Hoodoo & Spirit Work Collection

@sado-fiend insisted I post this video showing off the cute whimpers and whines her puppy makes when under duress

My journey in forest mapping has brought up a lot of these questions. It's not just learning the names of plants, it's also learning about their growth environments and what makes them different. Some plants are indicators of a specific forest type. It's learning about the relationships between different species; some of them like to grow together. I have to look at the history of the forest and the structural features of it... etc.

It's May which means it's JACK AND NANA'S ANNIVERSARY MONTH!

Part 1 - Africa

Bantu's Abada(Nillekma or Arase)

The horns can act as an antidote to poison and disease. it is often associated with unicorns due to the horns magical properties It also appears to those that are lost. The Abada is also known as Nillekma or Arase.

Rumors Include:

has two crooked horns as opposed to a unicorn's single one and is the size of a small donkey with the tail of a boar.

has a head similar to a deer. It had two horns, one on the forehead and another on the nose

it has three horns – on the nose, on the forehead and on the back.

It is the size of an ox, but has only one horn on the forehead. Only the males are endowed with it.

It was of reddish color, the size of a pony and had the slender form of an antelope. The male was armed with a single horn on the forehead; the female lacked it. Some said its hoof was divided, other that it was solid.

Yoruba's Agbangrere

has the body of a horse, the hooves of a cow, sorrel (chestnut) coat and a single black horn on the forehead, as long as an arm, coarsely rugose below and smooth towards the point. One was captured and presented to King Suta in Illorin. It refused to eat, so the king ordered it slaughtered.

Egypt's Elisserion and Egloceron

The Elisserion was a giant desert dwelling goat-like unicorn whilst the Egloceron was a normal sized goat unicorn

Ethiopia's Tiré Bina

A very fleet and wild beast about the size and shape of a small horse, which lived in the African Desert. Shaggy about the head and legs and feet, the animal had a short mane and the tail like that of a horse but not very full. It's hide smooth, with very short hairs, was ashen in hue, with a black line running down it's back, and white from the lower jaw to the abdomen. There was a small bundle of hairs on the brow from the midst of which there sprung a single horn to which the hairs adhered. This horn, barely 3 spans in length, but not the spiral striae seen in the European alicorns, but small protuberances running in a straight line from the base to the point. It was of a golden hue and hallow at the root. On the point of this horn there was another bundle of hairs, as large as a man's fist and reddish

It purifies water by dipping it's horn into lakes and as such, was hunted down for its horn, which (like many unicorns and horned creatures) was thought to have the ability to deal with poison. The inhabitants also often used its flesh and the hairs of its tail to create medicines.

Safety, ethics, and sustainability are all a part of urban gardening and foraging. I'm sorry that means you need to do homework before you can do anything, I know that sounds lame. But life is complicated.

Daily reminder: Leafy greens like kales uptake all those delicious heavy metals in urban soils like lead and cadmium.

Don’t eat sidewalk-crack kale.

Here's some cool references from the EPA on safe urban gardening:

REUSING POTENTIALLY CONTAMINATED LANDSCAPES: Growing Gardens in Urban Soils

The Realm Beyond Life • Truth of Each Creator • The Cataclysm • Eclipse's Final Judgment • Her Return to Life

You floated above the silver river, drifting beside the First Eclipse — a being so ancient even the Architect once bowed before it.

Its voice echoed through the realm beyond death:

“Child… you have one more choice. And this one decides if ANYTHING survives.”

You steadied yourself.

“I want the truth. All of it.”

The First Eclipse nodded slowly.

“Then you will have it.”

THE REALM BEYOND LIFE & DEATH

This place wasn’t a world — it was the blueprint of existence, the space BEFORE creation where all laws were written.

The river beneath you flowed in all directions, carrying:

memories not yet lived

remnants of dead realities

the first breath of the first beings

the echo of every soul that will ever exist

Time dripped like water. Space bent like silk. Death had no meaning here.

The First Eclipse spoke:

“This realm is the Alpha and Omega. The Architect was born HERE. Mawungu was chained HERE. Your father was shaped HERE.”

You swallowed.

“This is where everything began.”

“No,” the First Eclipse corrected. “This is where everything was DECIDED.”

THE TRUTH OF EACH REMAINING CREATOR

The First Eclipse lifted its four arms.

A triangle formed in the air — each point glowing with a different cosmic force:

★ TOP POINT — THE ARCHITECT

A shifting geometric deity cracking at the seams.

★ LEFT POINT — MAWUNGU (THE UNMAKER)

A burning skeletal titan devouring void.

