Mother of Candomble saint holds a basket with popcorn and a statue of Saint George. In Brazil, St. George of the Catholic church represents the orisha Ogum/Ogun. Photography by Alf Ribeiro.
During the slave trade, orishas were syncretized with the Catholic saints in order to hide their original religion. Fruit, alcohol, popcorn, tobacco, and candy are popular offerings.
78-year-old Erdangela Polonio, a Garifuna woman of Belize right after prayer. Photography by Victor Block
The Garifuna are descendants of the Arawakan people and enslaved Africans on the Central American coast in countries such as Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua . Their spirituality consists of ancestral worship along with a mix of African, Arawakan and catholic beliefs.
The Georgia Sea Island Singers performing at the Poor People's March, Washington, D.C., 1968. Diana Davies Photograph Collection, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
The Poor People’s March on Washington of 1968 was organized by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and demanded economic justice and human rights for poor Americans of diverse backgrounds.
I haven’t done anything spiritual or taken care of my ancestor altar including laying any offerings this past month of December so that I could induce within me a spiritual death and rebirth. It worked. For years now, I have been working with my ancestors so I can properly build the foundation to a solid spiritual court. The spiritual rebirth for me was having the revelation that it’s time for me to build the next layer/level of my spiritual court by finding out who it would consist of and coming to terms with where these beings are coming from.
One of the most difficult things that I’ve had to come to terms with within my spiritual journey, was being raised in all white catholic schools. I couldn’t understand why my ADOS parents would sign me up for them when my ADOS grandma told them to raise me Christian meaning the within the “black church”. I dealt with a lot of bullying and racism. The first part of my resentment for Christianity was due to these negative experiences. Yet I can say, that this is where I began to connect to angels and saints. In my spiritual journey, I have also realized that being raised Catholic is a theme repeating from past lives since the occult dates all the way back to ancient Egypt and beyond, and is deeply embedded within the Catholic Church. It all connects for me.
Ancestral work within the context of Hoodoo, and learning religious history on my own helped me to make peace with Christianity so that I could arrive at my revelation. There has been consistent symbolic patterns throughout my life having to do with certain catholic saints and angels/archangels that are to make up the next level of my spiritual court. I never realized just how much I’ve been surrounded by their energies. I won’t name them so I can protect this level within my court, but there are 2 saints and an archangel that I know of so far. Deepening my spiritual connection and communication with these beings is one of my biggest spiritual goals for the new year. I hope that connecting to them will help me not fear my abilities anymore and that I won’t shutdown as much. They will help and work with me as well as work with and for my ancestors.
