Cofradias(associations) Cabildos(institution or an administrative council) were very famous during colonial times as cabildos grew in colonial times so did new forms of groups in the Bantu conglomerate of slaves who formed these groups. Actually the Cabildo was a place to resolve many discrepancies and alliances within the organization. Kind of the same principles that you would see organizations form to help each other out. As the abolition began to rid people of enslavement now these organizations started diminishing. Do you feel that the structure of Palo mayombe(the word palo mayombe was created after the fall of cabildos) gave way to new practices in the religion that before did not exist? After people started creating their own Muna nso congos that the decline of having a structured practice in Palo Mayombe as well declined?

I wanted to address an issue that sometimes people may have a conceptual problem with and just wanted to give a little clarity on this. When we look at Palo Mayombe as a conceptual religion its hard to fathom that the standardized view of what we call Palo Mayombe just came into existence less than 150 years ago. Socio-political views of individualism became apparent in the Island of Cuba and the abolition of slavery took the Island by storm. As many people were finding the individuality also came the idea of Standardized practice. Many people do not realize that Palo Mayombe in its view is a Shamanistic/Animism archetypical religion. In the late 1900′s early 20th century this standard of practice came to fruition but as with any new innovation in Palo Mayombe it was sanctioned by the 3 main Ramas you see today. Mayombe, Briyumba, Kimbisa…. Throughout the island of Cuba more houses some secular some not so secular did not sell into the idea of forming this. El Cangre Yuka Juego was formed in which 3 prendas were played to and by far became the mainstream of what we now know as Palo Mayombe. The Prendas were called Catalina Manga Saya, Engo La Havana, and Mundo infierno. Why do I bring this up because other than Mayombe which is a total separate group Briyumba, Kimbisa have strikingly similar practices. Within the setups in the Muna Nso to even the Kimpungueles(Palo saints or what is known as an Mpungo). 7 rayos in kimbisa just like a 7 rayos in briyumba….. zarabanda in kimbisa, zarabanda in briyumba… etc….. I am speaking from a place from where I viewed and practiced this for a while and speaking from experience I am not knocking anyone’s beliefs. For me I respect all practices and understanding of faiths. Grand standing is not my way of viewing truths. but we need to understand that if we keep living in a cycle of half-truths then what happens is that we as priests and priestess and viewing things from a point of falsehood. Learn your religion and learn the truth so that when we look from a perspective of understanding we can defend our beliefs from a place of understanding and knowledge. I have done cross comparisons, looked at practice, setup, technical work and i believe everyone in our religion needs to find what fulfills them and go with it. No smoking guns or private and personal agenda’s just the truth. Terminology of Pure Palo Briyumba or Palo kimbisa is truly non-existent even Pure Mayombe houses have been indoctrinated with conceptual ideas of amalgamation that to claim any pure totalitarian belief is a bit far off. We can try to harness a conceptual ideal of traditionalism but it is all man-made and will be evolving even if a lot of us do not see it or refuse to walk in that light it’s happening. Nothing has been more evident since time of exploration and idealism it has always affected the growing populace and still does till this day and age. Purity only exists among the idea that what your Muna nso practices and its beliefs must be maintained. But understand that some of the rational thought we apply to everyday life in faith it does not work like that. In religions especially we can only follow what we have been taught and try to promote a better understanding of Bantu practices and culture.

Agree or Disagree (Cada uno con lo suyo que poco a poco llega lejo). Everyone to themselves that eventually little by little you will get far.…

We can name various religions who have come to transforms its own groups and belief systems. The 3 main religions of our time have Islam, Christianity, Judaism. Sub-groups and other extensions Palo mayombe its more focused branches has gone through that metamorphic process and still is going on.  But unseen or unknown the other sub groups of Bantu practices keep their oral traditions alive.  This is just food for thought will Palo mayombe in One hundred years from now be practiced in the same way? With climate changes, plants and even songs and ritual definitions? We need to analyze the focus on teaching and positive outlook in Palo mayombe and not fuel ignorance.

Tata Musitu

“Whites were auctioned on the block with children sold and separated from their parents and wives sold and separated from their husbands. Free Black property owners strutted the streets of northern and southern American cities while White slaves were worked to death in the sugar mills of Barbados and Jamaica and the plantations of Virginia.”(from the forgotten slaves Hoffman reveals). In 1855, Frederic Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed New York’s Central Park, was in Alabama on a pleasure trip and saw bales of cotton being thrown from a considerable height into a cargo ship’s hold. The men tossing the bales somewhat recklessly into the hold were Negroes, the men in the hold were Irish.Olmsted inquired about this to a ship worker. “Oh,” said the worker, “the niggers are worth too much to be risked here; if the Paddies are knocked overboard or get their backs broke, nobody loses anything.”

Before British slavers traveled to Africa’s western coast to buy Black slaves from African chieftains, they sold their own White working class kindred (“the surplus poor” as they were known) from the streets and towns of England, into slavery. Tens of thousands of these White slaves were kidnapped children. In fact the very origin of the word kidnapped is kid-nabbed, the stealing of White children for enslavement.(the untold story of slavery)

From wikipedia….”Arabs also enslaved Europeans. According to Robert Davis between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary corsairs, who were vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and sold as slaves between the 16th and 19th centuries.^[8][9] These slaves were captured mainly from seaside villages from Italy, Spain, Portugal and also from more distant places like France or England, the Netherlands, Ireland and even Iceland.^[10] The impact of these attacks was devastating – France, England, and Spain each lost thousands of ships, and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. Pirate raids discouraged settlement along the coast until the 19th century”

Sala Malongo everyone as we all come back from celebrating from the holidays and clearing our heads from the New Year festivities have been a bit negligent with the site handling family business. But we are getting back into the swing of thing and bringing people up to speed. One of the major misconceptions of Palo Mayombe is that it is totally an African tradition. It would be true if their was a physical representation of a nkisi in the Americas among the tribesmen of each individual sect or rama. In this case we have to base our understanding on Oral traditions and stories which were incorporated to each individual group. Slavery for all of the people involved was a global epidemic for all races and creeds and ethnic groups. If we truly start to disseminate a one class that did not suffer on the grabs of slavery we would be fooling our very own existence in this world. I remember that my godfather told me many of times that a lot of the elders in Palo Mayombe were of light to white skinned individuals who were knowledgeable beyond our years. Now I struggled with this classification for years because myself being of a lighter complexion I always thought well slavery was highly concentrated on the African Influence. Well we as priests forget that if it were not for many of the native people’s of places like Brazil, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and all the islands the Bantu presence would not have surely survived. It is a marriage of many cultures and ideals that through time formulated Palo Mayombe to what it is now.

Most who understood the terrain and the plants,animals were encompassed into Palo Mayombe and so Nkisi was born from the Malongo(Nature itself) and brought into existence. Most nkisi can be identified as Totems as well a point of power and reverence. With this being said Palo Mayombe has its roots in africa but surely is part of the Americas. That is why you see this new resurgence of people wanting to connect with it this type of practice. Not everyone is made to practice Palo Mayombe in a priestly manner but I do believe that people have lost the reverence of being a believer and or a congregant of Palo Mayombe. Someone who looks to Palo mayombe as a place of respect and understanding and a devotee of Nkisi. I do not believe that palo is a separatist religion just that the people who have very little knowledge and know how can sit there and actually formulate ideas that create separation. Thus thrusting Palo mayombe back into the dark ages of fear and loathing, Where this romanticism with devil worship and Satanism which in the truest essence of palo mayombe is non-existent. Good and bad, right and wrong does exist but the little fork guy in the suit is a bad movie made for political and social consumption.

As we move forward to 2013 and look at the real stories in Palo Mayombe and historical details that shape our religion can we expect the community to be pro active in this new renaissance of understanding of truth and enlightenment. Or are we simply going to sit back and allow for people to keep lying to us about the true nature that is Palo Mayombe? The Palo Mayombe of the 1600 to 1900′s have changed drastically and how will we write our stories of self in this multicultural event of nuances and people? We are still building a cultural process of being in our religion and whether we are white,black, jew, gentile, latino, arab etc we need to focus on what makes palo mayombe great. That is kanda(community) by far and how we move and bring forth a true understanding of palo mayombe and take it back from the ideological view of criminality and disambiguate our religion back to its fundamental roots which is healing and culture then and only then will we have made an attempt to right our own way into the history that is Palo Mayombe. Flame wars and threats does not make a cultural difference in palo. You make a difference as a priest(ess) of our faith with acts of ritual work and process and forward movement. Its time for a lot of the community to grow up and grow together and understand that the cultural process of self is building a good strong character and being worthy of those titles that in the real world for a laymen does not mean nothing but for the devotee and practitioner alike means something.  Palo Mayombe now as it was back then is made of all the fantastic ethnicity I have mentioned and as we look to Paleros who live in Alaska, Norway, Switzerland and all over the globe let’s be an example and not a just another cult of supposed black magic.  Tata Musitu

Atruism

“Individuals have a moral obligation to help, serve, or benefit others, if necessary, at the sacrifice of self-interest.”

