Category: Special Lwa Days

  • Heating up for the Erzulie Ritual!

    Greetings everyone!
    It is just a little over a week (I can't believe how time flies!) to go until we start our annual Valentine's Ritual to Erzulie Freda here in the Spellmaker office! If you haven't gotten your ritual request in, please hurry up and do so. Just see the page at www.spellmaker.com/erzulie.htm for instructions on how to submit your letter. It's free, it's fun, it's fabulous!

    For some, this time of year is terribly dreaded. All those happy couples, Valentine's decorations, hearts and flowers just about everywhere can sometimes serve to make those who are facing this holiday alone just feel terrible. That is one of the reasons why we do the Erzulie ritual directly on Valentine's day. So if you don't have a date, you sure do have a date with us!

    Sure, we know it is easy to say it is a cheesy holiday just giving the greeting card companies another way to sell us another $5.00 card. It's easy to say you don't believe in it or wouldn't celebrate it anyway if you were with someone. But for most of us, if we are alone, we still feel pangs of pain in our hearts despite what our lips might say.

    If you feel like the idea of another Valentine's Day makes you want to run and hide, make a plan to spend the day thinking about your own ritual to Erzulie, shopping for what you need, setting everything up, etc. Make the day special to yourself in preparation for the day when someone else will make it special for you.

    Please remember that we are here for you! If you are feeling lonely, tired of being alone, or just plain stressed out over a Valentine's Day spent alone, please write to your caseworker. Tell your caseworker how you are feeling and spend some time discussing how you will spend the day and how you will make it special for yourself.

    So besides doing the Erzulie Valentine's Ritual with us (because I KNOW you are!), what other tips do you have for people spending this day alone? What else can you do to make this day special for yourself?

    I look forward to hearing from you all!

    Love to all,
    Mambo Sam
    Wingedheart

  • Service to Erzulie Freda

    Erzuliekiss Hello everyone!
    Of course, we here at Spellmaker.com are gearing up for our annual Valentine's Day Service to the lovely Vodou love goddess,Erzulie Freda! Many of you have already sent in your petitions to be included in the free ritual. We are hoping that many more of you will!

    One thing I have noticed is that many of you are still worried that your service to Erzulie will not be "enough" for her. Certainly, it is understandable when working with the lwa who is known for loving opulence and luxury that one might have these concerns. Although I have tried to let people know that even the smallest service done with a good heart will be well received, there are still those who wish they could do more. 🙂

    I have some ideas for you! Remember that "luxury" can be a state of mind and an environment can be luxurious without being expensive. So first start thinking of the space that you will be doing your service in. If you purchased the one-day ritual kit or plan on doing the ritual as written on the website make whatever area you will be doing your service in as lovely as you can! Even if you temporarily use one of your own bed sheets as an altar cloth, that is okay because you can spray your perfume on it and make it something special.

    Set the mood for the ritual with any candles you have and put on romantic music or tune your radio to a soft rock or other type of station that plays the kind of music that would set the mood for romance.

    Do you have jewelry? You can put it on the altar and "give" it to Erzulie! That doesn't mean you can't wear it! Of course you can, but if you dedicate it to her, then you have given her something wonderful.

    Do you have old magazines laying around? Cut out pictures of beautiful things – jewelry, clothes, perfume, etc. Make a simple collage out of them and put them on your altar for her!

    How about the rest of you out there? What ideas do you have for serving Erzulie in a respectful, but economical, way? Just click on the little link below the post that says "comments" and leave us your suggestions!

    Love,
    Mambo Sam

  • Ogoun’s Special Oil

    Hello everyone!  As many of you know, we are planning to resume our chat classes on April 23, 2008, with a special ritual to honor one of our favorite lwa, Ogoun Feraille.    He is syncretized with St. George and April 23 is St. George’s feast day.  So we will honor both Ogoun Feraille and St. George on this day.

    Many of you have responded to the idea that we are offering a special ritual pack to be used either together with us when we are doing the ritual online or at any other time that you desire.  I am really happy to see such a great response to honoring Ogoun!

    In this ritual pack is a special voodoo oil that Parran Matt and I have formulated especially for Ogoun.  This is actually partially a formulation that I came up with several years ago for Ogoun.  However, with some special input from Paran Matt, this oil feels even more powerful than it did to start with!  There is a "Fire and Iron" concept to this oil, representing some of the most venerated aspects of Ogoun.  If it turns out that you all like it as much as we think you will, we will certainly start to carry it on a regular basis.

    I cannot wait until you all try it out!

    Love, Mambo SamMonarchogoun

  • St. Joseph and Papa Loko

    Papaloko  Greetings, everyone!  Right on the heels of St. Patrick’s Day is a day that doesn’t receive quite as much recognition in most circles!  It is St. Joseph’s Day and it is always celebrated on March 19. 

    In Vodou/Voodoo, St. Joseph is syncretized with the powerful and wise lwa Papa Loko.  Papa Loko is the giver of the asson (sacred rattle used by Mambos and Houngans) in the ritual of initiation.   Papa Loko is considered the father of all Vodou houses and is known to be the first Houngan.

    Papa Loko is also a healer and often gives herbal cures and medicinal root work knowledge to Houngans and Mambos.  This knowledge, especially in Haiti is used to help the Mambo or Houngan to offer medical help to members of the house.  Of course this practice isn’t as widespread in the United States, but in Haiti, the head of a Vodou house often turns to Papa Loko to cure both serious and simple illnesses.

