Yeti Detector

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Mordred's Lullaby- Lyrics

Hush, child
The darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep

Guileless son,
I'll shape your belief
And you'll always know that your father's a thief
And you won't understand the cause of your grief
But you'll always follow the voices beneath

Loyalty loyalty loyalty loyalty
Loyalty loyalty loyalty only to me

Guileless son,
Your spirit will hate her
The flower who married my brother the traitor
And you will expose his puppeteer behavior
For you are the proof of how he betrayed her loyalty

Loyalty loyalty loyalty loyalty
Loyalty loyalty loyalty only to me

Hush, child
The darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep

Guileless son,
Each day you grow older
Each moment I'm watching my vengeance unfold
For the child of my body, the flesh of my soul
Will die in returning the birthright he stole

Loyalty loyalty loyalty loyalty
Loyalty loyalty loyalty only to me

Hush, child
The darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep
Child, the darkness will rise from the deep
And carry you down into sleep

Mordred's Lullaby- Lyrics

Basically, I'm just going to walk the Earth.

Vincent: What'cha mean, "walk the earth"?

Jules: You know, like Cain in "Kung Fu",
Walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Eleggua/ Eshu/ Elegua The God Who Likes Little Candies!

Slavery is a bitch of a thing. When Europeans lost their Thew of Industriousness, our ancestors brought slaves to Vindland and Spanish settlements. Now we have all these practices in North America that seem to involve a shit-load of chicken-killing. And there's this all-powerful deity, Elegua. Here, Elegua has been idolized as a wee coconut god with puca-shell eyes and a mouth. He likes rum, candies and from what I can tell, to consume your eternal soul. I'd have to have a mint after eating some poor Cuban dude, too.

PAPA LEGBA

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Legba: The Gate

Papa Legba, a Haitian Vodou Lwa

Legba is sometimes said to be the first lwa saluted in a Vodou ceremony. In actuality, this is not true, there are other Lwa who are saluted before him. There is no doubt that serving Legba is essential though. Without an appropriate salute to Legba, one will not be able to get in contact with other Lwa. Papa Legba is the gate-keeper. Thus, he opens the gates to the Lwa.

Get your Legba's Gate Opening Bath Here
Our most popular bath, it's on the list

Note it here in this popular song:

"Papa Legba ouvre baye pou mwen, Ago eh!
Papa Legba Ouvre baye pou mwen,
Ouvre baye pou mwen, Papa
Pou mwen passe, Le'm tounnen map remesi Lwa yo!"

English:

"Papa Legba, open the gate for me, Ago eh
Papa Legba, open the gate for me
Open the gate for me, Papa
For me to pass, when I return I will thank the Lwa!"
As you can see, Papa Legba resides at the gate. At the beginning of any Vodou dance, you will note the various salutations to the Lwa Legba. During ceremonies, the entrance to the peristyle will be saluted during Legba's salutes. This is a way to honor the "home" of this Lwa, the gate. Living at the gate, Legba controls the entrance and departure of the Lwa into and out of the temple. Without his permission, no Lwa will be able to enter the peristyle and addressing the Lwa will go in vain. Legba is the master of doors, gateways, and highways. Points of intersection are also under his control.
Legba's living at the gate ultimately places him in the role of regulator. He somewhat regulates the flow of a ceremony, allowing Lwa to pass through as they should. The Houngan or Mambo leading the ceremony also regulates the Lwa. He or she may make Lwa leave the head of someone if they have shown up at the wrong place or inappropriate time. There are a number of techniques used to do this.
Papa Legba is an old, (mostly) peaceful, sexually impotent man. He is seen as a small old man who wears beggar's clothing. He has sores, a lame foot and a twisted limb. This is deceptive though, as he is a very powerful Lwa. One can see this during his possessions, in which Legba can demonstrate his great strength. He walks with a crutch (sometimes a twisted cane), carries a djakout, smokes a tobacco pipe and wears a straw hat. Legba's straw sack, djakout, can often be seen hanging off of a tree with his offerings inside. Even in all his conditions, Legba has a wife. He oftentimes "leans" on his wife for support. His wife's name is Adjessi.
I remember one time seeing Legba pick up a burning branch out of the fire made for Ogou. He took the branch, dancing back to the peristyle. Then he proceeded to clean people by passing the branch over their bodies. He cleaned me too! No one was harmed by the flames.
Legba is a big Lwa. He has many paths. Papa Legba lives at the gate and is often seen as a wanderer. During ceremonies, the entrance to the peristyle will be saluted during Legba's salutes. This is a way to honor the "home" of this Lwa, the gate. Legba is a trickster too! He has been known to play quite a number of tricks on people, some nice and some not so nice! I know a woman, who after doing a service to Legba for money, got into a terrible car accident, broke two of her legs, and then got her money - from the insurance company! She is alive and well now, but that definitely wasn't the way she wanted to obtain the money! (This is another reason why one should serve the Lwa under the guidance of a Houngan or Mambo)

