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rockofeye · 6 months

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A death rite in Haitian Vodou

Here is a rare look at the publicly viewable portion of desounay/desounen, which is the first rite after a houngan, manbo, or other vodouizan passes. Unfortunately, this was a rite done on behalf of the death of a very well known and well respected houngan in Jacmel, Haiti who died unexpectedly this morning. This is difficult to watch, with lots of crying and expressions of grief.

youtube

The video begins with the procession, which has likely started at the home of the houngan (Woodson Antoine, ki di Gwètòde Plenipontansyè), where he passed, and is leading into the temple where Houngan Sonson was initiated. The procession ends as the rest of the desounay is completed behind closed doors. After, folks who have arrived gather to hear Houngan Woodson's papa kanzo speak, and then the videographer shares the news that Houngan Woodson has passed and shares what details were available; that he has been in ceremony just hours earlier with many of the people present, had not been well and had many health issues, had been encouraged to go to the hospital, and then went home, where he passed due to breathing difficulties. By the time an ambulance was found, he had already gone. The videographer compares desounay to the Catholic rite of extreme unction, which is aimed at allowing someone sick to pass to eternity with the blessings of their God and forgiven of their sins. Desounay is a little different than that, as it is only completed after death.

The desounay is completed as soon as possible after death is realized; this is the first ceremony that begins to separate our various soul pieces to go where they must so that we, our lwa, and our descendants can have peace after we pass. It is preferable that this ceremony is done before the body is taken from the home to the morgue or funeral home. In this case, you can see how quickly it was put together; it is happening very early in the morning, pre-9AM, and folks have clearly come directly from ceremony or their homes in a rush, you can see that they have put their white clothes on over other clothes or black and purple clothes from the Gede ceremonies they were attending. This has happened so quickly that there has not been time to prepare the temple or really even the community; Houngan Woodson was extremely well known in Jacmel and in Haiti at large due to his position as gwètò and not everyone was able to come in the moment to share in the grief. His bowoum and traditional internment will undoubtedly be huge.

This is a huge loss. While Haitian Vodou professes no central authority figure(s), a gwètò is a sort of regional coordinator that takes on the responsibility of watching over the community/communities in his or her region. A gwètò might mediate disputes, help a new temple start up, and represent the region throughout the country. Houngan Woodson took his position seriously and attended just about every ceremony in the area, even if he could only go for awhile. I personally benefitted from his intercession when there were local issues my husband needed help with, and I knew Houngan Woodson to be a kind, thoughtful, and caring individual who was always pleased to see me and hear how I was.

This has been a very introspective Gede season for me; Gede has had me sitting and reflecting on things that I will write about soon. What I have thought about today in thinking about this particular death is that access to healthcare is a liberation issue. While only Bondye knows our time and we ask to only be taken at our right time, had Haiti had more equitable access to both emergency medical care in that someone could have called for help and Houngan Woodson could have gone to a hospital that was staffed and had medical equipment, and regular healthcare that could have provided ongoing support for his medical issues as we know in many other parts of the world, perhaps his death could have been avoided. If liberation was fully realized in Haiti, deaths from things we take for granted as minor annoyances, like asthma, strep throat, high blood sugar, and similar, would be a thing of the past.

Woukoukou, yon gwo pyebwa te tonbe. May Houngan Woodson awaken in the company of his ancestors and his lwa in Alada, and may his friends, family, and loved ones find comfort in his memory.

#vodou #haitian vodou #desounay #desounen #death rites #Youtube

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conjuremanj · 1 month

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Erzulie Freda.

Okay. When I saw this I had to share it. This is from Houngan Jak. A doll of Ayibobo Mambo Maitresse Erzulie wearing beautiful real jewelry and clothing.

(If you're wondering. Ayibobo is a ritual word that's a equivalent to “Amen” or "Blessings" and a few other meanest depending on how it's used)

👇Next is a photo of her being bathed in and bath made for her.

👇This is her altar. With items that she loves.

👇Oh, Check this out a Florida Water bottle created for her.

These aren't my photo they belong to Senjsk a Vodou priest. I just wasn't to share these.

If you are a devotee of any spirit, deity, Gods, Ansestors etc Look at the things they like or tell you they like and create something personal for them that comes from you.

They'll like it.

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deathsembrace662 · 8 months

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Hi everyone, it’s been a while. Recently there was a problem in my friend group. Some one close to me was part of a house for Voudou. I have permission to share this. Voudou is a beautiful religion/faith. The spirits are to be respected and normally the teaching environment of a house can be a wonderful space to learn and grow. Anyway, my friend had a Papa which is a Houngan or Priest/spiritual leader in that house. He ended up assaulting her claiming it was perfectly ok because a, b and c. (That part i am not allowed to share) So my question, cut and dry without explaining anything I’m not supposed to speak of is this…how prevalent is sexual assault in Voudou houses? It is a very secretive faith, and i just want to know if anyone has any stories or knows someone this has happened to, thank you.

#voudou #voodoo #voodoo loa #lwa #haitian vodou #vodou #voudou house #call out post #shareyourstory #trigger warning #sexualassault #magick #help

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doctorofmagic · 9 months

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Doctor Strange and the supernatural characters pt 2 - Jericho Drumm

Much to my surprise, being a doctor is not the only thing Jericho and Stephen have in common. As I went through his chronology, I noticed they’re quite similar in many aspects, whether magical or personality-wise.

