Chronically Witch

As a black vodouisant, it’s a bit frustrating that the face of our religion online is a bunch of white folk.

Lemme explain.

If you look up videos, images, literature, etc about vodou nowadays, especially on tumblr, a lot of times you’ll find it’s a white person who became a mambo or houngan preaching about vodou.

The reason it frustrates me is, it seems as black people, we can’t have nothing sacred. It’s always colonized. 

Becoming a houngan or mambo can cost a LOT of money. Many vodouisants, even those in Haiti are not mambos or houngans, let alone initiates because it can be very expensive. So who better to become a high priest than some American who is privileged enough to pay all this cash to fly out to Haiti and pay the dues needed to become an initiate and a priest. You know, rather than someone who has grown up being a vodouisant, who has been saving all their life for this.

When I see this being done, I almost feel like it’s all for bragging rights. You get to tell all your friends that you went to Haiti and became a vodou priest/priestess. You get to say you’re not Catholic, you’re not Wiccan, you’re a vodouisant. You’re different from everyone else, and you hold a high rank to show for it. 

You’re so eclectic.

As vodouisants, we serve our ancestors who are from Africa. When a white person is serving their ancestors, they’re more than likely serving spirits from Europe. You know, the place that enslaved many of our ancestors. It almost feels counterproductive, in terms of vodou.

There is a gif set where Lupita Nyong’o and Dinai Gurira discuss how the West colonized the African continent to steal it’s natural resources, but I thought this twitter thread helped re-iterate that this is still happening today.

I feel like anon feels like white witches will say something other than the obvious. At the same time, it shows that anon is most likely to listen to white witches over witches of color. 

That’s an issue because people asking these questions know damn well that we’ll call that shit racist, but chance asking witches of color with the hope of them not saying its racist. And the moment it’s said it’s not racist by white witches, community believes it. 

Ace/Aro Protection Sigil 

I am safe and protected from A-Phobes 

Ingredients to make the corresponding sigil powder:

fennel

bay laurel 

mugwort

rosemary 

black pepper

cinnamon

nettle

A little Sachet Spell specially made for our patreon Bea!

You just need to put the above ingredients in a cloth pocket with a little note with your intention, and a little sigil too if you want.

Bring it with you or leave or it in your altar near something that you always use or under your pillow the day before doing something that you are specially nervous about.

You do you with your beliefs or whatever, but if you keep referring to yourselves as g*psies, I sincerely hope you have to live your entire lives facing the exact same hardships that marginalized itinerant peoples face a thousand times over.

A spell to get rid of unwanted courters.

What you will need:

-Poppy seeds

-Cloves

-Hibiscus petals

-Rosemary

-Goldenrod stems (to stir)

-Sumac

-Rose thorn

-Apple seeds

What you shall do:

Bring water to a boil in either a cauldron or a wax warmer. Throw in your ingredients, except the goldenrod, one at a time in the order of the incantation:

By sumac, I poison thy heart,

By rose thorn, I prick thy eye,

By rosemary, I put up a fight,

By poppy, your feelings I thwart,

By hibiscus, your ply I quiet,

By clove, I harken you stop,

By apple, I shall riot.

Stir the whole counter-clockwise with the goldenrod, and 8 times clockwise. Let cool, and bottle with one part alcohol and 3 parts brew.

How to use it:

Here are some recipes I have made or have been trying out for spring!

Three Flower Sugar -

1 oz lavender

1 dried rose, just the petals

1 oz dried chamomile or honeysuckle

Grind in a mortal and pestle, add ½ cup of sugar and grind until powder fine. Store in pink jar for love spells, self care spells, and to amplify the properties of the flowers.

Uses: Sprinkle on sugar cookies for Beltane rituals, stir into an herbal tea, sprinkle over offerings for the fae, use in a self care spell jar, use in spells to sweeten relationships or communication, etc.