There is only one Legba but you will sometimes hear someone say "Legba nan Petro". There are songs for Legba nan Petro. "Legba nan Petro" actually stands for serving Legba in the Petro rite. Legba is being served to open the gate for the Petro Lwa. The service of Legba "in the Petro" is different from his service in the Rada rite. Legba, when being saluted in the Rada rite, is saluted and served with water, molasses, and sometimes honey. He is saluted with the asson, the sacred rattle of the priesthood. Legba, when being saluted in the Petro rite, will be saluted with rum (or kleren laced with various things) and with a tcha tcha.
Legba is an old man. The images of St. Lazarus (the one with the sores and the dogs) serve for Legba in the Rada rite. St. Jude is the one associated with Legba nan Petro. Like I said, Legba has many paths. One of the most well known is Atibon Legba who is an old man and a trickster! He will walk with a twisted cane (I have seen houses that use a crutch instead). He smokes a pipe, and wears a straw hat. He also carries a djakout, the straw sack. In fact, Legba's straw sack will often be seen hanging off of a tree with Legba's offerings inside.
There are so many paths of Legba, and differences in their services. Legba Avadra is the wanderer. He is a considered a vagabond too. Legba Do Miwa is Legba behind the mirror. Vye Vye Legba which translates to Old Old Legba, who indeed is very old. Most Legba eat in a kwi (calabash bowl) but I know one Legba who eats on a specially prepared mat on the floor, and another who actually eats off of the floor!
Legba may also drink coffee, cola, and trempe. Trempe is kleren steeped in different herbs. He is also known to take akasan, siwo, and palm oil. He also eats toasted corn, and peanuts, which are a staple that is often offered to many Lwa. He likes sugar cane, bananas, and bread. He is also fond of yams, malanga, and other similar vegetables. He likes cakes decorated in his colors. He also likes popcorn, and many times during Legba (and sometimes Marassa) time of service, an initiate may be seen dancing with a laye full of popcorn, peanuts, and pieces of coconut that have been sprinkled with spices.
There are certain spirits in the world that everyone must and does have naturally with them. Everyone has ancestors, everyone has Gede, the Lwa Met Tet. But a Lwa which everyone may not necessarily have walking with them, yet everyone is able to get in contact with him is the Lwa Legba.
The Lwa Legba is the opener of the gates allowing us to walk through life to new places and walk "Gran Chemen" (The big road- journey through life) In order to get in contact with any Lwa at all, Legba's blessing must be had. He blesses us immensely by opening the gates. Having one's gates closed is not a good thing at all and can lead to many problems.
A person's gates can be closed due to a variable number of causes. This is usually divined by the Houngan/Mambo doing the work in order to restore flow and open gates in his or her client's life. One cause of having one's gates closed can be Legba feeling neglected or forgotten, or he may be angry at the individual. If you have your gates closed, you will find much trouble in all areas of your life. I was given permission by a personal friend of mine to tell you what had happened to her. Allow me to recount something that happened here a few years ago.
I had someone come here who needed help desperately and fast. She needed to acquire a job so that she could continue living at her father's house (she was staying there due to being in a financial wreck as well as being evicted) until she gathered the money to move back on her own. Her father was giving her two weeks to get a job or her and her child would be out of a home.

Papa Legba - Gatekeeper Voodoo Lwa

Papa Legba all Praise, Honor and Respect be to him!