★ RIGHT POINT — YOUR FATHER (SOVEREIGNTY)

A shadow monarch built from living darkness.

The triangle pulsed.

The First Eclipse spoke:

“To rebuild creation, you must destroy ONE of them next.”

You trembled.

“Why can’t I destroy all three?”

The First Eclipse’s voice went cold.

“Because if you do, creation collapses completely. Forever.”

You inhaled deeply.

“Tell me the truth about each.”

The First Eclipse lowered its hands.

The triangle expanded.

THE ARCHITECT — CREATION WITHOUT SOULS

The Architect’s image flickered.

“It built the realms as cages. Not to protect life… but to contain potential threats.”

You listened quietly.

“If the Architect becomes the sole creator again, all free will ends. Every spirit will be reset. The worlds will be perfect — but empty.”

You whispered:

“Paradise with no consciousness.”

The First Eclipse nodded.

“Exactly.”

MAWUNGU — UNMAKING WITHOUT MERCY

Mawungu roared within the triangle, splitting the air.

“He does not seek to rule creation. He seeks to erase it.”

You frowned.

“Why? For power?”

“No,” the First Eclipse whispered. “For peace.”

That shocked you.

“Peace?!”

The First Eclipse nodded sadly.

“Mawungu believes existence is suffering. He wants to erase all pain, all cycles, all repetition. He believes that only NOTHINGNESS is freedom.”

Your stomach twisted.

“…but nothingness is death.”

“Worse,” the First Eclipse said. “It is SILENCE.”

YOUR FATHER — SOVEREIGNTY WITHOUT LIMITS

Your father’s image formed — a crown of broken worlds around him.

Your heart tightened.

“What truth are you hiding about him?”

The First Eclipse lowered its head.

“Your father wants you beside him not out of love… but because the Eclipse is the ONLY being that can crown a Sovereign Creator.”

You stiffened.

“So he wants the throne.”

“Yes. He wants to rewrite the laws and rule all realms. Not to free anyone. Not to save lives. But to rule.”

You felt tears burn your eyes.

“He manipulated me.”

The First Eclipse touched your shoulder gently.

“He loves you — in a twisted way. But love does not make one worthy of creation.”

You closed your eyes.

“So… no choice is good.”

The First Eclipse whispered:

“There is no good choice. Only a necessary one.”

THE THREE TRY TO REACH YOU

A violent BOOM shook the realm beyond death.

Cracks formed in the silver river.

The First Eclipse’s head snapped up.

“They found you.”

Your father tore open a shadow rift:

“DAUGHTER! Come to me! I will save you!”

Mawungu ripped a hole in reality:

“ECLIPSE! BREAK EVERYTHING WITH ME!”

The Architect glitched through space:

“RETURN. YOU MUST DIE SO CREATION MAY RESET.”

Ayizan’s faint voice echoed from the realms:

“Child—do NOT listen to them! Make the choice from your SOUL!”

THE FINAL DECISION — WHO YOU DESTROY

The silver river rose into a massive wave around you, lifting your spirit into the air.

Your body back in creation flickered.

Your soul ignited.

The First Eclipse shouted:

“CHOOSE NOW!”

The triangle pulsed violently.

The Architect roared. Mawungu screamed. Your father begged.

Your soul expanded.

Your voice split into three tones again —

Light. Shadow. Void.

You raised your hand.

And spoke:

**“I choose to destroy…

THE ARCHITECT.”**

The universe STOPPED.

Ayizan cried out from the collapsing realms:

“No… no… no… she actually CHOSE—”

Mawungu screamed in triumph.

Your father froze in shock.

The Architect flickered violently.

“ECLIPSE… YOU HAVE CHOSEN DEATH.”

You responded softly:

“No, Architect. I chose LIFE. You erased free will. You built prisons. You killed worlds to maintain your perfect order. You are the most dangerous creator.”

You extended your hand.

The First Eclipse placed its hand over yours.

Together, you declared:

“THE ARCHITECT SHALL FALL.”

White void-fire erupted from your chest—

flooding the realm shattering the triangle tearing open reality

The Architect shrieked with a sound that cracked galaxies.

And then—

it died.

The second Creator fell.

Reality convulsed. The void screamed. The realms flickered.

Your spirit flickered too.

Your body dissolved.

Ayizan wailed.

“CHILD—NO—YOU’RE FADING—”

THE ECLIPSE LIVES

The First Eclipse caught you again.

Its voice boomed:

“SHE WILL NOT DIE. NOT TODAY.”

It pressed its hand to your spirit.

