Created by: Patricia L. Pitt

San Fernando East Secondary School, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies

Travellers’ Tales

Meditation on YellowJennifer Rahim, lecturer in English in the Department of Liberal Arts at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad has described this poem as “a clever, satirical monologue that traces the evolution of the capitalist ethos in the region.”She notes that “Senior evokes the color yellow as symbol of a historical continuum of plunder, enslavement, and servitude that marks the Caribbean’s relations with the developed world, beginning with the conquistadors’ misguided search for gold, then the sugar of the colonial plantation economy, and finally the trade in sunshine and sand of the contemporary tourist industry.”

Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote a novel entitled One Hundred Years of Solitude. He has stated that his favourite shade is:“The yellow of the Caribbean seen from Jamaica at three in the afternoon…”

A dominant theme in his One Hundred Years of Solitude is the inevitable and inescapable repetition of history. The protagonists are controlled by their pasts and the complexity of time.

García Márquez also used colours as symbols in this book. Yellow and gold were the most frequently used colours and they were symbols of imperialism and the Spanish Siglo de Oro. Gold signified a search for economic wealth, whereas yellow represented death, change, and destruction.

Meditation on Yellow-Part 1

El Dorado is Spanish for "the golden/gilded one"). Legend has it that it was the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a sacred highland lake.

Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. Though many have searched for years on end to find this city of gold, no evidence of such a place has been found.

El Dorado came to be used metaphorically of any place where wealth could be rapidly acquired.

Meditation on Yellow-Part 1

Persona-An Arawak of Jamaica“Had I known I would havebrewed you up some yellow fever-grassand arsenic

but we were peaceful thenchild-like in the yellow dawn of our innocence…”

Yellow sulphide of arsenic

Lemon/Fever Grass Fever grass tea

“a string of islands and two continents”

for “a string of beads and some hawk’s bells…”Usually the word string would be followed by pearls, something of value. In this case however, the Indians received worthless glass beads and hawk’s bells.

“(you were not the last to be fooled by our patina)”

In the Taino culture of the Antilles, a guanín was a badge of tribal leadership, worn by the Cacique (chief).

It was a mixture of Gold and Bronze, made from flakes of gold extracted from rivers; these flakes were pounded with rocks until they melted together into a small disc which the Cacique could wear around his neck or some other part of the body.

It attracted early European visitors.

“As for silver/I find that metal a bit cold”

To "bite the bullet" is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable.

Meditation on Yellow-Part 2

“At some hotel overlooking the sea…”

“served by meskin burnt black as toast (for which management apologizes)”

Persona –Hotel/Hospitality Worker

“I’ve been slaving…”

“I’ve been slaving… for your”

Tourism-the new form of colonization and exploitation…

“Just when I thought I could rest…”

“So I serving them…”

“But still they want more…”

“want it strongwant it longwant it blackwant it greenwant it dread”

Sex tourism

“You cannot stop those Streggehs”-loud, promiscuous women in Jamaica

Allamanda

Cassia

Poui

Golden Shower

“You cannot reverse Bob Marley wailing…”

Bibliography for Med on Yellow• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hundred_Years_of_Solitude• http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_biography.html• http://www.soumyabrata.com/en/el-dorado-the-myth/• http://albertdegrasse.com/?p=145• http://jamaicanrastafarianlove.com/white-women-dating-jamaican-rastafarian-men/

Caribbean Basin InitiativeThe Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) is a broad program to promote economic development through private sector initiative in Central American and Caribbean countries.

A major goal of the CBI is to expand foreign and domestic investment in nontraditional sectors, thereby diversifying CBI country economies and expanding their exports. The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act of 1983 (CBERA) (amended in 1990) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act of 2000 (CBTPA), collectively known as CBI, provides customs duty-free entry to the United States on a permanent basis for a broad range of products from CBI beneficiary countries.

Once a Free Trade agreement is established the CBI is no longer enforced.

The Title’s Significance

The title is a play on words; the “Caribbean Basin Initiative” which was officially unveiled by United States President Ronald Reagan in 1982 as a way of stimulating the economy of the entire Caribbean, especially through increased trade with the USA. The CBI as it is referred to, has had little success. In the poem this externally imposed solution is contrasted with the initiative of individuals – in this case the Haitian people who from time to time choose the dangerous route of migration in small open boats.

