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karinyosa · 2 years ago

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from @villageauntie on instagram: “was asked to share ideas of what people who are unable to attend physical gatherings can do to support. these are some of the things i came up with. please feel free to add more in the comments.

yes, i am purposefully leaving out certain words and flags so this post can stay in the feed. but you know who and what this post is for”

id under the cut.

image 1 ID: white title text against a dark gray background that says "nine things you can do" with the subtitle "i was asked to compile a list of suggested activities for those who are unable to attend protests or who are not active on social media. these are from my own experience and those taken from history. i invite you to explore additional ways to support and share them in the comments".

image 2 ID: title says "pray tahajjud". subtitle says "wake in the last third of the night and pray. pray without ceasing. pray like you mean it. prayer is not the least we can do, it is the best we can do. know that your prayers reach. so reach inside and use your limbs and your tongue to supplicate to the one from whom all mercy descends. pray. pray. pray".

image 3 ID: title says "provide childcare". subtitle says "many who are active in the struggle are also parenting young children. offer to watch the babies so that both physical and digital organizing can take place. you can offer to watch children in your home, at the community center, a house of worship, or even outside. just offer it and make it free".

image 4 ID: title says "get educated". subtitle says "read books on palestine, on sudan, on the struggles of oppressed people worldwide. study anti-colonial thought. watch documentaries. study about makandal. read june jordan, kwame ture, amilcar cabral, james baldwin, toni morrison, marc lamont hill, and others. read more, scroll less (unless you are scrolling to get informed). read, digest, reflect".

image 5 ID: title says "educate others". subtitle says "organize a study circle. talk to your friends. interrupt falsehood with fact. have meaningful conversations with coworkers. ask questions, listen more. use what you have read to empower your family. read to their children. answer their questions. use your voice to help others to know and never forget".

image 6 ID: title says "prepare meals". subtitle says "make food. buy food from a local restaurant that is trustworthy. buy fruit. take it to your neighbors, to the masjid, to those who are or will be actively protesting. feed the people because nourishment is important and food is a way to show love and support".

image 7 ID: title says "organize fundraisers". subtitle says "if you have something you can make/sell, use it for a fundraiser. food, quilts, artwork, services, whatever. sell it and donate it to reputable charities providing support. something is better than nothing. no amount raised is too small". as an addition from me, i've also seen people do free art for people willing to commit to calling their reps every day. and for places to donate, i've seen lots of people talking about humanitarian organizations, but two more that i'd like to suggest are the palestinian social fund (palestiniansocialfund.com, their about says "The path to liberation requires material support that is directed toward self-sustainability. The Palestinian Social Fund raises unconditional funding for cooperative farms in Palestine through grassroots efforts. These farms are started by youth who are returning to the land to reclaim food sovereignty and control their own destiny.") and palestine action (palestineaction.org), who participate in direct action activism against weapons trading with israel, mainly focusing on the company elbit.

image 8 ID: title says "engage in arts activism". subtitle says "write poems. paint, sew, sing, dance, create. the artists are desperately needed. make work that amplifies the moment and educates. pour your heart into your craft with the intention to help. art can do what other activism cannot. say it with your craft".

image 9 ID: title says "participate in digital organizing". subtitle says "use your devices as organizing tools. set up a weekly zoom. invite speakers to engage and educate. engage in digital campaigns and letter writing. harness the power of technology for the greater good".

image 10 ID: title says "write letters/essays". subtitle says "write to your elected officials. flood their interns with letters and calls. write essays and post them to your substack/medium/local paper. people are looking to be informed. add your voice through the written word. people will read".

#actions #i remember reading once that writing a real physical letter held more weight with us officials #and that they'd assume if one person wrote then at least 2 other people felt the same way #idk if that's true/still true but putting it out there #i've heard that calling also holds more weight than emailing #palestine

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rmelster · 1 month ago

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On the occasion of the publication of her newest work “Mi nombre es Emilia del Valle” (“my name is Emilia del Valle”), I must petition for Isabel Allende to chill a little with her male leads, because LOOK:

LA CASA DE LOS ESPÍRITUS (HOUSE OF SPIRITS):

