Onism

Charles Brooking - Ship wrecked on a rocky coast

Can the Hoodoo Practitioners , Obeah Practitioners, Black Witches, and anyone who is black and does magic reblog this post so I can follow y’all?

Hoodoo, Rootwork and Conjure sources by Black Authors

Because you should only ever be learning your ancestral ways from kinfolk. Here's a compilation of some books, videos and podcast episodes I recommend reading and listening to, on customs, traditions, folk tales, songs, spirits and history. As always, use your own critical thinking and spiritual discernment when approaching these sources as with any others.

Hoodoo in America by Zora Neale Hurston (1931)

Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston (1936)

Tell my horse by Zora Neale Hurston (1938)

Let Nobody Turn Us Around: An African American Anthology by Manning Marable and Leith Mullings, editors (2003)

Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne P. Chireau (2006)

African American Folk Healing by Stephanie Mitchem (2007)

Hoodoo Medicine: Gullah Herbal Remedies by Faith Mitchell (2011)

Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System by Katrina Hazzard-Donald (2012)

Rootwork: Using the Folk Magick of Black America for Love, Money and Success by Tayannah Lee McQuillar (2012)

Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women by LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant (2014)

Working the Roots: Over 400 Years Of Traditional African American Healing by Michele Elizabeth Lee (2017)

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (2018)

Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals by Luisa Teish (2021)

African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions by Lucretia VanDyke (2022)

These are just some suggestions but there's many many more!! This is by no means a complete list.

I recommend to avoid authors who downplay the importance of black history or straight out deny how blackness is central to hoodoo. The magic, power and ashé is in the culture and bloodline. You can't separate it from the people. I also recommend avoiding or at the very least taking with a huge grain of salt authors with ties to known appropriators and marketeers, and anyone who propagates revisionist history or rather denies historical facts and spreads harmful conspiracy theories. Sadly, that includes some black authors, particularly those who learnt from, and even praise, white appropriators undermining hoodoo and other african and african diasporic traditions. Be careful who you get your information from. Keeping things traditional means honoring real history and truth.

Let me also give you a last but very important reminder: the best teachings you'll ever get are going to come from the mouths of your own blood. Not a book or anything on the internet. They may choose to put certain people and things in your path to help you or point you in the right direction, but each lineage is different and you have to honor your own. Talk to your family members, to the Elders in your community, learn your genealogy, divine before moving forwards, talk to your dead, acknowledge your people and they'll acknowledge you and guide you to where you need to be.

May this be of service and may your ancestors and spirits bless you and yours 🕯️💀

THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN

Scorpio Fashion Pt.2

Woman in Black

— by majara__

mediterraneo by alex alemany

(i think)

Nakshatra Planetary Rulerships and Their Meaning

Today we’re having a little analysis on the flow of energies and planetary rulers of the Nakshatra system in Vedic astrology. 

The Vedic system offers a much higher level of complexity than western astrology. The Nakshatra system diversifies further between zodiac signs. Not only more Nakshatras divided into padas give more combinations, but also each Nakshatra has its own planetary ruler. Nakshatra rulerships are all following a specific order, presented in the table above. At each stage, we experience a more “mature” energy of a given ruling planet. In this way, with consecutive stages, we experience a more evolved version of planetary rulership. 

Stage one is more about one’s individual experience, stage two is about the one-on-one exchange, while stage 3 is more about collective global experiences, with groups or crowds. Think of Stage 1 as me vs myself, Stage 2 me vs the other, and Stage 3 me against the world. 

There are disagreements in the Astrology community regarding the order of the Nakshatras. Many believe that Ketu Nakshatras are the first in order. Personally, I label Solar Nakshatras as the original, initiating energy and put it first. I’m also not including the elemental division due to the ayanamsa that I use.

