When a Jamaican or anyone hears the word Obeah, something bad, wicked, evil, Satanic comes to mind. The mere word elicits deep fear into the hearts of some, while others foolishly dismiss Obeah and its powers as a fallacy, foolishness, nutten nuh guh suh! There are many claims as to the origin of the word Obeah, but I shall not spend time here, only that the word is synonymous with Jamaica and Jamaicans, it is a word we use to identify with things which are not of the natural world, and this is me putting it mildly. Read here.
I have written on Obeah here on embracing spirituality over and over again, but there is so much information and stories regarding the topic that I will always make new posts on it, because the tales, the stories can never finish. I am intrigued by all that is spiritual,and at odd times, something may jump up into my memory box, so never mind me and these posts, if you do not like the subject of Obeah (I am sure you all do) there are many other topics to choose from.
This morning while pondering about what to write on today, I remembered a lady called Chiquita. She died a very long time ago and it was at the hands of Obeah.
Chiquita’s Story
Chiquita (as I heard it, I was a small child back then) was a very hard working woman, at one point even holding down three jobs. She was a big woman, as in tall and sturdy and she was handsome like Doreen, from the story Alton and Doreen posted here in ESP, I saw her picture. She was black, well black and cool in her complexion. Chiquita was a cheerful woman always jolly and smiling, she was an all around good person according to everyone who spoke about her.
She worked in a factory early in the morning on an assembly line, then another factory in the afternoon, and also she took care of an elderly couple in their home at nights. She was Jamaican and we are known for our ten and twenty jobs. We are ambitious and hardworking people. Jamaicans big up oonuh self, all people in the world who love to work, big up!
Well the story is that Chiquita met a man called Jeffery, someone in Chiquita’s age group, around mid fifties. He worked in one of her factory Jobs, perhaps having seniority over her there, I think he was manger there. Chiquita had one son who was grown and he was in the military, she loved him and spoke of him often she was proud of him. It was said that after her son’s father left the home, Chiquita never had another man, she concentrated all her efforts on her son and her many jobs, she was not afraid to work, even doing construction at times,and not too proud to shovel snow on the side to make an extra buck. Chiquita did all she could for her and her son.
As I heard it Chiquita was somewhat cautious when this man began to woo her, and when she spoke of him she blushed like a school girl, which was odd to see, as she was 6ft, 300 pounds, a strapping bear of a woman, albeit pleasant looking in the face. Who says dark skin girls can’t blush, lol.
The man was small in stature, of average height for a man, 5ft 8’inches, he was slender weighing around 140 pounds. Jamaicans made crude jokes of the two in there gossiping, saying Jeffrey was like a mouse on a huge loaf of bread.
Chiquita’s caution came from not only their difference in size but also from the fact that Jeffery was a married man. That did not sit well with Chiquita, as well it should not, but according to Miss Junie and Jimmy, Chiquita’s family, Jeffery pursued Chiquita, telling her that he and the wife was having problems and that he hated her, she stole his money, moved in her awful children, (she had five, four before she knew him and they had one together) into their home, she did not wash,cook or clean, she had boyfriends on the side who she would meet in the clubs which she frequented at nights, one who even came to his home and beat him up. She would drink and smoke and would put on her church hat and go to church on Sundays, badding (bullying) up Jeffery to go with her.
He was frustrated and wanted to leave, but he did not know how, because so much of his life was tied up with her. He told Chiquita that he needed a reason to walk away from it all, and he found himself in love with Chiquita. He begged her to have him, and she relented, feeling sorry for him, and also beginning to fall for him.
What Jeffrey left out of his resume when presented to poor Chiquita was that the wife was a known Voodoo worker. She was from South Carolina, born and raised, and she had roots in Haiti, meaning that she had family there and would visit the country quite regularly. Wilma was the woman’s name, and she too like Chiquita was big, brawny and burly, so Jeffery certainly had a type, except Wilma looked like a Black Bam Bam Bigelow with zits (the wrestler, google him) hairstyle beard and all.
It was said that Jeffery was Wilma’s beating stick and would often run to neighbors when Wilma came home drunk and wanted sex, but Jeffery being unable to “stand up or rise” to the occasion, due to Wilma’s demanding ways, would try to fend him off, er, excuse me, HER off, which earned him an assing (Jamaican term for beating).
Neighbors were sorry for Jeffery, who would often drink because of his predicament, he was never a drunk, just an unhappy man with a man Royal wife, WWF champion looking wife.