-Esteban Trueba: Abuse of power. Abuse of his workers. SAs many poor women. Goes to a brothel VERY underage workers. Kills a chicken by kicking it on the belly so hard he breaks its belly and leaves it “flapping its wings and wailing over a pool of feathers and blood”. Upon his wedding with Clara, he turns her deceased dog Barrabás into a rug for her to use (needless to say she didn’t like the surprise). Expels his sister because he is jealous of the relationship she has with his wife Clara. After the earthquake, he is very demanding with Clara and treats her nastily while he is bedridden, while at the same time treating her lasciviously and smacking her because “in his hazy mind he confused her with the women he used to lay with” (aka the women he SAd). Violently hits his daughter because she had a relationship with Pedro II. Punches his wife on the face so hard she loses MANY teeth. Refuses to pay his grandson with Pancha García after be betrays Pedro. In many times he threatens to break into Clara’s bedroom. Agrees to go to a brothel after Clara dies.

(Pedro II and Miguel are okay with a few flaws, and Esteban García, who is Esteban’s illegitimate grandson, is kind of the evil personified too, but not quite the male lead).

HIJA DE LA FORTUNA (DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE)

-Joaquín Andieta / Murieta (?): Actually he is quiiiiiite far from Esteban Trueba, but doing what he thinks “it’s right” he leaves his gf and his sick mother out of the blue to go find gold. He needs to gold to like, help his mother and marry Eliza. But still he leaves them (with Eliza being pregnant) and he never returns (they kill him).

Tao Chi’en: first and only 19th century doctor romantic interests I see, so I am kind of indulgent about him. BUT. He and the midwife technically leave his newborn daughter to die in their haste to save Lin (his wife). I don’t recall him being very sad about it, only grief stricken when, after a while, his wife Lin died too. It is heavily hinted he chose to help his wife because the child was a daughter (and he goes and goes on how people in his city abandoned their daughters and “preferred a deformed son than twelve wise daughters”). He eventually has a son and a daughter with Eliza in the next book, so idk.

LA ISLA BAJO EL MAR (THE ISLE UNDER THE SEA):

-Toulouse Valmorain: Everything. I fucking. Hate. EVERYTHING. I go into full Allied Mastercomputer hate speech when it’s about this guy. He OWNS slaves but is “too good to hit them”, so he allows his “lowly”, “mixed-race” overseer, Prosper Cambray, to attack them. Marries a Spanish lady, Eugenia, (also, Isabel, why are all Spanish people either mad, fanatic or treacherous? I get it though. I don’t like it, but considering the context, I get it…) and then turns her mad (technically?) by telling her stories of Makandal when she obviously seems VERY distressed and in the midst of a journey. Eugenia then descends into madness (I guess?) and is heavily medicated, with very few bouts of sanity that he uses to, you know what? Turning her mad again and again by bedding her, getting her with child and her ending up miscarrying, which inevitably leads to her descending into madness again. He finally “decides” for her not to lose the child and basically has her bedridden, very much sedated until she births the damn child. While his wife was not in her sanity bouts and very much unconscious, he was very busy SAing Zarité, her very young personal slave-maid, a prolonged abuse that results in two children, Jean-Martin (who he shameless hands to Étienne) and Rosette. (Technically we are not meant to like but STILL). When his wife, who since the birth of Maurice has been kept bedridden and heavily drugged so that she is no bother, eventually dies, he just goes on and marries a French woman who treats his son Maurice and Rosette like crap. Psychologically terrifies Zarité (WHO SAVES HIS LIFE TWICE) by having her almost wiped before freeing her.

-Étienne Relais: It pains me to say it, BUT. Goes with a too young courtesan (15 when they met). He is ruthless too, as it is said when the text describes it as “able to torture a child to know”. Whether he came to such extremes, I don’t know, nor do I wish to, but it is easy to think such thing may have happened.

-Maurice Valmorain: Toulouse’s son by Eugenia, for the record. I don’t like a man who lusts after his young half-sister (who he knows he is related to), marries her, then vanishes into thin air to fight some revolution or whatever and doesn’t realise she has been unjustly incarcerated while heavily pregnant. When he goes back and finds she has died giving birth to a frail son (their son? their nephew? nephew-son?), he is so griefstricken that he leaves AGAIN, and only visits once or twice a year, leaving the burden of raising the child birth emotionally and economically to Zarité, who already has, y’know, CHILDREN OF HER OWN AND SHE TOO IS GRIEFSTRICKEN AT HER DAUGHTER’S DEATH.