A lot of times you here people often going off at the mouth with this self-righteous blubbering about Morality and Ethics. Yet the very foundation that they stand on is sketchy at best. Most of the times the Murphy’s law will take precedent over the person’s life. For instance you steal a car maybe 75 percent of people who act on this might get away but the law of averages may well be that you won’t get away with it. How do we define what is moral and what is not? Percentages, social standings, What defines Altruism when the odds are so against it?  In old mayombe practices the rules are clear that though every person who practices palo may have similarities within their own line but they are not the same ritual, invocations, songs and procedures. Now we come to a dilemma because many houses of Palo tend to sit with other houses to intermingle secrets and even participate in ceremonial cutting ritual. This is wrong….. Many people are walking out there talking about how they are part of a rama and sadly the wife of this individual is his Yaya…..OH….. That is a big No! No! ….. See I was there I witnessed it.

Not good…. Tata’s making claims they are from a Rama and their elder swore them in with implements that were not from the elders nkisi…. It was from the same persons nkisi who he received in another rama…. OH!……. My question is where is the ritual right if you got sworn in within a briyumba house but you got sworn in with your own Matari, Mpaka, Lucero, and nothing from your Padrino or Madrinas prenda was there.  What are you sworn into? The question of the day is this ” Where does that leave your grandchildren and god children if you are not recognized by your elders implements? I would start asking questions and make sure that I can get a clear answer because a lot of these people will say they know what went on in the room but how can you, If the first thing we do is lead you in blindfolded? Plus though the action of the elder is definitely in question as well where is the ethical basis in that? Unfortunately the witnesses not knowing are also clueless and fall under the assumption of Altruism…

It truly does not exist in Palo Mayombe Self preservation seems to be the sad part of the day.  Godchildren need to understand the fundamental right of claiming a line is that their elder has the right to perform in that line, lineage, rama etc. How do you stop this growing population of misinformed individuals? Well speaking with the reader in mind for that person that does not have a voice. People would like to silence me but they won’t because this movement is bigger than me, Bigger than you, Bigger than the detractors who do not give any teachings or true advice about issues in our community. All they can do is keep switching and baiting like fish to a reel. Inform yourself find out who is legitimate and who is out there just trying to make a career out of this religion. All we want to do is educate….

Amunancuame all my mentors throughout the years past and present who i knew have known and who I respect for the contributions they sacrificed for us though I did not know but their stories live on….. Jose Perez Tiembla Mundo Batalla que ta nfuiri  Juan Ganga,. Primitivo chino Arrieta Nunga nunga , Juan Cabanga yerekun yekun, , To all the people who are still alive and were present at my rayamiento Alex La Salle Gando fula Bako bilongo Bariyaya Dukende, Miguel Garzon Lungumoana tatandi El indio mukanda,Ray Torres Nkonda Bice, Yaya Nkisi Matenda Victoria Gomez… The one who gave me license in Lemba Ramon Herrera kola El muerto vivo Birikutero Bilongero, My Brother Jose Figueroa… My Other Mentor and friend Ngon Ngunda Tata Butako. Remember nosotros nos somos Palo somos bejuco que enreda palo.                                        Tata Musitu.

a healer is worth many men in his ability
to cut out arrows and smear soothing medicaments on wounds (Iliad XI.514-515)

Sala Malongo everyone, In early mid month of January we had a major influx of ritual work and celebration and so i found myself doing a lot of catchup with religious and family duties. One of the things most appreciated that as people of religious practice and understanding we are heavily involved or should be with the well-being of everyone around us. Client and family and friends as well we have an obligation to bring forth a better form for our religious practices. I see many of times these people online looking for potentiality of being this bad ass brujo(brujo like a witch doctor) and they have no true understanding of our practices. People err all the time the universe is not controlled by perfection. A true spiritual person learns through trial and error. Yes I am saying that supposed religious men out there go on blabbing how they have killed many a people, Or one of the baddest most scariest person boogie man character does not have one inclination of what is to be a palero. To be a palero is to be a man with morals and have a fine line that can be drawn of what is moral and what is not. Generally speaking a palero should be generally a good person. A father, brother, for women mother, daughter. All these people putting out rules and generalities about palo mayombe in my opinion are the first ones who fall on their own swords and stab themselves in their own tongues. People who go and speak of psychological warfare are the first ones to go on this trolling event putting pictures of internet ninjas, Batmans, pig people etc. I think it is hilarious because as soon as they read this they will think that I am truly giving them some type of validation. Well sorry to bust your bubble but we are looking for the preservation of Palo Mayombe as an Afro Caribbean  religion not trying to make a name for ourselves.

The one thing people forget that in this religion you can not make up ceremonies or change names of who you are and where you come from. Who initiated you and if you are you really part of this religion or you are just a mouth full of garble. When your children look back 100 years from now who can vouch for you if not only for your deeds in this religion. Good or Bad you will be measured by your deeds. If you are a gossiper and a troublemaker that is only you are worth. In palo mayombe there is no word for or expression of good character you as a palero should already have that imbedded in you. If you are a person who uses this type of medium as a way to promote teachings that are in contrast of what a palero should be then you are false. Paleros are not gangster rappers, paleros are not thieves, Paleros are not into anything illegal or illicit. Paleros are about family and community and being about uplifting our religion and adapting this understanding that paleros were poor, honest working people who unfortunately through unscrupulous people and bad teaching has promoted the degradation of our beliefs.

Many of times we look to elders and our community to guide us but when a person has no elders no one to give them validity to who or whom they are they are not even a Buey Suelto(a loose bull) They truly are nothing and the people around them eventually will notice that. Hopefully sooner than later where the spiritual damage is almost non fixable. When a palero dies he is identified by his firma(sigil or drawing of rank) that firma who represented you in life now will be erased in death of your physical bodies. For those who do not believe in using firmas for anything are sadly mistaken as actors to a greek tragedy. They seem to profess this ideal of morality and ethics yet they walk crippled from their own character flaws and hypocrisy. These people who walk around with a Oedipus complex tend to lean for an acceptance of peers, colleagues and the women in their life to have a male role and are fixated as mother figures than actual partnership figures. When you need for your wife to defend you in your own practice and understanding of Palo Mayombe that’s when you know that you have no religious ground to debate the crisis that is happening to palo mayombe.

The crisis we find today is that no one looks to their elders for affirmation, counsel and a teacher. Nowadays you have the student wanting or saying they schooled the teacher.  One hundred years from now the students will live in a virtual muna nso and wanting to proclaim they are the new Tatandi’s of this religion. Wake up people it is time to see this slippery slope leading down an abyss of ignorant practitioners who will claim Sovereignty and be the word of the new virtual paleros of the future.  If we do not show that paleros are healers and people of peace we will leave the door opened for all this riff raff its time to take out the trash. Tata Musitu…

During the Cuban Independence War or Spanish-American War, the white skinned Spanish forces referred to the darker skinned revolutionary forces, many of the soldiers dark-skinned Afro-Cubans and mixed people, as Mambises. “Mambi means the child of a Monkey and a buzzard,” says Esteban Montejo a former slave who fought in the revolution with thousands of other former enslaved Cubans.

Many people believe that the religion of Palo Mayombe is one of a solitary practice they are sadly mistaken because before the cofrades(cabildo structure) within the many ethnic Bantu groups and native alliances within Cuba  created a structure that was unprecedented in the island.  Five hundred years of Bantu occupation created a formula of practice and a means to have a set value within its make up and structure that was similarly based on a unilateral understanding of rank and even hierarchy. Yes rank we are not a military group but all are official ranks are based on ceremony that works conclusively through a spiritual and ritual order.  What makes this so important in the official structure of who and what we are is the basis of Firmas or as many people may see as Sigils of power and ritual importance. Every ranking in the order within a Muna nso is based on your official rank within your own line. Most of the mambi warriors were intricately involved in some way with the practice of Palo Mayombe as more than 80 percent of the population whether Afro-Cuban or of mixed or white descent were initiated officers in the Cuban Independence against the Spaniards. For a time before the subsequent intervention of American forces there was worries of racism and bigotry. Ricardo Batrell Oviedo a Cuban freedom fighter account recalls how an editor recounts his story(borrowed from shades of history by F.S.J. Ledgister all rights reserved.

