Praising His Name In The Dance: Spirit Possession in the Spiritual Baptist Faith and Orisha Work in Trinidad, West Indies (Studies in Latin America and the Caribbean) Kenneth Anthony Lum The author provides a detailed portrait of the Spiritual Baptist Faith and Orisha Work, two religions that share a common basis in the traditional religion…
Book Vlog: Botánicas by Joseph Murphy
This is a wonderful book on the healing and spiritual stores called botánicas dotted across the US but especially concentrated in cities such as New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles. They are a mix of Afro-Atlantic and Latin American religions, traditions, and aesthetics. Joseph Murphy is an exceptional and insightful scholar on Afro-Atlantic religions…
Dueños de la Encrucijada: Estéticas de Exú y Pomba Gira en el Río de la Plata
This is an interesting book, unfortunately difficult to find. If you see a copy for sale, please let me know. It is written in Spanish as it covers Argentina and Uruguay in looking at the Pomba Gira and Exú arts and aesthetics that derive from Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomble and Umbanda. It is a…
Dada Omolowo Ori Omo Lube o
Dada and Abayani Dada is the deity of riches and protector of children and is therefore related to the development and care of the human embryo and especially the human head alongside Obatala. The Lukumi believe Dada is Shango’s junior sibling. Dada’s children are ordained to Shango. Dada is male, and his consecrated materials are…
Book Vlog: African Narrative of Orishas by Alex Cuoco
This is an interesting book. It contains hundreds of patatkin (narratives) of the orishas. It is almost 1,000 pages long. It could have really done with an index, however I believe that this book was independently published which means that indexing a book of this size would be prohibitively costly. Please see my short Vlog…
Narigones for Orisha Oko
A narigon is a nose ring that is used for oxen. We put them to orisha Oko. The narigon is also symbolic of not being burdened or shackled, that you have freedom. Here you see a brass narigon that I have decorated for Orisha Oko. The original narigon has a cloth wrapper sewn around it…
The Two Waters
Oshun and Yemaya are described as the “two waters” relating specifically to the odus “odi-she” (in dilogun divination: 7-5) and “oshe-di” (in dilogun divination: 5-7). These odus state that the person doesn’t have one mother, but two: Oshun and Yemaya, who govern, love, and protect the person in equal and interested manner. Therefore, when you see…
Sizing Beads
So, seed beads, as mentioned in a previous post, come in various sizes. They are written in “4/0 or 5/0” and are called “three o’s” (etc.); the smaller the first number, THE BIGGER THE BEAD. It used to mean that if you laid down a row of beads, end to end, the first number would…
Oshun Fans
I really love making Oshun fans. I buy these fertility fans and then paint them gold. I use a different shade of gold to highlight the lips, eyes, and some yeza or facial marks. I weave the beads to the body in different colours depending on the road. I then give her necklaces and earrings….
Some Ifa Things
Here are some slightly different things for Orunmila/Ifa that I have made: Ide Ifa (idefa) that use blue cylindrical beads called “segi” or shegi. Segi beads are a sign of royalty and regeneration and these cornflower blue beads are said to be deposited in the earth by the rainbow python, Oshumare. They are said to…
It’s “ide” not “ilde”
I’m sorry to be a pain in the neck, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter, but the word used for bracelet in Lukumi is IDE (eeeh-day) not ILDE. No “L” necessary.
The differences between a Babalawo and a Santero
This isn’t going to be the in-depth treatise about the philosophical and liturgical differences between babalawo and olorisha (in Lukumi). I don’t have the energy for that post while I am on the road. But this is just to give newbies a cheat-sheet as the terms can get confusing. First off, a babalawo is a…
Orisha Books & Beads 