#Isabel Allende #I needed to get this off my chest

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the-girl-who-didnt-smile · 7 months ago

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[THEORY] Maman Brigitte originates in Brigitte Mackandal

Rather than Saint Brigitte or the Celtic goddess Brigid, a likelier candidate for the origin of Maman Brigitte is the wife of the famous Haitian maroon leader François Mackandal, who was named Brigitte Mackandal.

Below is all the information I could find about Brigitte Mackandal.

John D. Garrigus mentions Brigitte Mackandal in A Secret among the Blacks (2023).

He describes her as the wife of François Mackandal, and a “ritual leader in her own right”:

“In Soufrière, a man known as Makandal was creating spiritually powerful objects—bundles of natural and man-made materials—that his followers called makandals, and teaching those followers how to work with them…Makandal created a deeply bonded community in Soufrière based on Congo ritual practice. He served newly arrived Central Africans from many different ethnic groups as well as island-born people. Many of his followers lived on the growing number of coffee plantations in the region, but others came from farther away: Cap Français or Port Margot and Le Borgne parishes to the west.” (p. 76)

“Nearly all Black people in Saint-Domingue carried charms, packets that took different forms and were sometimes called gry. But Congo-inspired makandals were not charms; they were considered to be alive. Makandal’s community believed the bundles moved, spoke, revealed the future, and worked on behalf of those who fed and praised them…” (p. 76)

“...Brigitte, described as Makandal’s wife and a ritual leader in her own right, claimed that a makandal bundle “consulted by its servant” could reveal the location of “an escaped slave, who had stolen something that was missing, the poisoner, and other [things]...” (p. 78)

Brigitte Mackandal is described alongside several of François Mackandal’s enslaved followers, who were later arrested and interrogated:

“Makandal’s community-building probably began with people enslaved on Soufrière’s coffee estates at the upper reaches of the Limbé River valley. By 1757, it extended to Cap Français in the east and Port Margot and Le Borgne in the west. A woman named Marianne may have been the leader of the Cap Français branch of the community. Enslaved by a wigmaker, Marianne performed rituals in the wigmaker’s kitchen with two enslaved men named Michel and Jolicoeur. Jolicoeur could read and write French. Brigitte carried packets to Marianne in Cap Français once a week. A follower named Leveillé was enslaved to a rug maker and then a saddlemaker, which suggests he also lived in Cap Français. Jean à Tessereau, another close associate, eventually broke with Makandal and took his family into the hills behind Cap. This suggests that he was enslaved near the city. Far to the west of Cap Français, a follower named Geneviève was enslaved in Port Margot.…” (p. 79)

“Makandal was held in the Cap Français jail for weeks awaiting interrogation. He was prosecuted in a judicial investigation that started on Tuesday, January 17, and lasted just four days…Makandal never admitted to making or using poisons. He did name some of his followers, though, and the court sent constables to arrest them. Makandal, Brigitte, Leveillé, Mercure, Jolicoeur, and Geneviève were arrested and interrogated.” (p. 88)

Garrigus then describes how she and other followers of Mackandal worshiped Charlot, who the colonists referred to as “Diable” (devil):

“...Makandal’s follower Mercure claimed that he served Charlot, an entity that Courtin took to be the devil. It seems that venerating Charlot was a way Mercure, Brigitte, and probably Makandal himself appropriated French stories of the devil and claimed this power as their own…” (p. 92)

Garrigus also describes how she was burned to death along with Mackandal and others:

“In 1776, Hilliard d’Auberteuil advised readers that they could go to the council’s archive and consult the trial records for “Macanda, Pompée, Angélique, Brigitte, Laurent, & others burned after them.”” (p.202)

SOURCE: Garrigus, John D.. A Secret Among the Blacks: Slave Resistance Before the Haitian Revolution. United States, Harvard University Press, 2023. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674272828

Garrigus refers to the following primary sources:

Sébastien Jacques Courtin’s (1758) “Mémoire Sommaire Sur Les Prétendus Pratiques Magiques et Empoisonnements…”

Charles Fournier de la Chapelle (1758) “Mémoire pour servir à l’information des procés contre les négres devins, sorciers et empoisonneurs”

Michel-René Hilliard d’Auberteuil, “Considérations sur l’état présent de la colonie française de Saint-Domingue” (Paris: Grangé, 1776), 1:137.