Vodou Lwa Papa Legba

She came to me in a state of confusion, anguish and worry. She knew I was a Houngan and although she believed in Vodou she was very ignorant of the subject. She avoided any conversations about it at all, and I never pressed her about it. But this was an emergency, any means necessary was what she had as her motto. So she asked me if there was anything I could do.
I looked her over and said "Yes and I know just who to fix it" "Who?" "St. Lazarus and this is what I will need . . ." and continued to give her a list of supplies that I informed her I would need right away. The next day, she arrived to bring me everything I had told her I would need. I prepared everything and did the work. After I was finished I told her to light a seven day candle I had specially prepared for her, meanwhile she needed to be praying her prayer for work and remind Legba of her promise to him.
She did such and three days later, BOOM . . . a phone call. She just got a job at the location she wanted even though she didn't think she would've really been qualified for the position as she had little experience. She was also making a great wage, which was one of the highest paying positions she's ever had. I congratulated her and reminded her not to forget her promise to Legba. She thanked me again and said that she did not forget and on her first paycheck she would bring what she owed him.
Well, what did she do? Her first paycheck came and left. She spent all the money and didn't even pay Legba. Two days after her due date, I left to make a trip to Haiti. By the time I arrived, her life was in shambles. I spoke to her two days after my arrival, I asked her about work.
She told me "I got fired. I don't live at my Dad's anymore, I am staying with a friend. I feel tension between us two and Hector, I think she is going to kick me out soon too. I've been putting applications and more applications and I can't get a job. I'm depressed, and I don't know where me and my son will go to if we get kicked out. My husband started cheating on me and left first, then I got fired, then I got kicked out. What's wrong with me?" I looked at her "You forgot to pay Legba!"
She said "Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, that is why all this is happening to me. I forgot Hector I really did. When I got my first check, I paid what I had to and spent the extra money. That's right, it was almost a week after I owed him that all this started. I found out about my husband three days later, I got fired five days after, and then seven days after the due date I was kicked out. I got to pay him, I got to pay him, what is it that I owe him? Oh, sh*t I remember!"
Well then when can I bring them to your House? "Later today around five" I told her. She brought the items to me that same day. I offered them to Papa Legba. Legba added some additional items he wanted as payment for the lateness. She brought them the next day. But . . . Legba gave her a job quickly, he destroyed her life quickly but to put it back together he did that quite a bit slower. While it took him mere days to ruin her, he took a little over a month to put the pieces back together. Shortly after the payments, however, she did start to see an improvement and things getting better.
You see how important it is to keep Legba happy! Legba is needed by everyone including the Lwa. In fact, almost every nation has their own Legba who helps open the road for them. These Legbas are often referred to by the nation they walk with (i.e.: Legba Nago, Legba Kongo, Legba Ibo) but initiates know the true names of these Legbas in order to open the gates to those nations.
There are some Legba that do not walk with specific nations. They help where they can, wandering through the nations and the rites. No surprise as Legba is known to be a wanderer.
But for non-initiates, it suffices for them to know that there are two main Legba. The Legba that serves to open the gate into the Rada rite of Lwa and he who opens for the Petro. The Rada Legba is an old man and is often represented by the image of Lazarus. Lazarus walks on crutches and is accompanied by two dogs. Legba dan Petwo (Legba in Petro) is served with the image of St. Anthony of Padua. This is appropriate as the Petro Legba is young and works with fire. I was cleansed by this Legba with a burning branch at a dance in Haiti.
Legba carries around a straw sack known as a djakout Legba in Haiti. These are special bags in which Legba receives his service. Certain items are placed within the djakout when serving Legba and this also acts as his carrying device for him to place all of his things.
Since Legba is such an important Lwa to get along with, I highly suggest having a djakout to help serve him better. Typically in Haiti, these are hung near the entrance of the peristyle off of a tree. Here, however, you can hang them inside your altar room or near your front entrance if you serve Legba there. Preferably it would be hung, and if you have a crutch for Legba you can even hang it off of that.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Lee County, SC, Lizard Man.

The Lizard-Man of Bishopville, South Carolina

One dark night near Bishopville, South Carolina, in June of 1988, seventeen-year-old Christopher Davis stopped to change a flat tire along Scape Ore Swamp. As he was finishing the task and putting the flat tire in the trunk, he heard a noise coming from a nearby field. As he peered off into the darkness, he saw a seven foot tall creature with red glowing eyes running towards him on its two hind legs and grunting as it closed in. Christopher jumped into the car and sped off down the road.

Just as he thought his nightmare was over, Christopher heard a crashing thud above him and saw a large, three-fingered hand with scales and long claws reach over his windshield. Another hand was trying to pry open his drivers side door. Christopher, now petrified and scared for his life, swerved the vehicle on the road and the creature suddenly fell off. He didn't know what kind of animal ran on two legs and could catch up with his car, which was traveling at a relatively high speed. He had managed to get away and that's all that mattered.

When Christopher arrived at home shaking and crying, his father settled him down and Christopher began to tell his parents about what had happened. His dad knew that his son wasn't usually an imaginative storyteller, and Christopher's highly emotional state compelled him to believe that Christopher did, in fact, see something highly unusual.

When Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale heard about what had occurred to Christopher Davis, he interviewed him and asked Christopher if he would be willing to take a lie detector test. Liston figured that if Christopher was really making up a story for attention, the idea of taking a lie detector test would make him retract his story. To Liston's surprise, Christopher happily agreed to be tested, adding that he was sure of what happened and of what he had encountered.

Christopher Davis drew an image of the being that attacked his car and got wired up for the test. A series of questions about the event were put to him and Christopher answered them without hesitation. Although believing that they were victims of an imagination gone wild, the officers administrating the lie detector test and Liston soon realized otherwise. Christopher had passed the test with flying colors.