Chiquita and Jeffery began an Affair, and all who knew her spoke of how happy Chiquita was. Jeffery was also a changed person, as Chiquita would could some good Jamaican food and bring to the job for Jeffery. He would bring his clothes to work and Chiquita would bring them home to wash and press them and give them to him. It was said that Jeffery was the happiest when he was with Chiquita and likewise she. Love had found the two and embraced them together, they were the happiest they had ever been.
Wilma heard of his husbands affair, and jumped into action as soon as she heard, which was about a year after the affair had began between Chiquita and Jeffery began, she went to the job and created a scene when she caught Chiquita having lunch together, unfortunately for the love birds she walked into the lunch room and found Chiquita wiping Jeffery’s mouth while he was eating lunch. It was said that Wilma went crazy that day, and began to destroy the lunch room, like a raving lunatic and the police had to be called. She threatened to kill Chiquita and it took eight security guards to restrain her from killing Jeffery who was hiding behind a equally frightened and trembling Chiquita.
Jeffrey never went back home to Wilma, instead he filed for divorce, which Wilma swore he would never get. She ripped his passport up (he was Guyanese) and all his important documents were shredded and sent to his job. Wilma would park outside of the factory where Jeffery and Chiquita worked and try to run Jeffery and Chiquita over with the jeep. Chiquita had to quit the job out of fear for her life, Wilma stalked them and mad their lives hell, Jeffrey eventually got an order of protection. Eventually Wilma stop going to the job. Things were quiet for a while.
People said that although things were quiet, Chiquita was always apprehensive about Wilma and why she was laying low. Jeffery told her that she was paranoid, but little did Jeffery know that Chiquita had good reasons to be.
Miss Junie (Chiqita’s cousin in law) said that Chiquita went to sleep one night and woke up screaming, Jeffery jumped up and turned on the lights to attend to Chiquita and her distress. She was freezing cold to the touch and crying, she told him that she had dreamed a bat had bitten her in her hips and then she saw a whole bunch of bats flying toward her as if she was their meal, she tried to wake from the dream and that was why she woke up screaming.
Jeffery hushed and hugged her and told her that it was just a dream. It was not!
All was well for Chiquita for the next two days, but on the third day after the dream, Chiquita woke up and tried to get off the bed and found that she could not move. She tried and tried to get up, she could not. She called out to Jeffery who was in the kitchen making tea, and he came running, he tried to assist her, but nothing could move Chiquita. The Ambulance was called and Chiquita was taken to the hospital, all sorts of test on her, nothing was found, no explanation as to why Chiquita could not move her body from the neck down. Specialists were brought in, all were puzzled, she had no pain no distress, she just could not move at all. She was taken to different hospitals, and tests were ran, nothing! The doctors told the family that the problem was medical, one doctor from India even told the family and Jeffery that the problem was spiritual and that they should find help, all this while Chiquita was hospitalized.
The family and Jeffery eventually went to look about Chiquita, spiritually, almost two years had passed since she had first gotten ill, they were told, during divination, that it was too late, it was revealed that Wilma was the one behind it and the job was well done, the diviner said Chiquita would die. She did. Three years into her sickness, and being bed ridden. Chiquita died. Jeffery was heart broken, and to his credit, he was with her every day up until the end, he held her hand as she made her transition on that final day.
Wilma went to the funeral, dressed in full red, looking like the good year blimp. Nobody knew how she found out about the whole arrangement and where it would be held, but she presented herself, eating popcorn and holding a bottle of red wine. Everyone knew that it was Obeah at the hands of Wilma which killed Chiquita. It was said that she told someone that she killed Chiquita because she knew it would hurt Jeffery badly, she wanted him to suffer, so she left him alive.
Wilma died within a year of Chiquita, she choked to death on a chicken bone, how odd. Jeffery lived for a long while after, still broken heart of his Chiquita. Chiquita’s son is alive and well with his wife and family. To this day Chiquita’s story is always told with tears by her family.
I found this Article last night on the internet;
For hundreds of years Jamaicans have been prevented by law from practising Obeah, a belief system with similarities to Haiti’s Voodoo. Now, campaigners and practitioners believe they have a chance to overturn the law.
Until recently, the practice of Obeah was punishable by flogging or imprisonment, among other penalties. The government recently abolished such colonial-era punishments, prompting calls for a decriminalisation of Obeah to follow.