(As editor and translator Mark A. Sanders tells us, Batrell was a remarkable figure, who not only rose to the rank of junior officer in the rebel army in the western province of Matanzas while still in his teens, but after the war, while not yet twenty, taught himself to read and write. The text we have is a deliberately crafted work, Para la historia (“For History”), published by Batrell in 1912, in the wake of an abortive revolt by black Cubans who had been denied full political rights in what was supposed to be a democracy, but which — since it was in reality a puppet regime of the white supremacist United States — was increasingly racially unequal. This was a period, after all, when the United States supported the suppression of one of the two black-ruled states in the Americas, the Miskito Kingdom in Central America, and turned the other, the Republic of Haiti, into a protectorate.

Batrell’s purpose in writing his account was to emphasise the role played by black Cubans in the War of Independence, and how shabbily and undemocratically they were treated subsequently. What he gives us is a dramatic story of men, almost all of them black, mostly young — he became a mambí at fifteen — armed with Remington and Mauser rifles and with machetes (the last most likely to put fear into their Spanish enemies), who showed uncommon courage during the three years of the War of Independence.

Batrell’s narrative of the war in Matanzas shows that black men fought harder for Cuban freedom than whites, and then were shoved aside in the aftermath and relegated to inferior status. That was a condition he regarded as unjust. On the other hand, for a brief moment true racial democracy appeared to have been achieved when the Spanish withdrew from Cuba: “It was in those days that there was truly a Cuban community. There were no worries or any races. Everyone was joyful and full of brotherly love.” (There is not much brotherly love for the Spaniards, the “sons of Pelayo” as Batrell calls them, with his autodidact’s love for stock epithets; or for the Cuban guerrillas who fought on their side. Nor is there much love for the majás, the Cubans, mostly white, who supported independence but did most of their fighting after the American intervention in 1898 had guaranteed Spain’s defeat.)

It is very much Batrell’s story, the account of a young man who rode into action eager to free his country and, in the process, change his own status. The ingratitude of white Cubans for the courage of black Cubans is a crucial theme. After one victory, ammunition seized from the Spaniards is taken from the black regiment in which Batrell served by the white general Avelino Rosa, commanding the Cuban forces in Matanzas, precisely because they were black, and given to a regiment commanded by a white officer. “Indeed,” writes Batrell, “there was no other reason that could explain why he unjustly took the munitions from us, except his racial prejudice.”)

To believe in faith sometimes we must understand the struggle that incurs in one’s life to really appreciate what we have even if we did not go through the same struggle within our faith. Understanding the basis of war tends to show why people may feel that to defend a ritual rite we have to constantly on guard with our ideals and our way of thinking and even portray this idea of gangsterism. Well it never existed in Palo Mayombe and we as Paleros need to stop thinking that one person can run around as many call themselves Buey Suelto’s (bull on the loose which in terminology means ox on the loose) Since an Ox has no testicles what can it really produce accept work and if it has no one guiding it than it will surely produce nothing. We are to be led by our elders and in doing so we follow a rank and an order, Monotheistic and Animistic in belief and origin but we are guided by those before us.  Our ranks are based on who we are and what is represented as such in the religion. If you have no backing of elders, No Position or place in this religion, No Pati-mpemba to prove  your worth and validity than who are you really?

Every rank is a ritual and every ritual is a blood pact into a family sometimes these ties are a lot stronger the family ties and bridge the understanding of who we are supposed to be. Loyalty, Faith, Honor for one to promote it you must first live it. So when I hear people saying they only got cut once then they are only a small rank in a every big nucleus that is palo mayombe. Now one thing is receiving the same rank over and over but another is receiving promotional markings as many people do in this religion from Engueyo, to fula ngando(or in some houses bakonfula) Manzanero, Lindero de prenda, Talanquero, Tata nkisi, Tatandi endibilongo and all those are rankings. Official ranks through initiation process and not through self naming you can not make it up it has to be given to you. Let’s start understanding ritual and not entertain fallacy for the sake of creating persona. This is not a Grammy award this is a privilege so if you earned it then be about it. If you have not then unfortunately for those out there who look for guidance will be led into darkness and the only person to blame is the persona and not the priest or priestess who is working for the betterment of the community at large. Tata Musitu.

Nsala Malongo everyone well I was trying to absorb that past weekend of the Pantheacon 2013 where I spoke to a receptive audience and fantastic group of panelists then I wake up to reality. So the ARMS advocate the “Yuppie rambo” CBS decides to give him a plug about animal cruelty and the promos show nganga’s and orisha tureens and it is promoted as we are the indirect problems of a horse meat consuming community. Why does not he advocate KFC and the genetical monsters they create for human consumption? Well let’s get back to the point at hand. We are protected under the law for the right to sacrifice and dispose properly of livestock poultry and other meat of consumption. When an ignorant individual like Richard Couto starts becoming the Martyr for livestock that legally can be sold and used for consumption what will happen to the communities of people who like the taste of fresh animals and not processed meats in the supermarket? What will happen to the religious organizations that have sacrificial offerings like muslims and the jewish population?  Those animals that are kosher and Halaal well santeros and paleros have their strict ritual forms of sacrifice and butchering that would amaze even the most expert butcher. I understand the point of wanting to save animals that they are treated in a Humane way. Transported in cages handled like animals and not treated like an old pair of shoes maybe stopping the whole  illegal horse meat trade. But when you start categorizing religious groups like Palero’s and Santero’s and attacking us for illegal activities then the scope has to be put on you and your inability to understand the culture and practices of both groups. Many whom are into the ethical value of animals. Your arch nemesis Oba Pichardo who is a lawyer has been very outspoken towards you. We have a lot of Professional people police officers, firefighters, teachers, psychiatrists, artists, singers, activists the list goes on and on. Most who are tax payers and do not have a blemish on their records and you have put us under the scope of religious fanaticism where we are being branded as killing dogs and livestock which is so far from the truth. Not all of us can be put under the same umbrella.

This is taken from the Religious ritual exemptions”   In 1958, Congress passed the Humane Slaughter Act, 2(the Humane Slaughter Act or the Act), thereby implementing a public policy that the slaughtering of livestock be carried out by humane methods only. 3 Specifically the Act required that animals be made unconscious prior to slaughter. 4 The new rule conflicted with the requirements of Jewish dietary law that the animal be conscious when slaughtered .’ Thus, the Act accommodated this requirement by, on the one hand, listing the Jewish of slaughter as  humane,and on the other,by  exempting  ritual slaughter from the specifications of the Act. 6.The inconsistency resulted from the fact  that  while the  ritual method of slaughter was humane,  it necessarily required a method of restraint by which fully conscious ani-mals are shackled by a rear leg and hoisted off the floor to await slaughter. In the city of Hialeah, Florida, city ordinances prohibit cruelty to animals.7 No exemption accommodates the Santeria religion whose religious ceremonies involve animal sacrifice. Members of the Santeria Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye are challenging the ordinance on the grounds that it infringes on their free exercise rights under the first amendment of the United States Constitution.

In Palo Mayombe we use this constitutional right so we can perform our ceremonies we do not have to apologize for our beliefs and what this type of propaganda by CBS Miami and Richard Cuoto is and actual Media coup to start the new Satanic Panic era in 2013.  We need to start a group to start combatting this bad media or we will be persecuted by the christian authorities of this machine we call the United States of America. I want to practice my religion without repercussions or fear of my own government due to lack of using misinformation and hatred and all out profiling against all religions especially paleros and santeros. Blessings all… Tata Musitu

Sala Malongo Everyone…. Everyone has a life experience that have effected them in ways positive and then not so positive in this world. For us as sentient beings with set principles and of somewhat sound mind I say that in all fairness. Not everyone has the ability to discern fact from fiction, Real from Unreal. I remember someone quoting a passage of Sigmund Freud to me in an indirect writing and I realize how untrue that is about my persona. I literally pissed my pants in laughter because I am of a person with a bit of twisted humor. One of Freud’s theories on fixation was primarily on a “Father Figure” also obsessive compulsive disorder as another about Psycho-sexual stages and development or lack of. Well my point to all of this is I am not a Psychologist or a Sociologists or have a degree in a four-year college. But I have common sense and the ability to understand what a reader wants to see and how they would like to view our practices from this junction. Whether it is from my point of view or standpoint or whether whatever means of communication people view or hear or interpret.