I’ve always loved the concept of Doctor Voodoo and had read some of his adventures, but this time around I made a complete reading and he’s still one of my favorite magic users for many, many reasons.

But first, let’s dive into his past real quick to learn more about his story, motivations and powers.

Jericho Drumm and his twin brother Daniel were born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The twins were separated when their parents died and Jericho decided to pursue a career in the USA as a pyschologist and scholar (some writers will give him another field of expertise, but it’s commonly accepted as canon that he has a doctorate in Psychology), whereas Daniel stayed and became a houngan (a voodoo priest). Upon learning that Daniel fell ill, Jericho returned to Haiti. Daniel claimed that Damballah, the loa known as the evil serpent-god, cursed him. Before dying, his twin asked Jericho to go to the jungle and meet his mentor, Papa Jambo, in order to learn magic. Jericho, at that time, did not believe in the supernatural and confronted Damballah, being defeated by forces he did not understand yet.

Papa Jambo, then, accepted Jericho as an apprentice and taught him voodoo magic. As a last attempt to defeat Damballah, Papa Jambo performed a ritual to summon Daniel’s spirit so they could become two men in one. The ritual was successful, leaving the V symbol imprinted on his forehead and the white streaks on his hair. Papa Jambo then passed away as a result, leaving the mantle of Brother Voodoo to his disciple Jericho.

He then confronted Damballah once more and defeated his enemy, whom would be later retconned to be a random evil spirit instead of the loa himself, since the loa are not considered evil spirits.

And here’s a quick disclaimer: there are lots of misconceptions and stereotypes when it comes to Haitian voodoo in the Marvel universe, mostly because it’s a real religion and many stories were not written by poc. I made a quick research but just to point a few: voodoo dolls are considered a myth, although some are used in New Orleans voodoo for tourism [1]; the term used in Sorcerer Supreme to describe Brazilian voodoo refers to the religion as "macumba”, which is a pejorative term. The Brazilian equivalent to Haitian voodoo is called Candomblé Jeje [2]; Marie Laveau is often portrayed as a evil voodoo witch, but she’s celebrated in New Orleans for help, healing and empowerment [3].

Disclaimer done, so back to Jericho. For a while, he stayed in Port-au-Prince, having his own Sanctum and accepting the help of a butler (pretty similar to Wong in his first years). He then later moved to New Orleans, fighting many enemies and teaming up with many popular heroes, such as Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Blade, Black Panther, Luke Cage and so on.

When Stephen considered himself unworthy of his title, the Eye of Agamotto elected Jericho as the next Sorcerer Supreme. And here I need to point out that, in my humble opinion, Jericho was nerfed from what he used to be as a magic user. I consider him waaay more powerful back then, even without the power of the Vishanti at his disposal.

When it comes to personality, Jericho has the very same introverted personality as Stephen’s in early comics, as well as the formal rhetorics, rational thoughts and kindness towards civilians.

Slowly, the readers realize that he’s also lonely and afraid of relationships, constantly pushing people away.

One may arguee that he’s been involved with many female characters, the most important being Wanda, and I agree they’re super cute together. Sadly, for editorial decision, Jericho was pushed away to hint a comeback for Wanda x Vision. Monica Rambeau was also interested in him for a while, but that writing is TERRIBLE, portraying him like a clingy (and kinda stalker) pretendent. I’d say Jericho takes things veeeeery slow because he’s afraid of relationships, as pointed out earlier. On top of that, I super hc him as aroace, because it’s rare to see him in a romantic light. It’s up to each person’s interpretation, of course.

Moving on -- and since I’m comparing him to Stephen -- let’s also talk about guilt and sense of duty. Jericho as Sorcerer Supreme is as stubborn as Stephen: he doesn’t rest, he feels responsible for every mystical issue AND is compelled to sacrifice himself in order to fulfill his role.

That’s why he ends up killed in the first place, after all. Thankfully, Doom brings him back to life (AND WE LOVE TO SEE IT).

In addition to the previous relationship Stephen and Jericho built through the years, we also have now a delicate matter, which is Daniel. Daniel was really mad at Stephen and blamed him for Jericho’s death. Since then, the spirit of Jericho’s brother was used as bargain in Savage Avengers, and to be honest, I don’t know how to feel about it, but it’s canon now, so... If Jericho is better off without his brother, so be it.

In conclusion, I do believe Jericho is a very important figure in Stephen’s life, not only as a co-worker at Strange Academy and former mentor, but also as a friend. Not to mention that he’s amazing as a stand-alone character, with a rich lore and so much potential. I find outrageous how little Jericho is used in comics. I need him in a solo title or at least in a one-shot with Zoe!

Bonus: The Vishanti and the Three-Who-Are-All

Although the Three-Who-Are-All had their debut in Werewolf by Night, Jericho was directly involved in their prophecy, joining Jack Russell and his allies in order to defeat a great evil. They're not as powerful as the Vishanti -- nor as important -- but it’s curious to see that the concept of a trinity is the same.

[Part 1]

Special thanks to Val, he’s the only Jericho stan I know out there and we only have each other to cry over him haha love u <3

#doctor voodoo #jericho drumm #doctor strange #stephen strange #marvel comics #analysis

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hosticaaa · 3 months

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𝒜𝔩𝔞𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯 ; Canon divergence / Misc info drop pt 2.

