The Bohiti or bohíque, the all-powerful witch doctor of the Taino Indians.

Hello dear reader, this is one of those complementary posts that I add to my virtual space every time I am preparing a class. I was preparing my workshop on Candomble and Umbanda for my next classes, but in a certain part of the workshop, I mentioned the magical and animistic culture of the Tainos (natives of the Caribbean).

I know that many may not be interested, but there are always people who want to hear what are the reliable sources on the subject, and well, on the practical side, the only source I have is my mother and I, but, on a theoretical level, Finding people who have written books or columns on the subject is difficult.

So I decided to translate here, directly from my books and magazines in Spanish, the material that I have about it on a theoretical level, I hope it will help you.

Taino Natives

The Taínos were the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is a town that came from South America, specifically from the mouth of the Orinoco River, Venezuela, passing from island to island, reducing or assimilating the oldest inhabitants, such as the Guanajatabeyes and the Ciguayos whose cultures They predate the arrival of the Taínos. The Taíno language belongs to the macroarahuacana linguistic family, which extends from South America through the Caribbean.

At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1492, there were five Taíno chieftains in the territory of Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic), each led by a chief cacique (chief), to whom tribute was paid. Puerto Rico was also divided into chiefdoms. The chief or chief of the tribe was paid a significant tribute. The caciques had the privilege of wearing gold pendants called chain, living in rectangular huts instead of oval ones that the inhabitants inhabited, and sitting on wooden stools when they received guests.

Taino Magic & Sorcery

The Taínos were a polytheistic and animistic culture, like most of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The main divinity is YaYa. It is also known as Semign (which means "God" in the Taino Arawak language).

The word "cemí" whose meaning in the Taino language means "Angel", designates the spiritual beings of Taino mythology, and "Juracán" was the name that the Taínos gave to the atmospheric phenomena known today by hurricanes and tropical storms. In Taino belief, who really unleashed these hurricanes was Guabancex, who was accompanied by Guataubá and Cuatrisquie.

In the religious beliefs of the Taíno culture, the hupia are the spirits of the dead, and they differ from the goeiza: spirits of the living. Although the Goeiza life had a clear form, after death the spirit became known as a hupia and went to live in Coaybay.

Taino Witch-doctor

The "behique", "bohique" or "buhitío" was a necessary character in the entire tribe, and occupied a privileged position in the social pyramid after the cacique and the nitaínos. "They represented the level of social and religious development of the Taínos".

The Behiques possessed a "natural power" that made them respectable and feared persons. Like the majority of shamans, they were not priests, but primarily medical-sorcerers, although they also played the role of theologians, soothsayers, and prophets.

To become a Behique, extensive learning and many days of fasting, almost absolute, were required. "The fast that some did mainly the bahiks or priests or sorcerers... They fasted four months and more continuously, without eating anything, but only a certain juice of grass or herbs, that only to sustain them, that they did not die, was enough".

A fantasy about the Sacred ritual of the death

of the Taino Indians in the Dominican Republic

1999-2000. Made by David Cavada.

Among the functions they performed were:

• Organize the cult: The Behiques or shamans, along with the caciques, were the hosts of religious ceremonies or rites. Among which stands out the rite of the Cohoba, in which, after several days of fasting, they inhaled a hallucinogen called “cohoba” which consisted of seeds from a tree known as “Anadenthera Peregrina” and burnt snail shells, both pulverized. This dust caused hallucinations and made them imagine that they had a talk with the gods, who gave them instructions on the actions they should take regarding certain situations. “The result was very dry and well-polished, tan-colored mixes”.
• Communicate tribal traditions: The Behiques were also in charge of carrying out activities through which they transferred the knowledge acquired after many years of experience to the rest of the tribe, so that it was not lost with future generations. An example of these rites is the areito, in which, as in the cohoba rite, they used drugs with hallucinogens and danced to the rhythm of maracas and drums. Medical knowledge was not shared since it was reserved exclusively for future shamans, who were going to replace them in the exercise of witchcraft and curanderismo.
• Educate the children of the caciques and be advisers to them: Being subordinate behiques close to the cacique, they entrusted them with the education of their children, trusting that the behique would guide them along the path that the gods had prepared for them.
• Make the figures in honor of different cemíes: The behiques were in charge of making the representations of the gods using a wide variety of materials, such as stone and clay.
• Curing the sick: The latter distinguished them more than the others due to their vast knowledge in botany, medicine, and other branches; which gave them the privilege of being the only ones in charge of this trade. Of course, these "doctors" of the tribe did not possess scientific knowledge of anatomy or physiology, they were purely intuitive. "They seem to have had some knowledge regarding the five main senses, considering that these functions put him in with the external environment, danger and survival."

Spiritual Heritage

The spiritual world of the Taíno hardly left traces in the Creole culture, and the few samples of that world are strongly syncretized with Christian-African beliefs and rites. We can cite, in this regard, the sacralization of certain Taíno caciques, elevated to the category of luases or divinities of the voodoo pantheon; superstitions regarding indigenous axes, popularly known as “lightning stones” and the myth of the ciguapa, a female entity that walks with its feet upside down. The belief of lightning stones is that if you have one of them, lightning will not strike the houses.

In popular medicine, various herbs and woods are used for different diseases that the Taínos used. They are currently used for the same purposes. Among the different objects and materials used in the country for magical practices, there are stones, bottles with polishing water, drinks, potions, quicksilver, etc. All these objects or materials are supposed to be charged with "force" after their ritual manipulations and therefore capable of operating beneficially in curing illnesses, solving different problems and achieving good luck.

The Behiques, being both intermediaries between the gods and men, as well as doctors and healers, had a great influence on the general population. "However, the religion itself was in the power of men, corresponding to the chief being the chief, warrior and religious at the same time".