Sun - Waking Up

Sun ruled Nakshatras is where our Soul wakes up in the Human Body. It’s the moment, when we fully come alive in the physical world, the energy of the early morning, when we are determined to do something with our day. Emerging here, we have all the gains from past lives, being still immersed in waters of “past life” experience. The energy of the Sun has all the confidence in the world, simply for the fact of being alive, because this is the point, where we take the rest of that soul fire we had before, all the comfort that we accumulated in the astral realm and we transform it into something material and tangible, thus beginning our Earthly cycle. The powerful, Solar planetary energy in this transition point is necessary, in order to make this big, awakening leap into the human form. The Sun illuminates our life on Earth in the physical realm, but it uses its spiritual energy to endlessly fuel its passion and interest in the material world. . This is why these Nakshatras are so “active”, there is a drive to constantly use this soul fire to transform it into something material and tangible, to keep channeling the energy of this transition point. The Moon ruled Nakshatras that come next, are more passive and feminine in nature, simply “embodying” material life on Earth with their presence, like a tree swinging peacefully in the breeze. A person with a Sun ruled Nakshatra would instead chop off that tree to have firewood for cooking. These Solar ruled Nakshatras still have enough fire left to take more action, so that Earth can even be born in the first place. This is the energy of the biblical “god creating the universe in 7 days”. The physical is not quite “settled in” yet, the way it is in Moon ruled Nakshatras, so there is always this rudimentary drive to be taking action through resources, in order to create something tangible out of it. The soul is still “fresh” from it’s time in deeper dimensions of existence.

Moon - Garden of Eden

After the physical stage has been set up in Sun ruled Nakshatras, here in the Moon ruled Nakshatras, we take care of preserving what has been built, so we can keep appreciating the material world. After all, Moon represents caretaking, and here we meet all physical aspects of it, at different stages of evolution. From conception and physically nurturing what’s physically vulnerable, plants, animals, children, through using our hands and joining them with our equals, to more spiritual uses of the material world - like rituals to communicate with ancestors. This stage is all about the passive, reciprocal enjoyment and nurturing all physical aspects of life. It reaches very advanced stages in Shravana Nakshatra, which is associated with ritualism, and using Earthly energies to connect with highest dimensions. If in Rohini we have a nymph carelessly dancing around in the woods, in Shravana we have an experienced witch - a female shamanic figure, that has mastered all areas of the material world, and understands the spiritual meaning behind them. However, even at this advanced stage, we never leave the physical realm. This represents a truth about our physical life - on this Earth, we cannot have comfort and nourishment (Moon) without material energies providing for us in all possible forms, since even the wisest person can’t conjure things out of nowhere. Conversely, we can’t preserve physical things without using our nurturing energy in order to sustain them - they will die without proper care. These Nakshatras also focus on the cyclical nature of life - from short monthly Moon cycles, to the longest cycle of spiritual life and death, observed in Shravana.

Mars - Matter to Mind  

This transition occurs within the Mars ruled Nakshatras, and it’s all about taking all the matter we accumulated in the Earth cycle, and “moving it forward” towards an idea, a more conceptual world, that breaks us out into the mind. Here we leave behind the “passiveness” and “laziness” of the Moon ruled energy, and instead we use the physical resources as “ammo” for our minds to awaken. We need the subordinate, determined, fierce Mars energy in order to make this transition, and be able to move forward with discipline. Mars is the soldier - and aren’t armies tools, used by leaders, who fight between themselves for intellectual reasons? Here we use all of our “Earthly” resources to perform intellectual tasks in the company of others. At this stage, we get out of the energy of “existing for purely material reasons” and we become deeply aware of other people around us - in this way we are testing our own resources by exposing them more to the outside world, and exchanging the reality of our own material energies with those of other people’s. Mars can also be a brutal, sudden energy, and this push is required here, in order to get us out of our comfort zone and acknowledge our impact on others. However, the use of physical resources is still visible here - like in Dhanishta, often associated with public acclaim, where we take our hard work and reputation and put it to use for society or in Mrigashira, where we take our physical assets from mind and body, and use it to expand our curiosity through all kinds of intimate exchanges with other people. This is the realisation point, that the material world in its narrowest form can only take one so far, and if we want to experience more, we need to create more with our minds. Thus, we make the physical world subordinate (Mars) to our intellect for the first time.