I mentioned a bunch of these things on Al's blog and in the past across my various other blogs but !!! Theres some new things I wanted to add / mention so heres a new post / and a repost of some things I've already mentioned. These are things I established before the show released and frankly while Alastor in the show pretty much looks exactly like how I imagined him characterization wise, there are some things in my personal canon that are either not canon to the show / not intended to be or that might never be in the show so yeah ;

• Alastor grew up in the 1910s. His mother owned her own home and a salon, she came into these things passed from his grandmother who was the mistress of was a wealthy white man. When he passed away, he left a substantial chunk of his wealth and properties to Alastor's grandmother. He may not be Alastor's biological grandfather, however, Alastor doesn't know the details of this and frankly he's never really asked because he IS aware his family history is fraught with the usual complications to be found in families who were outside of the times idea of normal and legal. If you mixed, you know.

• He doesn't really remember his father and his mother doesn't speak of him often. As far as Alastor understands his father was a bit of a loser and seemed to feel threatened by his mother's independence as both a woman and a black woman at that. He thinks nothing of the man honestly. He has the distinct impression it was probably his birth that caused the proper separation of his mother and father which really doesn't get his father any points for anything. Side note : this is somewhat a source of Alastor's disapproval of Lucifer's absence as a father for Charlie.

• He is a voodoo practitioner, just like his mother and grandmother before hand. More than that though, in life Alastor was / would be considered a Bokor, albeit a young one / one who was still coming into and learning their craft. Without writing up a huge ass explanation about everything and to heavily simplify this : Alastor would be equivalent of what most people would recognize more as a "witch" or even a "medium". In fact combining both of those things is probably the best way to explain and give you an idea of what this resembled for Alastor in life. • Alastor's mother more saw Alastor as having the potential to become a houngan, however, due to the "loose" definitions of good and evil, personal discretion and duality being a big thing in voodoo Alastor's darker nature wasn't necessarily discouraged or really thought about. Alastor on the other hand was never particularly interested in being an actual houngan.

[ I'm gonna say I think the show *MAY* be kind of "erasing" or perhaps "obscuring" a lot of Alastor's ties to Voodoo and the Lwa which I personally have mixed feelings about. I know why they might be aiming for this but, imo, I think that approach "white washes" him a little and I don't think it was/would be necessarily disrespectful to portray Alastor as a Voodoo practitioner, so I kinda hope this does stick as part of him in canon, personally, but we'll have to see. ]

• The 20s were massive on occultism so Alastor was real riot to have at parties, where he'd get drunk and treat the ritzy white people to some 'magic' / "read the fortunes" of the party goers. Despite incredibly racist and dangerous ideals toward the religion of Voodoo and anything not white at this time Alastor managed to skirt most of this negativity by being dark, charming, handsome and having the wits to basically not tell anyone much about himself or what he was really doing. Most people thought of him as a bit of an eccentric and if they did believe he had any actual magical powers they usually tended to think of him as more of a funky magician. Nearly synonymous with his racial identity, Alastor's always been careful to hide a lot about himself behind a wall of ambiguity. But also keeping in mind, people that got to witness his "party tricks" tended to be as drunk as he was if not more so.

• He's always had a strange/toxic relationship with Mimzy. They're the "match made in hell" type where they tended to emphasize each other's darkest selves. For example, Mimzy would feel emboldened by Alastor's presence and protection as for a while they were an actual couple and Alastor would take pleasure in the violence he could enact on others in the name of looking after her. Mimzy would start fights. Alastor would gladly finish them, so to speak.

• In fact, Alastor's first murder came very much because of this messed up relationship with Mimzy. He was of course protecting her after one of her misadventures and things got out of hand. He'd do it again. And in fact, he did but the following murders weren't for Mimzys benefit. Once he started putting shitty, women bashing men out of their misery, he didn't have any intention of stopping. Its been stated before Alastor's killings were done with a strange moral code in mind similar to Dexter. For Alastor this was him taking out pos men in the community.

• I think Mimzy is aware Alastor killed for her in their human lives. It pretty much solidified their twisted bond and a secret they kept together even in spite of their "break up". I don't know, however, if she was aware of Alastor going on to kill others, though its likely she suspected it. Not that she would have really cared, Alastor has always been her version of scary dog privileges and knowing he was capable of and willing to murder was just icing on a twisted cake they shared.

• Alastor was generally considered a bit of a con-man and a jack of all trades when he was alive. His first "serious" job was when he became a radio host. Before this, Alastor dabbled in a little bit of everything but mainly he had a shady surgeon position, as at one point he'd wanted to become a doctor. This was considered a noble aspiration but the reality is Alastor's interest in the medical field was very much due to his morbid fascination with death and dismemberment and the close proximity doctors have to these things. He liked cutting things up and stitching them back together, basically. He never actually had a medical degree, however, he often preformed usually minor surgeries on people who couldn't afford them or simply weren't able to go to an actual licensed professional for whatever reason. Abortions were also very popular. He had a very good reputation for this, actually. Generally if you needed help with something like this but but didn't want the "proper" people to know, Alastor was your guy.

• He pretty much got his radio job by accident. He picked this up due to a performance he did in a club. Song and dance had always been among Alastor's talents but he ended up really enjoying the radio gig and stuck to it. Racism of the time meant it was hard for POC to get good, staple positions in the community but radio worked perfectly for Alastor as no one could actually see him to realize he was anything but the normal assumption of well bred white man.