Author of the opening quotation

Mary Henrietta Kingsley (13 October 1862 – 3 June 1900)

was an English writer and explorer who greatly influenced European ideas about Africa and African people.

“Like limpets we cling…”

“My mother sought a sign/in the basin…”

This is a method of telling the future (divination) by looking into a container of water.

“Not all trunks will float…”“so we were never sinkingas low as somewe never saw rise againout of that water”

“We are bound for an island…” Guantanamo Bay

“Nothing’s stronger than this cage…”

“louvri baryè pou mwen”

This is a Haitian creole invocation to the deity Legba at the start of ceremonies, meaning “Open the gate for me”. It comes from the French, “ouvrez le barriere pour moi.”

“They’re shipping me home…”

Bibliography for CBI• http://www.olivesenior.com/pdfs/gardeningGlossary.pdf• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kingsley• http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/trade-development/preference-programs/caribbean-basin

-initiative-cbi• http://www.ezilikonnen.com/the_lwa/legba.html

StowawayA stowaway is literally a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected.

In Senior’s poem, it is being used as a metaphor/symbol for something in the persona’s mind that could lead to depression or a mental breakdown.

“Without soundings there’s no telling how unfathomable the fall”

Echo sounding is the technique of using sound pulses directed from the surface or from a submarine vertically down to measure the distance to the bottom by means of sound waves. This information is then typically used for navigation purposes or in order to obtain depths for charting purposes.

“One day light will enter this grave”

A grave can be defined as a receptacle/container for that which is dead, lost or past.

In the poem it symbolizes the mind or thoughts of the persona which were interred in the colonial past.

“A hairline fracture…” “this fault/undeclared passage…”

“I’ll dangle on a single hope…”

“how attainable the littoral…”The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is closest to the shore.

The promised land?

Bibliography for Stowaway• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Littoral_Zones.jpg

Meditation on Red

The meditation is based on a visit the author made to the grave of the Dominican-born writer Jean Rhys (1890-1979), author of Wide Sargasso Sea. among many other books. Rhys spent her last years in the village of Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon, England, where she is buried. Her address was No. 6 Land Boat Bungalows. The poem addresses Miss Rhys and includes the titles of many of her books.

Olive Senior’s poem, Meditation on Red, reflects the ambivalence felt by it’s speaker about white creole author, Jean Rhys. That she is a woman, the speaker acknowledges and celebrates; so too the fact that she (along with her experiences) paved the way for women writers from the Caribbean (of all creeds/ethnicities). However, the speaker also makes it obvious that, despite her connections with Rhys, there are also several points where they disconnect, especially along racial/historical lines.

Meditation on Red

Cheriton Fitzpaine

“You never saw the rolling downs…”

Who was Jean Rhys?

Jean Rhys (24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979), born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

Jean Rhys

Memories of Jean Rhys

She terrified the children of the village of Cheriton Fitzpaine where she lived, said Stephenson, the wicked witch in the woods, just as she herself had been terrified as a child by the voodoo magic of Dominica.

“you were rudderless”The mechanism that allows a boat/ship to be steered. Metaphorically used here to indicate the lack of direction that was evident in the life of Ms. Rhys.

“waiting for an explosion (like that which long ago came from the attic)”

This is a literary allusion to the character Bertha Mason from the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte

Bertha was Rochester’s clandestine wife. She was a formerly beautiful and wealthy Creole woman who became insane, violent, and bestial. She lived locked in a secret room on the third story of Thornfield and was guarded by Grace Poole, whose occasional bouts of inebriation sometimes enabled Bertha to escape. Bertha eventually burnt down Thornfield, plunging to her death in the flames.

Red-letter Days• A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day or called scarlet day in

academia) is any day of special significance• "When slightly tight," Rhys wrote later in her life, "I can relax-also there are red

letter days when I feel that after all I'm as much fun as the next woman really. However this doesn't happen often."

Contrasting landscapes and images

flame of the forest, hibiscus, heliconia, poinsettia, firecracker– also called Fountain Bush and Coral Bush, bougainvillea: all tropical flowers with red blooms.

snowdrops, daffodils, narcissus: English spring flowers.