Floral Tincture -

Great for making drinks, baking, or use in potions for Spring celebrations.

equal parts dried lavender, honeysuckle, chamomile, elder flowers, roses etc (I used chamomile, elder flowers, and honeysuckle.)

1 jar (dark jar if possible)

 just enough vodka or other 180 proof alcohol to just cover the flowers, maybe ½ in over the dried materials

Place flowers into jar, cover with alcohol and shake vigorously.

Store in a dark cool place.

Shake periodically

let steep for 4 weeks or more

Strain through a fine mesh strainer/coffee filter or muslin cloth, squeeze excess out of the flowers.

Strain through coffee filter or muslin cloth once more and bottle in a glass bottle/jar. 

 Uses: Use in cooking recipes like you would vanilla extract or other baking flavorings, use an eye dropper to drop into sparkling water/tea for a refreshing drink, use like bitters in a martini recipe, use for potions or spells, etc.

Lavender Meyer Lemon Mint Tea -

From the book “infuse” 

8 sprigs of fresh mint

4 sprigs dried lavender

4 Meyer lemon peels

30 oz of water

Some tips for the broom closet witches out there, keep putting magic in everything you do ✩*ೃ.⋆

If your medications come to you in a bottle, save it! You can use them for holding small items, act as a small spell jar, use them for holding different types of water, all kinds of things!

Make sure to clean them out as necessary before re-purposing them.

I myself am a closeted witch, and I’m using one right now to hold water to be charged under the moonlight. I plan to use my moon water to add a little to my baths, or my tea! Or even pour it into my water bottle. I don’t need a whole lot for these, so a small medication bottle is perfectly sized.

To remove any stickers that are on the bottles:

Try your best to take them off by hand first. Then you can use a warm rag, and soak the stickers. This will make them easier to peel off! Then you can put your own labels, or anything you like on them if you wish.

A lot of medication bottles are orange, so they could be useful for spells and such that would benefit from that color!

These are not recipes, but ideas - what meal could serve what purpose. They are simple, so you either should have your own recipes for them, or find them on the internet easy enough. 

Happy cooking!

BANISHING

chili (cayenne pepper, black pepper, chili - generally spicy things)

lemon-infused water (lemon is a repellant, and water is uncrossable for some entities)

sugarfree coffee with cinnamon (coffee and cinnamon are both banishing ingredients)

curry (cayenne pepper, black pepper, chili - generally spicy things)

PROTECTION

caprese salad (basil, tomatoes)

margarita pizza (basil, tomatoes)

apple pie (apples)

corn-on-a-cob (corn)

mint tea (mint)

herb soup (rosemary, basil, mint, thyme, bay leaf…)

HEALING

apple pie (apples)

golden milk (milk and turmeric)

elderflower tea (elderflower)

mint tea (mint)

onion syrup (onion and honey)

chamomile tea (chamomile)

lemon-infused water (lemon)

ginger tea (ginger)

nettle soup (nettle)

pumpkin soup (pumpkin)

pumpkin cookies or bread (pumpkin)

curry (turmeric, garlic, onion)

LUCK

cinnamon rolls (cinnamon)

orange juice (orange)

chamomile tea (chamomile)

corn-on-a-cob (corn)

pineapple juice (pineapple)

poppyseed buns or bread (poppy)

HAPPINESS

orange juice (orange)

honeyed tea (honey)

mint tea (mint)

lemon-infused water (lemon)

vanilla-flavoured ice cream (vanilla)

sunflower seed buns or bread (sunflower)

sugar cookies (sugar)

PEACE

lemon balm tea (lemon balm)

lavender-infused water (lavender)

cucumber-infused water (cucumber)

vanilla-flavoured ice cream (vanilla)

PROSPERITY

milk with honey (milk and honey)

apple pie (apple)

pumpkin soup (pumpkin)

pumpkin cookies or bread (pumpkin)

chocolate chip cookies (chocolate) 

sandwich - any (bread)

fried rice (rice)

curry (rice)