But Jamaica is a highly religious country. Christianity dominates nearly every aspect of life; and it is practiced everywhere from small, wooden meeting halls through to mega-churches with congregations that number in the thousands.
The island claims to have the highest ratio of churches to people in the world.
So the proposal to decriminalise what many Christians regard as black magic, a scam, or even evil, is highly controversial.
‘The gift’
National heroine
One of Jamaica’s seven national heroes is Nanny of the Maroons, whose face now appears on the island’s $500 banknote. She led the Maroons, a term for runaway slaves, in their fight against the British in the early 18th Century. It was claimed that she was an Obeah woman because of her skill in guerrilla warfare and military tactics. Warriors believed she could catch bullets with her bare hands; the colonial authorities twisted the tale and claimed that she could catch them with her buttocks.
Obeah thrived during the era of slavery, but it has virtually died out in urban centres, where over half the Jamaican population now live.
It has survived in rural communities though, and finding an Obeah man is a relatively easy task in the hills of St Mary.
Locals point out a property that is surrounded by a corrugated metal fence, painted in bright blue and yellow. It is not exactly a discreet location for a man who takes part in illegal activity. But he is not hiding who, or what, he is.
“I’m an Obeah man, I’m not a science man, I see things,” says the man, who is known by only one name: Judge.
People come to him all day long for the advice that he dispenses from his veranda.
He is in his sixties but says he first got the “gift” as a child when he predicted the death of a neighbour.
“I have nothing to hide, it’s what I do, and that’s my work. If you are sick I can help you; if a man puts a curse on you I can take it off. That’s what I do to help,” he says.
He says he can help with all manner of things, from curing illness to removing curses.
Society’s good
Obeah’s history is similar to that of Voodoo in Haiti and Santeria in Latin America. Enslaved Africans brought spiritual practices to the Caribbean that included folk healing and a belief in magic for good and for evil.
But Obeah has been outlawed in Jamaica since 1760, so Judge and others like him are technically breaking the law. However, it has been decades since anyone was convicted.
Some politicians argue that if it is right to rescind punishments such as flogging with a wooden switch and whipping with a cat o’ nine tails, the whole law should be repealed.
“We need to get rid of the Obeah act,” says Tom Tavares-Finson, a senator and a barrister.
“If people want to pay for someone to cast a spell or to give them some sort of help, that’s their business.”
The government says it is open to discussing the issue.
“What I’ve suggested is that they should bring a motion for debate in the Senate on the abolition of criminalisation of Obeah, and such a debate would trigger research and discussion that would be good for the society as a whole,” says Justice Minister Mark Golding.
Obeah in the city
Although few people believe in Obeah in the cities, the practitioners have to come to Kingston to stock up on the potions and products they need.
Jamaica’s Obeah legislation
- 1760: In response to a major slave rebellion, the colonial government outlaws Obeah for the first time in the Caribbean, with the Act to Remedy the Evils arising from Irregular Assemblies of Slaves, defining Obeah as: “The wicked Art of Negroes… pretending to have Communication with the Devil and other evil spirits”
- 1898: Under the Obeah Law practitioners face 12 months in jail and flogging. An Obeah practitioner is defined as: “Any person who, to effect any fraudulent or unlawful purpose, or for gain, or for the purpose of frightening any person, uses, or pretends to use any occult means, or pretends to possess any supernatural power or knowledge”
- 1908: Parliament passes the Medical Law, which was intended to regulate medical practice, but was also used frequently in cases to define difference between medicine and Obeah
Sources: obeahhistories.org and Jamaican government
One small chemist in downtown Kingston has most of the regular goods you would expect to see for sale. But it also has some surprising items on the shelves at the back: rows of candles, soaps and sprays called “go away evil”, and potions that claim to either attract a new partner or stop an existing one from leaving.
“The Obeah man or woman send them here with a shopping list; we’re like a pharmacist,” says shopkeeper Jerome, who says he does not believe in Obeah.
But over the years the popularity of Obeah has waned and finding Obeah men and women to reveal what they do is rare.
People who use them, rarely want to talk openly about it. Many of the pharmacists who sell the paraphernalia refused to talk on the record and did not want to be identified.
Customers will mostly ignore questions about their Obeah purchases. But one young woman says she is after something that will “tie” her man, to stop him running off with other women.
“It was something my grandmother believed in. It worked then and it works now,” she says.
