Showing posts with label truely_unique. Show all posts

V is for Vodou


Vodou/Voodoo/Vodun

Haitian vodou is a syncretic religion practiced mainly in Haiti.   It originated in the French slave colony of Saint-Domingue in the 18th Century when the African slaves were forced into Christianity.  Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Ioa.  The priests are usually people chosen by dead ancestors and sometimes use their powers to hurt or kill people. 




There are many forms of Vodou and each new people that practice add their own slant on the religion.  As these practitioners were Christianized their deities were made “Saints” of Catholicism for example and were still worshiped in the same way, only adding the elements of Christianity.
When looking at Vodou today we can see elements of these saints intergraded into many of the rituals. Popular culture has embraced Vodou and produced several movies that detail many of the rites of the religion.

In 1997 a movie based on John Berendt’s novel “Mid-night in the Garden of Good and Evil” set in Savannah Georgia featured a Vodou Priestess and Root Doctor named “Minerva”.  Minerva was based on a real priestess named Valerie Fennel Aiken Boles who was known to provide “work” for those that were willing to pay.  She passed away in 2009. 




Root Doctors are still alive and well and practicing today.  I have had a personal bone throwing and spent time with a wonderful Root Worker named Sister Sarah.  Working primarily in Wilson County, Sister Sarah will do a bone reading for you by appointment at a quaint little shop called “Truley Unique”.  Sister Sarah’s web store offers blessing oils ranging from blessings to protections. 


Vodou spells, Rum and dolls are the commonly known things of this fascinating religion.  I recommend taking a minute to chat with a real root worker or maybe reading up on the religion to separate fact from fiction.

Namaste and Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

My Week Off

Wow... so it's been a crazy week off. I spent a lot of time working on things for the Wilson Pagan's group. I put together some content for their magazine, folded some flyers and ended up taking a "friend" out for reading with Sister Sarah at Truely Unique.

Sarah never fails to amaze me. So unassuming when you walk in but such wisdom pours forward from her readings. My "Friend" was amazed by how accurate the reading was and how much she got from it. I am pleased that I was able to help her get out there to visit with Sister Sarah. She learned a great deal from here and I highly recommend her for her for all your HooDoo needs. You can always reach her by email here.

I also worked on two Samhain wreaths this week. One whimsical and one more serious.



Next I worked on the family tree a bit again. I was contacted by my hubby's 2nd cousin that offered us some photos of his Great Great Grand Parents. Both a rather serious looking couple.



Next thing I did was work my tush off. The week before I took vacation hubby and I had been watching the show "Hoarders" on Hulu. Well that was enough to get us out there to clean up that shed finally. It's now nice and clean and ready for the bike to sit there this winter.

We had one of our rescues returned to us early in the week. Ginger who we placed with a family as a pet for their daughter ended up taking to the mother instead of the daughter and they felt that that just wasn't right, so now she's back here looking for another home. If you know anyone that would like to have a slightly timid but well mannered little chihuahua just reach out to me and let me know. Ginger is up to date on shots but however still needs to be altered.
Here's a pic of the little girl.


I've been working with the Hail Columbia Group to get awareness out there about the DC-40/51 initiative that Cindy Jacobs and Rick Perry have allied themselves with. We have several Coordinators and Facebook Pages for some of the States now but can always use more help. If you can help head over to the Coordinator page and volunteer to support a state. I've started up the North Carolina page with the assistance of my co-coordinator Heather Mauldin. Come on over there and keep up to date on some of the suggested rites or circles to send out positive energy to help keep our religious freedoms intact. We also take suggestions like this great idea that was submitted by a fellow pagan.

I've teamed up with the Wilson Pagan group to see if we can have some meditations or some sort of focused energy at one of the up coming events for that very purpose. You don't have to join a group to help out, each Tuesday night at 9:50 pm in your own time zone, set aside a space on your altar or where ever you feel fits best and send out some positive energies for our first amendment.


