BRING IN THE OBEAH MAN-TY SHARED AN ARTICLE WITH US

Good morning, yesterday Ty sent this article from the Jamaican Gleaner to me. I read it and muttered to myself hmmmm! The Obeah man has always been an integral part of every society and every culture, matters not what you call him. Read it here. In the tradition of the Yoruba People of South Western Nigeria, the Babalawo, High priest of the Ifa/Orisha traditional practice is very important in every community.

No one and I do mean no one, be it Christian, Muslim, Government, rich people, poor people and the rest, does anything without first consulting with a competent Babalawo. The herbalist is very important, he or she is the one who is the medium between the physical world and the spiritual, a sort of interpreter for the spiritual realm for the benefit of human beings. The herbalist in Africa (we may not have heard of it in the news, but it happened) used their talent to cure many people of Ebola which devastated Africa and who would have perhaps died had it not been for the treatment from these exceptional people, they did such a good job with the herbs and all which they used, so much that doctors and scientist wanted to consult with them on what they used. They refused to tell.

Unfortunately in Jamaica, ignorance through christianity have allowed these people to be ridiculed and debased, abused and scorned.

They are the mediators between God and man, bridging the natural and the spiritual world for the benefit of the community. Both cannot survive without each other. Within each culture there are things which are done a certain way set so by elders who have gone on ahead and have now become ancestors. Common among all traditional practices however is the veneration of the ancestors, which the practitioners feel is the most important. Were it not for them how else would the community grow and understand the realm of spirits while having an earthly existence or still experiencing the human experience. The Importance of these people who have the ability to see into the future and also manipulate energy, use of herbs and plants to heal, use their bodies as mediums to bring across messages from the spirit world to communicate the wisdom of the divine is unquestionable and should be respected.

Always remember that people do bad and are wicked because that is their makeup, it is not their practice, or because they wrap their heads, or jump poco, or read oracles or burn candle which says that they are evil. It is the hands of wicked people who use power learned or gifted to them to practice evil.

Once I was visiting Jamaica, a friend of mine and myself were invited to have breakfast with some of Jamaica’s elites, top ah top hoity toity people dem mi love. My friend who is also a big wig herself, is always proud of me and she introduces me as who I am, she had no fear to those who may be snobs, turning up their straight or flat noses at the idea of being in the company of an Obeah woman such as I (lol).

These people we intrigued, de husband was Black de wife White Jamaican. He seemed to have been locked in a court battle with some terrible people. While having breakfast, he held out his very heavy man hands to me (indicating palm reading, lol) and asked me what did I see for him, he chuckled as he asked the question. I  gazed upon him and cocked a perfectly drawn eyebrow into the air, pausing mi knife and fork over my eggs over medium and looked at him in query as to wtf? Any way, I suspect that he realized that he could not pull off trying to get a free reading out of me, while laughing at me and my practice in my face, he withdrew his hand and we continued to eat in silence. After breakfast, we all went in to the salon, this is where he came clean with me and told me about his court case, which I told him that he would win, but he must be careful as I saw war coming to him in years to follow and it could take his life. He won the court case, and was murdered several years after that outside his home.

I am proud spiritualist/traditionalist/Jujuist (lol, my own word), call me an obeah woman, I love it and find it a compliment. I help my community, my children and all who seeks my assistance. I came to this world for this and for that I am glad. Thanks Ty for sharing. Jamaican people, stop oonuh foolishness. Jesus was de biggest obeah man, so says the bible stories, or if he was real. De amount ah obeah whey Jesus wuk inna de bible, ah more dan what John read pon de isle of Patmos lolol…yes me sey suh!

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20141124/lead/lead1.html

Edmond Campbell,  Senior Staff Reporter

AS JAMAICA continues to make preparations and put structures in place to deal with the deadly Ebola if it lands on local soil, one general practitioner who is also a practitioner in alternative and complementary medicine, is urging health officials to incorporate indigenous traditional healers, commonly called obeah man/woman, into their Ebola sensitisation exercise.

Dr Sonia Davidson has argued that, with no conventional medical cure for Ebola, it is not improbable that someone affected with the disease could seek help from indigenous traditional healers.

“I do think that, as part of the Ebola momentum, we should make it our business to find out every traditional healer anywhere … . Find out who they are; have discussions with them, because people can slip into the country and go down to Clarendon, St Ann, St Thomas or Portland to see their obeah man and, don’t think is just poor people who do that, you know,” Davidson reasoned.

“This is the opportunity to do what the World Health Organization has been telling us to do all along, find out where your indigenous traditional healers are, document them, relate to them and upgrade their practices. Examine the condition in which they work and have them registered,” she outlined.

Educate About Symptoms

According to Dr Davidson, it is critical that these traditional healers know about the symptoms of Ebola because “by the time everybody goes down there and touch up and vomit, him must know that there is a thing called Ebola and is not duppy, and how Ebola is transmitted.”

She said a lot of health professionals have told her that the first place an Ebola victim would go after arriving into the island would be the obeah man.

“If that is the case, how are you having all these meetings and training and you don’t include the traditional healers? We have to get off this elitist mentality,” the senior medical practitioner said.

Commenting on indigenous traditional practices in the context of alternative or complementary medicine, Dr Davidson said the former is a subgroup of the latter. “It is a part of the culture; you can’t dig it out – a part of the culture where people go to obeah man.”

Discussing the deep-rooted connection between this indigenous culture and especially rural communities, Davidson stressed that the people are likely to consult these “healers” first.

She said about 70 per cent of the world’s population look to the traditional groups for their care, but the percentage of Jamaicans who visit these persons is not considered to be very high in Jamaica.

Iṣẹ́ l’oògùn ìṣẹ́. /
Work is the antidote for poverty……Yoruba Proverb! 

[Get busy; diligence is a sure way to address poverty]

All religions are valid as long as it teaches peace and love…..Obara Meji!

There are no disappointments in life, only lessons learned…..Obara Meji