But repealing the legislation will be tough. The Church associates Obeah with evil, others believe it is used to defraud vulnerable people, and many Jamaicans believe parliament has more important things to be getting on with, like tackling crime or improving the economy.
It is a sentiment shared by former Prime Minister Edward Seaga. He is an expert in Jamaican anthropology, and does not believe decriminalisation would make a difference.
“People don’t consider it criminal. I don’t remember the last time someone was arrested,” he says.
“These deep beliefs are part of the folklore of the country and they aren’t easy to extinguish. I don’t think criminalising it one way or another will make much difference to its survival.”
Judge, the practitioner in St Mary, agrees. He says he will continue what he does regardless of what the politicians decide.
“They’re all idiots in politics. I don’t vote for any of them, it’s God I vote for. I’ll just keep doing what I do,” he says.
Tan an si nuh bruk nuh dance, only interference…..Jamaican Proverb!
All religion are valid as long as it teaches peace and love…. Obara Meji!
There are no disappointments in life, only lessons learned!….Obara Meji
Hello I am living in Jamaica and desperately in need of a good Obeah man can you please give me a contact number for one,someone preferrable close to kingston
Morning everyone. Just sending love and light your way. Catching up on my reading. I have mid-term exams now and just recently got a job. Been busy, but you have all been on my thoughts. This week is International week at the college and the Jamaicans will be doing a dance, I am heading to rehearsals now. LOL. Later fambo. I pray that every good thing finds it way to you, from my heart to yours.
Correction: loveevol…… not sure why I put two o.
Hello Obara, how’s everything? And hello EVERYONE, I hope all is well. Boy dis story sad bad. Suh nuh body nuh seek nuh spiritual healer throughout dat three years Chiquita sick fah? No man, dem need a flagging to, this wasn’t a physical battle so they should seek spiritual practitioners….. Obara, Can you do a story on flat bridge in bagwalk I think? the one where things get missing whenever they try to build on it? If you know anything I would love to hear (well read) it. And maybe a story about why you should/shouldn’t sleep on your back….… Read more »
Maybe they did seek out other help from other ‘healers’ without broadcasting it. Maybe the power of who did the ‘bad’ is stronger than the power of those doing ‘good’. Maybe they went to persons who were fake, or who maybe thought they could help, when they could not. Perhaps she was also trying to help herself along the way with prayers, candles, baths, going to the beach–you know the usual Caribbean way but sometimes nothing helps. Have to respect the practitioners that tell you straight up they cannot help or in this case, it is too late. Better to… Read more »
Joy go to where it says contact Obara Meji
I just finish read the story it so touching y people who have a good heart always be the one to get hurt
I go right to the top and click but I am not reaching no were so I leave it a lone any way good night
This story was so sad! 🙁
Myalism also big in Ja….
Di pastor dem no want the law fi change, dem fraid fi lose di collection to the obeah man and madda woman
grung mi deh, i am flattened DUNG AH DUTTIE, TY knock dung ah grung ooooooo, LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
You gwan have to stay there because she on a roll plus Y? de bout.
Again TRUE! Those bastards would have too much time on their hands to molest people pickney if the laws were to change, along with having to find a new con for the wayward sleepers.
I do not agree that few people in the cities believe in obeah…MANY in the city, believe and practice obeah…
That’s true. O should say, “many hyprocrites in the cities help to maintain this stupid law so that they can continue the air of superiority over their country peers and families” lollll
Hey Obara,…
Hey Cami…
Whaddup peepers?
Seaga is right, law or no law, it makes no difference obeah will remain…however for the sake of principle, that antiquated British colonial law must go…
The law should change to accommodate prison sentences for people who use obeah against another for unjustified means. Example: You go to a obeah man/woman to tie up someone life or cause them harm just because you feel like it or hear say.
hey TY
Is obeah that was used to cure me of my “asthma”…
Here, here…right unda de cedar tree.
Is obeah that was used to give my great grandmother “a sore foot” that killed her….
Big up March drug store and all the other stores in ja that sell candles and such…
she dead bad
Happy Friday everyone….
Such a sad tale of love….
That man royal Wilma got hers…I am shock is not popcorn she choke on…
Obeah is alive and well…it will never go away…like everything else that humans touch, we have free will and the choice to do good or evil…
Big up all obeah workers who choose good…
Why Y? lolol big up bro.
Nice story on this couple. My only humpf is why they were so slow to put 2 and 2 together and seek a remedy? Two years of inaction and all a Chiquita hard earning went to doctors only to die without a fighting chance.