Here are all the excerpts I could locate in each of these texts:

1. COURTIN’S (1758) “MEMOIRE SOMMAIRE…”

“...Mercure et Brigite femme de françois qui sont convenus de savoir faire des macandals qui remuent sur la tête ont indiqué les memes operations ont dit que les paroles magiques etaient bondieu conné qui ça moi faire, bon dieu baie yeuse ça qui yeuse demandé vous…”

TRANSLATION:

“Mercure and Brigitte, wife of François, who agreed to know how to make macandals that work on the head, indicated the same operations, and said that the magic words were “Good God knows what I do, Good God opens the eyes of those who ask for eyes”... ”

“...Cependant Brigite a dit que l'usage du ___ fait perdre la vertu au Macandal, mais que pour la luy rendre, il faut se frotter les mains avec du fran bazin et le laver avec dans L'eau Benite….”

TRANSLATION:

“...However, Brigitte said that the use of ___ makes the Macandal lose its virtue, but that to restore it, one must rub one's hands with fran bazin and wash it in Holy Water….”

“...Brigite qui a paru parler sans detour dans les derniers jours de sa vie a dit que le Macandal consulté par son serviteur luy parloir d'une façon claire et nette dans les oreilles suivant son expression qu'il disait ou etait un negre maron quel était le voleur d'une chose dont on etait en peine, l'empoisonneur et le reste…”

TRANSLATION:

“...Brigitte who seemed to speak frankly in the last days of her life said that the Macandal, when consulted by its servant, could clearly speak into her ears where an escaped slave was, who had stolen something that was missing, who was the poisoner, and other things…”

“...Les interrogatoires de Mercure et de Brigite nous ont devoilé sans equivoque tout le mistere du culte reflechi que Les sorciers rendent au Diable…”

TRANSLATION:

“The interrogations of Mercure and Brigitte have revealed to us without equivocation all the mysteries of the worship The sorceries render to the Devil…”

“…Brigite deja condamnée, parlait sans déguisement. Mercure ne l'etait point encore et il colorait toutes ses profanations du vernis de simplicité qui semblait en exclure tout soupçon d'impiété reflechie…”

TRANSLATION:

“…Brigitte, already condemned, did not disguise her words. Mercury had not yet reached that point and he colored all his profanations with the varnish of simplicity, which seemed to exclude any suspicion of impiety…”

“...Brigite amenée pour être confrontée à Mercure et interrogée sur cette priere du matin dit quelle etait vraie mais que c’était par derisiones pour se moquer des prieres de L'eglise qu’on les recitait devant Charlot qu'on baisait ensuite la terre comme pour l'adoration de la croix qu'en se levant on disait il n'y a rien degrand passé bon dieu qui est en haut du ciel et Charlot et apres eux c'est François Macandal que les petits macandals s'appelaient enfants a bon dieu pour dire qu'ils étaient Les petits ou les enfants de Charlot leur bon dieu…”

TRANSLATION:

“...Brigitte, brought to be confronted by Mercure and questioned about this morning prayer, said that it was true but that it was in derision to mock the prayers of the Church, that they were recited in front of Charlot, that they then kissed the earth as for the adoration of the cross, that when getting up they said there is nothing great before Good God, who is at the top of heaven, and Charlot, and after them it is François Macandal, that the Little Macandals called themselves Children of Good God, to say that they were The Little ones or the children of Charlot, their Good God…”

“...La Negresse Marianne qui recevait des poisons que Macandal luy envoyait par Brigite sa femme communiait tous les huit jours…”

TRANSLATION:

“...The Negress Marianne who received poisons that Macandal sent her through Brigitte, his wife, took communion every eight days…”