My goal is to bring forth an understanding that our religion has had bad media and with the presence of so-called wanna be  Palo philanthropists  who never have shown any respect or understanding of palo principles or teachings yet offering this to people who are not schooled to them. In our tradition as far as it can go in recorded history we have had many religious steps which in Spanish are (pasos religiosos). Those people out there who have gone through steps understand that a prerequisite for this religion is going through this. I am wondering why people can not answer very general questions like

Example#

(1. I went to my padrinos nganga got a reading,  2. I did a nsara to clear my path from problems, 3. I was presented to the nkisi, 4. I went to ceremony in the river, etc.)

Now that I have given an example of this how many religious steps does it take to make a person an initiate of our practice? A lot of people do not go counting them but all these steps are vital for a person to truly understand and be part of a Muna Nso. The steps are an invaluable part of what makes us a Group, a Religious Organization, A Kanda, and or a community of people with set principles and steps to follow. Now we look at situations when people become enraged when you speak about the trajectory in their position well show and prove who you are. Simple why can’t we just posture up and show the people that we are not the babbling idiots who are not working or are not professional in nature and stature.

LESSON 1.

Those that promote violence through any form of media context like music videos, press releases that are biased in nature. Rappers who promote nkisi as part of a hit squad. Are not part of the subculture or the ritual principles of Palo Mayombe.

LESSON 2.

People who go around offering lessons that with no religious basis or foundation should not be talking. If you have not gone through set steps you have no foundation or spiritual conception or value you are not a Palero, Ngangulero, etc, etc… You are just a mouth. Worst than the mouth from the south Jimmy Hart.

LESSON 3.

If you have not been taught by an elder or have no relationship with your elders than who are you? You have no training, mentors, people who can stand by your side to say yes this man is So and So than you are nobody.

LESSON 4.

The most important lesson of all understanding your flaws and coming to terms that you are not perfect, that errors can and will happen it is how you rise from these issues that make you a religious person and person with a value system.

By all means I am not going on here trying to go and point fingers or be all see all.  I am just looking to show the readers that we are trying to create a media group here eventually so people can have a voice to represent what truly is Palo Mayombe and not a subversive group full of criminals and criminality.     Tata Musitu.

In writing this article we all as observers of faith have to look within ourselves and create an analysis based on how others view us. It’s time to start truly debunking this image of killers and unsavory characters in our religion. When we look for a cross comparison I am forced to abate towards the 3 main religions of our time. Judaism, Christianity and Islam as the precursor for Bantu teachings. Why? Because there is a point to prove at the reading audience. I will give examples from the bible….

Genesis 41:42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.

Daniel 2:48 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.

Daniel 5:7 The king summoned the enchanters, astrologers and diviners. Then he said to these wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me what it means will be clothed in purple and have a gold chain placed around his neck, and he will be made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.”

Daniel 5:29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

Taken from the about.com

What does the Qur’an say about the prophets?:

“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one of them believes in God, His angels, His books, and His Messengers. They say: ‘We make no distinction between one and another of His Messengers.’ And they say: ‘We hear, and we obey. We seek Thy forgiveness, Our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys.’” (Al-Baqarah, 2:285)

There are 25 prophets mentioned by name in the Qur’an, although Muslims believe that there were many more in different times and places. Among the prophets that Muslims honor are:

• Adam
• Idris (Enoch)
• Nuh (Noah)
• Hud
• Saleh
• Ibrahim (Abraham)
• Isma’il (Ishmael)
• Ishaq (Isaac)
• Lut (Lot)
• Ya’qub (Jacob)
• Yousef (Joseph)
• Shu’aib
• Ayyub (Job)
• Musa (Moses)
• Harun (Aaron)
• Dhu’l-kifl (Ezekiel)
• Dawud (David)
• Sulaiman (Solomon)
• Ilias (Elias)
• Al-Yasa (Elisha)
• Yunus (Jonah)
• Zakariyya (Zechariah)
• Yahya (John)
• ‘Isa (Jesus)
• Muhammad

Taken from Wikipedia

Some hold that the stars generally do control the fate of people and nations, but Abraham and his descendants were elevated by their covenant with God, and thus achieve an elevated level of free will. (Midrash Genesis Rabbah 44:12, Yal., Jer. 285). A statement in the Tosefta (Kiddushin 5:17) holds that the blessing bestowed on Abraham is the gift of astrology. Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah states that the rulers of some non-Jewish nations were experts in astrology, and that King Solomon too had expertise in this realm

My reasoning for putting the interpretative teachings of all 3 faiths is so that we can access that Palo Mayombe is a ritualized practice from the Bantu ethnic groups who miraculously have made it into the 21st century. Through slave oppression be it from kings and magistrates to colonialism and now with the subversive groups out there who would advocate against paleros and santeros as mere charlatans and seekers of financial gain. Well last I heard in a free and open market we can be honest with the general public and look to better our standings. Why is it when a Santero or a Palero who is honest and simplistic in his practice can not make or earn an honest living from what he practices? Now being a palero or a santero will not make you a millionaire faith does not work like that. Many who practice that philosophy in any religious market will fall flat on their face. Unless they are skimming from the top of people’s pockets and eventually that catches up to you. Once we look into what moves Palo Mayombe, healing, prophecy, well-being, understanding that cause and effect is the ritual order of the day and you will either benefit from honesty or you “will reap what you sow”.

The Preservation Society that I realized that I would like to create is based on Media Advocacy, Social resources, Law and group counseling we are not looking to be the only group but we want to bring an understanding. If we do not start this type of thinking and advocacy just like many other groups we will fall at the waist side with the idea that other media groups, religious organizations and or any type of media communication out there can speak on behalf of us and we have no voice. I am talking about the professional people out there, Lawyers, Doctors, Nurses, people in law enforcement, also people within media and agencies who do not know that the co-worker next to you maybe a practitioner of Palo Mayombe and or Orisha.

Palo Mayombe has had its prophets we call them elders, in Spanish “Mayores” people in our religious settings and or backgrounds who can bring forth an understanding to our ritual practice our ethical/moral value and structure and our diviners, astrologers, men of medicine and science. Yet why is it the younger generation has no respect to them. Is it because we lack structure, I doubt it. I believe because that have had no formal training or initiation process with any true validity that this has gotten out of hand. We are fathers and Mothers of secrets yet if we do not look to our elders this will be lost and in time Palo will go to the way of small churches with no denominations just Preacher wolves in sheep’s clothing.

“On a personal note I have a lot of detractors out there who wish they could be as upfront as I am. Unfortunately they lack the understanding of a simple concept. Be you… If you have a faith stick to it. If you have no faith and jump around looking for powers, Like I know a few who could not hold their own in one faith and jumped backwards looking for another. Get a clue. You are in the wrong religion you should be a bible thumper and not a wanna be Ifa/palero/osain/wiccan/santero/whatever you call yourself it has not worked for you. Join the salvation army and ring a bell at Macy’s. God bless you and all that.” Say hi to the 16 entities…

In the up and coming months we will be working on this blog to create it as an Advocacy group we will have the details up soon since I realized this is a good median for people to be informed as well as another group called (The Wild Hunt) Jason Pitzl Waters is doing an excellent job hopefully we can come to the same type of media blog as his fore Palo Mayombe and other african and afro cuban and afro Caribbean practices….

                                                                                                                                                                                  Tata Musitu

Taken from Bottles wikipedia…

Since prehistoric times, bottle containers were created from clay or asphaltum sealed woven containers. Early glass bottles were produced by the Phoenicians; specimens of Phoenician translucent and transparent glass bottles have been found in Cyprus and Rhodes generally varying in length from three to six inches.^[3] These Phoenician examples from the first millennium BC were thought to have been used for perfume.^[4] The Romans learned glass-making from the Phoenicians and produced many extant examples of fine glass bottles, mostly relatively small.

First attested in English in the 14th century, the word bottle derives from old French boteille, which comes from vulgar Latin butticula, itself from late Latin buttis meaning “cask”, which is perhaps the latinisation of the Greek βοῦττις (bouttis), “vessel”.^[1][2]

The glass bottle was an important development in the history of wine, because, when combined with a high-quality stopper such as a cork, it allowed long-term aging of wine. Glass has all the qualities required for long-term storage. It eventually gave rise to “château bottle”.

Taken from the History of Bottle Trees http://www.felderrushing.net/HistoryofBottleTrees.htm

“Although glass was made deliberately as early as 3500 B.C. in northern Africa, hollow glass bottles began appearing around 1600 B.C. in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Clear glass was invented in Alexandria around 100 A.D.

Soon around then, tales began to circulate that spirits could live in bottles – probably from when people heard sounds caused by wind blowing over bottle openings. This led to the belief in “bottle imps” and genies (from the Arabic word djinn) that could be captured in bottles (remember Aladdin and his magic lamp? This story originated as an Arabian folk tale dating back thousands of years, even before clear glass was invented). Somewhere in there, people started using glass to capture or repel bad spirits. The idea was, roaming night spirits would be lured into and trapped in bottles placed around entryways, and morning light would destroy them.”

