The Magickal Record of Louis Martinie': May 1999

Saturday 1: Discovered a big sea bird in road by our room with a broken wing. Mishlen picked it up and carried it to the side of the road. The Desk at the motel was worried, calling about the bird. They were glad Mishlen got it out of the street and they called a ranger. I said we would stand the cost to help heal the bird. Ah! Now I know why the bird veve of yesterday.
Sunday 2: RITUAL: Fort Pickens
WILL: Honor and Respect to the spirits of Geronimo and Black Hawk
LOVE: Geronimo directed that the offerings be made in eights. Realized while offering wheat and meat that the eight was for the four primary and four mid-directions. Last night Mishlen had a vision of canoes in the ocean waters. She told me of this today and I had a vision of Gernimo looking out to sea for the canoes to come and take him back home. I made the offerings within the walls of the fort looking out to the sea.
SUCCESS: Canoes on the horizon. The freedom of a fierce heart.
COMMENT: Geronimo was an apache medicine man imprisoned in Fort Pickens. Mishlen sang the May Eve Kosovo song in the Fort itself. Very moving.
Monday 3: Bringing MR to date. This is important to me and so often neglected.
Tuesday 4: RITUAL: Maison Lune Noir
WILL: Thanks and reward for safety of house upon return.
LOVE: Reward to worldly gods. Thank awakened ones.
SUCCESS: Well done.
COMMENT: Rely on worldly gods for worldly matters. The awakened ones for "what remains."
Wednesday 5: A new, deep drum is complete. Ready to use. Picked it up in the Bywater district on the other side of the French Quarter.
Thursday 6: RITUAL: New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: Sixth Anniversary of the Temple at 828 Rampart (9 years total)
LOVE: Honor and Respect; Order of Service; Special attention to Erzulie and Ayida and Damballah
SUCCESS: Strong
COMMENT: Every end is a beginning. Played Calinda and Bamboula together (Marie Laveau and Dr. John . . . Erzulie and the Drums). My primary feeling was that of gratitude. In speaking briefly to the people in attendance, I said that it is gratitude that keeps hate, anger, and fear out of my heart. Priestess Miriam spoke eloquently on the meaning of the anniversary; that this is a beginning of a new phase of the Temple's work.
Friday 7: Rest and my love.
Saturday 8: Yes is an attachment as No is an aversion. Equanimity finds the path between.
Sunday 9: HML Lodge……I find myself looking forward to reading the e mail and responding.
Monday 10: Went to Shrine of Saint Jude on Rampart Street and set lights for my aunt. Put together a package for Gwenivere. Included the small buddha statue I usually carry.
Tuesday 11: Ah! Call from Gwenivere. The operation went well and she is recovering.
Wednesday 12: Gratitude gives rise to humility/humbleness . . . humility/humbleness gives rise to gratitude.
Thursday 13: Received drum mss to read for Llewellyn. The author writes about the tension between organized western religion and the drummer. He makes the point that the drum circumvents the need for clergy, at least in its role as intermediary between the spirits and the congregation. I never quite thought of it in this way. I do know that the clergy and the drummers both hold the asson. Drumming contacts the spirits directly.
Friday 14: Mishlen asked why there is no Triple God……Boy/Father/Elder.
Saturday 15: Ah! Got a message from CL the Smithsonian researcher. Dr. John had a coffee house in New Orleans. This is doubly exciting given my love of coffee houses.
Sunday 16: Complete reading of Llewellyn Drum Mss. Impressive. The mss provided a new twist to what I know of drumming. It is the first drum centered piece I've seen that actually says you have to be humble to be a good spiritual drummer. Pride usually blocks any advancement though I do know of a rare type of pride that lives at the heart of acceptance.
Monday 17: Mishlen is up in Bloomington. There is a need for me to exercise more self discipline in order to make my life more interesting to me. I am naturally lazy and ...ah... the bed is so soft.
Tuesday 18: Temple Meeting...publications and plans for the future. So much that can be done...must stick to will….to what it is my will to do rather than what I want to do. I really do "want" to do all of it.
Wednesday 19: Gevorah as the realm of self discipline. So necessary for contact with Chesod. Self Discipline is an embracing of Tiphereth . . . acting upon the voice of the Angel.
Thursday 20: RITUAL: New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: A gathering of the Temple's family.
LOVE: Order of Service.
SUCCESS: Strong
COMMENT: So many people came on tours or just walked in during the rite. Priestess Miriam spoke of the beauty of this gathering. Of being thankful.

It occurs to me that anyone who can bring a drum is invited to play with us. On Congo Square the tribes formed their own smaller circles and played their own rhythms. These Thursday rites are bringing all who attended the Congo Square rites back but this time we are all together in the same ritual playing our rhythms together.

Perhaps this is what all the years of these rites are most deeply about.
Friday 21: Sleep and more sleep.
Saturday 22: Ah! It had come to me to base the ms for the sabbatical in large measure on "honor." This makes the whole project very personal and even more important to me.
Sunday 23: Sabbatical….spoke to Mishlen. She said to visualize the Tree of Life. Then see each sephorah giving rise to its own Tree. That is the number of view points the curriculum will have to address.
Monday 24: Photo shoot for Geneva media. The interviewer spoke mostly French. It was difficult describing my experiences to him. He wanted to know about my entire life. How it brought me to Voodoo. It told him my father was an engineer. He asked what a bockor is. I told him it is a magician and magicians and bocours concentrate on technique. He made the connection between my emphasis on technique in spiritual matters and my Father being an engineer. There is something about this that rings true to me. I feel a closeness to Dad.
Tuesday 25: Work on Llewellyn drum mss.
Wednesday 26: Seeing is believing...went to a 5 ½ story screen 3D movie. Only about 100 seats in the theatre. Fine virtual reality. The images looked to go around one's shoulders.
Thursday 27: RITUAL: New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: To Ogun
LOVE: Order of Service. Honor and Respect.
SUCCESS: Strong; lack of control.
COMMENT: Self discipline arises from Gratitude. Gratitude is the well from which self discipline emerges. Gratitude brings self discipline to the surface.

During the playing of Ogun, Joey got so hot he started to cough. Flushed and sweating. The upstairs toilet over flowed as/immediately after we played to Mama Waters. Grabbed pans and moved boxes out of the hallway leading to the Temple's botanica. During the entire rite, we played softly and intensely. This may have raised more power than the usual loud playing.
Friday 28: Last evening at the rite there was a great swarm of termites. This is going on all over New Orleans. Miriam saw them and said, "They swarm and then they die." I wonder if their passing added the uncontrolled power to the rite.
Saturday 29: Work on Llewellyn mss.
Sunday 30: Work on Llewellyn mss.
Monday 31: It was 10 years ago that I concentrated on writing curriculum. Now, 10 years later, I again propose a sabbatical that will have me writing curriculum.

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