One of the most widespread beliefs was cemitism, represented by idols or cemíes, considered as tutelary gods. Among the most accepted Cemíes were the "three-pointed stones" or trigonolites, which were commonly related to fertility rituals, such as the productivity of the conucos and the reproduction of human beings.

As for animism, the Taíno believed that the spirits of the dead lived in the trees. They believed to perceive the presence of these when movements of the branches took place or when the roots branched in a special way. When this happened, the Behique sought to interpret the wishes that the dead wanted to manifest, according to belief.

Sources from where I translate this info:

• Revista Cubana de Medicina Militar. 2016.
• Fernando Polanco/Raquel Chalas. (2017) Del Behique al Medico Militar. 
• Jorge Ulloa Garcia. (2010) Historia, Civilizaciones y Cultura del Caribe. 
• Roberto Busto. (2009) Brujos y Chamanes.
• Cassa, Roberto. (1992). Los indios de las Antillas. MAPFRE. Madrid, España.
• De las Casas, Bartolomé. (1985). Historia de las Indias. Sociedad Dominicana de Bibliófilos. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana.
• Pané, Fray Ramón. (1986). La Isla Española: cuna de la evangelización de América. Primicias de la Vega Real. Amigo del Hogar. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana.
• Cassá, Roberto. (1974). Los taínos de la Española. Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana.

Who is who? Santa Claus, San Nicolás de Mira, Santa Claus and the Spirit of Christmas.

Santa Claus, San Nicolás de Mira, Santa Claus and the Spirit of Christmas.

To all the readers, welcome back to my virtual portal, I have been busy between books, classes, and workshops, being as a teacher as a student, now I am taking time out of social networks to focus on finishing various projects, and you will only find me around here, and occasionally on Tumblr and Twitter promoting the topics published in this blog.

This day we are going to shed some light on the life of this mythical character with thousands of names that is Saint Nicholas, and his difference with, the Christmas Spirit, of whom I personally am very devout, and to clarify that they are not the same individual.

Beyond the version recreated by Coca Cola, of the robust and bearded man with a cartoon red and white winter suit, we find the essence of two entirely different characters that I would like to summarize below.

Old Wotan and the first ‘Christmas’.

Centuries before Christianization, the Germanic peoples celebrated a feast in the middle of winter called Yule ’, from which essentially all the traditions that would eventually lead to Christmas originate. During these festivities, the god Woden or Wotan (another form of the god Odin) was present with his long white beard, well accompanied by his hunting troops (Wild Hunt) formed mostly by spirits of old horse hunters.

From here the first images of the old ‘Santa Claus’ leave, like a robust old man with blue eyes and long white beard covered with a thick tunic of skin dyed blue, or sometimes purple or green. Being thus represented in a more elegant and less caricatural way, and with a more "Nordic" aspect.

From a horse to the eight reindeer

Wotan was an old god, a warrior, a wizard, and a poet, it was expected that his court was a mystical and unique creature worthy of him, so he rode ‘Sleipnir’ a fierce eight-legged horse. After the Christianization of the Germanic peoples, trying to keep Wotan's story alive among the children, this steed would be turned into a white horse called ‘Amerigo’, and now Wotan would have an assistant and page known as ‘Zwarte Piet’.

Zwarte Piet, better known as “Black Peter” or “Pedro el negro” for Spanish-speaking countries, was a demon with coal instead of skin and fire instead of blood, inhabited the forests of Germany and Belgium, devoured the children and terrorized the people, said demon was defeated in combat by Wotan and turned into his servant, Wotan covered him with human skin and from then on he is represented as a vivacious and smiling character of color.

Subsequently, and inspired by the original concept of the eight-legged horse that leads the god during the winter, and in a Christmas postcard published in 1821 where the character is seen in a carriage that is pulled by a reindeer, the legend transforms and converts to the bearded god in a robust and smiling old man aboard a sleigh that is pulled by eight reindeer, to represent the eight legs of the original steed.

For even more commercial purposes, to the eight reindeers that pull the sleigh of "Santa", they are added a ninth reindeer (Rudolph of the red nose) from the 1823 poem "A Visit From St Nicholas", and his assistant Peter It disappears almost completely, except in certain European countries such as Spain, Holland, Poland, and Germany, where little by little its figure is emerging again.

Saint Nicholas de Bari

With the arrival of Christianity throughout Europe, the figure of Woden tried to prevail, and its cult being so difficult to disappear, the Church decided to synchronize it with the figure of the Christian bishop of Greek origin named Nicholas of Bari, who lived in the fourth century in Anatolia, (current Turkey). Nicholas was one of the most venerated people by Christians of the Middle Ages, largely because of his reputation as a miracle worker as for his eagerness to eradicate pagan cults, his relics are in the Basilica of St. Nicholas of Bari, Italy.

Nicolás de Bari was born between the years 270 and 280 in Myra, a city of the District of Lycia, in present-day Turkey, came from a rich family with shops along the Adriatic Sea, once both parents died due to the plague, Nicolás, moved by the situation, distributed all the assets of his family among the neediest and went to live with his uncle (the bishop of Mira), at age 19 Nicolás is ordained a priest, and when his uncle dies, he Nicolás offers to take office as bishop of Mira.

Special mention has its relationship with the children, whom he treated with great respect and appreciation, on one occasion he managed through prayers, to heal two children who had previously been stabbed by a stranger outside the church, from there Many stories began telling their miracles and goodnesses.

He had a good reputation as a gift delivery man, I keep a small part of the family treasures much of his life, mostly gold coins that he left inside the houses of the poor in which he sneaked into the night.

After his death, he was made Patron Saint of Greece, Turkey, Russia and Lorraine (France). In the East, it is known as San Nicolás de Mira or Myra, but in the West as San Nicolás de Bari.

Father Christmas

This is a character of English origin, and it is a divine personification of Christmas that emerged at the end of the Victorian period.