While Christopher Davis' adventure into the unknown had ended, Sheriff Liston Truesdale's had just begun.

In the months that followed, Sheriff Truesdale began to receive more and more reports from individuals claiming to have seen a large, wild beast near Scape Ore Swamp. It's not unusual to hear such stories, seeing that the swamp had a long history of mysteries involving reports of hauntings, sightings of strange lights, and the occasional bear or two. But the new reports were different.

Multiple eyewitnesses began to surface. Many of those whom Sheriff Truesdale interviewed were upstanding members of the community. They were people who risked losing credibility and possibly business. Most of all, Liston noticed the highly charged emotional state of some of the eyewitnesses. His investigation-training at the FBI academy taught him to look for signs of emotional distress to help him determine when someone was recovering from a truly traumatic event, and many who reported seeing the "Lizard-Man" were showing all the signs.

It wasn't long before word spread throughout Bishopville and beyond. The press, curiosity seekers, avid out-of-town hunters, and television crews from around the world began to show up. Gradually, businesses began to profit from the invasion. Lizard-Man mania engulfed the small community and the nation when the Bishopville Lizard-Man story was reported on CBS news. Stories were also printed in the Los Angeles Times, the Charlotte Observer, the Herald Examiner, and Time Magazine. Serious investigators, the international press, and the societal "fringe" arrived on the scene.

Sheriff's department spokesman Billy Moore told reporters that although hundreds of the 3,500 plus residents of Bishopville ventured into Scape Ore Swamp in search of the "Lizard-Man," armed with shotguns, most of the citizens believed that the sightings were hoaxes. After looking into it himself, however, Moore said that he had no doubt that there was something very real on the road with young Christopher Davis that strange night. He thought, though, that there had to be a more conventional explanation.

Meanwhile, George Hollomon Jr., 32, from Bishopville reported seeing the Lizard-Man while collecting water from an artesian well near the Scape Ore Swamp bridge. Hollomon and an unnamed friend were both frightened away by a creature fitting Christopher Davis's description. Hollomon's brother told reporters that George was visibly shaken by the event and that, despite his pleas for George to stop telling the story, because he didn't want to hear it anymore, he continued talking about it. He said it took time for George to settle down.

Also, a young couple by the name of Brian Edward (23) & Michelle Nunnery (20) Elmore informed the Sheriff’s office that they almost hit a huge, bipedal beast while driving on Cedar Creek "Gum Springs" Road at 12:30 am. They provided statements and were interviewed by officers.

Lizard-Man mania soon began to bring out the worst in people, and Sheriff Truesdale knew that it was only a matter of time before some gun-toting Lizard-Man hunter was going to accidentally shoot someone in the swamp.

It was then that the inevitable happened: An Air Force sergeant was discovered trying to dress up in a lizard costume. When the press heard the story, a shadow of doubt was cast over the Lizard-Man encounters. When the press left Bishopville, Liston was happy to see his hometown return to normal. But "normal" never really returned.

During the early 1990's, the Sheriff's office continued to receive reports of Lizard-Man sightings.

One eyewitness, a Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers, reported seeing a half-dinosaur, half-man running alongside his car late one night. He informed Sheriff Truesdale of the event and, after seeking counsel from his attorney, decided not to place a formal report on file regarding his sighting. The stated reason for his refusal was that his attorney told him he would lose his privacy. As an officer who had spent years at the Pentagon, and who was about to be promoted to General, Robert Cooper may have thought that filing the report would be a death sentence to his military career.

Another truly interesting eyewitness Lizard-Man encounter was that of the Blythers family. While driving home after getting dinner at a fast food restaurant, a woman and her children were laughing about the Lizard-Man sightings when their lives took a sudden, frightening turn: They almost hit a huge, hairy beast on the road. The encounter shook them up so much that they immediately drove to the Sheriff’s office and told Sheriff Truesdale and his officers about what had happened. The family was split up into different rooms and their reports were taken separately. All information provided matched.

In another strange incident, damage to a Ford LTD belonging to Tom and Mary Waye was attributed to the Lizard-Man, because of the anomalous strength that would be needed to cause the destruction. In the middle of the night, when Tom and Mary were asleep upstairs in their house, parts of their car had been ripped apart and wires were pulled away from under the hood. Remarkably, neither Tom nor Mary heard a single sound all night. (Read about Dixie Rawson's report to a news station regarding her March 2008 Lizard Man car attack)

To this day, Sheriff Liston Truesdale continues his search for whatever it was that turned his small, sleepy community upside-down. The Lizard-Man of Bishopville occasionally resurfaces, and continues to provide a sense of mystery and wonder.

RETURN