SOURCE: Sébastien Jacques Courtin. “Mémoire Sommaire Sur Les Prétendus Pratiques Magiques et Empoisonnements Prouvés Au Procès Instruit et Jugé Au Cap Contre Plusieurs Nègres et Négresses Dont Le Chef Nommé François Macandal a Été Condamné Au Feu et Exécuté Le Vingt Janvier Mille Sept Cents Cinquante Huit,’ 1758, ANOM F/3/88,” January 20, 1758. Archives Nationales d’Outre Mer. Retrieved from: https://ecda.northeastern.edu/key-text-memoire-sommaire-sur-les-pretendus-pratiques-magiques-et-empoisonnements/

2. FOURNIER DE LA CHAPPELLE’S (1758) “MEMOIRE…”

Brigite Mackandal is also mentioned in Charles Fournier de la Chapelle’s one-page memo (1758) “Mémoire pour servir à l’information des procés contre les négres devins, sorciers et empoisonneurs”:

“Me nous a servi (Brigitte) a decouvrir enfin dans la Confrontation avec Mercure le culte suivi qui servent au Diable, sous le nom de Charlot…”

TRANSLATION:

“She (Brigitte) helped us to finally discover in the Confrontation with Mercure the cult followed by those who serve the Devil, under the name of Charlot…”

She is mentioned again later in the document, but I struggled to transcribe this section:

SOURCE: Charles Fournier de la Chapelle, “Mémoire pour servir à l’information des procés contre les négres devins, sorciers et empoisonneurs” (1758). Retrieved from: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10112297j/f6.item

3. HILLIARD D’AUBERTEUIL’S (1776) “CONSIDERATIONS…”

Finally, Brigitte Mackandal is briefly mentioned in Hilliard d'Auberteuil’s (1776) “Considérations sur l'état présent de la colonie française de Saint-Domingue”, which describes how she was burned to death along with François Mackandal:

“On peut voir au Greffe du Conseil du Cap, les procédures criminelles contre Macanda, Pompée, Angélique, Brigite, Laurent, & autres brûlés depuis;”

TRANSLATION:

“One can view at the Registry of the Council of Cap, the criminal proceedings against Macanda, Pompée, Angélique, Brigite, Laurent, and others burned since;”

SOURCE: d'Auberteuil, Michel-René Hilliard. Considérations sur l'état présent de la colonie française de Saint-Domingue: Ouvrage politique et législatif; présenté au ministre de la marine. Vol. 1. A Paris, chez Grangé, imprimeur-libraire, rue de la Parcheminerie; & au Cabinet-Littéraire, Pont Notre-Dame, 1776. p. 137. Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/considrationss00hill/page/136/mode/2up

* * *

In Rituals, Runaways, and the Haitian Revolution (2022) Crystal Nicole Eddins comments on Brigite Mackandal like so:

“Women like Brigitte Mackandal and Marie Catherine Kingué demonstrated the “radical implications of black women’s spiritual politics” by embracing acts of “woman-centered preservation,” such as poison, healing, and midwifery, that fundamentally opposed racial capitalist exploitation of black women’s bodies.” (p. 144)

She also posits:

“Mackandal’s wife, Brigitte, may have transitioned into the world of the lwa as Maman Brigitte, who has authority over cemeteries.” (p. 122)

SOURCE: Eddins, Crystal Nicole. Rituals, Runaways, and the Haitian Revolution: Collective Action in the African Diaspora. United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009256148 Retrieved from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/rituals-runaways-and-the-haitian-revolution/2FCBF92A767FD8DE3615602F589C326E#overview

Even if there is no connection between Maman Brigitte and Brigitte Mackandal, these documents demonstrate that there existed Haitian women from this time period with the name “Brigitte”. These women may have been named after Saint Brigitte because there were a number of slave owners of Irish descent, such as Antoine Walsh, and possibly the Celtic province of France (Brittany).

If true, this would explain why Maman Brigitte is identified with Saint Brigitte. In Haitian Vodou, Catholic Saints can come to be identified with important ancestral spirits, like so:

“KB: Tell me everyone who "walks with Dantò," everyone who you have here on your altar with Dantò.”

“ML: You have St. Rose of Lima; she is a Petwo. You have St. Philomène. She is Petwo. She is a lwa too, Manbo Philomise. You see St. Andrew? You see Sacred Heart–who walks with Simbi? And then you have St. Jude. He is a Legba Petwo, too.”