From the fifteenth century, "Father Christmas" appears as an English legend, but it is not until the mid-seventeenth century (following the English Civil War) that his figure goes from oral folklore to be illustrated and described in various commercial publications.

“The English government controlled by the Puritans had legislated to abolish Christmas, considering it a papist, and had banned their traditional customs. The realistic political pamphlets, which link the old traditions with their cause, adopted the Old Santa Claus as a symbol of "the good old days" of festivities and joy. After the Restoration in 1660, Santa's profile declined. His character was maintained at the end of the 18th century and in the 19th century by Christmas folkloric works.”

Hutton, Ronald (1994). The Rise and Fall of Merry England.

Until Victorian times, Father Christmas was only worried about celebrations and adult parties. He had no particular connection with the children, nor with the delivery of gifts, night visits, socks or fireplaces. As later Victorian Christmas became family festivals focused on children, Father Christmas became a bearer of gifts.

The popular American myth of Santa Claus arrived in England in the 1850s and Father Christmas began to assume the attributes of Santa Claus. In the 1880s, new customs had been established, and the night visitor was sometimes known as Santa Claus and other times as Santa Claus. He was often illustrated with a long red hooded dress adorned with white skins.

Any residual distinction between Father Christmas and Father Christmas faded greatly in the early years of the twentieth century, and modern dictionaries consider the terms Father Christmas and Father Christmas to be synonyms.

Santa Claus or Santa Claus.

Around the year 1624, when Dutch immigrants founded the city of New Amsterdam (now New York) they carried with them their customs and myths, including that of Sinterklaas, a character inspired by the figures of St. Nicholas of Bari and Father Christmas, and in addition to this a patron saint (whose holiday is celebrated in Holland between December 5 and 6).

In 1809, the writer Washington Irving made public the satire, "History of New York," in which he deformed the Dutch saint, Sinterklaas, in the crude English-speaking pronunciation of Santa Claus.

In 1823 the poet Clement Clarke Moore published a poem that gave rise to the current myth of Santa Claus, based on the previous character of Irving Washington, in that poem mention is made of a version of Santa Claus, although fat, agile as an elf; who gives toys to children on Christmas Eve and is transported in a sleigh pulled by eight reindeer (Rudolph -Rodolfo- not yet included).

In 1863, the German cartoonist Thomas Nast developed a series of Christmas strips at Harper's Weekly, where he granted St. Nicholas the figure of a fat, bearded and cheerful man with a peculiar dress inspired by the bishops of the middle ages.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the American Santa Claus arrived in England and from there to France, where he merged with Bonhomme Noël, another very similar character who used to wear white and gold.

At the end of the 19th century, the American brand “Lomen Company” creates the legend that San Nicolás lives in the North Pole, thus justifying the existence of the eight flying reindeer and the winter attire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1902, in the children's book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, by L. Frank Baum, the story of how Claus earned immortality, as well as his title of saint, originates.

In the twentieth century, the painter Habdon Sundblom certainly remodeled the figure of Santa Claus/Santa Claus for the Coca-Cola company, making a version of it more human, more smiling and more credible commissioned to reshape the figure of Santa Claus / Santa Claus to make it more human and credible, keeping the already popular red and white colors, and the magical sleigh with nine reindeer.

Finally, the myths and legends of the pagan god Woden (being replaced by the Christian Saint Nicholas of Bari) and Father Christmas (Father Christmas) eventually mixed as one, his image became a symbol of the season, and mass advertising around he converted him, from a powerful god of winter and war on a fierce steed, a catholic saint who works miracles, and a nocturnal and festive spirit, into a sweet, robust and bearded old man, dressed in red that distributes gifts throughout the world in one night aboard a sleigh with nine magical reindeer.

Elhoim Leafar

You can read too:

• YULETIDE & CHRISTMAS 2019
• THE HOLIDAY TREE, MAGIC, SORCERY & TRADITION
• FIVE ESSENTIAL & MAGICKAL ELEMENTS FOR CHRISTMAS
• PLANTS AND FLORAL ESSENCES FOR THIS SEASON
• PROSPERITY, JOY & PEACE

with love & blessings to all

by Elhoim Leafar

Some Magickal Stuff you will LoVe!
(my favorite list of items for this Season)

To complement any ritual that you want to perform around your Christmas/Holiday Tree, I recommend a couple of products from my personal selection that you will surely LOVE as much as I do, these products are mostly handmade, created and consecrated by true magicians expert in creating different items and with exclusive distribution through their stores.

If you wish to purchase any of these products that I advise you to get, click on the name of the product to be automatically redirected to the page.

• The Signature Scent Candle (Sol & Luna Fragances). Made with 100% Organic Coconut wax and essential oils, is a caravan of aroma, Earthy, Woodsy, Spicy, and Romantic, the full aromatherapy experience for your own home, office, Sacred Space or Travel. (exclusively available in AusetGypsy.com online and physical Store).

• The Frankincense &Myrrh Liquid Smudge A Sacred & Meditative combination of Frankincense and Myrrh, with Rosewater base and 100% natural Handmade. Perfect to Space clearing, Creating Sacred Space, and Meditation. (exclusively available in AusetGypsy.com online and physical Store).

• A Fantastic Sabbat Fire Bundle (Herbs from a Witch's Garden), is a beautiful and aromatic lovingly crafted smudge made with herbs grown with a true will, 9th Ward soil, and Mississippi River water in a real New Orleans Witch's garden. They were harvested in the correct moon phases and astrological aspects and blessed with the proper intent. (exclusively available in HexWitch.com online and physical Store).

• The Beautiful Candles from Mithras Candle (100% Beeswax) This variety of candles have good taste and quality, you can use these for almost any spell, they are as beautiful as they are powerful, they are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, also, collaborate with artists supporting local beekeepers and their hives. (exclusively available in CatlandBooks.com online and physical Store).

