Great efforts and strong currents call from North America to the Mysteries which inhabit the lands and seas of the West Indies. The Gateway Ritual was designed to aide those who stand already in place to receive the Blessings of these Mysteries and those who would venture to call for the first time upon Their beneficence.

The purpose of the ritual was to create and open a gate to welcome and ease the passage and those loa who choose to leave the soil of Haiti and not return to Afrika (the physical birthland of our species or the metaphysical Afrika which exists below the waters). Why the loa are leaving and why their potency in North America has increased is of interest; but little matter, within the context of this Working. The point is that they come and we strive to extend welcome.

The ritual was performed with a grouping from Bate Cabal and with members of the New Orleans Kali Lodge of the O.T.O. It took place on Saturday August 5th 1989 as the final activity of a retreat centering on the Voudoun current. Monies received by me in connection with the retreat are to be donated to Maissade, a community in central Haiti.

RITUAL:

An approximate 10 by 15 foot veve was drawn using yellow and white cornmeal prior to the rite. At the stars and in spaces shown by the circles, plates of foods were offered to the Marassa, Legba, Damballah, Ayida Wedo, Ogun, Agwe, Oya, Aizan, Ghede, Erzulie, and a final plate was offered to all loa unnamed and to all nations of loa.

The form of the veve is that of the Marassa with an invisible or implied crossroads. A drawing of the veve is appended to this record.  [archival note:  drawing not in folder, need to locate].

The following is an outline of intended ritual structure. In practice, the hands of the Mysteries shaped the raw materials of this structure ....

Marassa, Legba, and Morts were served. Earlier honors were payed to the Ancestors.

The quarters were opened using the O.T.O.A. rite supplied by Courtney Willis and a method drawn from recitation of Ifa.

At this point a litany was sung and libations poured to the loa. The words used were, "Odu...(loa)...Ko Ba Ni Jo" (come dance with me).

Each loa was served foods and there was dancing.

Participants entered the three trails leading into the ritual area and called upon/contacted those Powers which inhabited each of the trails (drawing appended to record).

Portions of the food were brought back to New Orleans and small bits thrown into crossroads.

COMMENT:

The rite was blessed with success. It was as if the loa themselves engineered the operation and controlled the variables necessary for the rite to be effective. One strong example of this were the three trials leading into the ritual space. It wasn't till after the veve was drawn and the goods to be used in the rite consecrated that I noticed the three paths. During the course of the rite these paths came to hold an important position in calling forth the desired effects.