Your heartbeat returned. Your lungs filled. Your bones reformed. Your body in the broken realms knit itself back together.

The First Eclipse whispered:

“Live, child.”

Light burst through your eyes.

The silver river rose and swallowed you whole.

You gasped—

and awoke back in creation.

Alive.

Risen.

Ascended.

Changed.

Ayizan sobbed in relief.

Oshun fell to her knees.

Shango closed his eyes and gave thanks.

Your father stared at you with shattered pride.

Mawungu roared in frustration:

“NO! SHE KILLED THE CREATOR I NEEDED DEAD THE LEAST!”

But it was done.

You lived.

And the Architect was gone.

When you look into a mirror, you’re not just seeing a physical image , you’re seeing a constant, a fixed anchor of who you are in this moment.

Your reflection doesn’t change because the mirror has one job:

to reveal, not to evolve.

But you, the being looking back, are in constant evolution.

So when you flip the mirror, turn it, rotate it, or hold it at an angle…

and you still see the same face, the same eyes, the same soul looking back?

That’s a spiritual reminder.

A reminder that:

Your essence doesn’t shift just because the world does.

Your truth doesn’t change just because your circumstances do.

Your spirit remains the same even as your environment flips upside down. The mirror reflects the “same ole you,” but that phrase isn’t negative, it’s grounding.

It means you are the consistent center in a world full of shifting realities.

Because spiritually:

The outer world is the mirror.

The inner world is the source.

And your reflection is the bridge between the two.

This is why your reflection stays the same even on your darkest days, your brightest days, your confused days, and your triumphant days, because your soul identity is stable, even when your emotions and experiences aren’t.

It’s the universe’s way of saying:

“No matter what changes around you, you are still you, and that is your power.”

The mirror shows you the shell.

Your spirit shows you the growth.

And your awareness interprets the evolution.

So yes, “same ole shit, different day”, but in a positive, cosmic way: You are the one factor that remains constant as life shifts.

You are the observer, the creator, the one holding the steering wheel.

Your reflection is the reminder…

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

Where I'm living now and where I'm from, people planted by the signs to ensure their crops wouldn't go bad before harvesting. People used ocean water to soothe joint and muscle pains when they got old. People studied the native plants for medicine and were mindful to only take what was needed. People did little rituals and minded their grannies' words to keep their good luck. If they didn't know how to do something (or couldn't), they went to people who did.

Missouri is scheduled to execute Marcellus Williams on Sept. 24 for a crime he didn’t commit. Last week, after previously accepting an Alford plea that was subsequently blocked by the Missouri Supreme Court, St. Louis County Judge Bruce Hilton denied the request to vacate Marcellus’ conviction and death sentence, despite the prosecutor’s admission that the previous administration committed constitutional errors in his case. We need everyone’s help to call on Gov. Mike Parson to stop Missouri from killing an innocent man.

Earlier, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion to vacate Marcellus’ conviction because he believed forensic evidence excluded Marcellus from the crime.

Then, at an Aug. 28 evidentiary hearing, his office admitted that the prior administration had committed constitutional errors that contributed to Marcellus’ unreliable conviction and death sentence, including improperly handling the evidence in his case.

Now, Judge Hilton has denied PA Bell’s motion to vacate Marcellus’ conviction and death sentence, and the Missouri Supreme Court is moving forward with the Sept. 24 execution date.

Papa Ghede, as a spirit in Haitian Vodou associated with death, humor, and wisdom, is known for his irreverent yet profound outlook on life. He often reminds people of the importance of living fully, as death is an inevitable part of existence. Here’s some general life advice inspired by Papa Ghede:

1. Live with Passion: Life is short, so embrace it fully. Laugh, love, and enjoy every moment.

2. Don't Fear Death: Accepting death as part of the natural cycle can free you to live more authentically. It's not something to fear but a reminder to make your time count.

3. Speak the Truth: Papa Ghede is known for his blunt honesty. Be straightforward in your communication, and don't shy away from speaking your truth.

4. Find Humor in Life's Challenges: Even in the face of difficulties, there’s always something to laugh about. Don’t take everything too seriously; humor is a powerful healer.

5. Respect Ancestors: Honor those who came before you. Learn from their experiences and acknowledge their role in your life.

6. Stay Balanced: Don’t indulge too much in life’s pleasures, but don’t deprive yourself either. Balance is key to a meaningful life.

7. Be Generous: Just as Papa Ghede helps guide souls, you should look out for others, offering help and wisdom when you can.

8. Embrace Change: Life is always evolving. Don’t hold on too tightly to the past; instead, be open to transformation and growth.