Updated 1.14.04

As I stated on the main page, I am a 36 year old white woman living in Washington, D.C. who has been searching and doing her best to serve spirit since 1994.  Before I get into the 'meat and potatoes' of how I serve, I should provide a little background as to my own experiences and beliefs in general about life to give the reader a perspective from which to view this page.

I do realize that Voodoo is ancestor worship. I've had people argue that since I seem to have the 'incorrect skin color', that I'm basically a tourist - incapable of connecting in fullness with the loa and the spirit of my ancestors, or of understanding how to serve them properly. People have also told me that because I'm white, the loa aren't my ancestors. Considering that there are numerous sources that define Africa as the origin of man, it could be argued that we are ALL related to or ancestors of each other.

I rather like this line of thought, due to the fact that it removes racial bias for me. When we realize that we're all family, that we're all honestly connected, how can you harm your fellow man? Your BROTHER? Instead of tearing each other down and sticking to outdated racial stereotypes and angers, we should be working together to better everybody around us. Every person I come into contact with in this life has a lesson for me, something to either help me learn or to teach me. Sometimes these lessons are either emotionally or physically expensive, but I tend to see this as the price you pay for learning the lesson, and with the realization that I usually don't have a say as to whether I pay the price or not, I roll with it and see where the experience takes me.

It's usually well worth the price. No matter how painful.

It is an unfortunate truth that it is very easy to dislike or hate somebody that the media or social stereotypes depersonalize. When you walk with and talk to the individual themselves, however, this communication becomes an interpersonal relation, sometimes a revelation. Hopefully the people that you encounter enrich your life experience by either adding to it in a healthy way, by comforting you when you're in need, or by renewing your faith in your fellow man when you think you've completely lost it. I truly believe that we need to realize that everybody has value and worth to us, simply through their ability to provide us with a completely different point of view on things. There are many facets to the world and the people around us - it will prove very difficult, if not impossible, to grow and adapt without reaching out and gaining a different perspective so as to better comprehend everything.

My personal experience with Voodoo started when I read through a book, The Secrets of  Voodoo by Milo Regaud. When the name Erzuile leaped out at me from the pages, it seemed really significant for  some reason, but I was unsure what to do about it. By the time I finished the book, I had an idea of what I was supposed to do with this new word that prompted such a powerful response. After constructing a makeshift altar  to Erzulie Freyda Dayhomey, which felt very right, I decided that I wanted to learn as much about this new path as much as possible. There really wasn't much in the way of guidance at the time, via either books or people, unfortunately. Some of the 'tomes' I ran into were poorly written, and very skewed if not downright misinformative, and the people I ran into tended to be somewhat antagonistic at the tattooed white girl with the freaky hair that wanted to learn more about their spiritual path.

Over time, I got an odd feeling that other spirits wanted me to acknowledge them. At this time, the Ghedes and Papa Legba came into my house. As the years passed, more and more altars began popping up all over my house, as more of them made themselves known and began giving hints that I needed to work with them.

I kept candles lit on the altars with seven day candles that I picked up from the international foods aisles at Safeway and Giant as well as Botanicas that I would run across, began getting veve tattoos (I currently have stylized veve's for papa Legba, Erzulie Dantor, and those of Ghede, The Barons and Maman Brigitte), and talked to the loa on and off, but didn't get a sense of urgency from any of them at the time. For a while, they seemed content to give me what I had needed for so very long...a sense of belonging and love. They provided the close, loving family that nurtured me and guided me, albeit fuzzily because I didn't really hear all the messages they were trying to send me. They've been extremely patient, and have blessed me with many wondrous things and have provided me with a safe, caring environment that I do my best to acknowledge and appreciate daily.

In the summer of 2002, I attended a retreat called Espiritu Santo at Four Quarters up in PA, which pretty much brought to my attention that the loa are ready for me to begin working with them full time. I've been doing my best to tend to everything they're tasking me with, the most recent working being when I flew out to San Fransisco to do a small service for a close friend's mother and, later on in the year, her sister whose death startled the entire family - she was 35.

Apparently, the services I've done for them have come across really positively, because people have been asking if I'm available for later possible dates. I've been surprised that people in other somewhat conservative religious paths have been impressed as well. I'm glad that it's being received in a positive manner.

As I put one foot in front of the other on my journey, I'm getting a fairly clear message that I work very well with the dead and/or dying. I 'Speak the Dead' and visit them as often as I can, and currently wear the ashes of two friends - my friend Bear who passed back in 1998, and Kitty, my friend's mother who died earlier this month, my grandmother who passed away back in june, as well as the ashes for my grandmother Jeanette and a container that houses the essence of my marriage to Baron Samedi.

I can honestly say that this is the first time in my life that I've ever felt so grounded or solid about anything. The loa and orisha provide a foundation, a strong base for me to work from, and it's helping me to rectify other things in my life as I begin working with them more often.

I've found a wonderful Ile that is helping me grow and develop spiritually in Santeria, and I'm slowly strengthening my connection to the Orisha and the path I need to walk with them. I am proud to be the daughter of Yemaya, Ocean Mother as well as my Dark Mother in Vodou, Erzulie Dantor.

I also recently started walking the path of Palo as well.

I haven't been initiated into Haitian Voudou, but the loa still work with me - through me. I can't explain how, but it happens. Unfortunately, there are many people out there that are more than happy to tell me that what I'm doing is wrong or dangerous, or that it's not real. All I know is that it works for me.

I do admit, however, that now that I'm initiated into other AfroCaribbean traditions, that I have a better understanding of the hows and whys of things, as well as hitting a good learning stride that's only serving to strengthen the base I started out with. I started out by being initiated into American Voodoo over the summer, which pretty much blew my life apart and knocked down any obstacles that kept me from walking the path I needed to walk. It gave me the tools I needed to begin doing the things that I'm currently engaging in. I like the flexibility of American Voodoo, but for some reason, I gain a better sense of stability and self confidence with structure, so when I get to a point where I feel adept within Santeria and Palo, and have completed the other initiations that I need to - I'll go on to strengthen my contact with the Loa by initiating and working with Houngans or Mambos in Haiti or New York to get grounded in the Haitan tradition.

It is my opinion that anybody can connect with the divine, if they make themselves receptive to spirit. Spirit is all around us, within us - we only need to use that connection that we have with the world around us to hear - to see. I'm one of those people that believes that all paths lead to the Divine Mystery - that all the spirits in the various traditions, have some of the same essence of those in other traditions. They are definitely not the same, but there are remarkable similarities that are difficult to ignore.

I tend to ascribe a bit to Joseph Campbell's school of thought that 'all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities.' Many ancient religious artifacts have been found in various regions of the world that have similar characteristics - which, since there was no possible way for people on different continents to initiate physical contact or open a dialogue about such things, would lead me to believe in a 'universal consciousness' in man that links us all in Myths, Legends and Spiritual Realities.

I just resonate strongly with Kongo and other AfroCarribean rhythms.

For an explanation of what may be some unfamiliar names and terms below, you'll want to look them up in the Encyclopedia provided on this site.

Everybody walks with the divine in their own way. The key is finding the way that you are most comfortable in working with it/them.

May you have clear vision and be receptive to the path that calls you, and may you find what you need most as you move through this existance.

Aye Bobo! Ache!
Rogue