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Witch & Popcorn
Review of High on the Hog I started watching a docuseries last night and I cried so hard, my chest still hurts today. I can’t wait to watch the rest of it. This show blew everybody away in just one season, and another season is in progress. A 2021 Peabody Award winner, the show chronicles the journey of African slaves from their hometowns to America, and the show details how their food influenced American cuisine all over the South and into Texas. A trailer for this amazing show is here: As a white person, I can…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Papa Legba Papa Legba is a lao – a spirit in Haitian and Louisiana Voudou – acting as an intermediary between humans and Bondye, the creator god considered to be unknowable to mortals. For that reason, spiritual work is done with the loa much like with angels or saints, however sources indicate they want to be fed and honored before being asked for help. Papa Legba guards the spiritual crossroads. Because he speaks all languages and has the gift of elocution, he can translate human petitions and decide which to deliver to the loa. He has evolved from his origins in Dahomey, a…
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Book Review – Herbs of the Southern Shaman by Steve Andrews
Book Review Herbs of the Southern Shaman by Steve Andrews 152 Pages Herbs of the Southern Shaman is Steve Andrew’s follow-up to Herbs of the Northern Shaman and makes an excellent companion to it. This is a well-researched overview guide to entheogenic plants which grow in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a small book, 152 pages, that contains a wealth of information about more than 50 “teacher” plants we commonly associate with altered consciousness, like peyote and ayahuasca, and those we are more likely to find in the kitchen, like nutmeg. There is a bit of overlap with the Herbs of the Northern Shaman that Andrews references, as plants like…
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Book Review – Divination Conjure Style: Reading Cards, Throwing Bones and Other Forms of Household Fortune-Telling by Starr Casas
Book Review Divination Conjure Style Reading Cards, Throwing Bones and Other Forms of Household Fortune-Telling by Starr Casas 256 Pages Conjure magic is not my thing. Nor is Hoodoo or Voodoo or Santeria – I don’t come from these cultures – so I don’t practice these religions anymore than I practice Islam or Hinduism or Evangelical Christianity. However, I love reading about any religion and their practices and finding the commonalities that many religions – and cultures – possess. Because as different as all religions are, they are all very much alike in many basic ways. And – as a person who will try any kind of divinatory…