finally have an avatar! comments?

[jukes]

[MissMillie]

1. I thought sure

it would have a kitty in it.

[jukes]

6. didn't want to detract

from 'tonio, if/when we get our sig's back. he'd haunt me for damn sure.


it's a "veve"; symbols drawn in chalk, salt, sugar, or cocaine on the floor of a voodoux peristyle (temple?) prior to an invocation to attract the attention of a particular "loa", kind of a demi-god; roughly equivalent (& often derived/connected to catholic saints).

this particular loa is "Ougan" in his "Badagris" persona; vodoux is a misunderstood & rich religion with both light & dark sides exist, & most loa have variant "aspects" or persona.

"Ougan" is the patron of smiths & artisans, primarily. He is also patron to warriors. in his "Badagris" aspect he is somewhat capricious, & a seriously bad mamiejammer! invoking him carries some risk, but can induce berserker like qualities in his followers.


jukes is an atheist, but often borrows from various religious sources for spiritual & metaphorical purposes.

"Badagris" is def my boy, & i mentally call to him when i'm about to cut loose (rare these days, tx be to "Legba"!)

hope that wasn't more than you were asking for!

imagine how long spellck took w/ this post!


EDIT: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/5319/veves.htm

[Village Idiot]

2. It's nice, I'm sure, but

WHAT THE HECK IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE?

[mrboba1]

3. Is that a Rorschach?

Lemme see, its a canopy bed with 2 people....

[mrboba1]

5. Oh - I changed my mind

its not 2 people it's one person and a box turtle!

[jukes]

7. time for you

to make an extra appointment! you're def projecting!

[mrboba1]

8. 10:30 tomorrow...

:evilgrin:

[jukes]

13. attaboy!

you'll feel better then & the flames won't be QUITE SO LOUD in your ears!

[zbdent]

9. I didn't know Senator Santorum posted here

Welcome, Mr. Santorum!

(okay, just joking).

[mrboba1]

14. AAACCKK!!

I've been found!!!!!

:evilgrin:

[jukes]

15. do NOT

dis badagris; you don't want a special visitation, neh?

[demnan]

4. Not as pretty as mine

Siamese rules!

[jukes]

11. apsitively! yours is wheykool!

but cannot piss off 'tonio, who undoubtably has been elevated to the pantheon by now.

sim to catholicism, living folks often become loa after their demise if they had an especially colorful or productive life.

i'm somewhat of a colorful character; when i'm baked, i'd be ecstatic to become 'tonio's "jukes" aspect!

[SarahB]

10. Unique and interesting.

Cool. :thumbsup:

[jukes]

17. TX, SarahBelle

love praise from one of DU's (& my) fave's!


:pals:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

12. Sweet jukes - you rule!

[jukes]

16. CStheT

you never fail to amaze me w/ your arcane knowledge & wisdom.

few people are familiar w/ haitian steel-drum art.

i've been working on a piece myself, fasioning it from a nissan 200sx hood. will drive my fundy neighbors to frothing!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

19. When my fiance and I were in Key West in may (during the Haitian floods)

we met a Haitian woman who sells hammered metal art - beautiful stuff. We spoke to her for a long time about the island and the art and flooods, you name it. Also - the church I go to has a Haitian mission - my God Mother went a few years ago.

[jukes]

20. voudoux (many spellings)

is a very tolerant religion, accepting/blending w/ other traditions very well. it's been outlawed under various haitian dictators, but just slips under the radar & pops up when the mortal has gone.

a major loa is the deceased aspect of the man who led the successful rebellion against the french, thus horrifying the white southern US aristocracy. it's def a religion of the common man.

i believe your foto is of this loa, his name slips my memory right now, but a righteous warrior of democracy!




it's suffered much repression, derision & misunderstanding in the stateside version, based in N.O.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

22. I hate the New Orleans "Voodoo" shops with their ubiquitous chicken feet

and shrunken heads.

:puke:

My fiance is the one with more of a knowledge of Voudou

In Jamaica there is Obeah and the story is very similar to that of Voudou.

What the ignorant slave drivers failed to take into account is that they indiscriminantly took ALL the people - from common hunters to "witch doctors" and holy people. The religions went underground butthey are still alive. Society will always try and destroy them - there's no money to be made on it!

[jukes]

23. Obeah is sim

& often spoken of interchangeably. both are , o/c, variations on extant west african religions.

like the african peoples that brought them, they're tough, resilient, and absorb the violence projected against them.

"Santeria" is the cuban version.

the N.O. shops are tourist traps, & have little to do w/ the real N.O. voudoux. never been there (YET!) but real practitioners are difficult to find, do to repression. i hear you can often observe "offerings', including veve, in the cemeteries there, which are worth the visit themselves!


http://www.mamiwata.com/

[Westegg]

18. The O.T.O. has no quarrel with your avatar.

[jukes]

21. Westegg

don't grok "O.T.O", cd you explain?

[jukes]

24. Westegg

seems to have entered a trance. any1 else dig "O.T.O'?

chavez?

[Westegg]

25. But of course. "Ordo Templi Orientis," or...

"Order of the Temple of the East." Founded over a century ago in Germany, this secret society had its roots in Freemasonry and the Tantra branch of Hinduism as well as more Western concepts of magick. That amusing raver Aleister Crowley set up the English branch of the O.T.O., lacing it liberally with his own ideas as put down in "The Book of the Law." A good take on what happened next can be found in Francis King's "Secret Rituals of the O.T.O" published in the 1970s and now, presumably, out of print.

[jukes]

27. new 1 for me, westie!

thanks much, love bits of odd knowledge!

[Westegg]

29. My pleasure. Now don't go a-snortin' that avatar!

[Mara Steele]

26. That's very cool, jukes

I likes very much.... :hi:

:yourock: :yourock:

Glad I came in late so I got the explanation, too!

[jukes]

28. a bit windy

but jukes loves the sound of his own voice!

tx++, special friend. always looking out for me!

[Mara Steele]

30. Aw, shucks...

For real? ...Me?

Well, I guess someone has to... :D

Who knows what you'd do if left to your own evil devices... :D

Hey, how did you get interested in Haitian art & religion?

Intriguing, yet I know nothing at all about it...