Taken from the book Rituals of Resistance by John r, Young  chapter on spirit bottles…

Nkisi Nkondi Mungundu(1907) A dark green wine bottle which is called the “walking boy” was used to agitate in possession in ritual drumming and invocations this nkisi now lives in the national  museum of ethnography in Stockholm.

In Virgina the old conjurers had a root called “Rattlesnake master” in which was put into a bottle and buried at the burial site where the conjure doctor drew in the ground cross marks representing the four winds and the “ground dogs”(perro de prenda) would come and break the bottle and a strong pain came over the victim and a painful death started their after.

“A journey that takes one man into the bowels of black magic in Mexico City” IMDB. (Lionsgate)

“Revolves around a Mexican faith healer, who is called upon to purify a police station and winds up in conflict with a ruthless killer named Casteneda.“

“Curandero: Dawn of the Demon is an action-packed horror flick that takes a couple on a horrifying journey through the deepest bowels of the Mexican underworld. When beautiful federal agent Magdalena calls upon the local curandero (Gallardo) for his services to purify a police station, the two of suddenly find themselves immersed in a satanic cult’s blood-thirsty battleground”

“Back in 2005, Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete) wrote a script for a supernatural thriller, called “Curandero: Dawn of the Demon.” The film was produced by Rodriguez as well as Dimension Films (Miramax), and premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival.

Since the festival, “Curandero” wasn’t released in theaters and wasn’t released on DVD. It was simply shelved. But now comes word Miramax and Lionsgate will release the movie on DVD and VOD on March 12th”

Nsala Malongo everyone on this day I wanted to talk about the movie Curandero which was banned from the screen because of its gory portrayal of demonic forces. Now I am a regular horror enthusiast because personally that calls to me. It has nothing to do with Palo or any other practice I may formulate in my day-to-day living. But it is something that I do. Now most horror stories have a bit of truth and yet a lot of fictional qualities which leads the viewer into wanting to see these types of movies. But I have a problem when movies like this are brought to the mainstream because the light shunned on our religious beliefs are quite distorted. I am not a conspiracy theorist and do not claim to be one. But I say similarities in the plausible ideas of characters. The factual interpretation of Adolfo Costanzo who was claimed to be a Palero by the National Media when in fact none of his ritual work had to do with Palo Mayombe with the exception of a steel cauldron with human remains in it. Castaneda in this story was held in a Police Station and had built a supposed nganga, All the supposed remains and implements were in a slop bucket in a corner and that was considered a nganga.

Honestly Adolfo Costanzo was a perpetrated fraud that utilized his supposed limited knowledge of our tradition to create a farce which made him a cult leader. Not a palero. Recently in a forum called the Pantheacon I was told by one of the consultants on the case of Matamoros killings that one of the requisites to being part of his cult was you had to have watched The believers 1987 Charlie sheen and know it detail for detail by hard. In the matamoros compound was found over 20 copies of this movie. Why was this never spoken about?  Could it be it was bad business for MGM studios not to allow that since the murders were in close proximity of the film existence? Remember around this time the Matamoros was in Spring break on 1989 now you have Curandero out in march of 2013. Is it purely coincidence or is it more of that conspiracy craziness?

Well  whatever it is we need to start posturing up for the Satanic Panic of the 1980′s revisited in 2013. If we do not stop this utter stupidity about our religions and beliefs we will just add fuel to an ever raging fire for someone to come and create an inferno of controversy and untruths. These depictional characters are not our lawyers and doctors, They are not are women and children, and definitely are not our priests and priestesses.  Robert Rodriguez who is a latino should be ashamed of himself in looking at us and pondering the common criminal and Psuedo Religious types and should better inform himself about the everyday practices and differences between curanderos, spiritist, Paleros, Santeros, vodou practitioners and so forth. When will the general public stand up and stop being a silenced voice on these issues of our practice and beliefs? I wont stop advocating this stuff I am going to make my presence known even through little blogs like this. We need to start putting our feet forward and eliminate this type of bad media that is only killing our functionality and our spiritual beliefs. Instead of people out there trying to better the ideal of Palo you have people out there in the miniscule minds who are supposed religious people trying to bash each other and these pseudo palo groups who sell into the philosophy. I for one love the undivided attention they give me but honestly you need to focus on real issues of our religion and not all this blubbering like school girls. Also when we see the Modus operandi of all these little insignificant paleros we can see why palo does not have a true voice. Elders in our community and a lot of those supposed advocates need to talk about this and not hide behind a screen with fake profiles and trying to dent someone’s image. Use that energy to make a difference in your life and bring our religion up instead of squashing it down into the garbage compactor of lies and false truths. Advocacy and speaking out and creating a voice with intelligence is key. Not the rantings of some idiots online. focus and look at those movies and companies are hard-earned money goes too and wake up! Stop contributing to the problem and be part of the solution.                             Tata Musitu

Lately since the last horrid incident on May 26th attack on Ronald Poppo a 65-year-old homeless man who was brutally mauled by then Rudy Eugene age 31. What has been interesting enough that many of the headlines are as follows.  “Naked cannibal in Miami”  the “Miami Zombie”  from abc news, to cbs news, to the National post, bloggers, web crazed zombie enthusiasts and even other countries like Canada and the U.K. talking about the zombie from Miami.

Are you getting the picture? Their have been unsubstantiated reports that this was either drugs or Vodou related. Hmmm? Now let me get this straight a news reporter with maybe a Ba in journalism and a lot of foot work in the field of reporting decided that this would make headlines to fuel what? Ratings or maybe 5 minutes of fame trying to put down a whole culture of priests and priestesses alike for a story?

Because of the sensitivity of the matter news propagandists and ultra christian groups eat this type of story up, No pun intended. Haiti and the Haitian plight since the era of Napoleons rule had to fight for their independence. Not even Africa could not shake off the ties of colonial imperialism and rule. But Haiti did with culture, ritual and practice. Erzulie Dantor Petro Kongo deity was appeased and brought forth the revolution. The Haitian Revolution was influential in slave rebellions in the United States and British colonies.

“According to Haitian writer Michael J. Dash, the U.S. government feared that a successful slave revolt in Haiti would inspire a similar revolt in the United States”

Unfortunately the Miami incident fuels a lot of negative press to any of our spiritual concepts and ritual rites. What is most disheartening to all this that the victims on both sides are subsequently in shock and where is the justice for them? Who has the answers the media? Breeding dumb ideas of a zombie Apocalypse or better still it was a supernatural force that took over him. Even if that were the case we will never know because he is dead now.  We need to start having the media represent us in a better light and with factual accounts and not lurid ideas of fantasy and Hollywood hocus pocus. Movie magic is wonderful for the theater but not in real life.

Recently I just reached out to a reporter named Beth Winegarner who worked at the San Francisco examiner and is a blogger as well. She pointed me to an article she wrote  for journalists on stopping misinformation when reporting on the occult.  I am going to post her link up because we need more of this if we as practitioners of any formed nature based religion wants to start getting some credibility back. We need to take it out of the hands of people who are misinformed and their experts are really just a Joe Shmoe with no prior knowledge of any occulted and african based and or traditional practices. Vodun, Palo, Orisha, Wiccan and chaos magic and any ritual form of practice will benefit from her website Malembe . Tata Musitu

Here is the Link for Beth Winegarner(all rights reserved).

http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/diversity-at-work/168154/how-journalists-can-stop-the-spread-of-misinformation-stereotypes-when-reporting-on-occult-crimes/

In many traditional and alchemical practices we have the vow of secrecy and sacredness. The reason being behind all the secrecy is due to outside influences coming in and not only critiquing what is done in the vow of secrecy but also the fact that sacredness is lost. “Yes the words for Secret and Sacred go hand in hand. “  Many munanso out there in different parts of the country are losing that value of what is secret and what is sacred. In the times of Chino Arrieta(Nunga Nunga) and Juan Cabanga(Yerekun Yekun) one of the many founders of the lineage that is Mayombe did not allow people to come from other branches of palo that were not mayombe to work or partake in ritual ceremony. Even if they knew our secrets and what we were all about or if they were close friends or even relatives. Oh and to top it off their were only certain phrases that were spoken in the house that was not allowed to be shared with other people. So for the only way for you to be allowed in the room you had to know these spoken phrases. It was secret among the Munanso of Mayombe.

Sacred to those of the lineage to be passed down to the family of mayombe and sworn as sacred. Merriam Webster free dictionary online defines this as:

a : unassailable, inviolable b : highly valued.