Jean Rhys’ Book Titles found in Meditation on Red

• Voyage in the Dark, 1935• Wide Sargasso Sea, 1966• Sleep it off Lady, 1976• Good Morning Midnight, 1939• Smile Please-An unfinished autobiography, 1979

Mary Stephenson

Mary Stephenson worked for the novelist Jean Rhys in the final months of her life before her death in 1979. During a BBC tribute, Mary remembered the time she spent with the author as she took dictation of her autobiography.At the time she answered Jean's advertisement for a typist, Mary was in her early 30s and she found the 87-year-old Rhys to be, by turns, charming, infuriating and embittered; sometimes her memories would light her up, sometimes they would fire her anger.Now a writer herself, Mary's recollections drew on extracts from the book she typed - Jean's autobiography “Smile Please.”

Bibliography for Med on Red• http://uppersix.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/happy-twogether-meditating-on-both-yellow-re

d/• http://www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/carib/rhysbio.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Rhys• http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/jean-rhys-prostitution-al

coholism-and-the-mad-woman-in-the-attic-1676252.html• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/janeeyre/characters.html• http://www.lennoxhonychurch.com/jeanrhysbio.cfm• http://www.answers.com/topic/jean-rhys• http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts-and-culture/featured/3614488/part_2/turn-of-phrase.thtm

l• http://www.applesandsnakes.org/page/84/Mary+Stephenson/325

All Clear, 1928

The poem deals with the large scale emigration of West Indian males to work on the Panama Canal and elsewhere in Latin America in the 19th century to early 20th century and the women they left behind.

“All-Clear”

• An all-clear is a term used by civil defense or military authorities to inform others that an imminent physical danger has passed. This typically will end an alert or warning status that was previously issued.

• permission to proceed because obstacles have been removed.

• In the poem it is a metaphor-clear complexion, clear conscience, free to move on

“Beating chaklata”

parched cocoa pods are pounded in a mortar as part of the process of making chocolate for tea

“Same way in my sampata…”

sandals made of old car tyres; any old shoe – also sampat, zapat. From Spanish “zapata”.

Heng-pon-me

knapsack made of thatch used by farmers and travellers.

Johnny cakes, dokunu, cerasee

fried dumpling pudding wrapped in banana leaf and boiled tea made from a bitter plant – all foods carried by poor travellers in the days before “fast foods”.

The SS AtratoSS Atrato was a 3,184 tons iron built paddle steamer built by Messrs Caird & Co of Greenock, in 1853 for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She ran on the South American service for 17 years. She was sold to John Morrison & Co London and in 1870 converted into a single-screw vessel with compound engines and three double-ended boilers. She has been listed as the largest passenger ship from 1853 to 1858.

GuineaBritish gold coin that was formerly used in the British West Indies; then worth twenty-one shillings.

Bibliography for All Clear, 1928• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal• http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sl5763/panama.htm• http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto050.htm

Nature Studies

Guava/2Scientists believe the guava was first cultivated in the mountains of Peru thousands of years ago, but man and birds have spread the seeds throughout all the tropics and the Caribbean. The European voyagers carried the guava from the West Indies to the East Indies, Asia, Africa and Egypt.

Maud made guava…

jelly

cheese

paste

drink

Taino BeliefsThe Taino believe everything in the universe is interconnected and spiritually alive. They view the Earth as a flat disk suspended between the cosmos above and the watery underworld below. The realms are connected by a supernatural shaft rising from the bottom of the underworld, passing through a hole in the center of the Earth and extending upward to the heavens. The souls of the dead live in the otherworld. They are ruled by the Zemi Maquetaurie Guayaba, Lord of the Land of the Dead. The Zemis of the underworld are often made in the form of night flying creatures, such as bats or owls. (The second Zemi, found at the Cinnamon Bay site, bears the image of a bat.) These creatures are regarded as the messengers of the Dead.In the book, Memory of Fire: Genesis, Eduardo Galeano writes:"He who made the sun and the moon warned the Tainos to watch out for the dead. “In the daytime the dead hid themselves and ate guavas, but at night they went out for a stroll and challenged the living. Dead men offered duels and dead women, love. In the duels they vanished at will; and at the climax of love the lover found himself with nothing in his arms. Before accepting a duel with a man or lying down with a woman, one should feel the belly with one's hand, because the dead have no navels."