The Momoy's (this is my Favorite) Venezuelan Folklore XV

Momoy

The Momoyes, Mamóes, Mumúes or Spirits of the Water are a type of elves of the Venezuelan folklore, inhabitants of the Andean zone from pre-Columbian times.

The Momoyes are described as little men of about 40 cm in height. They can be dressed in the Indian way, adorning their body with feathers, leaves and flowers, helping themselves to walk with a cane. They are also described with long beards adorned by enormous head hats.

The Momoyes inhabit the zones of Trujillo (especially in the Municipality of Boconó) and Mérida, mainly in their lagoons and rivers.

They are described as benign creatures, sleepers, and defenders of the environment.

Due to their character as protecting elves of the fields, agriculture and the environment in general, anecdotes are told about the angry reactions that the Momoyes can have towards those visitors of the forests who leave their polluting waste in an unscrupulous way. It is said that a Momoy returned, throwing it violently to its owner, a can of soda that previously he had tried to sink into a pond. There is also a Momoy from Páramo de la Culata (Mérida) with a very violent personality, who used to whip the travelers who camped in the place, especially if they were not careful with their waste.

The Momoyes like to make the travelers victims of their heavy jokes, which are generally no more terrible than hiding or mislaying any of their household goods. For the rest, his presence is perceived by all kinds of activities, such as singing, whistling, etc. Anyway, if the travelers do not want to be bothered by the Momoyes, it would be enough to ignore them, an attitude that they could not bear.

Venezuelan Folklore

The Five White Eagles, Venezuelan Folklore XIV

The five white eagles

According to the tradition of the Mirripuyes, Caribay was the first woman. She was the daughter of the ardent Zuhé (the Sun) and the pale Chía (the Moon). It was considered as the genius of aromatic forests. He imitated the song of birds and played with flowers and trees.

Once Caribay saw five white eagles fly through the sky and fell in love with their beautiful feathers. It was then behind them, crossing valleys and mountains, always following the shadows that the birds drew on the ground. He finally reached the top of a cliff from which he saw how the eagles were lost in the heights. Caribay became sad and summoned Chía and soon she was able to see again the five beautiful eagles. While the eagles descended to the sierras, Caribay sang sweetly.

Each of these birds descended on a cliff and remained motionless. Caribay wanted to decorate herself with those rare and splendid feathers and ran towards them to tear them off, but a cold glacial numbness in her hands, the eagles were frozen, turned into five huge masses of ice. Then Caribay fled in terror. Soon after, the Moon darkened and the five eagles awoke furiously and shook their wings and the whole mountain was adorned with its white plumage. This is the origin of the snowy mountains of Mérida. The five white eagles symbolize the five high cliffs always covered with snow. The great and stormy snowfalls are the furious awakening of the eagles, and the whistling of the wind is the sad and sweet song of Caribay.

Venezuelan Folklore

The Owner of the light, Venezuelan Folklore XIII

The owner of the light

At first, people lived in darkness and only lit with the fire of the timbers. There was no day or night. There was a Warao man with his two daughters who found out about the existence of a young owner of the light. So, he called his eldest daughter and ordered her to go to the owner of the light to bring it to her. She took her mapire and left. But there were many roads and the one he chose took her to the house of the deer. He met him and played with him. When he returned to his father's house, he did not bring the light; Then the father decided to send the youngest daughter.

The girl took the good road and after a long walk she arrived at the house of the owner of the light. He told the young man that she was coming to know him, to be with him and to get light for his father. The owner of the light answered that he was waiting for him and now that he had arrived, they would live together. He carefully opened his torotoro and the light illuminated his arms and white teeth and the girl's hair and black eyes. Thus, she discovered the light and its owner, after showing it to him, kept it. Every day the owner of the light took it out of its box to play with the girl. But she remembered that she had to take the light to her father and then her friend gave it to her. He brought the torotoro to the father, who bore him on one of the trunks of the palafito.

The bright rays illuminated the waters, the plants and the landscape. When it was learned among the peoples of the Orinoco delta that a family had light, the Warao began to come in their curiaras to meet her. So many and many curiaras with more and more people arrived, that the palafito could no longer bear the weight of so many people marveled by the light; nobody left because life was more pleasant in clarity. And it was that the father could not withstand so many people inside and outside his house that with a strong slap he broke the box and threw it into the sky.

The body of the light flew to the East and the torotoro to the West. From the light the sun was made and from the box that kept it the moon arose. On one side was the sun and on the other the moon, but they marched very fast because they still carried the impulse that had thrown them into heaven, the days and nights were very short. Then the father asked his youngest daughter for a small morrocoy and when the sun was on his head he threw it to him saying it was a gift and that he would wait for it. From that moment, the sun began to wait for the morrocoy. Thus, at dawn, the sun went little by little, at the same pace as the morrocoy.


Venezuelan Folklore

The Owner of the Water, Venezuelan Folklore XII

The owner of the Water

Near where the Orinoco was born, the King of alligators called Baba lived. His wife was a big frog and together, they had a big secret ignored by other animals and men. It was stored in the throat of the Baba caiman. The couple went into a cave and threatened to lose their lives to anyone who dared to enter, because they said that inside there was a god who devoured everything and only they, kings of water, could pass. One day the partridge, hurried to make its nest, entered distracted in the cave.

Looking for straws he found singed leaves and caterpillars, as if the fire of the sky had been around. He tasted the toasted caterpillars and they tasted better than when he ate them raw. He went flapping at ground level to tell everything to Tucusito, the hummingbird with red feathers.

After a while, the Bobo Bird arrived and among the three of them, they devised a plan to find out how they made the frog and the alligator to cook such rich caterpillars. Bobo hid inside the cavern, taking advantage of its dark plumage. The frog released the caterpillars that it had in its mouth while Baba opened his, which was tremendous, letting out red and bright tongues. The couple ate the caterpillars without noticing Bobo, after which, they fell asleep satisfied. Then, Bobo ran out to tell his friends what he had seen.