So my question to those who are out their inviting other people who are not of the same lineage or rama to come work in their Munanso how is that respecting your lineage? See because every house of worship of palo mayombe is not the same.

Mayombe is mayombe, Briyumba is briyumba, Kimbisa is kimbisa, So then when you officiate in a house of briyumba and mayomberos are their how are you respecting not only cultural lines but religious lines as well? This is vice a versa also because a mayombe house is a house of secrets of mayombe. A Kimbisa house is solely the secrets of kimbisa. “How can either one officiate in another munanso when a mayombero should not know what goes on in a room of kimbisa and a briyumbero should not be knowing what goes on in a munanso of  Musundi.?” 

The problem is that if you have an established house of Palo Mayombe whatever line it is then those are the people who are officiating and know other people should be even holding a candle in that room. Out of respect of 2 major words in this posting, Secret and Sacred.

You got alot of people out their thinking because they are in the branch they have a right to be in a room well that is so not true. You look at the seriousness of what is initiation and who in your house is representing you this task is left to the brothers and sisters of your munanso. Not “invited guests” who know nothing of your secret pacts and ceremonies and only can bring a big confusion to the person when they draw the patimpemba that does not correspond to the munanso like a mayombe firma next to a kimbisa one. It’s like a total disrespect to the pact of those spirits and their lines which they came from. Let alone all the spiritual ramifications that come because your house of Palo Mayombe is your family and so family handles family not strangers handling family. Catholics can not dictate in a Jewish synagogue yet they believe in Abraham and the prophets, But they are different. So what is this new reformation of allowing people in Munanso who are not part of the lineage or house in which the ceremonial rites and secrets are being performed?

I believe that the Munanso who are allowing this are not established with people in their own space and are seeking to validate an ideology that has never existed until recently. Which actually makes for a lot of ceremony conducted by 2 or 3 different people in different munanso as null and void. Then they have to go and get scratched as a method to undo what has been done on them. Unfortunately those are the horror’s that are religion must start finding remedy to before this whole new ideology takes form and kills our secrets and sacred rites. What is more alarming that allowing for that type of behavior allows for public scrutiny on techniques and ways of practice that are varied from house to house. Lets respect the memories of our elders and start cleaning up our act.  Tata Musitu

This is a site is for the preservation of our principle rights as paleros the reason being that all ramas and all true munaso’s practice under a banner. Respect, loyalty, honor among many things a heart of acceptance and obedience. To one’s family,friends comrades and other practitioners of different kongo faiths. When we speak of other people and trying to denigrate your reputation and make you look like you are a shady practitioner it only fuels a person like me for instance to persevere.

Mayombe teaches us to have honor and loyalty and above all respect the ritual rites in your home and in the home of others. We as practitioners of Palo mayombe can only truly handle the conflicts within our own munanso and can not involve ourselves with the problems of every house that faces issues. Such as bigotry, hatred, instilling fear, defamation of character. Such is that it seems unfortunately the root of these tyrannical ideologies are based in ignorance. Fear is a liar and one must not fear these hate mongers that are out their with Contemptous lies and bantering of people who have proven time and time again with good works and respect and humbleness you can go far.Interesting fact that I found on the word Gossip from wikipedia and it states:

The word is from Old English godsibb, from god and sibb, the term for the godparents of one’s child or the parents of one’s godchild, generally very close friends. In the 16th century, the word assumed the meaning of a person, mostly a woman, one who delights in idle talk, a newsmonger, a tattler.^[4] In the early 19th century, the term was extended from the talker to the conversation of such persons. The verb to gossip, meaning “to be a gossip”, first appears in Shakespeare.

The term originates from the bedroom at the time of childbirth. Giving birth used to be a social (ladies only) event, in which a pregnant woman’s female relatives and neighbours would gather. As with any social gathering there was chattering and this is where the term gossip came to mean talk of others.

You can see where the term cackling hens come into play that is not a sign of a true palero. That is a sign of a person threatened that this movement of Palo Mayombe is moving forward and we are bringing back the old and killing the new innovations of Palo Mayombe that has plagued this religion for far too long. Out there in the world people are reading this site and taking notice to what we are bringing to the table. Truth and knowledge and humbleness and respect. I know for a fact that many people out there have spoken about my person I for one will not entertain them because it goes to show you they fear you when they have to speak about you and these people know nothing of you. You can meet a person and deem them a friend but most likely they are an aquaintance that is not worthy of the term friend.  Always lead by example and good works and you will flourish but if you lead by the constant banter and propaganda that fuels petty flame wars then you who go around pointing fingers at people, What are you? But a sniveling liar and will fall on your face by your own intentions and actions.  My name is Tata Musitu Munanfinda moana filo batalla muna mayombe Saca empeno. It is a title that i wear with honor that i wear with my head up high and I will always keep true to my Munaso, my friends, my family. my wife and those that truly know me and to those who feel the need to talk about my person its ok it is hard to follow in the shadow of someone who is bringing light from the darkness.

I Laugh at the thought that these are the same people who claim to be good and upstanding people yet the walk around with the same disdain a rattlesnake has for the sun. Mayombe is a healing society we are not hating on anyone, we are not into gay bashing, we respect all and as such we expect the same in return.

So take my message for what it is worth…. (amunancuame batalla kongo ndile ndundu mayombe kisa kwambila).

Tata Musitu.  Pull out your dictionary and look it up.

The meaning of Penance in the catholic encyclopedia.

“Penance is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same. It is called a “sacrament” not simply a function or ceremony, because it is an outward sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul.”

as written in Wikipedia.

“A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.”

Nsala Malongo Everyone,

I remember when the idea of cutting people to me into the religion was more of a lets see who can tolerate the most. Who held up longer, who got hit more, who dealt with what at the moment. Understanding ritual complexities in every rama, one thing was for certain that everyone passes through penance. But to me this idea of penance is non-existent, since a rite of passage versus penance have nothing in common. A lot of times I would here when you are in (penitencia) spanish word for penance this is so you can contemplate your sins. I always asked myself what sin? If what is a rite of passage is a time for celebration and not fear. A time to understand that these steps as we go forward are to bridge our connection with one and the universe. A time to give praise to those ancestral spirits and all spirits within the depths of Palo Mayombe. So my view and understanding of Penance reworded with Rite.

It is a material rite to move forward in this world to bound that tie that knot with the spiritual and so changing the wording does not change the framework of what we do as priests or priestess alike. We bring a more focused initiate through the door more willing and hungry to understand what we hold as a rite of passage. Now rites of passage involve the agitation of spirit, But a full abusive beat down in my view is not a spiritual act but more so an act of abuse. Our rite as priests and or priestess is to offer a rite of passage. But some people take it to super extremes. But as in every house as a guest if one is not in agreement. One can be pro active and speak up and not allow it. Or we can do as the roman’s do but i don’t apply to that train of thought. So I would personally excuse myself from the ceremony as to not cause a raucous.

Understanding ritual rites is one measure of becoming spiritually whole. When all is said and done we must look to our ritual practices and understand the meaning behind the ritual scars and the ritual movements behind the hits. But we are not uncivilized savages who for the mere entertainment of others we are beating people half to death. People must stand for something or follow like sheep to the slaughter. Open your eyes and watch out for people who are beating and torturing people half to death. It’s a time for ritual and celebration and not a trip to the emergency room.

Tata Musitu…

Nsala Malongo everyone,

I have been trying to get back into the swing of writing more informative literature on our website. I have been busy with a lot of ceremonial obligations. I will be checking in from time to time so that I can get out more educational information as our religion is getting a resurgence of people seeking answers. One of these nuances in Palo Mayombe now is the supposed Moor Sciences in Palo. For as many times that I will say it there is no such thing as moors who practice palo mayombe. First off the The Moorish Science Temple of America was incorporated under the Illinois Religious Corporation Act 805 ILCS 110. Timothy Drew, calling himself the Prophet Noble Drew Ali, founded the Moorish Science Temple in 1913 in New Jersey. That later became an offshoot of what was to become the Nation of Islam. None worked nkisi they may have studied about it in archeological books but known were priests no.