• Alastor's death wasn't as "simple" as a hunter mistook him for a deer. Yes, the reason Alastor was out on the swamp that day was because he was discarding remains, but he wasn't "mistaken" for a deer. He wasn't even "caught". But this action ironically put him in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alastor was, essentially, the victim of a hate crime perpetrated by a hunting party and their dogs. This is the wilds of Louisiana in 1933. Alastor was confronted by a group of men who instantly took a disliking to him. Yes, this was because Alastor is not actually white but he was also wearing very nice clothing ( especially not the sort you would expect for someone walking around the swamp ) and he was also very articulate and spoke very well. This rubbed the racist hunting party who stumbled upon him the wrong way, resulting in Alastor being chased around the swamp a short way, mauled by the dogs and then when letting the dogs chase and maul him got boring they finally put him out of his misery with a shot to the head. This is why Alastor dislikes dogs so much and feels deeply bitter about his death. Alastor was no stranger to racism, and again he was very good at using his education and racial ambiguity to his advantage, so having the things he'd learned and projected so carefully to protect himself fail him entirely was a deeply scarring and humiliating experience to say the least.

• Alastor was engaged in cannibalism while he was alive but no where near to the extent of his unlife, in fact it was pretty new to him at the time and would have been defined as a form of exocannibalism. As a demon Alastor's cannibalism is still obviously exocannibalism, but his animalistic/inhuman aspects are also heavily, heavily emphasized meaning he's literally just eating and taring whole mfs apart like a wild animal more often than not. He also has very disturbing scavenger-like qualities as he'll happily eat things that were not killed by him and he doesn't care if they've been dead a while, which is horrifying and hilarious given he's also known to be a massive food snob and will judge others for eating things like take out because ew and lazy

• Alastor's 'true' demon form according to me is more monstrous/animalistic than we've seen in canon. He can call on his true size and mass outright or focus it on certain parts of himself. ( For example lengthening his arms and neck or opening his jaws in an unnaturally wide way ). No one has ever seen Alastor's true unleashed form, only hints of it here and there. I personally view it was a horrifying love child between the Xenomorph Queen from Alien and the creature in Antlers. It has reptile traits along with stag traits, because, as mentioned before a kind of "unique" and duel motif for my Alastor is crocodiles/alligators and thats the creature he can be related to more than any deer/stag, despite his disarming buck-like appearance. Alastor's 'true form' isn't something he really shows anyone, but his shadow gives clues.

• Speaking of Alastor's shadow it very much acts independently of him and is both a manifestation of his true soul as well as its own entity. It was born from Alastor's arcane bond with the lwa and his death. Its technically the "source" of his power. He's able to use it as a weapon, a shield, and transportation both for himself and other objects and even places he wants to manifest. Alastor's eldritch abilities are pretty vast and defiantly unique. Its actually really interesting that Alastor literally resembles one of the Lwa himself as an "enigmatic young man depicted in red who works with his shadow". This is a description often related to the Lwa Kalfu. Essentially an African god associated with destruction, crossroads and black magic. In demonology, Alastor is a possessing spirit of vengeance similar to the goddess Nemesis and she is typically considered a force who brings retribution, specifically on the other gods / deities. Very interesting given Alastor's role in the show and the fact he very much acts as punisher of other demons and potentially deities if he is indeed strong enough to rival them.

• Due to Alastor literally consuming souls as I believe the canon has heavily hinted, he has immense power. Its been shown in canon that Alastor's powers are very different to those of a normal human soul and that he typically outclasses other overlords easily. I actually have the word of a pretty reliable source saying that yes, Alastor's powers are pretty much on par with Lucifer's but his mysterious deal with an "unknown" force is restricting him somehow. I believe this given what we've seen Alastor do in canon, the fact we've been aware from the jump that Alastor's powers shook the foundation of hell when he first arrived and the fact that the season 1 final seemed to very much suggest something of this nature as well. Ultimately I'm not gonna force OP Alastor on anyone but A) don't be surprised if this is canon and B) regardless to my personal take it is canon that Alastor is restricted somehow. Man was going to fight/kill Adam without an angelic weapon and challenged Lucifer without any fear, I don't think this was a dumb ego thing on Alastor's behalf because we have seen Alastor takes no shame in things like retreat, so I don't think he'd act like that because of something stupid like being too full of himself. I think his shit is legit, he's just struggling against his restrictions from this mysterious deal and I'll be playing it that way until we see otherwise basically.

• My Alastor cant actually lose his radio filter. It never turns off and its not something in his control like that. In fact, my Alastor's voice is a "separate entity" from him just like his shadow. As a result he can speak without "speaking" and sometimes his mouth movements don't completely match with his words because technically he's "lip-syncing" what he's saying. His radio staff is also part of him but even if its damaged, it doesn't change the way he talks. Its really just there for the aesthetic, however, it can be used as an actual microphone if need be.

• Spent a lot of time exploring the swamp / wet lands around New Orleans, especially as a kid. Was pretty good at catching rabbits, squirrels, and some egrets. Would bring them home to his mother to cook because he was always felt an urge to eat the things he killed. Given these were animals and Alastor was a young boy in the 1900s this wasn't looked at strangely in any way.

• Often reported strange visions and encounters with spirits even as a child. Given Alastor's family religion and their beliefs, this wasn't considered unusual either and was actually considered something very positive and normal.

• While Alastor was new to cannibalization in his human life it really did just seem like the natural progression of disturbed bullshit for him, a guy who had always been a bit obsessed with death and gore. • He tried to get a job at a morgue at one point but didn't end up getting hired. Probably a good thing he didn't. Then again, it might have kept him away from Mimzy, but given Alastor's Issues ™ its likely he would have always started killing whether he became involved with Mimzy or not.