The next day they set about machining how to snatch the fire from the alligator without being burned or being the food of the kings of the water. It would have to be when he opened the tarasca to laugh. In the afternoon, when all the animals were drinking and chatting by the river, Bobo and the red partridge made pirouettes making everyone laugh, except for Baba. Bobo took a clay ball and threw it inside the mouth of the frog, which from laughter passed to the stake. At the moment that the alligator saw the frog's troubles, he laughed. Tucusito, who watched from the air, plunged, stealing the fire with the tips of his wings. Rising, he brushed against the dry branches of a huge tree that burned immediately.

The King alligator exclaimed that although the fire had been stolen, others would take advantage of it and the other animals would burn, but Baba and the frog would live like immortals where the great river is born. That said, they submerged in the water and disappeared forever. The three birds celebrated the theft of the fire, but no animal knew how to take advantage of it.

The men who lived next to the Orinoco seized the embers that burned for many days in the dry forest, learned to cook food and to talk at night around the fires. Tucusito, the Bobo bird and the red partridge became their protective animals for having given them the gift of fire.
\
Venezuelan Folklore.

Amalivaca and the creation of the world, Venezuelan Folklore XI

Amalivaca and the creation of the world

According to the Caribes and Tamanacos Indians, Amalivaca was the creator of the humanity of the Orinoco River and the wind. He lived a long time with the Tamanacos. He endowed the entire tribe with immortality, but because of the disbelief of an old woman, the Indians became deadly again. It is said that many years ago there was a great flood.

Amalivaca then left in a canoe to travel the world and together with his brother Vochi fixed the disasters of the flood. In this great flood, only a couple of living humans remained. They went to a large hill and from there they began to throw the fruits of the moriche palm, leaving from their seeds the men and women who populate the world until now.

Venezuelan Folklore

Kúwai, Venezuelan Folklore X

Kúwai

In the hiwi aborigine tradition, he was the God creator of the world and men. To create the first man he used mud, but the rain undid him, in a second attempt he used beeswax, but the sun melted him, the third and last attempt he made of wood. The reproduction of the Hiwi was thanks to a mouse that made their sexes differentiated.

Kuai-mare He was the principal God of the Waraos. His name means "The Happy Who Lives Above". He is black, long hair, big eyes, long ears, so much that one reaches the east and another to the west, and the tendrils that he uses shine like gold and silver. His clothing is a fine tunic that floats in the air producing the breeze that shakes the water of the rivers. When walking produces earth movements. He is the creator of good spirits and bad spirits.

Venezuelan Folklore

God Puru, Venezuelan Folklore IX

God Puru

According to the Sálivas, it was the deity that made everything good and lives in heaven. His son killed a serpent that had harassed humanity, and from whose entrails came a frightful worms that later became the Caribs.

Venezuelan Folklore

Guaygerri, Venezuelan Folklore VIII

Guaygerri

Along with Urrumadua, creative gods among the tribe of the Achaguas.

Venezuelan Folklore

Mareiwa, Venezuelan Folklore VII

Mareiwa

According to the Wayuu, he was the son of thunder. He was the possessor of fire, and he kept it jealously in a cave, far from men. Junuunay, young guajiro, was able to enter the cave and stole two embers, and this was how the knowledge of fire spread among men.

This story has a certain similarity with the story of the Titan Prometheus who stole the fire of heaven.

Venezuelan Folklore

Osemma, Venezuelan Folklore VI

Osemma

Yukpa god of agriculture. It was very long hair, covered with flowers and corn kernels. Since he did not speak the Yukpa language, he used an interpreter squirrel. He lived with the tribe for a long time, teaching them how to cultivate the land and when he finally left, the Yukpa say that it got so small that the earth swallowed it up and the first tremor happened.

Venezuelan Folklore

Tamoryayo, Venezuelan Folklore V

Tamoryayo

According to the tribe of the Yukpa, Tamoryayo is a creator God who lived in the clouds, from where he once came down to change the place of the sky to place it where it is now.

Then he created the first Yukpa. Over time, seeing the man alone, he sent a woodpecker as an emissary and sent him the message of whether he wanted company.

The first man said yes and then the bird went in search of the Manüracha or Caricai tree, which when cut would throw away blood. The yukpa cut the tree in two and they became two women. He took one of them, tickled her and with the woman's laughter his soul entered his body. He did the same with the other woman and then he named them Yoripa. After pregnancy and so the Yukpa began to be born.

Venezuelan Folklore

Arco, Venezuelan Folklore IV

Arco

Aquatic deity It has a dual nature: at the same time it is creator and destroyer, cure but also causes diseases. He was Arca's husband. He is linked with Ches and the rainbows. It is identified as a bird of the páramo.

Venezuelan Folklore

Ches, Venezuelan Folklore III

Ches

Andean god of crops. This deity was invoked to know the future of a harvest. Sacrifices were given to him so that the cultivation was good. He is also known as the giver of good and punishment and as an inhabitant of the páramos and lagoons.

Venezuelan Folklore

Amalivaca, Venezuelan Folklore II

Amalivaca

God Creator of the world and of men. Also known by other tribes as: Amaruaca and Amarivaca.

In indigenous mythology, Amalivaca was the creator of humanity, the Orinoco River and the wind. In principle he made men immortal but in punishment for their faults, he made them mortal. It is said that many years ago there was a great flood.

Amalivaca then left in a canoe to travel the world and together with his brother Vochi were repairing the damages of the flood, after which only a couple of living humans remained. They went to a large mountain carrying moriche palm seeds and from there dispersed them by throwing them into the world. From these seeds were born the men and women who populate the planet.

