I remember when I was a little girl in Jamaica we were sent home from school because a coffin with four “dranco’s >(our sweet Jamaican patois!), Vultures was spotted in the area and it was said to be sent by de Laurence looking for Mr Brown, read my post L.W. deLaurence!!! Read without fear. Countless stories of de Laurence were told in Jamaica and he is credited to date on the development of Jamaican Obeah. I once met a woman who told me that it was de Laurence who taught her Obeah, I asked her how, since he had died in 1936 when judging by her looks she may have just been born probably around the time he died. She told me that she had written to him, (he had a catalog company in Chicago, which was ran by others after his death) and had requested to be a student of his. According to her this was when she was sent materials with instructions of what she should do and on how she would begin training. She went on to tell me about some of her training, which seemed to me to be odd and scary, lol. She was instructed to lay on her bed in the dark on certain nights and wait in silence, she had to make sure that everyone in the house was asleep and she was told that whatever she saw or heard she should not fear. I am guessing that this was some kind of initiation. She went on to tell me some more of what she experienced which I will not reveal here. She is well-known in her community a Obeah woman with great powers. As per her story she had a cow, her one and only cow which was used to take care of her and her children after the death of her husband, the cow was stolen and it was told to her who stole the cow. One of the area boys was the culprit, so she went to him and told him to return her cow. Well missa man denied it and of course no cow was returned.
Miss Myri, that was her name, decided to teach him a lesson wid obeah, so she did what she knew best and it was not long before the young man was seen and heard walking through town saying “Moo!, Moo (making the mooing sound of a cow) ah me thief miss Myri cow!, the story is very known in her parish in Jamaica and I asked her if this was something that he did all the time, she said there are times when he is “normal”, and another time when he goes around mooing, she defended her actions to me, saying that she was justified in what she did because this was her one cow and her only source of income and she did warn him before she put on de obeah..true story, well according to her and others who knows her and the young man …mi nuh know wha fi sey …being the proverbial doubtful Thomas, although I have even witnessed greater than that..
I was in Africa some time ago and my husband who is a Babalawo (high priest of Ifa) and I were having a discussion about Juju, and so he told me a story of his Oluwo, the person who trained him in Ifa, in Osun State Nigeria. He said that there was a time his Oluwo called him and decided to show him the power of a particular leaf, something that was just growing wildly in the bushes. The Oluwo sent him to pick the leaves and so he went, when he brought it to the Oluwo he was told to dry the leaves and pound it out to powder, after that was done, the Oluwo proceeded to add certain things, which also can be found in nature to it and it was burned in the form of an incense while incantation was chanted by the Oluwo as they watched it burn. My husband told me that the Oluwo told him to watch what would happen before the night was out, him sey money came to the Oluwo from the east, west ,north and south, moneyyyy, lolol, (power deh ah Africa enuh!)…he was warned however that such practices should only be done when there was dire need for it, it should never be abused, Never! I have seen incredible things. Powers de bout….. suh come mek we chat!
Obeah in Jamaica is very common and there are practitioners all over. Many of the practitioners claim that they have supernatural abilities from healing to releasing a prisoner from his jail cell. Charms are apart of the Obeah mans claim, amulets to ward of evil or even death. Obeah is seen by most to be evil, and anyone who is called a Obeah man or woman is looked upon as a devil worshiper. In truth Obeah has been around since the beginning of time. In Jamaica it is called Obeah, while in Haiti it is Voodoo which came along with the slaves from out of Africa, places like Togo and Guinea, and is practiced today in Haiti. Juju as it is called in west Africa, Witchcraft as it is known as around the world and Roots to the African-Americans. Of course the names of these spiritual magical practices differs according to language and cultures. It is denounced by the Church as Hersey (dem practice it de most) and in olden days anyone branded as a witch would be burnt at the stakes!..lawks!!
It is easy to fear that which one does not understand. Hollywood, media and religion has done the most damage to the minds of people who do not understand these practices, yet it is there, plain as day in the Holy Bible The most popular and influential book of all times. There is the story of King Saul who sought the help of a Witch/Medium 1st Samuel: 28
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
The woman said, “I see a spirit [a] coming up out of the ground.”
“What does he look like?” he asked.
“An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done what he predicted through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. 19 The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines.” As well as with the story of Saul before he was King seeking divination from the prophet Samuel.
In the book of Matthew chapter 17: 1-8 Jesus speaks to the dead
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
And it is written in Leviticus 20:6, “I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people.”
and also in Deuteronomy 18:10-12, God advises the Israelites to reject the practices of the people living around them. Using His strongest language yet He says: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.”
SUCH CONTRADICTIONS!!, Or is it??..Is it the Church’s way of controlling the mass through fear yet injecting the truth in some areas of the book, or are they just confused..ok mek mi nuh challenge the church, caws fi dem obeah very strong..lol.