• Alastor's mother hated Mimzy. She lived a long but tragic life because she never knew what happened to Alastor and always grieved for him. He vanished one day, never to be seen or heard from again. The talk on the town was he found a girl and they took off to California together. Alastor's mother never believed this for a second because he would have told her or she would have received letters from him at least, so she always suspected that something bad happened to him and and her eyes it was because of Mimzy.

• Alastor considers himself a feminist, however, funny thing is none of Alastor's victims in life were women. You might imagine this supports his pro-woman image, however, in a way more twisted way a you could say Alastor's target on men had an element of the fact that, ultimately, as prey men were more of a challenge. Yes, he possesses a strange sense of moral reasoning behind the killings and is kind of a misandrist, thats all true, but there is an idea floating around of women being weaker and easier to kill and therefore really unpalatable targets to him. • This said two of Alastor's victims in hell were women. However, this also has some twisted reasoning behind it so as not to conflict with Alastor's pre-established morals and sensibilities in his own mind. A) these women weren't "easy" kills as they were both overlords and B) he didn't kill them in his eyes - they were already dead, he just snatched their souls. Sure thing, Alastor.

• Killed about 7-8 men in total while he was alive. Cannibalized around 3-4 and a half. When bodies started getting pulled out of the swamp and the local police started to suspect something was up, the idea was beginning to be dubbed "The Bayou Beast" given they were still not 100% certain the killings were being done by another human and not an alligator or a bear. These murders took place over a roughly 4 year period up until Alastor's death in 1933.

• The first two of Alastor's murders were more violent and rage fueled and then turned ritualistic and torturous as he became more focused and calculated in what he was doing. Either way, he tended to leave his victims in a mess, which is precisely why local police still weren't sure if the killings were done by a man and not just accidental run-ins with hungry wildlife. The clues for them to begin to suspect a serial killer was a lot of the men Alastor killed weren't really the type to be out in nature long enough to fall victim to an alligator or a bear as well as the spike in bodies found in the swamp. Ironically, when Alastor went missing there had been whispers that he might have been a victim to The Bayou Beast.

#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 🥀 ━◞ 𝒯𝒶𝑔 ↝ From The Mun ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 🥀 ━◞ ℳ𝓊𝓈𝑒 ↝ Alastor ⊱#⊰ ° ‧: ｡* ⚘ 🥀 ━◞ ℱ𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜𝓂 ↝ Hazbin Hotel ⊱#Alastor headcanons #racism mention cw

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hanktoddweekend · 10 months

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#henry king jr #brainwave jr #todd rice #obsidian #infinity inc #brainsidian #hanktodd #jsa #justice society

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mingzisdrgongxuo · 7 months

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Haitian Vodou and sexual orientation - Wikipedia

During Haitian Vodou ceremonies, the houngans (priests), mambos (priestesses), and hounsis (initiates) dance around a potomitan until one of them becomes possessed by one of the lwa. A person can be possessed by any lwa, regardless of whether they are the same gender or not .[9] During possession, the possessed dancer will begin to behave like the lwa they are possessed by, regardless of gender.

Reverend Severina KM Singh, a New Orleans Voodoo priestess explains,[10]

I have gay friends who practice and I can personally attest to the closeness of the loa to them. I have witnessed wonderful and powerful rituals which they led. The intent in your heart matters more than your sexual orientation. I read for very many gay people and make offerings for them without any qualms at all. Voodooist believe in the transmigration of the soul. That means my soul could have been in a black male body at one time and an oriental female body at another time, not to mention the millions of lives spent in lower life forms. Some of them probably quite asexual or bisexual or transsexual

A large number of spirits or deities (lwa) exist in Haitian and Louisiana Voodoo. These lwa may be regarded as families of individuals or as a singular entity with distinct aspects, with links to particular areas of life.

Some lwa have particular links with magic, ancestor worship or death such as the Gede and Barons. A number of these are further particularly associated with transgenderism or same-sex interactions.[12] These include Ghede Nibo, a spirit caring for those who die young. He is sometimes depicted as an effeminate drag queen and inspires those he inhabits to lascivious sexuality of all kinds, especially transgender or lesbian behaviour in women.[13]

Gede Nibo's parents are Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte; Baron Samedi is the leader of the Gede and Barons and is depicted as bisexual dandy or occasionally transgender, wearing a top-hat and frock coat along with a woman's skirt and shoes. Samedi has a tendency toward "lascivious movements" that cross gender boundaries and also imply a lust for anal sex.[14]

Other barons displaying gay behaviour are Baron Lundy and Baron Limba, who are lovers and teach a type of homoerotic nude wrestling at their school, believed to increase magical potency.[15] Baron Oua Oua, who often manifests with a childlike aspect, has been called the baron "most closely linked to homosexuality" by Vodou practitioners.[16]

Another lwa, Erzulie, is associated with love, sensuality and beauty. Erzulie can manifest aspects that are LGBT-related, including transgender or amazonian traits, in addition to traditionally feminine guises. When inhabiting men, these aspects can result in transgender or homoerotic behaviour, whereas they may result in lesbianism or anti-male sentiment in women. Erzulie Freda is seen as the protector of gay men, and Erzulie Dantor is associated with lesbians.[17]

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dcbinges · 7 months

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The New Teen Titans #31 (1983) by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez

#raven #rachel roth #angela hawkins #phobia #monsieur mallah #plasmus #houngan #new teen titans #the new teen titans #george pérez #george perez #marv wolfman #dc comics #dc #80s #80s comics #cover #comics

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bi4bihankking · 6 months

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I say that I want Hank's villain team to kick his ass but I also wouldn't mind if he started dating Houngan, I can't believe none you guys recognize the potential of this ship... Most important Hank dynamic in canon fr fr.