Venezuelan Folklore

Odo´Sha, Venezuelan Folklore I

Odo´Sha

Evil spirit, owner of the forest, of the wind, demon of the mountain and lord of the dream. He is always ready to stick a thorn in the tongue of those who dare to go out at night and who ignore his warning whistle. At their charge are the demons called Suamo, owners of wild animals that eat people. They inhabit the heights of the Guyanese tepuyes.

Venezuelan Folklore

Maria Lionza, Queen of Witches & Fairies.

Maria Lionza

The Queen of Witches & Fairies.

In my native Venezuela, we have a folklore full of spirits and witches so complex that it does not even fit in the books, but it is also so popular that it has been studied in different universities of USA, Germany, and England by the level of devotion and ritual practice of Their respective followers.

One of these cults, perhaps the most notable is the cult of Maria Lionza. Maria Lionza (Yara) or "Maria de la Onza & Yara" is one of the most iconic characters in Venezuelan folklore, her cult dates back to a little more than 500 years and began to be commented on in the history books from 1515, Almost two decades after the discovery of America, although it was in the early 1900s that the cult came to light and began to be documented by anthropologists and historians.

The cult of Queen Maria Lionza began in the vicinity of the mountains of Sorte in Chivacoa (Yaracuy), where the indigenous people of the region met to worship at that time to their ancestors, a cult that still prevails in Venezuela, Becoming more and more popular.

The American anthropologist Wade Glenn of Tulane University has studied and confirmed that more than half of the Venezuelan population has voluntarily participated in at least one ritual in honor of Queen Maria Lionza, being she the central figure of Venezuelan spiritualism, Cult similar to that of Maria Laveau in New Orleans, USA.

The cult of Maria Lionza is of Indian origin, but in spite of it, with the passage of the years its figure has been modified to adapt it to the figure of a white woman with a gold crown on its head, a white or red rose In a hand (symbol of peace or love respectively) and a banner in the right hand, just where he has written his mission as divinity as "Protector of the waters and Goddess of the crops."

Maria Lionza is the goddess who lives in the leafiest forests of Venezuela, between the caves enchanted by fairies and the flocks of wild animals, always surrounded by subordinate and obedient spirits. As divinity symbolizes femininity, love as a universal principle and the force of life and rebirth. For many modern pagans, the Queen Mary Lionza is an incarnation of Venus or Gea, as goddess of peace, love and nature. Among its attributes are mainly magic and divination linked to the element of water, thunder, natural perfumes based oils, forests, fairy courts and mountains.

The cult of Maria Lionza has spread outside of Venezuela, leading her to be venerated in Chile, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guatemala. And it has also been mixed with elements of Santeria, Spiritism, magic with fairies and traditional witchcraft to lead him to develop his own form of witchcraft, which has led him to know him in different countries like "The Queen of fairies", "Matriarch of the Witches" and "the Patroness of the 21 Courts".

All these honorific titles have been awarded to the blessed Queen Maria Lionza, not only for her thousands of miracles granted but also for her different attributes as an autochthonous deity of the Latin American region.

The Queen of Fairies

The cult around Queen Maria Lionza has always been linked in Venezuela and Colombia to the worship of the fairies, due in great measure to the indigenous belief because the aboriginal Indians of Venezuela believed in the magic presence of spiritual beings of enormous power that They lived in the forests and could change their shape. Aboriginal peoples originating in Venezuela, such as the Wayuu, the Añu, the Wanikua, the Pemones, the Yukpa, the Timoto-cuicas and the Yanomami (just to mention a few) shared the belief in life after the Death, the presence of spirits and fairies in nature, although their belief in fairies (even today throughout South America) prevails untouchable in the face of the European belief in fairies and their concept of the "good fairies" of diminutive stature And character wise or in some cases childish.

In Venezuelan native folklore, the fairies are spirits that inhabit and care for the forest, the lagoons and the rivers, they take human form and they can become all kinds of animals, they live mainly in the night and after the Sunset, they are extremely intelligent and they know All the secrets of witchcraft, attend sorcerers and witches in their rituals and usually do not wear clothes. In the native folklore of Venezuela, sirens are another form that fairies take to mobilize by the rivers, make deals with the sorcerers of the night in exchange for all sorts of favors and kidnap to babies that are not baptized.

According to the myth, Queen Maria Lionza, at that time a virgin maiden, daughter of a powerful Cacique, pact with the fairies in exchange for knowing the secrets of the night, the fairies, who at that time had mourned the ascent of his Reigned in the world of spirits, saw the young maiden in the incarnation of her queen, bestowed beauty on her and all the secrets were revealed to her, upon her death she became the queen of the forests of the Amazon, queen of the fairies and All the spirits of the forest.

Since then, both myths have been intimately linked, in fact, it is very common to say in Venezuela that "to make deals with the fairies", you must first request the permission of your queen patron Maria Lionza. It is also popularly believed that the practice of the South American shamans to place the children a bracelet of red thread with a hanging jet to "ward off the Evil Eye" was a teaching of the fairies by order of their Indian queen.

The Matriarch of All Witches

"To understand Santeria you must first understand spiritualism".

The above is a common phrase of every home practitioner in Venezuela, because in magic and witchcraft, as in everything else, there are no fast roads or short roads, and this motto comes from the order of witches, an order ( A Coven) of many others that are maintained under the devotion of the Venezuelan people.

In traditional Venezuelan witchcraft it is common to work with one of the 21 magic courts to ask favors, being Maria Lionza the main character of the main of these (not all) but of the largest, for which has been considered the Queen Of witches.

A common practice is to bring white flowers, tobaccos, and aguardiente to the river to be left there in the name of Maria Lionza, who in return would grant favors to her devout servants.

