Starlight Cathedral, Oakland CA

Today I enjoyed (mostly) a Bible-literalist sermon with very little thou-shalt-not in it. Pastor Franklin is a long, lean man with a lively, commanding manner and an intelligent eye.

He compared himself to King David at one point: “Yes, I’m a warrior, a fighter. Don’t mess with my kids! Don’t mess with anyone in my church family! But I’m gentle, I’m compassionate [like David was].” Not in a spirit of boasting, either, because he addressed the congregation as “brothers of Jesus” several times. In fact, the first ten minutes or so was about claiming and using the power – “the anointing” – that God has already given us; a sermon that Dr. Kioni could preach off the cuff. “And that’s why I can go into any church – Catholic, Baptist, Religious Science – and praise God, because the Holy Spirit is in my life!” He went on to say more than I wanted to hear about obedience to God and the pastor.

Later he exhorted us to challenge the devil, because “I don’t mind if the devil’s on my track, as long as he’s not on my back – ’cause he doesn’t belong there. If you give the devil a ride, he’ll want to drive!” He called our attention to the story of the Gadarene swine, when Jesus begins the exorcism by demanding: “Who are you?” Which is precisely the question I ask of any unpleasant spirits I meet!

Earlier in the sermon, he redefined “brainwashing” as “being washed clean of pessimism!”

All this time I sat in a chair by the door, meek as a church mouse and conspicuous as a rat in a punch bowl. I was intimidated by the silken rope across the aisle. Even when it was unhooked shortly after I arrived, I didn’t move...

Until the minister invited us to come up and be blessed and prayed for. I was about third in line. The women in front of me were looking for help with finding housing for a large family, health problems, and getting a foster care license (the pastor recognized her as “a visionary” who “could be an inspirational speaker”).

I assumed he knew them all, intimately – but then it was my turn. As he anointed my hands with olive oil, he said, “I see things that you have lost are being restored to you” – which pretty well describes my feelings about Christianity at this point. “I see that you are a wise woman; a humble woman; a woman of God. Be exactly what you are. God’ll work it out. (Which addressed my concerns about being ensnared by obedience again.) Are you trying to move?” I remembered my husband’s desire to leave the city. “Yes, but it’s not on the front burner,” I said. He rubbed the olive oil into my palms and prayed: “Lord, break the shackles on our sister’s business.”

And all this without ever having spoken to me, or overheard me, before.

After me came a woman who was trying to get her son released from Juvenile Hall. The pastor was inspired to tell her what kind of candles to burn: “a red one – the red represents the blood of Jesus; a white one – the white is for purity; and a purple one – for power! The First Lady (his wife) will give you her phone number; call her and she’ll tell you how to dress them.” (Later in the service, the Queen Mother – Archbishop’s wife and pastor’s mother – interrupted her shouts of praise to tell this same woman how to arrange those candles.)

After this, the spirit of the service became more comfortable and informal. First-time visitors to the church where thanked sincerely for coming (and special note was taken of the fact that I had sat down among the congregation after I was prayed for). A final song was sung by the children (all the choir they have, apparently), a collection was taken (the church lined up to contribute, rather than passing the plates), and announcements were made: the Harvest Feast is next month – and it is, apparently, the same Fruit Feast in honor of Black Hawk that was mentioned in Jason Berry’s book. Black Hawk was not mentioned, but the First Lady explained to me: it’s a celebration of the “fruits of the spirit,” at which nine people get up and say a few words about one of them (“We’re looking for nine people,” she told me meaningfully) and the congregation is given blessed (literal) fruit to enjoy. It reminded me of the Unitarian Universalist flower communion, and I told her so. “Well! That’s something we could do here,” she said.

The Corazon Brothers: front view

The Corazon Brothers: front view
Originally uploaded by Miss Michaele

This is a pair of lodestones that was sold to me by Miss catherine yronwode of the Lucky Mojo Curio Company on August 19 of this year. Together, they weigh about 2 pounds. Their purpose is to attract good things into my house. Their heart shape traditionally suggests that they are most effective for love work, but as miss cat told me, "I think they'll do anything you want."

My initial impression was that they are keenly interested in money work, as am I. In fact, they have paid for themselves more than twice over in the first week!

I haven't tried doing any love work with them yet. I haven't had any signs -- dreams, casual omens, or psychic impressions -- to rule that out.

Further progress reports will be available here. Assuming these gentlemen don't declare things to be secret or something.

Clicking on the picture will take you to my flickr.com account, where you can see a back view. Do look at it, for these boys were originally one piece of rock.

