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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.religion.orisha,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick
From: Gnomedplume@aol.com (Gnome d Plume)
Subject: Re: Palo Mayombe: The 'Dark Side' of Santeria? (was Drums & Shadows)
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 18:04:23 GMT

On Wed, 02 Aug 2000 00:21:10 -0500, eballard@sas.upenn.edu (E. C.
Ballard) wrote:

>So far we've heard a lot of second hand nonsense. You will read nothing
>more or less than rubbish in Montenegro's book as well. 
>
>If you wish to read anything really worthwhile about Palo then go to the
>spanish. Lydia Cabrera wrote several good books that deal extensively or
>totally with the subject of Palo. Her famous title, "El Monte" deals with
>all the African traditional religions of Cuba and a fair bit of that book
>is about Palo. Her titles "Palo Monte Mayombe: Las Reglas de Congo" and
>"La Regla KImbisa del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje" are soley concerned
>with Palo.
>
>There are various ramas or branches within Palo. The complexities of these
>are too many to discuss in this brief post. They exist because Palo, which
>is very different from what is usually called "Santeria" - ie, the Yoruba
>derived religion of the Orichas in Cuba. Palo is not derived from the
>Yorubans of Nigeria but is from the Congo.
>
>More later, it's late and all good paleros should be asleep.
>
>By the way, Palo has a bad rap but it is largely for political reasons.
>
>Eoghan

****E. C.:

Thank you for these informative and knowledgeable posts. I'm primarily
a Western magician with cross-training in Tibetan practice, but my
third love is Afro-Caribbean magical systems -- which seem to be more
Western than Eastern in their roots and branches. I've read Maya
Duren, Zora Hurston, and Wade Davis on Voudoun. In the African Ju-ju
area I've read Isaiah Okey's *Blood Secrets*, Beatty's *Human
Leopards* and several books on African witchcraft, (Skokey &
Parinder.) In Hurston and Daren we are given the impression that in
Haitian Voudoun  there is a "good' Yoruba-derived "Rada" pantheon of
Ogouns, vs. a "bad" Congolese "Petro" pantheon -- sort of a Voudoun
klippoth. I assume this is seen from a Neo-Yoruban perspective, but
then other writers - (Skokey on African Witchcraft) have frankly
stated that Congolese "Dawa" (Ju-ju) is the darkest and most violent
form of magical practice in all Africa. Here again, this could very
well be coming from anti-Congolese informants -- and we should not
forget that King Leopold made the Congo a modern hell  which is only
hinted at in Conrad's *Heart of Darkness*.
       I have also read that there is another dark Afro-Cuban
tradition called "Abaqua" that is rumored to be more sinister than
Palo Mayombe, and is perhaps related to the West African Koribra
(Leopard Society) in the sense that they (the Abaqueros -- ?) empower
their drums with sacrificial blood and fat in the same manner that the
Human Leopards annoint their borfima fetish.
       Would you care to comment on the above?*****

Gnome d Plume


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From: Eoghan Ballard 
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.religion.orisha,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick
Subject: Re: Palo Mayombe: The 'Dark Side' of Santeria? (was Drums & Shadows)
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 2000 16:21:53 -0400
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I won't say too much about Abakua because, although I have met a few 
initiates including my own godfather in Palo, I am not involved with 
Abakua. There is nothing especially telling in my not being involved. 
Pretty much no one who is not a Cuban born male (and then largely only 
Afro-Cuban) will be admitted. There is some reasonable material, mostly 
also by Cabrera concerning the Nanigos and if really interested you 
should seek that material. Again, it is not in English.

I feel compelled to make an observation or two especially about your 
last posting so as to clear up a few misconceptions. First of all, your 
insistance upon using the term "dark" in relation to either Palo or 
Abakua reflects your own perspective, biases and misunderstandings (or 
those that you have read)  and really has nothing to do with these 
traditions themselves.

As you have indicated you come from a "Western" mystery tradition. This 
means inevitably a European system although occassionally one influenced 
at a distance by middle eastern ideas. Contrary to your position I find 
Afro-diasporic religious traditions to be quite removed from what is 
widely known as "Western" mysticism.

As for the Abakua, they use pretty much the same animals in sacrifice 
that all the other Afro-Cuban traditions do, a goat or ram here or there 
and lots of roosters and hens. By the way, mostly all of the time in 
these traditions, what starts as sacrifice ends up as dinner.

Eoghan