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mask131 · 2 years

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Deadly fall: Zombies

ZOMBIE

Category: Vodou belief / Haitian folklore

When you hear zombie you probably think about a lot of things. You think about brain-eating zombies caused by a massive plague ; you think about reanimated corpses walking slowly around town trying to kill everyone ; you think about bodies possessed by demons in the middle of the woods… But originally, the zombie is a very different thing – an integral part of Haitian folklore, and an element of the Vodou religion.

In Haiti, a “witch” is known as a bokor if male, as a caplata if female. In many ways they are the dark and corrupted doubles of the priests and priestess of the Vodou religion, the houngan and mambo. Like them the bokor are said to “serve the loa”, but they are also said to do so with “both hands”: the bokor performs as much good as evil magic, they can cast either helpful or harmful spells. They are also known to be witch-for-hire : if you have enough to pay them, they will perform whatever magical act you demand. The bokor wizards can thus easily become revenge tools, partners in dubious businesses, or magical hitmen. No need to tell you that they are not seen positively or greatly appreciated – they are dangerous figures that often inspire fear. And their most notorious act of magic, the most famous of all their rituals, is the creation of a zombie.

A zombie is a fresh human corpse that a bokor reanimated through acts of dark magic. They are not the savage brain-eating monsters you know about, though they are mindless: the spell of the bokor completely erases the mind and personality of the deceased. Zombies becomes brainwashed servants – they are just tools and puppets in the hands of the bokor, that they are forced to obey with no possibility to refuse or escape. As a result, becoming a zombie was seen as a very ugly fate: as I said previously, the loa known as Baron Samedi had the task of gathering the dead and the deceased to bring them to the heavenly afterlife ; however if a person had offended or earned the ire of the Baron, he could easily refuse them the passage to the afterlife as a vengeance, which would make them easy prey for the bokor, and augment their risks of zombification.

The bokors used the zombies as slaves: given they are dead, the zombies don’t need rest, food, drinks or payment, and the warlocks and witches use them to do all their chores and dirty works. Since vodou was a religion born from enslaved populations, you can easily guess that the zombie was born out of the fear and horror of the plantations. People knew already the horror of being slave in life ; becoming a zombie was the ultimate hell, becoming slaves in death. In fact we know that some of the “slave-drivers” of Haiti, that were usually themselves slaves, and that were often priests in the Vodou religion, used zombification as a moral and religious threat – it was notably what they threatened people with if they ever thought of committing suicide, keeping them alive through the fear that their death would only extend their slavery forever.

Hopefully, zombification isn’t actually an endless process : there is a way to break the dead free from the bokor’s evil grasp, and it is by feeding them salt (an element holy enough to break vile curses). Interestingly, while the physical zombie became well-known in culture, the Haitian folklore also claims there is a second time to zombie that exists, a zombie not in body but in spirit: the “zombie astral”. When a bokor creates a flesh zombie, he resurrects the corpse ; but the zombie astral is created when a bokor captures a dead human soul (or a part of it): they are usually locked in specially decorated bottles. The zombie astrals can’t do menial work and chores like a physical zombie, but the bokor uses its energy to boost his own magical power, or he can sell it to rich clients as the ownership of a zombie astral can guarantee success in business, good luck or an improved health. However, unlike a typical zombie, a zombie astral is just a temporary entity: because God, the supreme ruler of the world, aka Bondyé, always reclaim the souls of the dead and does not like them to stay for too long in the world of the living – so eventually the zombie astral will fade away at some point, called back by God into his heaven. Why doesn’t God do that for the physical zombie then? Because the zombie is flesh without soul, not soul without flesh – though the two are equally bad. Flesh and soul are seen as the two essential parts of an individual, the spirit and the body, and a zombie is cutting one half to keep the other – no matter if they lack a soul or a body, a deceased will never be in peace until it is whole again.

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It might all seem like legends and tales, but the zombie phenomenon in Haiti was actually a real thing : not only did people still believe and fear it up to the 1930s, but real-life zombies were presented, showed, examined, photographed – people that were officially considered dead (and whose identity were confirmed to match the deceased), and yet that were here, standing and breathing, though in mute, lifeless, catatonic states. This led many scientists to examine the causes of this bizarre phenomenon, and outside of psychological and social explanations (many mental illnesses could create what looked like a zombie, and back in the old days exhausted and abused slave could easily “lose their soul” and become lifeless husks), it was pretty much believed to be the result of a chemical process.