“Spirits who have been important to one of the ancestors occupy a dual role in Vodou, one in which they are treated as both spirits and ancestors. So when Mama Lola serves St. Philomène, she also honors the spirit of her mother, Philomise, a well-known healer in Port-au-Prince. It is because of this that the altars can be seen as repositories of family history, or, more literally, as repositories of the family itself.”

SOURCE: Lola, Mama & Brown, Karen McCarthy. "The Altar Room: A Dialogue." In Cosentino, Donald. Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. United States, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1995. p. 229-230. Retrieved from: https://archive.org/details/sacredartsofhait0000unse/page/228/mode/2up?

This would explain why Maman Brigitte is not a white woman, but an old Black woman; she is an important ancestral spirit of a Haitian woman who lived several hundred years ago.

Long story short, it is most likely that the important ancestral lwa Maman Brigitte originates in a Haitian woman who was named “Brigitte” – possibly, Brigitte Mackandal.

For other historical documents pertaining to François Mackandal, see: https://classiques-garnier.com/makandal-en-metamorphoses-heroismes-et-identites-dans-la-litterature-caribeenne-annexe-c.html?displaymode=full

#commentary

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rockofeye · 2 years ago

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At the End of the Year

Despite this being a very hot, very active part of the Vodou year, I have found myself feeling very contemplative and reflective as I head towards the change of the calendar. This is unsurprising; the older I get, the more I prefer to sit quietly and drink in my understanding of my own self.

And yet, the poto mitan is still on fire and the air is still filled with flames and the smoke and dust of pounded leaves. I feel like I am sitting in the middle of a fire tornado watch the lwa light the flames to burn away what does not serve us as we move into a new year.

It is not by chance or accident that Makaya season spans the last month of the old year and a piece of the New Year. It's the good kind of burning.

2023 was The Year for me. A lot of goals I had set quite awhile ago have come to fruition and all the groundwork I laid became the foundation for the rest of my life. I didn't do it on my own, of course...all the work (and accompanying blood, sweat, and tears) was done with the lwa, who held me up when I legitimately thought I was done.

After battling for my husband's visa for three years, I got it done. It took a federal court case that I filed (because who has lawyer money?) and lamp after lamp after iliminasyon. Every time something changed or didn't change and we found another speedbump, another lamp with the work doubled in Haiti. More prayers, more struggles...but I won the battle in the end and it is sealed. I have never felt the kind of satisfaction that I felt when we made it through the final hoop of customs to enter the US. The phone calls from the airport to family and friends back in Haiti and in the US were the best phone calls ever. The airport dinner was the best dinner ever.

And despite all the work that went into it...I know we were blessed in the process because it only took three years. While waiting for processing at the American embassy in Port-au-Prince, S met people who had been in process for years longer than us for the exact same visa. There were moments where we could have been turned back and yet with grace we were not. When you are in the fire, it is hard to see where the hands of the lwa might be, but when it was finished....I see how they both made the road, cleared the road, and accompanied me on the journey.

I did all that, and I am super proud of it.

There have also been many other wins and successes but that's the big one, and I am satisfied.

2024 doesn't look like it will be an easier year in this world bent on destruction, but I am hopeful. There is lots to look forward to; my husband is getting ready to launch his atelier that will showcase his talent in traditional drapo and boutey lwa making, as well as his painting and garment skills. There are a couple of book projects simmering away and maybe the formation of an artist collective based in Haiti, as well as other Haiti projects. I hope and plan for success as a foundation moving forward.

We are busy getting ready for this new year. The house has been cleaned and every bit of laundry done, the baths have been made, magic refreshed, and tomorrow's soup joumou will be a reward for all of the running around. May these preparations solidify my blueprints to success.

We not only witness the New Year arriving, but January 1 marks the 220th anniversary of Haitian independence from colonial rule and the liberation of all enslaved individuals in the territory of Haiti. It is a poignant new beginning within a new beginning, particularly at a time when worldwide we are faced with the spectre of colonialism, poisonous nationalism, and the reminder that the world has not yet quashed the reality of subjugation of those we deem lesser. Liberation is an ongoing active process, and the fire lit by our revolutionary spiritual ancestors still burns. The lessons of Dessalines, L'Ouverture, Ogè, Papillon, Pètion, Christophe, Capois, Makandal, Boukman, Fatiman, la Prophétesse, and all whose names were not written or were forgotten are still important.