There is much validity to these practices, but the road the practitioner threads depends on that person’s character. There is nothing to fear from practitioners of the art of these crafts, it is the wickedness of human beings who abuse power given to them by the creator of All for the service of humanity. There will be a part two to this post, mi nuh done! we going deeper and I have great stories to tell!.
Written by
Obara Meji
Metaphysics Teacher
19 Comments
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Nikki
Feb 9, 2017 at 5:24 PM
Miss Obara can you please do a blog or class on when they say someone “tun you dung” in Jamaican terms . That’s if you hadn’t done one before. Read and enjoy your post whenever I get the chance. Continue doing what you are called to do
embracingspirituality
Feb 10, 2017 at 5:20 AM
Nikki, I will be doing the Obeah course in March. You can join if you want to learn about it, that’s where I will be teaching more about those things
Obara Mèjì
Apr 27, 2014 at 3:19 PM
Yes Ty our people are brilliant I have heard of this healing of asthma but is de banana tree mi hear bout Neva know bout de papaw tree, and dem sey de papaw tree good fi odds things to, god bless yuh granny and god bless chopper
Cami
Jun 9, 2014 at 9:05 AM
My first asthma healing was at a young cedar tree (1979). It lasted until hurricane Gilbert took the tree down.
Ty
Apr 27, 2014 at 2:59 PM
Thanks for posting this. Here is my story of obeah as a healing . When I was a child, I was always sick, in and out of the hospital. One summer I was spending time in the country with my grandmother and got sick. I was having asmatic attacks, fever, and seizure. My grandmother refused to give me the nebulizer treatment and felt something else was at work. So she called an elder in the community. He then called another man known as chopper. They placed me to stand against a male papaya tree and had a large frog with a red tongue in front of me. They then told me to hold steady and look at the frog and that if I got afraid to spit in his mouth. Then out of no where, chopper swung a cutlass over my head and chopped the papaya tree. To this day, I have never had another asmatic attack.
Sa-Fo
Apr 22, 2014 at 7:32 PM
Seet ya. Same thing I wrote to you remember? (The hesitation) your backative is strong ehehe. I read these stories about medims etc in the bible all the time and think nothing of it until now.
Obara meji
Apr 22, 2014 at 7:50 PM
Plenty people Sa fo not only you
Sue
Apr 22, 2014 at 2:01 PM
Sure will do thanks again.
Obara Meji
Apr 22, 2014 at 12:42 PM
@Sue Thanks a lot, I believe I already made such a post, i will check the archives and re-blog, if not I will certainly write a post on that topic, please keep the suggestions coming and YOU and others can also submit an article or posts to my blog which i would put up, because I believe we ALL have something to contribute to each other in way of teaching and learning, and this realm is school where we have to embrace our spirituality so that we are able to be guided properly and also assist our children and others…Thank you for the questions, and thank you for visiting my site, God bless!!
Sue
Apr 22, 2014 at 12:34 PM
No prob Obara … thanks for the response. You are a good teacher and full of explanations (smile) … Much love and thanks. Btw keep blogging I like and appreciate the stories brings back some good memories from yard.
On another note you mentioned something the other day on JMG about spirits that come to tempt/test us with material things can you elaborate on that here perhaps in new post so as not to derail this post.
Obara Meji
Apr 22, 2014 at 11:23 AM
In the bible 1st Samuel chapter 9, (and this is why I put the chapter and verse so that the reader can read it for themselves, sparing me the daunting job of typing out the whole thing, I hate to type see wid mi please) it tells the story of Saul along with his servant searching for a lost donkey which Saul’s father had lost. Saul and the servant was told not to come back home without the valuable donkey..in the story all of this was planned by God himself because God had appointed Saul to become the next king of Israel, so through his power the almighty orchestrated the whole thing, (the donkey being lost), while giving the great Prophet and seer Samuel the vision the night before that he would meet a boy who had lost a donkey tomorrow, that boy was to be anointed to be the next King of Israel…Saul knew nothing of God’s plan, but being frustrated over looking for a donkey he believed he would never find and upon suggestion from his servant he decided to seek the consultation of a seer Samuel.