 Rahu - It’s all in your Head

Rahu is where we fully embrace the illusion that is the human intellect, which can be so helpful and drive us forward, but it can also lead us astray and lie to us. Rahu is the illusion, because it’s the area in our lives, where we can get way in over our heads about things, thus overcompensating with our actions, all due to lack of mental balance. On the other hand, we all lie to ourselves, just so that we can keep on living, and we can also use intellectual illusions to truly get to know ourselves, deepen our experience past the mundane, and to keep visualising next stages in our lives. The mental illusions placed in these Nakshatras work on different levels - in Ardra, on an individual level, where a person constantly battles the confusion of their own mind, in Swati, on a more intimate, interpersonal level, where we join with another party to share and create a private world of one-on-one illusion, in order to deepen the mutual intellectual connection, and finally in Shatabhisha where we can use collective illusions as a healing or a curse. Rahu, however, is as limited as our intellect - it’s compulsive, and it keeps accumulating facts and experiences and connections into infinity, because it feels empty without them. It can use the material world and its concepts, but it can only go so far with them, and it lacks discernment on a deeper level. It’s an important stage of the cycle, to harness intellectual creativity, and absorb deeper mental concepts, and it can lead us very far. However, this is also a very dangerous stage of the cycle, where many people get stuck, unwilling, or unable to surrender and push through enough to go further out of the mind - their ultimate comfort zone. There is a reason, why we say that so many people are “stuck in their heads” - they get stuck with Rahu. 

Jupiter - Knowing to Believing 

The point of the ultimate transition stage, where we start reaching the highest point of the cycle, spirit on Earth, having absorbed the power of both body and mind. However, this is also quite possibly the biggest shift, and the hardest decision, that has to occur in the cycle - a so called leap of faith. That’s why we have Jupiter here, ruling all these Nakshatras, giving us the drive to see us through. And this is what Nakshatras in this transition stage are obsessed with - taking the entirety of life to the ultimate level, in order to expand one’s own experience and raise in position, both materially and spiritually. This is the place, that requires the ultimate courage, to go towards the unknown, without knowing where it will take us - we take all the knowing we could have possibly imagined with us, and journey towards uncharted waters, both internally and externally. The facts and theories have simply been exhausted and can’t take us any further, so we are forced at this point to take that risk. Jupiter can really expand the initial emotional shock of a deeper experience into a massively turbulent change. It’s a difficult choice to make, to jump forward, however, with these Nakshatras in your natal chart, you won’t get ahead in life, unless you make these choices. The promise of ultimate rewards is just around the corner - if you decide to take the turn, you will see, how much “higher” can this experience take you, compared to what you have known before.

Saturn - Believing to Sensing

In Saturn ruled Nakshatras, we reach the deepest point of understanding the ultimate meaning of all fundamental things in this Universe. We have already been initiated by Jupiter in the previous stage, so we have taken the plunge. We have touched all things available in life, tasted them, talked about them, analyzed them from all sides, now all we have left to do, is allow ourselves to sink, truly immerse ourselves in the experience. And that experience can be difficult, but it also leads to the most emotional fulfillment, that we can experience in this form of existence. Being ruled by Saturn, however, these emotions are not just left be. They are under constant reevaluation of how they can be put to use, because the goal of this stage is cultivating emotional judgment and refinement. After all, the cycle is ending, and in the next and final, Mercury ruled stage, we are supposed to be sharing everything we have learned, with everyone around us. We need to make sure it is perfect, before we spread it. This is all about reaching a stage of emotional and spiritual perfection and realising, that perfection is in fact the most desirable and natural state of the universe around us, which happens in the Uttara Bhadrapada Nakshatra. Saturn is the moment, where our sensitivity crystallises, so it can be used towards its ultimate purpose - in service of the Universe. Thanks to Saturn, here we come to life with natural emotional discernment, that we lacked in previous stages. It is Saturn that teaches us to serve, that guards us here, to make sure that we don’t drown inside ourselves. 