I do not wish for peace, but for revolution that brings new life. In that revolution, may you find prosperity, health, a sense of purpose, the knowledge that that the world needs your presence and participation, and balance in deeply unbalanced times. May you be accompanied by your ancestors and spirits who love you, and may the hope for a new year burn bright!

#vodou #haitian vodou

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vodouvi · 2 months ago

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Leonard Elmera "The Haitian Bokor". Love him, hate him, or somewhere in the middle with mixed feeling, Dr. Leonard has been in the public eye for about 10 years. He seems to be here to stay, so where did he come from and what is his story?

Known as a notorious internet troll, faking his own death on Facebook, talking down on the prices and scams that go on in African Traditional Religion while himself charging thousands of dollars for his readings and spellcasting, Leonard is as known as a content creator and comedian as anything else. He has amassed a number of online haters, rumor has it he is on his way to Hollywood being in documentaries, featured on panels, celebrity psychic and type cast as a Haitian Boogeyman in movies.

A Pastor's son, sent to live in America for a better life with his mother, by his own account Leonard claimed that he experienced much of the bullying and harassment that was so common for Haitians living in the United States. By his own admission this pulled him under the influence of the mean streets of New Jersey, becoming a founding member of the street gang known as "Haitian Posse".

After a brush with death, he turned his life in another direction becoming a union carpenter, amateur local MMA champ, and seeking to become a business man. A unique character Leonard himself was known for his love of old school punk rock and gothic music. His old videos had him sporting a "Ramones" sweatshirt. His diverse music taste had him in the early days of Instagram running one of the first "Black Goth" model online booking companies.

Another near fatal incident had him come to some spiritual awakening where before he had some interest in the mystic arts but was largely agnostic. He said he started to do rituals and instructions he heard from the spirits, and when they worked he stepped out doing work for the public. The internet as it became more advanced had many psychics and spellcasters come out of the woodwork. Leonard originally put out social media posts about backlash he got from white wiccans and traditional Haitian priests he believed were scamming for the dollars.

He claims that when he was able to go back to Haiti he reconnected with his Uncles who still practiced. While his father left Vodou behind to be a celebrated pastor, Leonard's grandparents were Vodou priests. His grandfather had a Lakou in Port-Au-Prince, which he says was closed down for any public use of a temple as a family property. This is an interesting story because a Lakou or Bitasyon is first and foremost, land that is passed down. Chaos in the country many believe is often meant to give up ownership of these valuable lands as property cannot be seized under Haitian law only voluntarily sold.

Leonard claims that in relaying his experiences of doing rituals on his own was in related to real traditions that were related to a particular type of Esoteric Vodou based on Haitian and Cuban Kabbale that was more known in the Duvlaier era but less known today.

Haitian Kabbale is in many forms known for its strength, creativity and mixing with Vodou even if no animals are used. This type of Kabbale is sometimes associated in former times with Secret Society members such as the Sanpwel, which Leonard claimed he was not an initiated priest but did join a branch of that society.

He claimed he went by "Bokor" which was the same as a "Houngon Makout" or priest that just learns by experience and apprenticeship, but more similar to a rootworker and herbalist in the tradition of Makandal.

A Bokor is in this sense not bound by any special oath of limiting what they can do because they are serving a temple community, but is often associated with "evil doings' such as turning people to zombies or hexing people for the right price.

He has said "the right price" is what he is all about. He says "the Bokor is who people come to when they can't get help nowhere else". Known for fighting with fans, customers, and online competitors, according to himself, getting with too many online spiritualist women.

He switched to clapping the cocoa puffs of light skin, mixed and Latina women from Dominican Republic, both for his preference and trolling the world at the same time about he should and shouldn't like. In Canada there are tribute pages saying his long career run makes him a figure in the current Haitian-American community, while in African web forums such as Nairland and similar pages he is listed by some as a "Voodoo Pastor" who like many Vodou priests, "Prophets" and other religious figures are part of "The Illuminati".

