, for many of us, that is our undoing...they don't have to do anything further.

Would they give me grace and allow me to recover? I don't know, and I don't know if I'd deserve it. It would certainly be a long road if they did, beginning with owning up to what I had done and taking responsibility for my actions and the harm they had caused. That is always the first step even if I can't heal the situation entirely.

I hope this answered your question, even if I did get a bit wordy.

[rockofeye]

Did you see the deannacampos reblog?

I had not, but found it. I won’t be re-blogging it for obvious reasons but if folks are interested, @deannacampos is the Tumblr anon is referring to.