Jesus and John ... no, not that John

Last week, in circumstances that have nothing to do with conjure at all, I met a wonderful, powerful woman who turned me on to the Friends of Negro Spirituals. She also alerted me to an upcoming event, their Fourth Annual Negro Spirituals Heritage Day, an awards ceremony. The speechifying was brief, informative, and to the point. The atmosphere was respectful, courteous, and friendly; not only to me, but to each other.
But here is where Jesus and I inch a little closer together:

Anthony Jerome Smith, baritone and composer, sang three spirituals, including one that was new to me: “I Got a Home in That Rock.” The chorus runs:

You got a home in that rock, don’t you see?
You got a home in that rock, don’t you see?
Between the Earth and sky
I heard my Savior cry,
“You got a home in that rock, don’t you see?”

That’s about as universalist as you’re going to get.

Pretty as that was, I was going to let that roll off my back, until Diane Ferlatte got up to tell a story. Her subject was the mysterious High John the Conqueror, and how he brought the gift of hope where there is no hope. His sign, indeed, is laughter, just as Zora Neale Hurston says. As Ms. Ferlatte told it, he fell on the slaves like the Holy Spirit and took them off on a tour of the cosmos which included a stop at hell – “just for a minute!” – and a visit to heaven itself. The voice of the slave master shook them out of this vision, but they were left with gifts of song and laughter that were not dependent on outside events, but could be called up whenever they were most needed.

As soon as I heard that, I realized: High John and Jesus are cousins!

I offered this insight to several people there, and they didn’t quite get it – but neither did they contradict me. In fact, one gentleman told me, “Well, we each have to approach these things in our own way.”

Psalms and honey

Here's a cute little candle spell that you can use if you want to be thought well of at work.

Write out your intentions on a piece of paper. Make sure to include both your boss's name and your own. Place a few of the appropriate herbs on the paper – patchouli is good, so is gravel root – and wrap them up, folding the paper toward you.

Empty and wash out a baby food jar.

Place the paper in the jar with, perhaps, a John the Conquer root or a piece of Master Root, and fill the jar with honey. Screw the lid closed.

Now, this jar will serve as the candleholder for the candle spell you're going to do to complete this process (and now you know why I specified a baby food jar; they have nice, fireproof metal lids!). Light a candle every day and let it burn while you read Psalm 34. After reading the Psalm, state your desires out loud, for instance: "[Boss's name], you see nothing of me except what you would approve; you know nothing of me except what you would approve; you remember nothing of me except what you would approve; and that is what you will write on my evaluation."

Light the candle, read the Psalm, and state your desires every day for a month before your employee evaluation, especially if the last one was bad. After you have achieved the desired result, do the candle-and-Psalm thing once a week to keep it humming along nicely.

Lord Buckley vs. St. John of the Cross

Well, some good idea-candy today. I've been reading about the sins of mysticism tonight, and I see this:

Purgation is the cleansing stage which begins with self-examination and penitence and leads to a holy life. Sixteenth-century monk, St. John of the Cross, is best known for his description of this stage which he called the “dark night of the soul.” During the dark night the soul of an individual feels abandoned by God, spiritually dry and at the point of despair. John saw this as a way in which God purified the soul by suffering, for only when the soul has been purified is it in a position to experience a rapturous union with God. This purgation involved detachment from the things of the world including material and physical desires; and mortification, the building of new paths to replace the old ones now rejected.

But I wonder. Watch this clip of my favorite preacher, Lord Buckley, and see if you don't catch him describing the love of God overtaking someone right in the middle of a sinful act.

A spot of pronoia

So I was thinking about the alleged extinction of the honeybee today -- a topic that's been frightening me for weeks now -- and somehow or other, my mind wandered onto the topic of Al Gore -- you know, the man who lost the last presidential election.

Do you remember (those of you who didn't vote for George Bush) how crushed you felt when the wrong party won? Do you remember how permanently lost it all seemed? I am far from a political expert, so I will simply gloss over the slow-motion train wreck of the past four years, and remind you of this:

Al Gore went on to accomplish something else he has been trying to do for the past 30 years: revolutionize the political will on the subject of global warming. I wouldn't be surprised if he has already accomplished much more out of the White House that he ever could in it. This is just the latest example of the principle: sometimes the Universe knows better than you do.

Working the practical side: a place to research

Here's a little post to help you work the practical side.

I'm in the midst of starting a (not-conjure) business, thanks to Women's Initiative for Self-Employment, as described before. A classmate of mine, Dream Doula, turned me on to a website that is a mine of information:

"City-Data.com"

There you can find out all kinds of surprising things about any town you might want to work in: where are the richest neighborhoods? How many gay households are in your town? How much money does city government spend on services? How clean is the air? What is the racial makeup? Is the economy growing or shrinking, and why?

You can advertise your business, too.