In Nigeria some how this turned into people listing him on pastor pages saying he paid $500,000 to be an "American Kingpin" over Black Spiritualist and religious figures in the internet age. How he got known in Nigeria nobody knows and some say he made this rumor up to spread his fame overseas.

Rumor also has it that he has long ago left the "witchcraft" business and went into the Jewelry business apprenticing with some Jewish Jewelers in New York who may have business dealings in Dominican Republic. This would explain why he made videos in DR more and more at the same time doing custom "consecrated jewelry". Originally he made custom pieces for himself, but then started making more for customers after as he said "real Miami goons" ordered custom spirit rings for protection.

He is said to charge between 3-6k per custom piece, but for those who are keeping them for life and "in the life", this type of price isn't too out of the question. The question that many would have is "Do magic rings exist?".

His original clients for this were he said people in the street life such as dealers, hustlers, strippers and professional "models", escorts and other "Women of Leisure".

This lead him to customize a formula for this type of jewelry of which he called "Streetsweeper Ring" it was meant to broadcast a frequency of offensive protection forcing out any threats or opposition while it "laid them down" with strange energies, distractions, random events. up to an including they just go away.

Haitian Kabbale does have a form of putting spirits in objects including jewelry which combines Vodou, ideas from the Books of Moses and Solomon and Arabian Djinn magic. When he was trolled online, he posted a video of how he did this, then quickly took it down because he was "showing too much". It was indeed an insane set up.

He filmed how he used a goetic ritual placing the jewelry inside its own Kabbale seal and circle, and then using multiple candles, Triangles of Solomon and incense burners to summon a spirit and bind it to the jewelry. Instead of using a bowl of water or skrye mirror to try to view that the spirit was there, he used a club style laser light machine to pulse through the incense smoke to reveal any spirits arriving in the room. He also made several rants against detractors showing his Kabbale books which revealed he had several very large old rare books and studied also with Jewish Kabbalists, even Rabbis. Living in the New Jersey/NYC area this would be easily possible, it is just not clear if this is really true or just a story.

Much of the old material from his early days is no longer online as detractors have often mysteriously disappeared off the internet or ended up in strange situations. He also has been thrown off social media a few time, only to return. He has been accused from everything from using Latino folk magic curses he learned in Columbia rebranded as "Vodou" which is why he uses "Intraquilito" spells which are not used the same in Haitian Vodou.

He also came up with his own love binding honey jar which just doesn't attract people but punishes them if they leave. He calls this a "demonic honey jar". This has caused him some more controversy, as honey jars are thought to not be used in Haiti, when Haiti for generations has had no just honey but custom honey plantations and is one of Haiti's known national exports it has been exploited for along with other valuable herbs like Moringa farms and certain types of tea leaf as well as sugar, coffee and bananas. This comes up sometimes when people think Haitian magic or "work" doesn't use sugar, coffee grounds or tea leaves.

He seems to enjoy people talking about him one way or the other. As to the truth of it all, the world may never know. Is he a darkside Vodou spiritualist wizard that is allowed to be the front man in the United States for higher forces of chaos behind the scenes, a master scam artist or something in between? Nobody knows.

His worst detractors say that he in fact does not believe in Vodou at all or even religion, he just noticed the trend of online psychic sites, and how even they lost business to more advanced forms of African spiritualism who could also cast spells. To a normal person something like Tarot cards is "edgey" but in the world of the occult as far as divination, it is a deep system but far from the most complex out there.

For some this is what they believe, that he saw an opportunity to manage this image, where he went from doing psychic readings for himself to managing instead of Instagram models a witchy following of luxury lifestyle minded Carribean women who handle most of his readings these days. Some say if a person orders spells it is brokered to other people, or it is not down at all allegedly.This again is said by him to be false, and that behind the scenes he has his own students he trained to help him run his business.

It is said that part of his secretiveness is that his father being a prominent Pastor in Haiti had no idea he was building up his brand in the United States being a "Bokor" and this could be the reason why he started his motto that he was a Pastor, a devout Christian and that he has "Never Done Black Magic or Witchcraft a Day In his life". This is possibly a double joke as if he does not do any work or brokers it, this would be true. He has in fact recently started a Spiritualist Church as he posted his religious incorporation online, so he really is a "Christian Pastor" at this time.

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