The true moors who were based in spain and north africa had a different story to tell (excerpt was borrowed from infoplease.com on moors All rights reserved to the website)

Moors

Moors, nomadic people of the northern shores of Africa, originally the inhabitants of Mauretania. They were chiefly of Berber and Arab stock. In the 8th cent. the Moors were converted to Islam and became fanatic Muslims. They spread SW into Africa (see Mauritania) and NW into Spain. Under Tarik ibn Ziyad they crossed to Gibraltar in 711 and easily overran the crumbling Visigothic kingdom of Roderick. They spread beyond the Pyrenees into France, where they were turned back at Tours by Charles Martel (732). In 756, Abd ar-Rahman I established the Umayyad dynasty at Córdoba. This emirate became under Abd ar-Rahman III the caliphate of Córdoba. The court there grew in wealth, splendor, and culture. The regent al-Mansur in the late 10th cent. waged bitter warfare with the Christians of N Spain, where, from the beginning, the Moorish conquest had met with its only opposition. The cities of the south, Toledo, Córdoba, and Seville, speedily became centers of the new culture and were famed for their universities and architectural treasures (see Moorish art and architecture). With the exception of brief periods, there was, however, no strong central government; the power was split up among dissenting local leaders and factions. The caliphate fell in 1031, and the Almoravids in 1086 took over Moorish Spain, which was throughout the whole period closely connected in rule with Morocco. Almoravid control slowly declined and by 1174 was supplanted by the Almohads. These successive waves of invasion had brought into Spain thousands of skilled Moorish artisans and industrious farmers who contributed largely to the intermittent prosperity of the country. They were killed or expelled in large numbers (to the great loss of Spain) in the Christian reconquest, which began with the recovery of Toledo (1085) by Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile. The great Christian victory (1212) of Navas de Tolosa prepared the way for the downfall of the Muslims. Córdoba fell to Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236. The wars went on, and one by one the Moorish strongholds fell, until only Granada remained in their hands. Málaga was taken (1487) after a long siege by the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella, and in 1492 Granada was recovered. Many of the Moors remained in Spain; those who remained faithful to Islam were called Mudejares, while those who accepted Christianity were called Moriscos. They were allowed to stay in Spain but were kept under close surveillance. They were persecuted by Philip II, revolted in 1568, and in the Inquisition were virtually exterminated. In 1609 the remaining Moriscos were expelled. Thus the glory of the Moorish civilization in Spain was gradually extinguished. Its contributions to Western Europe and especially to Spain were almost incalculable—in art and architecture, medicine and science, and learning (especially ancient Greek learning). Moors — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0833942.html#ixzz20122nbwP

With this being said from reliable sources Islam does not allow anyone of their followers to take on another faith. Self proclaimed moors worship Allah. Here is an excerpt on the purity of faith and it goes(borrowed from the website http://convertingtoislam.com All Rights Reserved)

                                          Al-Ikhlas

Sala Malongo,

Hoodoo as a diasporic Congo-rooted magical system is practical and simple in it’s implementation of natural forces for accomplishing change. The most indispensable of those natural things is, of course, Water. Understanding how our Congo ancestors understood and worked with Water and it’s Spirits will enable a deeper understanding of Why we work with water–as both Hoodoos and Paleros–in the way and fashion that we do.

The River, in the Congo, was more than just a liquid. It was a living manifestation of Spirit, a spiritual body, and it served as a transferative and transformative medium. When it was time for someone to be reborn into spirit, to die to the physical and return changed, this death was accomplished through immersion into the waters.
To see how this approach to spiritual water in the Congo was born into the American South, and into Hoodoo, we need look no further than the Baptismal rites of the slave churches. Christianity didn’t dominate the Congo spiritual practices of the Slaves that were brought into the South….instead, it was interpreted through extant Congo practices and worked in a manner that was consistent with the understanding of our ancestors. The rite of Baptism in a traditional Christian context involved a gentle blessing, with water poured over the head. At least, this is how it had degenerated by the time it reached the Congo. Old John the Baptist might have had a more classical approach to the rite…..
The Congo took baptism and worked it the way they had always worked with Water; a person being reborn into Spirit needed to die, and in order to cross into the realm of the dead and be reborn–”born again”–the person had to be immersed fully into the Water. With ritual and ceremony, the person is placed deep into the Waters, where they enter the realm of the dead and rise up newly born into the world. Having died and then risen up, the person is more than a simple human; the contacts made with the world of spirit during the immersion remain. This is why in traditional Black churches in the South, Baptism is given in the river, and one is fully immersed. Through immersion in Water contact with spirit is made….through the agency of Water spiritual forces are brought to bear.

Spiritual Baths, washes, and Waters are arguably the most important tool in the conjurer’s arsenal. A hoodoo who doesn’t work with baths and washes is hardly a hoodoo at all. They are the simplest and also most effective methods we use. The water of a spiritual baths serves as a mercurial medium, a transferative medium between the power of the herbs and stones and bones within the water and the person using the bath. Our cleansing wash–say, made with hyssop, some blueing, mint, etc–will take within the waters themselves the power of the items within, so that the cleansing power of hyssop and the lot imbue the water. When using the wash that virtue is transferred through agency of the water to the conjurer or client using it, and a deep spiritual cleansing can occur. We can make waters that do near anything with this method, if we know the power and spirit of the natural things around us. A war-water can be made with a bit of graveyard dirt, wasp nests (especially one with larvae present), stinging nettle, rose or cactus thorn, and warring, violent song or prayer. I place within my war-water bullets and fula, and further refine it with methods shared with my apprentices and co-workers. This kind of water, when sprayed upon a doorway or area, or God Forbid drunk, will create havoc and discord. The Water itself is cleansing when paired with cleansing things, and violent with violent things. This is the power of water, and the essence of it’s use within Hoodoo.
As a Palero, the rites of our religion reaffirm the nature of this understanding of Waters, birthed in the Congo and alive in all of it’s spiritual children. Look to our baths, and I find the same principles at work. In our Chamba, the same principles….even in our creation of nkisi. Oftentimes the most obvious difference between a simple makuto and an nkisi, as far as constuction goes, is the nature of the ntoto used. When building our nkisi, the dirts are wet and alive with lustral waters. The dirts packed into a makuto are often dry, as they often serve as a tool to direct the power of a given nkisi in a certain way and have no agency on their own. There are many mysteries in water and it’s work, and in Hoodoo we have the silent wisdom of our Congo ancestors enabling our work. Palo Mayombe is blessed in the same way.

Nsala Malongo everyone,

I have been busy with interviews and talking about Palo Mayombe with a few people online and I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ea Koetting who is “an accomplished sorcerer, the head of an exclusive invite-only magical order, and I do professional coaching for magicians who are struggling with their personal power. I’ve also helped thousands of people through my internationally published books and programs.”

He is also a practitioner of the vodou tradition and here is his website for all those interested  http://www.becomealivinggod.com/.

Malembe Tata Musitu

When will people learn that any group who tries to give information about another without ever practicing a tradition is just fueling bias and discriminatory behavior. Seems that Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) who seems to be based right here in Los Angeles Ca went on a bit of an investigative rant on their site about a New Jersey mausoleum which was broken into and the remains of Pauline Spinelli were taken.  Reported originally by ABC news in its entirety.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/body-stolen-jersey-mausoleum/story?id=16895095#.UBoCV6BypgY

ABC news calls a supposed expert on Destructive cults who has a shady past indeed Rick Ross

Taken from excerpts of Wikipedia……

“in 1974, Ross was convicted of the attempted burglary of a vacant model home and sentenced to probation.

In 1993, Ross faced charges of unlawful imprisonment in the State of Washington due to the alleged forcible detention of Jason Scott, a member of a Pentecostal church, in 1991. Ross was acquitted in a January 1994 jury trial.

Sscott sued Ross, two of his associates, and the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), for his abduction and failed deprogramming. Scott was eighteen years old at the time of the abduction. CAN was a co-defendant because a CAN contact person had referred Scott’s mother to Ross.

The two men hired by Scott’s mother seized him outside her house. Scott was handcuffed but never struck. After he bit one of the men, they taped his mouth, and both the handcuffs and tape were removed after he was put in the van to go to the hotel where they held the deprogramming. The deprogramming personnel restrained him and told him his release depended on the completion of the deprogramming.^{[36][40][41][42][43][44]}

The defendants were found liable for conspiracy to deprive Scott of his civil rights and religious liberties and awarded $875,000 in compensatory damages, and punitive damages in the amount of $1,000,000 against CAN, $2,500,000 against Ross, and $250,000 against each of the other two individual defendants. The case bankrupted the Cult Awareness Network.^[45][46]

In 1995 Ross filed for personal bankruptcy because of the damages award against him in the Scott civil trial.^[40][47] Scott then settled with Ross, accepting $5,000 plus 200 hours of Ross’s professional services “as an expert consultant and intervention specialist”.^[44][47] Berry, Scott’s new attorney, said that Scott’s decision to use Ross’s services was not a vindication of Ross’s deprogramming methods and refused to say what services Ross would provide.^[44]

As a result of the legal risks involved, Ross stopped advocating coercive deprogramming or involuntary interventions for adults, preferring instead voluntary exit counseling without the use of force or restraint.^[48] He states that despite refinement of processes over the years, exit counseling and deprogramming continue to depend on the same principles.”