Taino zemi-Maquetaurie Guayaba-Lord of the Land of the Dead

Bibliography for Guava/2• http://www.stjohnbeachguide.com/Taino%20Zemis.htm• http://www.kislakfoundation.org/prize/200103.html• http://www.seestjohn.com/history_taino_zemis.html• http://www.tainogallery.com/gallery/jewelry/pendants/clay/• http://www.trinidadexpress.com/featured-news/Guava_season-129171433.html

Anatto and Guinep Anatto is a small

tree whose seeds are used as food colouring. Known as bija or bixa, anatto was one of the sacred plants of the Taíno who used it as red body paint. It is also known as roucou.

Anatto and Guinep

Guinep is a Tropical fruit tree (Melicoccus bijugatus) that bears small green-skinned fruit in clusters like grapes. A sacred plant of the Taíno who called it Jagua and used it for black body paint. Also known as Akee in Barbados and Genip, Canep, Chenip, Chennett and other variants elsewhere.

The Traditional Uses

Anatto paste

Body stained with guinep

Sun and Moon LegendThe poem ends with reference to a Sun and Moon legend. In this one, Brother Moon tries to commit incest with his sister Sun but she leaves a black mark on the face of her attacker which later identifies him. This is why Sun and Moon are forever chasing each other across the sky.

Pawpaw

This is a Tropical fruit tree (Carica papaya) the fruit and leaves of which have tenderising properties. The poem describes some of the folkloric beliefs associated with the plant.

Pawpaw as a tenderizerThe most common meat tenderizer used in India is raw (un-ripened) papaya.The leaves, and green skin of raw papaya contain an enzyme called Papain. The connective tissue in the meat breaks down when it comes in contact with Papain. Papaya is the preferred tenderizer for red meat (Lamb, Mutton, Goat, Beef).

Benefits of PawpawPaw paw slices or its juices and whole food supplements (containing paw paw) are promoted as weight loss aids, digestive aids, and natural pain relievers, as well as for other health benefits.

The paw paw is a nutrient dense food, meaning the nutrient values are very high for such a low calorie food. Like many fruits, it is fat-free, cholesterol free, very low in sodium and high in the vitamins C, A, E, and K.

High vitamin C content is one of the paw paw’s nutrient details that we know. One piece of fruit contains a full day’s supply of vitamin C. It is a powerful antioxidant and must be obtained from food because the human body cannot create its own vitamin C. Vitamin E is another well known antioxidant found in the paw paw, well known for skin health and as a blood thinner.

Beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, is another nutrient provided by the paw paw. The compounds that give fruits and vegetables their different colours nourish the human body. One serving of paw paw provides over 30 percent of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A.

The medicinal values of the paw paw date back for many centuries. This fruit contains a natural pain reliever. Paw paw paste was used traditionally for the relief of burns, cuts, rashes and stings. A compound known as papa derived from the paw paw fruit has long been used as a natural meat tenderiser. It is believed that this enzyme may help the body digest meats and amino acids more efficiently.

On the whole paw paw is an excellent source of dietary fibre which is also necessary for digestive health. Paw paw pills are promoted for use as natural antacids, for ulcer relief and to relieve constipation.

Bibliography for Pawpaw• http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,86008.html

Gardening in the Tropics

The Knot Garden• Though the references are Jamaican, the

poem is speaking of political interference and corruption anywhere.

• A Knot Garden is a formal garden of intricate design; notice the play on words.

The Knot Garden

This is a metaphor for the government trying to keep the blacks and other races segregated because that's the easiest and most subtle way to "defeat" us; to divide and conquer. The poem speaks about the breaking of the knot garden eventually since blacks are now living in upscale communities with the whites, so there's not much they can do to stop it now.

WisAny tough climbing vine used for tying, basket-making, etc. Also wist (from English withe)

IMF MeetingThis is a reference to the International Monetary Fund; an international financial institution from which member states of the United Nations can withdraw funds to tide them over hard times (balance of payments deficits). The draconian conditions attached to these loans have made “IMF” a negative expression in many countries.

“Our leader ordered…”

Cutting of swaths

Hacking out paths and ditchesThe intention was to keep the society divided along racial, political and class lines.

“our leader finds instead…”

Higglers and drug barons – higglers are market traders; the more successful ones are able to move upward in society, along with those people who make a fortune from the drug trade. ‘daughters of gentry’ – middle class girls. This is referring to the interplay of classes as perceived in Jamaica, referred to as “uptown” and “downtown”. “Ghetto boys with gold teeth” refers to poor boys who have become successful reggae and dancehall artists, and who used to acquire gold teeth as a sign of their new status. “Hits” is playing on both hit songs and contract killings.