The Legend of the Queen of Witches

"Maria Lionza (Yara) was a maiden Nívar, delighted daughter of a powerful cacique of Nirgua. The Shaman of the village had predicted that when a strange-eyed, water-green-eyed girl was born, she had to be sacrificed and offered as a sacrifice to the Waterman, the "Great Anaconda," and if not, Extinction of the Nívar. But his father was unable to do so. And he had the girl in a mountain cave, with 22 warriors guarding her and preventing her from leaving. She was forbidden to see herself in the mirrors of water. But one day a mysterious force numbed the guardians and the beautiful girl came out of the cave and walked to the lake, discovering her own reflection in the water.

She was delighted with her vision. Thus he awakened the Water Master to the Great Anaconda, who emerged from the depths, falling in love with her and drawing her to herself. On Lake Maria Lionza and the mighty serpent, they celebrated a spiritual and mystical communion. When his father discovered the union, he tried to separate them. Then the Anaconda grew, became huge and exploded causing a great flood that devastated the village and its people.

From that day Maria Lionza became the protective Goddess and owner of the lagoons, rivers and waterfalls, protector mother of nature, wild animals and queen of love. The myth of Yara survived the Spanish conquest, although it underwent some modifications. In this sense, Yara was covered by the Catholic religion with the mantle of the Christian virgin and took the name of Our Lady Mary of the Ounce of the Meadow of Talavera de Nivar. However, with the passage of time, would be known as Maria de la Onza, or Maria Lionza.

The Mother Goddess

Since it was published in her 1939 essay "The Spiritualist Service to the Queen" by Gilberto Antolínez, there have been more than 25 different accounts of the cult of Maria Lionza in Venezuela, all of them very popular in the circles of witches and Venezuelan spiritualists.

All these different accounts tell the same story of the myth of the Queen of fairies from different points of view, all concluding in the rise of the young maiden as queen of the Indians and protector of their devout witches.

The Venezuelan Trinity

As in most of the religions that have emerged from the Indo-European period, a trinity patron of the pantheon is often found, the case of Venezuela would not be the exception.

Maria Lionza is the central character of the Venezuelan trinity that represents the Latin culture of that time, known as "Las Tres Potencias" (The Three Powers) made up of blacks, Indians, and white Spaniards. In this case, the trinity is conformed by the Queen Maria Lionza, the famous "Cacique Guaicaipuro", a Cacique of the Caracas and other tribes that strongly opposed to the invasion of the Spaniards, and "El Negro Felipe", a soldier during the wars of Independence from Venezuela.

The courts

In the Venezuelan esoteric cult, the so-called "Three Powers" form a spiritual council of great power that governs a magical universe full of spirits and fairies divided in a total of 21 courts that assist the witches in the accomplishment of their magical works.

The main courts of Maria Lionza are:

• The Celestial Court: Led by Jesus of Nazareth and represented by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is conformed by all Catholic saints.

• The Venezuelan Indigenous Court: This order is presided over by Queen Maria Lionza, the Cacique Guaicaipuro and his sister India Cari Cara, is made up of: caciques, cacicas, and Indians.

• The Black Court: Directed by El Negro Felipe and la Negra Matea, is conformed by the souls of black slaves, witches, and sorcerers with colored skin.

• The Liberating Court: Presided by Simón Bolívar and General Francisco de Miranda, conformed by those who led the revolt against the Spanish crown.

• The Court of the Juanes: Conformed by various figures of Venezuelan folklore: Don Juan del Tabaco, Don Juan del Dinero, Don Juan de los Caminos, Don Juan de los Suspiros, etc ...

• The Medical Court: Led by Dr. José Gregorio Hernández (El Venerable) and conformed by the souls of doctors and nurses. It is a very popular order that is invoked to aid in healing processes.

• The Shaman's Court : Led by the Great Nicanor Ochoa Pinto Morillo (the sorcerer who cures and kills in 24 hours).

• The Court of Souls: Led by the Anima Sola (Maria de la Luz) and made up of the souls without rest of the popular belief of each country.

The other Courts

• The African Court.
• The Viking Court.
• The Cale Court.
• The Court of Students.
• The Court of Charms.
• The Court of the Witches (READ HERE)
• The Asian Court or Chinese Court.
• The Indian Apache Court.
• The Gypsy Court or court of the fortune tellers.
• The Red Court.
• The Barbara Court.
• The Egyptian Court.
• The English Court.

Amazing Symbol

The sculptor Alejandro Colina immortalized her for the world as a naked athletic musculature woman, an Indian Caribbean Goddess on a tapir (male tapir, worshiped by indigenous tribes), and with outstretched hands holding a female pelvis bone (Symbol of fertility) on her feet the tapeworm crushes snakes, symbols of envy and selfishness.

Lammas, Lugnasad or Lughnasadh 2017 + Tale

Lammas, Lugnasad or Lughnasadh 2017 + Tale

Lugnasad, also called Lughnasadh or Lammas, is the name given to the time of the harvest, celebrated between the full moon of summer and winter. It reminds us that the sunny days of the summer are coming to an end. It also marks the time to meet friends and family.

Lughnasadh was started by the god Lugh (the long-haired poet, head of the Tuatha De Danann, a people of the goddess Dana, who taught them techniques for plowing, sowing and gathering wheat), as a funeral party and games commemorating His adoptive mother, Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion before clearing the Irish plains for agriculture.

During the reign of Caesar Augustus, the Romans instituted a celebration on August 1 to the emperor's genius at Lyons, a place believed to have been named after the Celtic god Lugh. Curiously, Lyon (lion) is not just a coincidence. In ancient religions, God was seen under two aspects of light and darkness, although in Lammas he was seen as two gods, one god of light and one God of darkness. These two aspects represent the two halves of light and darkness of the year.

At this time the god is losing his strength, for soon he will die. It is a moment of important reflection, as it teaches us the importance of balance in nature and in personal life. In fact, everything that is alive grows, knows decadence and prepares for death, and then reborn, completing a great cycle.