You see, the rite of zombification doesn’t start randomly. A bokor doesn’t just pick up any kind of corpses from the cemeteries : to make a zombie, the bokor has first to kill his intended victim with a magical powder, a “death-powder”. Once the victim is dead, the bokor leaves it being buried, then dig it up and applies certain rites to reanimate it into a zombie. Well, scientists claimed that the key could be held in the “powder” used : it is theorized and thought that the bokor actually uses powerful paralyzing toxins similar to the one of the pufferfish, mixed with Datura and other hallucination-inducing drugs. These ingredients mixed together form a powerful powder that could basically plunge its victim in a death-like state which would actually be a form of suspended animation. After the burial goes on, the bokor then digs up the “corpse”, which is just a paralyzed or comatose person, and applies what is needed to reanimate them. The mix of the powerful drugs and the psychological trauma caused by this near-death experience, associated with the victim’s realization that they are dead, people buried them, and their family mourns them, would be enough to break their mind into a sort of trance or catatonia in which the bokor would manipulate and command them to do his bidding.

While this explanation became the more well-known and wide-spread “logical” cause of zombies, psychologists and other scientists heavily criticize it for being a “rushed” or “credulous” explanation, pointing out numerous flaws in its logic : for example there are cases of real-life zombies being found several decades after their death, and it seems a bit extravagant that a bokor could keep an efficient and performant slave only through the use of drugs for so many years, especially as an overuse of these products would cause all sorts of nasty-side effects, which on one side could easily be fatal, and on the other does no correspond with some of the traits zombies are said to have (such as the unnatural stiffness zombies were noted to have, similar to the rigidification of a corpse).

#deadly fall #zombie #vodou #haitian folklore #undead

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chaosbeetlefrontiers · 1 year

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This is an Adeline Kane redesign for the cartoon I commissioned Peskyshortcake to draw, check them out when you have the chance!

Wanted her to be plus sized mainly because chubby moms are awesome but also Adeline here can land some heavy hits. Adeline has reached a decent level of peace with her son Joseph after leaving Slade, and in my continuation she directly allied with the Titans for the first time after Warp, Phobia, Plasmus, Houngan and Cheshire kidnapped Jericho and Wonder Girl. She’s usually level headed but mess with her or her son and she’s gonna snap you.

#teen titans 2003 #teen titans art #teen titans fanart #teen titans #new teen titans #adeline kane #redesign #character redesign #commission #character commission #redesign character #Thank you so much Pesky #She came out perfectly #LOOK AT HER #chubby #plus size art #extra thicc

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rockofeye · 5 months

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Raising the Dead

I've been sitting with what I have learned and experienced this past Gede season and it feels strangely appropriate to write about that on a day given to Lazarus, the man who died and then lived again.

Gede and I have a long, LONG history. It was Gede who stood waiting for me to get myself to a fet and, as he put it, it was Gede who walked with me through my life (even when I didn't know it) and kept me alive to have the opportunity to step into the djevo. It is Gede who has been my foundation and Gede who has worked tirelessly in the background to help me consistently build myself back better than I was before; whether it was before kanzo or before maryaj or even better than I was last week.

Gede was the first lwa I encountered in Haiti, in the head of the houngan who would later become my husband, and that Gede has always been important to me. For quite awhile, I didn't understand and didn't look at the importance of the same Gede coming in the same head at very important times for me....but I get it now. S (my human husband) has a strong, STRONG relationship with his Gede and it was his Gede that gave me the opportunity to make the choice in Haiti before I entered the djevo: was I going to actually do all of it in the way it was intended, or was I going to shrink back and hold myself like and as an outsider?

I didn't totally understand that choice in the moment, but I did know that when Gede dragged me (kinda literally) into the middle of the temple during bat gè and demanded a gouyad out of me, the person who does not dance well at ALL. But, I had decided in the midst of my personal misery preparing for kanzo that I was all in and would do whatever was asked of me because, up until that point, my way of doing things was not helping me. That gouyad changed my life, honestly. The same Gede dragged me back for more gouyad after kanzo, and this time it was a literal dragging because I was very clear on the post kanzo instructions that I was not to interact with the dead for the period of my eprèv and I didn't know what to do. There is video of my sort of gesticulating wildly at my godfather and my friends as Gede took me by the arm, dragged me in front of the drums, and asked for a little more gouyad.

It was also that Gede who came to to my maryaj lwa and placed the rings I had bought for Gede on our fingers, and that same Gede who, when he comes down for his fets, has me running for him. He reminds people on the regular that I married him before I married the chwal/my human husband, and intercedes (without my asking) when other Gede start asking me for things and favors because it is he who takes care of me.

I also relate to Gede in a very different way than I sometimes see others relating to Gede. I find Gede to be very, very serious and I don't often get the dick joke kind of Gede that people most relate to. To me, Gede tells jokes to be able to say the things that people would otherwise be unable to hear, and I am a person who just gets confused by that, to be quite honest, because if I am going to hear hard things and someone is laughing about it, I get lost a bit...like why is it funny? That's not to say Gede has not done that; Gede in my husband's head is notorious for poking fun at me and at times exploiting the fact that, while I speak Kreyòl quite well at this point, I am not quite fluent enough for everything and particularly not for understanding the dialect that S's Gede will speak at times. It always comes with a blessing, even though I may not see it in the moment.

This year, I have been reminded just how close to me Gede always remains. That has been drastically underlined since S arrived in the US, and it has been kind of amusing to experience.

I work occasional overnight shifts at a side gig (because what houngan/manbo does not hustle for their lwa...), and more than once I have come home to find S not in our bed but sleeping in lwa room, which is not in and of itself weird. Vodouizan do that frequently as a devotion or to generate dreams or for any number of other reasons. It is, however, kind of strange to stick your head into the lwa room and see your husband laying on the floor like he is in the grave (arms crossed on his chest while he lays on his back) with a black moushwa over his face.

