One particularly decadent Roman emperor allegedly arranged for a such a torrent of roses to be dropped from a false ceiling onto his guests that some of them smothered to death under it

Occasionally a client comes into the tattoo shop for a floral tattoo who is down for “anything except roses.”  Much like an announced aversion to the color pink in a tattoo, my snap judgment- which I keep to myself- is somewhere along the lines of “ the lady doth protest too much, methinks !”  Who hurt you?  What were your disappointments in love, that you refuse to be tattooed with this symbol?  Why are you humbugging sensitivity, sweetness, and romance?  Or is a rose simply

Question:  Are tattoos permanent? Answer:  Is anything?

My theory, though, is that if there are spirits who work with tattoo artists in Haitian Vodou, they are Agwe and LaSyrenn.

I just did a talk about LaSyrenn, Mami Wata, and LaBalenn, among other sea mysteries, through Mictlan Academy, on Saturday. 

Nègre Danbhalah Hwèdo , 1994–2019, by Myrlande Constant Is Vodou Magic? The common perception in our culture is that “voodoo” is a type...

LaSyrenn, the Mermaid, is an aspect of Ezili, is the Divine Feminine of Haitian Vodou.  There is one Ezili, but there are also seven,...

I recently did a cleansing and protective work on the shop; just basic hygiene after having entered the space a year ago. In the...

This afternoon, I’m casting around (pun to be revealed) for something to blog about that will not be redundant to other stuff one can...

Papa Loko, along with Manbo Ayizan, is a root lwa who holds the tradition together. First of all, it’s very important that those of you...

And Happy Birthday to You, Papa Ogou! Ogou Badagri, God of War and Metal , by André Pierre Fast on the heels of Ezili Dantò’s birthday on...

My own rendering of Ezili Dantò, available in print form here I’m going to tell you some stories in honor of Ezili Dantò, the Lwa that is...

My own handpainted interpretation of Ti Jean, blending Catholic iconography and cross-cultural John the Baptist references (including the...

Today we’re going to talk about Manbo Ayizan, the primordial Vodou priestess and the spirit of the Womb and the Marketplace.

Before we continue through the ritual order of the Vodou Lwa, now that we’ve talked about the Marasa and Papa Legba, I’d like to talk about entering Vodou as an outsider.

Papa Legba, open the gate to this blog post!

Today we’re going to talk about a very primordial Lwa, a lwa racine or root Lwa, in Haitian Vodou.  Or is it two Lwa?  Or… three??

In Kreyòl, there’s an action called kouche, which means to lie down or to go to bed.  It can also mean to make love, to give birth, or to die, or to become initiated.  Everything done while lying down is kouche.

...most people I encounter lack a basic frame of reference for Vodou... ...So I figured that, for once, I would try to start from as close as possible to zero in this post.

Traditional image of Saint Lazarus the Leper For as long as I can remember, I have seen the world as swarming with invisible people.  As...