And lastly, hubby found a part time job. Thanks to all those out there that have been lighting candles and sending me mojo bag spells to help him find a job. It's not the one he really wanted, and we won't be millionaires but you know sometimes things that start out looking like "Tin" might turn out to be "Gold" later on.


Namaste and Blessed Be
Sosanna
)O(

My First Group Circle

So this weekend I joined the Wilson Pagans in celebrating Lammas. Hubby & I had a wonderful time.

I have to make a few statements first. I've been a solitary for the past 20 years. About 6 years ago I stopped actively practicing. Just about a year or so ago I started up again. I've never been in a coven or involved in any organized pagan groups. In my adventures to pagan shops and joining groups online I found that adding a lot of others to the mix eventually led to the "My God is better than your God" discussion or "My Title is better than your Title" which was a major turn off so I avoided them like the plague.

Over the past two months I've attended some classes at Truely Unique in Wilson and have become much more comfortable with the owners there Kay and Osvaldo Soto. Kay invited hubby and I to the celebration on Saturday and I decided to fight my shyness and head over there.

At first it was a little scary. I am a wall flower. Not really social and completely filled with nervous energy. So of course I stuck out like a sore thumb. Hubby was overwhelmed with the amount of energy in the room. He felt completely at ease however with the people there and we listened to the chat around the room. There was discussion of politics and government as well as to the magical. The small house that is certainly unique was separated into rooms where we had divination going on with Tarot, Tea leaf readings and bone throwing. Another room which we use for class on occasion was set up for Reiki healing. The kitchen area, where we have herb class was arranged with chairs and tea for sipping and chatting.

It was over 104 degrees outside but this little house, full of people and energy stayed amazingly cool. I met several people, Misty (who makes an amazing vegan chocolate cake), James who seems to have the spirit of a Sprite living in his soulful eyes and Tina, without whom I would have never even found the little store. I joined Tina in helping keep the kids occupied by making corn cupcakes and playing hid the faerie with a small smurf figure Tina had. After the cupcakes, adults and kids alike took turns working with corn husks, bits of fabric, glitter and a glue gun to make corn dollies. We spent the time creating them with the intent of offering them back to the fire later that night.

As the day was moving along I was amazed at how many people could fit inside this tiny little store. We had dulcimer music by Mermaid Morrigan which was simply amazing. I picked up a CD and actually have it playing right now as I write this. We decided to let hubby take part in the readings as he's a complete skeptic and we wanted to see what he thought of my "new friends".

His review was wonderful, from Tarot to Tea and from cards to bones he had a wonderful time. The energy he got from the diviners was amazing. Our ride home on the motorcycle consisted of him giving me all the info he had received from them. Our headsets were busted so I couldn't speak only listen. That's probably the only way he was able to get a word in edgewise because we chatted, well ... he chatted the entire hour ride home about how much fun he had and about how talented this group actually was.

I couldn't elaborate on my experience, as I mentioned, busted mic on the headset. But when we finally got home I was able to tell him how powerful the circle was. Never having been in one myself I was a bit nervous about what to expect. At the introduction we were told that the person leading the circle was doing it for the first time as well. This made me feel a little more comfortable. At least I knew if I made a mistake, she would understand.

We lit a fire and called the quarters. We entered the circle and participated in a chant to draw energy into the circle. I held hands with people who just hours before were complete strangers to me. Yet, now, we were here all together participating in something very personal to each of us. And I felt a part of the family. We laughed, we sang, we had cakes and ale. And finally we closed the circle.

Feeling a little drained I assisted with cleanup just as the rain started. Hubby and I said our goodbyes and headed out down that hour drive home as the light misty rain parted and let the stars shine on our trip.

I felt absolutely amazing. I've contacted this group about becoming a member and plan to attend NC Pagan Pride with them. I will be attending more class's at Kay's place and hopefully given time and some of the future that the diviners presented to hubby, we will be here participating with this group for a while to come.

I hope everyone had as wonderful time as I did. And I thank this group for allowing me to come in and participate.


Namaste and Blessed Be

Sosanna
)O(