    St_joseph_alter_3 Of all the Saint syncretizations, I think that the altars built to St. Joseph most closely resemble Vodou!  As you can see from this picture, the altars are extremely elaborate!  And as Vodouisants, I am sure you are going, "wow, that is some Voodoo altar!!"

    Building these altars has a rich tradition, especially in New Orleans history.  St. Joseph altars begin to be built several days ahead of time and are just beautiful.  Almost all of the food is given to the poor after the altar is torn down.

    The tradition of these altars originated in Sicily where St. Joseph was petitioned during a drought and famine.  The drought and famine broke and the people rejoiced and promised to always help feed the less fortunate.   As Vodouisants, we also take the opportunity of this day to do something for those less fortunate and dedicate it to both St. Joseph and Papa Loko!!

    Here is a link to a great article to read more about St. Joseph Day and how it is traditionally celebrated.  If you are not familiar with it, it is a fascinating read! (The author even mentions the Vodou connection!)

    Louisiana Project – St. Joseph’s Day Altars

    This is a really cool link!  It is a virtual St. Joseph’s Altar.  They even have a place for you to make a virtual offering to the altar!! (The altar might be closed today because the Vatican actually moved the feast day this year because of the way Holy Week fell on the Christian calendear, but normally this would be the feast day and, in my opinion, still is!)    😉

    Virtual St. Joseph Altar

    Honoring Papa Loko:  Obviously, for Vodouisants, St. Joseph Day is also an honor to Papa Loko.  Papa Loko is most often honored by Houngans and Mambos and there are even some schools of thought that if you are not a priest or priestess, you might not want to serve him as he reserves most of his guidance for them.  However, I do not feel there is any reason for non-initiates NOT to honor Papa Loko!  He may guide you towards initiation or have other important guidance for you. 

    His colors are yellow, white, and green.  You may serve him with almost any herb or leafy plant (think about serving him a green salad) and fresh water.  I have also found him to be fond of those green herbal drinks and green tea!

    It is a tradition in New Orleans Voodoo that if you want to know someone’s secrets you take a small cloth bag, put some leaves in it that you are offering to Papa Loko (especially if you have built him a small altar and are doing service to him – take some of the leaves that you offered on the altar and put them in the small cloth bag).  Now write the person’s name on a piece of paper nine times.  Fold it up and put it in the bag.   Take the bag and hang it in a tree where it is least likely to be disturbed for 99 days.  During those 99 days, that person’s secrets are said to be all revealed to you.  The bag should continue to hang in the tree until it is destroyed by nature or disintegrates from age. 🙂

    Love, Mambo Sam

  • Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

    Veve of DamballaGreetings, everyone!  As most Vodouisants already know, the great snake Lwa, Damballah, is syncretized with St. Patrick.  It is common to serve Damballah on this day.  It always makes me smile that Damballah is represented by St. Patrick as St. Patrick was credited for "driving the snakes out of Ireland."  Somehow it seems that Damballah got the last word on that!!

    Of course, the syncretization came due to the fact that pictures of St. Patrick often contain pictures of snakes.  It is important to remember that most syncretizations of lwa with Catholic Saints were originated as a way to hide the practitioner’s true intention to serve a particular lwa.  So while we also honor the Saint for his or her long time shielding of the lwa, it is truly the lwa we are serving with the usage of the Saint’s image.

    The great and powerful Damballah is simple to serve:  A white egg served on a small mound of white flour is the perfect offering for him.  White cormeal is also used, as are white liquor (especially anisette), rice, milk, etc. Always remember to include an offering of fresh water served in a clear glass. You can draw the veve above and put it on your altar or under your offering to Damballah.

    Damballah is considered to be the father of the Universe, the father of creation and all knowledge, and the keeper of the skies.  His knowledge comes to his devotees as thoughts and whispers as he does not speak his knowledge aloud.

    When you serve Damballah, ask him for power and knowledge to come to you.  Petition him to help bring peace and harmony into your life.  If you are feeling weak and negative, ask him for strength, cleansing, and removal of all negativity.  Of course, our Milk of Damballah White Bath is made according to the Haitian Vodou formula of the bath for Damballah and is consecrated on his point.  If your love life is in a shambles, ask Damballah to bring the strong peace and love that he shares with Ayida Ouedo (his partner) to your relationship.

    A song for Damballah is often sung in Haiti:

    Ki mele mwen, Dambala, ki mele mwen.
    Ki mele mwen, Dambala, ki mele mwen.
    Pa gen manman, pa gen papa.
    Ki mele mwen, Dambala ki mele mwen.
    This song is interpreted as, "I don’t care (or "what care I"), Dambala, I don’t care.  I have no mama.  I have no papa, I don’t care."  This is often taken to mean that a person has no parents, but they have Damballah and so they don’t care.  However, it’s deeper meaning is to show that Damballah is the lwa of creation therefore having no "mama and papa" because he was always there to start with.   
    Even if you don’t know the tune of the song, you can still sing it for him when you do your offerings.  It is a good way to honor him and call him into your service.
    So as you celebrate St. Paddy’s day today, remember to leave a little offering for Damballah!  Have a great day and if you are going out today, please be safe.
    Love, light, and peace,
    Mambo Sam