As part of the recent "Ancestor Reverence, the Tarot, and Raising the
Dead" workshop
(http://www.rootswithoutend.org/emporium/2008ancestor.html ) we have
been looking at lots of ancestors, including the ancestors of the area
where I live.

The true name of Easthampton, Massachusetts, is Pascommuck, which
literally means "where the water bends", referring to the oxbow of the
Connecticut River on the eastern end of the town.

We visited a monument commemorating a patriot (Native American)
victory over European invaders, we called Baron and Brav Gede, who
consecrated the Tarot decks of the participants.

Monday we went to a stream where we often go to call lwa.

Lots of lwa came! Simbi Makaya, Ogoun, Baron Samedi, Azaka... but
first of all, and completely unbidden, came through possession into my
head the spirit of a young Native American woman, a member of a group
of Native American people from a Connecticut tribe that were fleeing
through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts when they were
ambushed and murdered by European invaders.

The woman herself was a priestess, from what she said. Her husband was
shot to death by European colonists and she herself was shot and
wounded, then deliberately drowned, not twenty yards from where her
husband died. As she was describing her husband's death, an enormous
tree just suddenly pitched over and came crashing to earth!

So now she is safely housed in a govi, I'll go back for the husband
later. You can view a photo of the govi in which she reposes at:

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Mambo_Racines_Vodou_Forum/photos/view/af72?b=3

(If you have a Yahoo ID, you just sign up for the forum, membership
approval is automatic. If you don't have a Yahoo ID, it's easy, you
just make up a name, a password, and off you go!)

See that? I had taught the initiate members of my house, the Roots
Without End Society, how to reclaim a dead person from a grave, and
one of them has in fact done so, obtaining a very important spirit, or
rather the spirit of a notable man who lived several hundred years
ago.

But this one didn't have a grave. And I didn't call her. But she came
into my head anyway and fortunately I was accompanied by my two
beloved initiate sons, Houngan Kristian Moe of Norway, Bon Houngan
Souf Bondye Sipote M Daginen; and Houngan David Ritter of Michigan,
USA, Bon Houngan Dayiva Daginen; because they knew exactly what to do.

Peace and love,

Mambo Racine
The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html