The God is born in Yule, is a boy in Imbolc, passing to adolescence in Ostara, to finish being an adult in Beltane, where it will be united again to the goddess. Litha marks the maximum splendor of the God, from that moment ira losing forces in Lammas and Mabon to finally die in Samhain.

That is why on this Sabbath, we reap the fruits of the seeds we have planted in Ostara, and from them, we will collect the seeds that will wait for the winter to be planted.

In Celtic tradition, Lugnasad is one of the most outstanding celebrations next to Imbolc (February), Beltane (March), and Samhain (October).

Druids saw in the cereal cycle not only the natural germination of a seed, but the reflection of the life cycle: birth, growth/development, and death. Engravings have been found representing straw and cereals in the Celtic necropolis, whose index of significance is both spiritual and material. It was to invoke the spirit of wheat and lure it back into the fields. The mysterious spirit of wheat and plenty were attracted and captured by a straw doll. She had an important symbolic role in the celebration of Lugnasad. "

Today it is difficult for us to understand the importance of the crops in those times since it is normal that we have necessary food, but they depended completely on the food reserves of the previous year. It is in Lugnasad the moment to remember the conservation and the good distribution of the harvest.

Tailtiu, Lugh's nurse and goddess of agriculture

According to the Book of Invasions, Tailtiu was the daughter of the King of Spain and the wife of Eochaid Mac Eirc, High King of Ireland. She survived the invasion of the Tuatha Dé Danann and became the adoptive mother of Lugh.

It is said that Tailtiu died of fatigue after clearing the fields of Ireland for agriculture. Lugh established a harvest and funerary festival (Aachen Tailteann) in his honor, which continued to be held on 1 August as Lugnasad.

Handfasting, the union of hands

For the Irish, Lugnasad was the best time to carry out the Celtic marriage. Its name was the handfasting, or union of hands, and has its origin in an old ritual in which the hands of the contracting parties are sealed thus the contract. There was also another tradition, in which they looked into each other's eyes as they took their right hands and left them forming the symbol of infinity, and surrounding them with a ribbon they were tied in a knot.

The union of hands comes from more Indo-European ancestral symbolism, in which it represents the harmonious union between man and woman since the infinity symbolizes from the antiquity two circles representing the sun (feminine symbol) and the moon (masculine symbol).

The duration of these marriages was one year and one day. At the end of this time, the contracting parties decided whether they wanted to stay together or not. It is the union between two loving beings who freely want to be together and celebrate it in a sacred ritual based on commitment and respect.

As a curiosity, it is said that this ritual of union remained in force in Scotland until 1939, as a public celebration of the union (one year and one day) before the wedding.

Elhoim Leafar

A little Tale

Based on many different elements of pagan folklore, I wrote a story long ago called "the grandfather, the mother and the god of light", which was originally published in Spanish as a collaboration on another blog.

To celebrate this year that has been so positive in many ways, I have created a short (very short) version that you can find and read in my Instagram CLICK HERE.

“Egregors” in Your Life, Be Careful with your Thoughts

“Egregors” in Your Life, Be Careful with your Thoughts

There are many who do not know the meaning of the word Egregor, but they do not even know that they can generate one in an unconscious and involuntary way, and there are many more who do not know that they can have one right behind them… The Egregores are our mental "Creations" from somewhere in our Psyche, all human beings are capable of creating them. This thinking energy dwells on an etheric plane and as it is our creation it is our responsibility to maintain and nourish it, these thinking and ethereal beings feed mainly on our energy, that is why if we polarize it with negativity, violence, resentment and hatred, our Egregor will respond in this way.

Our thoughts are energies that accumulate in our bodies and other parts of them and they go out into the atmosphere and expand, that is to say, it has mass (body), and although they do not acquire life or personality, they are entities that operate according to the instruction and direction we have given them. The human eye is not able to "see" these energies, however we can perceive them somehow and they affect us positively or negatively. Many times it happens that we feel a "heavy" unpleasant someone we have just met, or otherwise we feel someone very nice and feel their need for company as a "Light" one. The same can happen with the places we frequent.

There are two kinds of thoughts. Negative thoughts are opaque and low vibrations, they surround the person who created them in a dark and heavy, hostile environment. This is, the individual created a negative Egregor. Positive thoughts are bright and warm, filling the person with a radiant atmosphere of health beauty and energy, thus creating a positive Egregor.

People are usually unaware that they are generating an Egregor, if they feel threatened, frightened, vulnerable, lonely, depressed, sad, angry, feel that someone is hurting them or that their life is in danger, they begin to emit negative vibrations. These vibrations expand outside the earthly body and combine with similar vibrations in the environment, creating an Egregor whose main function is to defend its creator and protect it even at the cost of causing more damage.

If the Egregor does not fulfill its task Immediately, remains in the environment of its creator, constantly bordering on similar situations and exposing it to equal risks to justify its existence until finally fulfills its function. As an example is why many times Bullying victims who begin to suffer it from the Childhood, grow, improve their family work environment, and Bullying is still present, because Egregor looks for ways to expose it to similar situations.

What should you do if you have an Egregor with you?...

It can be very complicated but remember that they respond to the energy they feed on then if you start by changing your mental vibrations, ie your thoughts, and make them more positive, will become a positive Egregor for this you can help with practices that allow you to find spiritual harmony like meditation, Yoga, relaxation etc.

Stay busy in those things you enjoy doing like dance, painting, reading... This will cause positive thoughts to become incessant and weaken the negative effects of your Egregor.

You can go to an expert in the subject, a PROFESSIONAL person and of TRUST that helps you through energy clean.

You can also symbolically burn a tangible representation of Egregor, a drawing, an image a figure to experience energetic liberation.

Remember that to avoid creating negative Egregors, to have mind, body and spirit in harmony is the key, and be very careful what you think at the time when the emotions are altered, as that will have great effects on our lives and those of the environment.

You could be accompanied right now by an Egregor...