Good and what we call bad All comes from God @Sue,..In the Story when Saul consulted the medium to find out his fate and Samuel who had already been dead for sometime was conjured, Saul was told by Samuel that by tomorrow he Saul would be with him Samuel..meaning that he would die and he did! These abilities given to human beings to “see, know, prophesy, divine, heal, conjure”, among other things are all gifts given to man by his greater self, his source which is God, that which s apart of him and is fragmented within him…I do not spend time questioning the bible, my mind is not locked there, because I believe that there is truth in all doctrines regardless of the metaphors in place. What is to be learned on our journey here cannot be condensed in one book, or one teaching or within a certain text…what I do not do however is cast doubts or ridicule another’s beliefs, thoughts, religion or tradition. What is amazing is that there are so many truths in all cultures and societies, regardless if it does not ring to the tune to what you know or have heard, but if you are locked into one philosophy or thought then you will not have the mind, or the space within to understand much less to accept it. The spirit of God resides everywhere and it teaches us, more so once you are awake, (meaning that once you are awake things becomes more clearer to you)…even if the events and characters are made up, there lies within a lesson for all, through divine inspiration. and understanding…our human minds sees good and bad, when in all reality, there is no difference in the two, both are needed especially here on this realm for balance and to achieve what is already planned out for the greater good of man..Every power given to man, or beings were given to them by our creator,
Sue
Apr 22, 2014 at 10:57 AM
Blessings to you Obara
… sorry about the first question I meant what did God do to Saul for consulting a medium?
How do you know what is false and what is true in the bible? Several scholars have written treatises contesting many aspects of the bible, are you just agreeing with their thoughts or do you have special knowledge that gives you insight in these inaccuracies?
Just so you know where I am coming from I believe esentially and ultimately what the bible teaches is true. Historically many people question the text as to the occurences of certain events I personally don’t, and some even argue whether it is good literature, magical tales or mysteries etc.. but I concern myself with the message it teaches on a whole and I honor that book more than any other.
I have a deep respect for you Obara as you incite a curiosity in me to earnestly search and question many things. However what was written here did not tell the whole story of what ocurred after Saul consulted the medium. If you select parts of the bible to tell your story please tell the whole story.
Yes all good things come from God and all these powers possessed by prophets and seers/mediums come from God but how was it brought to them?
Tell me about those spiritual beings that bring these powers to seers/mediums and prophets.
Obara Meji
Apr 21, 2014 at 2:18 PM
I don’t understand your first question, but on the second question, I have pondered this my self. The bible has plenty stories which begins with “Thus saith the Lord”, which really was THE LAWS OF THE LAND, and remember that God did not write the bible man did, as it states itself on the front when it says King James Version…There were times when God spoke to men, when people had the ability to hear from a higher source, and it still is possible (if only we slow down), in the bible there were extraordinary men, prophets who heard from God and gave message of Gods word, consider Samuel who was a great diviner, he was a reader and he charged for his readings thus says the bible
1st Samuel chapter 8
The servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us our way.” 9(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called a seer.)…
what yuh think ah “seer” is Sue??
also the use of the urmi and the thummin..these are Oracle used by Samuel and other Jewish priests in the bible read here
http://classic.net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Urim%20and%20Thummim
Again the Ephod..(which sounds so close to our traditional Africa here in Africa called Ifa, prounounced EEfah)….An ephod (Hebrew אֵפוֹד) (/ˈɛfɒd/ or /ˈiːfɒd/) was an article of clothing, and an object of worship in ancient Israelite culture, and was closely connected with oracular practices and priestly ritual.
In the Books of Samuel, David is described as wearing an ephod when dancing in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:14) and one is described as standing in the sanctuary at Nob, with a sword behind it (1 Samuel 21:9). In the book of Exodus and in Leviticus one is described as being created for the Jewish High Priest to wear as part of his official vestments (Exodus 28:4+, 29:5, 39:2+; Leviticus 8:7
Jerimiah, Elijah, Elisha, Nathan, Ezekiel, to name a few, were all great prophets, priests, spiritualists, traditionalist, so when they put theses verses in the bible against the very people and their gift given to them by God, can you see the CONTRADICTION…is not God write de bible is man…and often times man full of it, especially if he realizes a way to control people through whatever medium, and so far the bible has done a great job to jail the minds of many!!
Sue
Apr 21, 2014 at 1:35 PM
Obara please explain what God to saul for consulting a medium and explain why Leviticus 19:31 forbade the Israelites from consulting mediums.
31 ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
Obara Meji
Apr 16, 2014 at 2:04 PM
seet deh @Cory, so very correct, part two is up!
cory
Apr 15, 2014 at 6:00 PM
can’t wait fi hear di rest,mi always a listen muta and read and seh we are so lost,everything we do is christian centered,and thats not our religion but it was used by slave masters and also used to turn us against our african diety,we see everything black as evil lol
Lovejones4
Apr 15, 2014 at 4:40 PM
Hello Obara, I recently found your blog and I would like to speak to you on a more personal level. You can reach me through my gmail and let me know when would be a good time for me to speak with you.
Obara Meji
Apr 15, 2014 at 2:08 PM
Venessa go read it again, mi just edit it and added a few more stories
Vanessa
Apr 15, 2014 at 1:46 PM
Thank You.