It's even stranger when your husband sits up and you realize it is your Husband who has come to see you and remarks that it is about time that you got back from work because he has been there waiting for you since before the sun came up. Having chats with Gede at 7AM after working all night is certainly a challenge but it is it's own blessing. He has detailed a lot of important stuff for both myself and my husband that needs to get done, and confirmed a lot of things that I had thought about before.

The confirmations are part of the lesson for me. I approach most things spiritual with a critical eye; I look to see if what I believe the lwa are telling me makes sense with what I already know, if it seems supportive of me versus undermining what the lwa have already put in place, and if it is going to harm me or other folks. Those are my basic guidelines for looking at what I hear or intuit, and even then my reaction is, unless it is something that has to be done immediately, I kind of put it on a shelf and just watch how things unfold.

It is absolutely wild to me to sit and chat with one of my lwa and have them declare the same things I have heard on my own and have not shared with others. To me, that reveals that my default is to sort of not believe what I am hearing and not give it the importance that it deserves. Like, Gede sat there and talked about one of my personal Gede whose name I have never spoken to another person--not even my husband--and spoke about them by name. He talked about other spiritual things that I had not brought up to anyone at all and just held to myself and my takeaway is that I need to trust what I hear more.

It reminded me of something I heard at Gede's fet at my spiritual mother's house. Ogou came to speak with his children, and I overheard something he told someone else: you can hear me in your head when I speak, so why do you wait to hear it from my mouth? Over the past decade my lwa have developed and refined me enough that I don't need to speak with them when they are in a head all that often. Sometimes it's useful to clarify something I am not understanding or in a very difficult situation, but by and large I hear them quite clearly, understand what they are saying, and have the tools to communicate with them. The first thing my mother taught me was how to pray and use my table, and I consistently do not give that the importance that it really holds.

The other side is that I sometimes don't pay attention enough to how they speak, in that after a decade of them telling me things, the way they speak has become more streamlined and requires very few grand gestures. Before it was them pulling out all the stops and sending very in-depth and detailed dreams. Now it is the things that occur to me when I sit and pray, or that occur to me when I am sort of contemplating a situation that I or someone else has been struggling with. They certainly do still send dreams when they want to underline something, but it has become much more of a ingrained process. In a way, it's been a manifestation of one of my most long term prayers: I want there to be no distance between myself and my lwa, and I do not want to be able to find the border where they begin and I end because I want them so enmeshed in my life and me so enmeshed in them that I move with them easily and fluidly.

And so it is.

This past season of a reinvigorated death has also got me rolling around with my ancestors again in a different-than-usual way. I have always had a complicated relationship with my ancestors because my relationship with my family is complicated, but they have gotten louder and louder, and that means it's time to take a deep breath and dig back in. In the last year, I uncovered a big giant gaping wound that has led to some of the problems my family currently experiences. Not a generational curse, really, but the reverberations of a massive tragedy that my ancestors were involved in that has never been addressed. Looking at what has happened in one branch of my family since that tragedy, and it's absolutely clear that the damage from that has radically changed the descendants. I don't even think most of my living family from that side have any knowledge of what happened; it took a lot of careful reading for me to get it.

I also visited the grave of a family member I was close to in life and that reawakened him. Standing in front of his grave and feeling his shock that I had come after being away for so long was kind of a shock to my system, and he's come to speak with me since and outline what he really needs.

The bottom line that my ancestors have highlighted is that my family is unwell because my ancestors are unhealed and problems have gone on for generations unaddressed. This has created a poison well of sorts, and here we are. Through probably a mix of accident and ancestral wrangling, I am the only living member of my family who hears (or knows they are hearing) the ancestors and so they have been clear that it is my responsibility to do the work to change things so that there is peace moving backwards in time and peace moving forward.

I am not exactly thrilled about this. It's not a surprise because I have been told this before and purposefully ignored it. However, life circumstances have changed and I am no longer in a space where I can ignore it. When I look at the scope of what must be done, I kind of look at my ancestors and ask where my staff is and how I am going to get paid for this, because it is A LOT.

I know the answer to those questions (I am the staff and the pay comes later), so I guess it's off to work I go? I don't know. I have a lot of personal background working with difficult ancestors, but I am going to be fumbling through how I address the ancestral weight of mass tragedy. People don't write books about that kind of ancestral veneration, but maybe that's also part of this work because I can't be the only one dealing with ancestral mess on a grand scale. Just another opportunity for personal growth and development, I guess.... These moments get tiring as I get older.

Now we are solidly in Makaya season, which closes out our year and dictates what our new year will be like. It is not gentle or nurturing; it is the expectation of rapid change and assertive (an understatement) presence of spirit. In common culture, this is the time of year that commemorates the divine taking on flesh, and in Vodou that is one of the most spiritually hot and spiritually significant events in our day-to-day. The lwa come into heads to bring us direct change, deliverance, healing, and hope. With the mess that the world is today, we need that and particularly the focus of healing and hope. Makaya's healing is not gentle and not without it's own kind of suffering; after all, the poto mitan is on fire and the Petwo lwa arrive screaming.

May the heat of the flames burn away all that I do not need and all that holds me back, and may the leaves and medicine find their way to the parts of me that need healing and wholeness. May I hold onto the hope that comes from the fire, because what is burned away will bear new life. May the soil be rich and may I be receptive.

#vodou #haitian vodou #real vodou #Gede #Guede #Ghede #Makaya #ancestors

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