Palo Mayombe seems to be the supposed cult experts playground. At any point the finger-pointing extravaganza that the media has on Satanists, Wiccans, Vodou and Palo Mayombe is very alarming and very real. We are sympathetic to the people whose remains were taken and it is said to say the least. When you purchase a plot or any relic or land to bury your loved ones and someone desecrate those grounds it is a travesty. But how does Palo Mayombe fit into this picture?

How is that the granddaughter did the research and found Palo as a group who uses human bones?  If the catholic church and the Vatican venerate saints with human remains encrusted in gold and precious stones. We need to stop breeding this ignorance because Palo being a hybrid religion is just as hybrid as Catholicism being and offshoot of Jewish traditions.

To many atrocities have been cited by the catholic church, hatred,bigotry, racism and any schism that they have created in the past. We live in a land of freedom of expression and freedom of religion and Palo Mayombe is just another platform for these anti hate groups and media spin doctors to tarnish our religion. When are we going to fight against these injustices? Or are we simply going to live in the confines of secrecy and ignorance allowing people to define us yet we do not define ourselves?

Tata Musitu

When we speak of the transitional phase of life what are we referring to when it comes to our passing? I get a lot of questions about reincarnation and life after death. Most of these dogmatic ideas of reincarnation are birthed from many different traditional roots. Most of the ideology of ancient Egypt was based on the idea that the body was prepared to take on the afterlife so they could reincarnate rebirth after death was the forefront of their belief system. Where you can see similarities in Buddha they were far different from each other. Every culture prepares the way for the ancestors to receive you. In Palo Mayombe we are closely and more typically have this mindset like the Sadducees an ancient Jewish sect which came into play during the 2nd temple timeline. According to Josephus the Hebrew Scholar of his time…

• There is no fate
• God does not commit evil
• man has free will; “man has the free choice of good or evil”
• the soul is not immortal; there is no afterlife, and
• there are no rewards or penalties after death
  

This comparison by far does not hold true in all Palo Mayombe houses, where there is a more christian influence differing by far. We as Mayomberos believe that the soul that harnass energy like the light of the sun and stars lives on as a sentient soul. Most Bakulu go to the land of the ancestors (casa Nsambi) which is the Sun(ntango) Bakulu are ancestral forces that we venerate and we try to reach that type of honor. The bakulu do not have an afterlife because they never truly die and so to re-incarnate an energy that is already living just in a different form makes no sense in our cosmology and lore.

Most Palo mayombe lines with the exception of some mayombe lines who venerate the ancestral force in a nganga deal with more of a nkita spirit. Most nkita spirits are not bad but have died tragically and do not make it to the realm of the ancestors. In doing this you find that nkita spirits are made to work looking for one day to be let free to go the land of the bakulu. Most minkisi that are pacted in this new era are made with Nkita spirits. Not all Minkisi are nkita because you have so many other ways of working medicine(Bilongo) that often times you can have minkisi built from certain plants, or animals, articles like horns or bags. Many minerals and items of power from riverbeds and white clay(mpemba) which was an element very important to the making of minkisi.

When it comes to Minkisi you have the nkondi which is a subclass of minkisi. Most nkondi spirits are aggressive can cause or cure sickness. Look for wrongdoers and enforce spiritual oaths in this process we see how Palo Mayombe incorporated the nkondi and the nkita to work in conjunction with ritual practice to work in Palo Mayombe nganga.  Most Briyumba lines practice in this way and has passed down to what Palo mayombe is today.

Mayombe as the birthplace of the 3 main ramas of palo mayombe has always understood that we as a community need to put forth concise teaching of all the lineages and bring back respect to an ever-growing population of misinformed people who are using Palo Mayombe to push their gangster rap careers, Commercializing violence and putting Palo mayombe in a bad light within our own supposed religious brethren. Gun posing and speaking on all criminal activities is not the mark of a cultural and religious person.Our ancestors were country people who believed in family first, than community and respect for the natural order of life in all its existence. The transition of a mayombero in life is to have a good death so that the earth takes in the body of a good man, woman, child, mother, father, sister,brother etc.  and that he leaves a mark on this earth for future generations to come to up hold that same doctrine. Leaving a mark in life assures that your death will not be a memory that will be long forgotten.

“The biggest spiritual death is to not be remembered in life”

Tata Musitu

“Investigating religious terrorism and ritualistic crime by Dawn Perlmutter ( In her book it states for a person to be in palo mayombe they need to be initiated into Santeria). Santeria considered to be White magic while Palo Mayombe is Black Magic. You can see it on page 189 of her book.”

Sala Malongo everyone I have been so busy as of late with initiations in Palo and Orisha I have not had time to attend the site and also wanted to point out that thank those who are always waiting for the next interesting blog that I will post up. I wanted to take the time to address an ongoing problem we have in this religion. I call it Exposition of Gangsterism that is quite funny at best but really damages our true intentions of what we are trying to convey. What is it that I am talking about well look closely many “occult experts” are out their saying they know of our traditions and of our way of worship. Yet not one piece of evidence shows any exact connection to our practices. Yes I am saying it not one. If you see an exposition of people who are dancing up in a lot of these ritual rumba are not practicing palo mayombe. See the purpose of our drumming is for communication with the spirit not to have a dance off. Most of the drums used today as part of this growing popularity are unconsecrated drums with no ritual value other than that they sound nice. Where is the actual communication with the spirit? How can you sit there and state we are paleros yet not one person can explain why in these expositions more ritual possession is induced from  alcohol being passed around than actual ritual. Last I heard the rum is for the dead not the living.

Many conversations have been had between me and my colleagues and this exposition of ritual houses playing with each other existing here in the United States is just that a show. When was it ok to allow other houses to partake of ritual practices that are secret and are worth its weight in gold. Now all of a sudden we are all brothers under one banner. Tell that to a Mayombero or a person from Malongo, or an old school Briyumbero and they will all laugh in your face or maybe better yet smack it. The 1980′s began the catalyst of this deprave exposition of bravado, criminality, and utter nonsense. We have to thank the folkloric idealism that created this mish mosh of crap that we see now in Palo. After the cuban independence you have to look at American interests in the island where many crime syndicates and organizations opened up shop and started feeding into the cuban socio-political climate breeding american criminality and free enterprise. So people can not really get mad at times when these professors in colleges come against paleros and santeros because history has painted a one-sided picture really well for the United States and delegates and christian right wingers can use Palo and orisha practitioners as occultists and chicken killers and straight out criminals.

The Spanish-American war was viewed as the first media war ever since it got a lot of press and cartoons of America as its savior. But now almost 150 years later the ” yellow kid journalism” is still used today. Meaning that media companies, publishers of books go with half-truths and not the whole story. It amazes me that Muna nso will put expositions of pictures not as a tool to teach but more as a tool to promote. Most times people looking foolish gangster posers, faces covered, Showing cleavages and all types of bad expositions to create a position of what in what? Most of the serious palero’s will not allow godkids taking pictures within a muna nso setting because it is ritual that deems the day not exposition. This is not playboy, or hustler, This is not the rap source magazine or, Maxim…. Guns weekly or any other type of media source we are a palo community. Handle yourself accordingly instead of promoting what you think you are show us who you are. Be a good person, a righteous person someone who command respect and has earned it now through self promotion or any other nonsense. Put in the work learn your house secrets and keep them secret. Do not allow for these Palero posers fool you.  We need to create advocacy not mouth ranters on any form of communication. If people feel threatened by what i write i do not honestly care. If you feel that this is some way an attack on you. Then you are missing the point that if we do not create consciousness and eliminate the criminality in palo that came during the time of the Mariel when Castro emptied his prisons into these boats then you are missing the point. The point is that many people have sold themselves because they do not take our religion our practice and our belief system seriously. Hide in the shadows and live in your fantasy world a lot of us are done with that.

“Between April and September 1980, 125,000 Cubans arrived in Florida from the port of El Mariel, in a dramatic boatlift that had long-standing repercussions for the United States and for Castro’s image. It all began when a bus crashed through the gates of the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. Two guards were wounded as they shot each other, and Fidel Castro, in a fit of anger, removed the security post from the embassy entrance. ‘Bad mistake,’ recalled the chief of the newly opened U.S. Interest Section in Havana, Wayne Smith, ‘because within hours there were 10,000 Cubans inside the embassy and thousands more on the way.’ Embarrassed, the Cuban government called the refugees escoria: ‘trash.’ Castro decided to open the port of El Mariel to “anyone” who wanted to leave Cuba.”

Tata Musitu