Christopher “Dudus” Coke

Vybz Kartel

“In the old days, he’d have ordered some hits himself…”

Violence has characterized Jamaican politics since the slavery era and has surfaced at times of protest or repression. Almost every general or municipal election since independence has been preceded and followed by gang warfare, street outbreaks, and occasional assassinations.

Violence in Jamaican politics

Tax Havens

Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Geneva: all countries that are secretive about banking so are used to hide illegal money.

Bibliography for The Knot Garden• http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3195.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_garden• http://www.kanyetothe.com/forum/index.php?topic=137878.0• http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kanyewest/murdertoexcellence.html• http://www.meppublishers.com/online/caribbeanbeat/archive/index.php?

pid=6001&id=cb80-1-44• http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/19991214/f1.html

The Tree of Life

The poem is based on a Carib legend which relates how all the world’s food plants came into being. The Carib (along with the Taíno) are the native peoples of the Caribbean encountered by Columbus. Today, Caribs are to be found in parts of northern South America, including Guyana and on the island of St Vincent. This poem (as well as Advice and Devices) also refers to the preference of Caribbean “small farmers” to plant a wide variety of food crops in their plots (mixed farming), as opposed to commercial agriculture that is based on a single crop.

Motif and Metaphor

A tree of life is variously: a motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies; a mystical concept alluding to the interconnectedness of all life on our planet; and a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense.

The FloodThe Hebrew Bible and many other ancient histories and mythologies record the occurrence of such a catastrophe.

Bibliography for The Tree of Life• http://firstlegend.info/thetreeoflife.html

SEEING THE LIGHT The speaker is a native American.

“letting in light…”

“in their chronicles they might have recorded it by another name…”

‘conquista, evangelismo, civilizacion’: to conquer, christianize, civilize – refers to the intention of the European conquerors towards the native peoples, often with negative results.

In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

“We cleared just enough for our huts and our pathways, opened a pinpoint in the canopy to let the sun through”

“Always gave back (to Earth) our thanks…never failed to salute the gods ….”

Rain dance

Sun danceWind dance

Moon dance

“tobacco smoke for the spirits…”

Yuca and Maize

yuca: (manihot esculenta) – a root crop that is one of the principal foods of natives peoples of the Caribbean and Latin America, including the Taíno. Known as Cassava or Manioc in the English-speaking islands.

Maize is commonly known as corn in some countries. The growing of corn first began in Mesoamerica and has since spread throughout the American continents. Today maize is the largest crop in the Americas.

PleiadesThese are a group of stars, also called the “Seven Sisters” – that are very important in ordering the yearly routine of Amerindian life.

“You told us your one God had the power…but we’ve waited in vain…”

“many leaves must fall to cover up our dying”

ALL in life is only "temporary”...and it's a constant cycle of "Life & Death“ The falling leaves symbolize change/transformation .

Bibliography for Seeing the Light• http://amin210.wikispaces.com/The+Sun+Dance• http://www.native-americans-online.com/native-american-sun-dance.html• http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/pleiades/• http://saddleup4good.org/trail_of_tears• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567.html

TROPIC LOVE

‘You don’t bring me flowers anymore’ is playing on the title of a once popular love song (the most popular version is by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond who is one of the composers).

Mystery

What is mystery?

Mystery is a characteristic of Spirit present within the soul of all people and all things. Mystery does not need to be solved. It is not a problem, therefore it has no solution. Mystery is to be appreciated for its ability to inspire awe and enable you to transcend limitations. What are some mysteries of life that you relate to?

Marassa: Divine Twins

Divine twins in Haiti – identical and mirror images of each other. Among the Yoruba, the twins are called Ibeji; in Cuba Ibbeyi.

Gemini

The Gemini motif is essentially a symbol of opposites, inversions and alternating contradictions between life and death and positives and negatives

• The Marassa are the sacred twins of Vodou. In the concept of One plus One equals Three, the Marassa represent the result of a union of higher forces, bringing into reality a third potentiality. They are often called Marassa Dosu Dosa - a reflection of the two is three idea.