O, I suspect that wilma come from the gullo Islands (name may not be exact) where the people are at least 99% pure African descendants.
Chiquita was a sleeper in life.
Sis, wha ah gwan? Cam E, they ask, “to be or not to be?” but I say we are like a tree: Born to live and be free, hopefully, before wi get to 23. So, if me can tell yuh. you tell me, why wi think to live there is a fee?
it’s a fee because it involes the number ‘tree’, dwln….lol (muah) me spiritual bro.
Ty, ty Happy Friday (me love Fridays and Saturdays)
Oh sis obara I want to inbox you were do I go to inbox you pls don’t laugh I don’t know much about email
Hey Joy….
Just click on the heading email obara meji up a top….it takes you right there…
I am OK so far. on the weekend I have so much work to do I just finish work I have been here from 7.30 this morning and I have been working but anyway thank god far life health and strength sis obara and family you all have a bless weekend
So lovely that you decided to grace us with your presence Yw, always good to see you. The Obeah law is a big BS, here in Africa Juju is recognized and respected, but people can bring people to court and charge them with Juju, and big court case come out of it, dah deh Judge deh brave nuh hell, nevertheless it has been around from the beginning and it will never stop. I chose to share Chiquita’s story because as with everything there is a bad side, and I am always explaining that it is not the knowledge of Obeah… Read more »
Big up Obara, mi Obara Meji!! Always good to si (not “yes” in spanish, Cami 🙂 ) part of mi spiritual family. Mi ah guh hold off on di light an’ jus’ gi unno love right now…………feel it? hee hee
Hi Obara,read your article about the woman who request you change another destiney,I was told someone did that to me,didnt know that was possible.Yes my life was going good them all of a sudden everything start getting bad foryears now.Would like some help,No intention of doing anything bad to anyone,just want to remove the evil curse.Know anyone.
Replying to also get same information, if available.
Doesn’t Jamaica have freedom of religion? This law seems to be very conflicting and outdated. It’s not enforced anyway, so they might as well scrap it.
Christianity has such a strong hold on Jamaicans that they want to keep this law just on principle alone which makes no sense.
Good day obara and family friend.i am here I just finish my work. how you all doing
Howdy joy!
Toy Nunu Ywwwww hailings my family. Vilified is the correct word Nunu YW that is so true…every thing has dark and light side.
Greetings and salutations Obara Meji and di ES fambo, friends, and visitors!! Big up Toy, Kia B, and Newns…Religion has its dark and light side, same as Obeah, same as everything – it involves duality and polarity and balance necessitates two sides to weigh. Obeah or any “heretic” practice was banned and slandered as a means of control and mental subjugation. Open up, learn from within and find the truth (rass – coffee mus’ be my weed). Like Judge (man from article), what is yours is yours (his gifts are his, no need to feel shame) it is how you… Read more »
Mi nuh wan’ laugh ie nuh! But when Bam Bam choke pon di chicken bone, what a karma! Shi have the nerve fi guh a di woman feeneral deh nyam an drink. I’m guessing because everyone knew that she kill Chiquita dem did fraid fi run har baxide. Shi did well brazen but one likkle bone did the job
Poor Chiquita and Jeffrey, that’s why people view spiritual practice in a bad light. The negative stands out like a sore thumb coupled with the fact that the practice has been denigraded over the centuries.
We SHOULD be aware of the negatives of spiritual practice but that should be cross the board. Catholicism is riddled with negative spiritual practices but is how they market it and slander other traditions and practices to fill their coffers through brainwashing and weaponized industrialized spirituality (i.e. religion). All the same, there is a positive to that too which we SHOULD be aware of as well….
Big ups to you Yw! That’s true but as you said it’s in the marketing.
Good morning peeps! Kia yuh nuh si seh it’s been vilified since the 1700s,”the wicked art of negroes who pretend to communicate with the devil”. The use of fear…
Greetings Obara good morning ES massive love n light where ever you are today in what ever you are doing. “They’re all idiots in politics. I don’t vote for any of them, it’s God I vote for. I’ll just keep doing what I do,” he says. LOLOL I agree sir The law should be terminated as it is not needed.It is nuff laws that need to be enforced but Obeah is not one. We are so fearful to embrace the ways of our ancestors and to admit that they honestly lived in harmony with God n nature. We call everything… Read more »
mornin everyone love and light to all of you. Kia B I co-sign 100% with all that you said.
Yail up Toy!