Mercury - The Other Side of The Coin

The Mercury stage can be so difficult, because it leads us to question so much and embrace an infinity of massively develop perspectives. This is the stage where realisation of relativity is born, as our challenges externalise through attracting mirror images of us. A very high level of detachment is required of us here, as we need to embrace our smallness and only externalise to the world what is truly valuable, a skill that was mastered in Saturn. Otherwise, we will be conquered by our shadow self, designed purely to strip us of our power. 

Here is where we learn fast movement, in order to capitalise on those reserves we built up in Saturn. This represents the apex of all common creation - we have solidified, refined and perfected everything we have learned before in Saturn, and we are now using Mercury to disperse and communicate the energetic essence from the beginning of the cycle, thus keeping the cycle moving (a Mercurial quality).

The key to this cycle is learning efficiency and stillness and grace in motion. In a way, it can make these people appear cold, but that is the purpose, as skill is born from concentration, conquering oneself cannot be achieved with excessive attachment.

Ketu - Learning to Fight and to Not

In Ketu, we learn how to build up and release energy on command. It is the point of the highest control and mastery, that we will need for conquests in the Venusian stage. We learn how to instinctually apply a skill of agility, that Mercury thought us, in order to experience energetic mastery. In a sense, through that we learn how to become superhuman, a goal born in Mercury.

Ketu is where out brilliance begins to become automatic as it is eternally ‘feeding off itself’…because the amount of momentum generated, sparks directly into a flash of insight. This can be a very tense place, energetically, because of the extremely heavy weight, that we are carrying at this point. It is a place of struggle, because a person with these energies burns through everything very fast, and keeps wanting more, constantly needing a lot of stimulation and challenge. Due to being so emotionally alert all the time, a person with these Nakshatras in the chart can feel the ultimate weight of all cosmic energies, and it pushes them often to very deep and dark places…however these places are necessary, in order for the pressure to become strong enough to move the energies over to the next cycle. This is the energy of an instinct even within the adult mind, using certain qualities naturally yet letting go of the intellectual awareness in the decision making process, because it would slow our instincts down. However, at this point we may temporarily live in an energy of unconsciousness on the material level, having that Ketu influence detaching us from fully committing to physical awareness, making us operate from a more instinctive place, rather than using logic, wits or material means. Strength of character must be born before desire can be fulfilled. 

Venus - The Ending that leads to a Beginning

One of the biggest surprises for people when they start learning more about the Nakshatra system and nature of planets was discovering, that all Venus rules death and transformation. However, nothing truly helps realise the true nature of Venus better than learning this simple fact. Venus ruled Nakshatras are all about their desire to get cozy, like resting by the warm fireplace, and conquering all that stands in their way to achieve that comfort. Venus needs an eternal source of fire, in order to keep things pleasant and beautiful, and it cosmically is blessed with the passion to get all the fire it needs for a good reason. This is what gives Venus all the charm and playfulness here - the desire for being “cushioned” and provided for, having that fire always burning for you in some form, that gives you a chance to truly relax, and enjoy the more carefree side of life in the material sense. The other reason, why Venus is fighting for such an abundant legacy, is that it’s the final stage of gathering all possible energy, preparing for death and the awakening point that is going to come as the next step of the cycle. Thus, it gets all it can get, in order to use it as fuel in the later stages. The cycle represents how elemental energies in the universe operate, fueling each other to take all of creation to the next step. This is where the cyclical nature of time comes into play at each respective stage, but the end is also exactly where the beginning is sparked. We have accumulated an enormous amount of durable energy, that we can then disperse long term in the next phase of the cycle.

Gemini Fashion Pt. 2