• The Marassa represent abundance, blessings, the gift of children, the sacredness of family and the mysteries of the divine. The Marassa also represent special births, such as three children, or children born with a cawl on their face. The sacred Twins are invoked at the beginning of every service along with Papa Legba, for without the Marassa, nothing can come into existence . Their combined magic produces the abundance of the world (that one and one equally three again).

• Like all sacred Twins, they are identical, yet sexless - they are the potential, therefore, they contain everything - male and female, light and dark, positive and negative.

Faith, Hope & Charity

Bibliography• http://www.sosyetedumarche.com/html/marasa.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(astrology)

Ogun: God of Iron

Warrior God of iron and of war - he controls much of the material in the earth and represents primitive force and energy. Oggún in Cuba, and Ogun Ferraille in Haiti („ferraille‟ means „iron‟). The worship of Ogun may be traced back to Iron Age civilizations in Nigeria and adjacent countries.

• Ogoun is the traditional warrior, similar to the spirit of Ares in Greek mythology. As such, Ogoun is mighty, powerful, and triumphal; yet, also exhibits the rage and destructiveness of the warrior whose strength and violence can turn against the community he serves.

• Ogun gives strength through prophecy and magic. It is Ogoun who is said to have planted the idea, led and given power to the slaves for the Haitian Revolution of 1804. He is called now to help people obtain a government more responsible to their needs.

• In Yoruba mythology, Ogun (same as Ogoun) is a son of Yemaja (Yemaya) and Orungan. In Santería and Palo Mayombe, he is identified with Saint Peter. In all his incarnations Ogoun is a fiery and martial spirit. He can be very aggressively masculine, but can rule the head of female, or effeminate male initiates to whom he takes a liking. He is also linked with blood, and is for this reason often called upon to heal diseases of the blood. In addition, he is often called upon to bring work to the unemployed.

Ogun: God of Iron

Ogun is metal. When you hold a horseshoe, an iron skillet or a computer in your hand, you are holding Ogun. He is Master of Technology, and He knows the mysteries of all technology, from the most simple to the most modern.

Ogun is the defender of the village, but He also can be the aggressive warrior. He is ambivalent that way. Ogun is the knife that kills but also the scalpel that heals. He is an amazing transformer: He understands the mysteries of transmuting raw ore into useful metal, and from that understanding, he learned the mysteries of all transformation.

Ogun is a workaholic. He loves His Forge and sticks by it. He is anti-social and Ogun loves dogs. He is a passionate hunter, another reason for Him to stay in the forest.

Do not invoke Ogun if you are bleeding, lest He take an unfortunate liking to your blood flow. Ogun is invoked to heal diseases of the blood, and protection during surgery. Ogun will also protect you from crime and criminals. He can also find jobs for His devotees.

Edwards, Melvin (1937- ) - 1983 Gate of OgunOgun is the deity of iron and war found among the Yoruba people of West Africa. Ogun lives in the flames of the blacksmith's forge, on the battlefield, and in the cutting edge of iron. The gate is "a symbol of transition representing the Middle Passage and spiritual transformation".

Bibliography• http://www.sodahead.com/fun/pagan-is-us/group-22609/gods/forum-54421/ogun-the-west-african-god-

of-iron-and-metal/discussion 681181/?link=ibaf&q=ogun+god+of+iron&imgurl=http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs22/i/2008/025/a/e/Ogun_by_kaltblut.jpg

Babalu: Lord of the EarthHe is associated with diseases connected with the earth such as smallpox and is seen as representing punishment for the excesses of mankind. Portrayed as an old man robed in a scarlet gown. Also regarded as the doctor of the poor. He is symbolised by small gourds, peanuts, sesame seeds, and grains which suggest the pustules of smallpox.

Babalu represents the idea that life, even at it's worst, is worth the struggle to survive.

What is a vever?• A symbolic design, formed on the ground (in the peristyle) by sprinkling wheatmeal, cornmeal, or some other

appropriate powder from the hand, at or before the beginning of a ceremony.

• Such a design represents a Loa to be invoked, and serves both as a focal point for invocation and a kind of altar for offerings. Several vevers of different Loa may be drawn for one ceremony.

• The designs incorporate well-recognized traditional elements, but reflect also the individual intentions and creative skill of the Houngan or Mambo.

Examples of Vevers

Bibliography• http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/veve• http://www.voodooshop.com/voodoo/vever.html• http://www.cultural-expressions.com/ifa/orisha/babalu.htm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babalu_Aye