#yumboe

Tumblr finally decided to flag one of my posts. It was because a reading that I did for someone using the African American tarot shows a picture of the card that I drew for them from the deck.

The card depicts the Yumboe, spirits from traditional religions in Senegal. It seems to be an issue that they are painted in traditional clothing with their breasts bare? As if spirits from an indigenous religion shown this way as art and for spiritual purposes are somehow equivalent to porn?? How is that “adult content” if it’s perfectly okay to show children?

I know Tumblr’s guidelines are problematic for all sorts of reasons and are discriminatory on many levels, but I think it’s also fair to say Tumblr has crossed the line into racism. Congrats, Tumblr, your censorship bots are just wracking up more and more ways to be bigoted!

Free Readings with the African American Tarot   >>>[  now closed ]

SIX OF CHALICES: Yumboe & Bessie Smith

Ahead on your spiritual path lay some ethereal, but tricky spirits. Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, she is remembered as the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. Filling jazz clubs with her beautiful contralto voice, Bessie was quite literally a shining star of the night! Though on the card they appear in broad daylight, the Yumboe are African faefolk of Senegal who dance and feast at midnight, served by invisible servants.

Keep your eyes out for nature spirits, especially the fae, showing up around your home or in your path - particularly at night. You may be enchanted or enticed by them when they first appear, but don’t forget who they are. The Yumboe are known to steal food from their human neighbors, and the fae in your area may very well be inclined to do the same. Consider getting ahead start and leaving some offerings of milk or honey for the fae and local nature spirits around you if that’s not something you do already!

The Yumboes are creatures that are pearly white and have silver colored hair. They are only 2 feet tall and could have been found on Goree Island. Like some kinds of European spirits they are known for dancing in the moonlight and even bringing out humans to celebrate with them. They have access to invisible beings who serve them food, seen only by noticing hands and feet without a body attached to them, or each other.

These beings are unusually human like in how they are depicted, and this is something which makes them stand apart from European creatures that might be seen as similar to them.

These beings have been called the “Bakhna Rakhna” which seems to mean “The Good People”.

They are also known for stealing food. And for fishing. If you want to read about that, go to the last source and search for “Yumboes” within the text. It’ll take you there.

Some sources:

https://intothewonder.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/yumboes-senegalese-little-folk/

http://www.flowersinmud.com/yumboes/

http://theillustrationist.com/2013/01/16/yumboes-african-creatures-myths/

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41006/41006-h/41006-h.htm