The Magickal Record of Louis Martinie': Starwood 1997

Tuesday July 22

- Picked up Priestess Miriam at airport. Car with "GO OYO" written on each of the side windows parked in the parking lot of the airport. To say the least, I would expect the weather at StarWood to be stormy.
- The nature of the "I" has been on my mind. The upcoming Festival should be a good place to explore possibilities. Perhaps "I" is not the speaker but a third quality.
- "I seems to be a verb" may be more correct than "I seem to be a verb." The locus of the "I" may not be internal, but in some sort of linguistic hinterland. Interesting that this would make the self as it is usually understood, external not internal. The genetic predisposition to acquire language fits nicely.
-Asked Papa Legba to open the gate at StarWood. Shortly thereafter the strand on my watch broke. Makes sense...timeless.

Wednesday July 23

Arrive at about 7:30 in the morning.
Marty is working on his study of "self." interviews Much thinking and discussion of the "self." Marty is particularly interested in possession, the loss of self. The question he poses is,"What is lost during possession."
- Marty heard me say, "Beyond Possession." I have no memory of using this phrase. Interesting topic.
- You shape your mind like a key to open certain doors. Legba's Key...the Mind. Magick or Sorcery is a shaping of the mind. Shaping the mind as a particularly configured key to open a particular door.

Thursday July 24

- Miriam's workshop on the Metaphysics Of Ritual. Miriam emphasized the unity of all traditions. It is less important if one is Wiccan or of the Voodoo...look to yourself and look to the Universal Spirit. That is central, not the tradition. Attainment comes from within. She also emphasized the importance of children to the metaphysical community.

- I was given a leaf of tobacco grown on the land. Very sacred. It occurred to me that I should hold the smoking that I did in the past as sacred because it brought me to the point I am at now. If I do have a problem with my lungs, then it follows from necessary events.

- My workshop on New Orleans Voodoo...I emphasized that a priest or priestess lives in the doing. No amount of titles or credentials either written or verbal from Spiritual Houses makes one a Priest or Priestess so much as acting as one. If you want to know if someone is a priest or priestess, look at how they act. Brought up two concerns that seem to grow in importance in the space created where Voodoo meets Paganism...Possession especially when it occurs around the Festival Fire and Sacrifice, especially animal sacrifice. Tried to communicate that possession is a natural state in Voodoo ceremonies and, most importantly, where the loa are called which can be around a general Festival Fire. My primary point concerning animal sacrifice is that within Voodoo there is a wide range of beliefs and practices. The range is from a torturing of the animals sacrificed to not tolerating even the use of tallow in Temple candles in that the tallow contains the suffering of animals. I said that I prefer to use Red Palm Oil rather than animal blood.

- Michael said that the Master of the Head could be the opposite of the manifested personality and abilities. This Master appears so that the person could develop needed qualities.

Friday July 25

- Drum Workshop; Rhythms of the Voodoo Spiritual Temple...Taught rhythms from the Voodoo Spiritual Temple and emphasized marrying these rhythms with the characteristic Festival eighth note kata. This type of kata is very military and maybe constitutes a cultural karma. The importance of this kata is that it provides a clue or element of group identity. This can be illustrated by marroons approaching a village in the New World jungles and recognizing their own tribe or a friendly tribe by the style of rhythms being played. This could have also been important considering the many tribes creating the numerous dance circles on Congo Square.

- The woman I mistook for Mishlen had Blanc Dan-i come to her and told her how to make money. It was teaching handicapped kids to twirl batons tipped with ribbons of cloth. She is making money doing it, which was her need, and the kids benefit from a unique experience. She and I have a bond.

Ritual: Blessing of the Drums, 30 to 40 drummers
Will: Strengthen the voice of the drums. So that the loa can speak through the drums more perfectly.
Love: The drums were dressed, fed, and their heads cleaned with cigar smoke. The drums were left to themselves to journey across the Waters to the Land of the Invisibles. We sat around the fire and prayed and were concerned for the drums in their journey across the Waters. The attitude was as if a companion or a child had gone on a dangerous journey. Then I blessed the heads were blessed with various earths...in particular an earth from Congo Square. It was important that the drummers could see the attitude of the blessing...a warm, and happy welcoming of the drum back from its journey. From now on, the drummers could now perform the rite themselves if they wished, this was the teaching element of the ritual.
Success: Strong, from the comments. For me, good but not as strong as WiccanFest. Still, very good.
Comment: The large number of drummers in the rite may have dampened the power a bit. I believe that about 10 drummers is optimal.

Ritual: To Obatala; Blanc Dan-i
Will: Unity, peace, and respect at the Festival
Love: Flags in the Opening, Litany of the Loa, Papa Labat, the Oguns Iron Joe and Annie Christmas, Erzulia, Le Grande Zombi...Blanc Dan-i (Yenvelou)
Success: Iron Joe and Blanc Dan-i were strong, Possessions during Obatala/Dan-i. Erzulie and Annie Christmas were weak.
Comment: This is like two years ago when Erzulie would not come through with any strength. I had heard that an individual at the festival was working Erzulie for very destructive purposes with a good measure of success .This could render the space unclean for Erzulie to descend. Really, I don't know.

- All four of us lost things at the ritual. Miriam a ring, I lost both drumstix, Marty lost a flashlite, and Linda lost a shirt. Next year it would be good to bring some small objects as offerings. The loa, as they descend here, want a bit more than the food and drink offerings. Perhaps some divination concerning Erzulie is needed.

Saturday July 26

- Miriam's workshop on Voodoo Ritual...She spoke on the khabs and the khu (male and female ) and the necessity of bringing them together. She said that this union had been done at birth in the past in Africa. Now the new initiate must have his or her Khabs and khu joined in the first stages of confirmation. The new initiate becomes a child again.
- A friend at the Friday nite ritual said the ritual was unusually calm. Much calmer than last year. I explained Obatala/Blanc Dan-i and showed her the card in the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot. She was surprised to see the snails in the cards painting. She said she had a slug on her blanket when she got back. Very nice.
-A friend made the comment that the top of the crossroads belonged to the Barons and that the bottom belonged to the Guedes. Very insightful.
- Thoughts on possession as an antidote to attachment to the body. An antidote to identifying the body with the essential self.

- In a practice before the Big Fire, a baby frog jumped among the feet of the drummers. A few people tried to catch the frog without success. The frog jumped toward me and I picked it up and carried it to the side of the field telling the frog that I was saving its life and it was to speak to its parents (Hecket) and ask that the nights fire be a success.
Someone yelled "Sacrifice" as I was walking with the frog. Exactly correct, the frog was now on a "sacred" pilgrimage. To be made sacred is to be about sacred things.

- Big Fire...Drummed with the dancers. Baba Olotunji came in and sat before us. He played for awhile, clapped, he was full of a childlike spontaneous joy. He blessed the fire when he was helped up. There is much grace in being so close to such an elder.
Drummed till late or early.

Sunday July 27

- Over all the Fest was more smooth, more laid back than usual. a number of people commented on this.
- Driving back to Bloomington saw only two stars in the sky. One directly in front of Miriam and one directly in front of me. These were the only stars in the sky, and they were in a straight line from one another. I have never seen anything like this. It looked as if someone had laid the stars out using a ruler.
- What asks the question; "Who am I?" If the "I" is a dialogue between the two halves of the brain as Marty is hypothesizing, does the nature of the dialogue matter? If the question, "Who am I?" can be asked and answered then whatever it is that asks and answers may be larger, more inclusive than the "I."

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