Introduce Ya'self
🌿 Greetings, Beloved Community of The Hoodoo Forum! 🌿
As we embark on this sacred journey together, let the roots of our spiritual connection deepen with each introduction. This forum thrives not just on shared wisdom but on the vibrant tapestry of diverse experiences within our community.
🌟 We warmly invite you to introduce yourself:
Share your name or the moniker by which you'd like to be known.
Tell us about your spiritual journey and the paths you tread.
Connect with the richness of your heritage—let us know your ancestral roots or the lands that resonate with your spirit.
Feel free to impart any lessons or stories passed down through your family or gained on your personal journey.
Express what drew you to The Hoodoo Forum and what you hope to discover or contribute within our sacred space.
Let this be a moment of connection, a weaving of stories that form the foundation of our shared community. Your presence enriches this space, and your story adds a unique thread to the tapestry we collectively create.
With joy and anticipation,
Jatohn, aka Jah 🌟
Hi everyone, I'm Haley! I'm newly 23, African American and from Los Angeles, CA :) This is a long introduction, thank you in advance for reading and I hope you can connect with some of my words.
I first became aware this forum was being created by my algorithm showing one of Jah's tweets about making a safe community for us to openly learn and discuss our spiritual journey. It's no longer surprising to me that a year later I've come back to officially introduce myself. I often sit with information or find a resource and it becomes useful in perfect time. For as long as I can remember, I've felt the presence of others when no one appears to be there. My home and my grandparents home holds a similar feel. From preschool to middle school, I didn't know how to verbalize what was occurring around me. Then in high school, I actually saw a spirit (I presume). It clearly looked like the shadow of a person walking past the threshold of my kitchen door, towards the front of the house where my room also is located. It spooked me of course - it was so clear - but my mom cleansed the house with sage and my home fell empty. It took awhile for my ancestors to fill the living room again. She told me it was because I'm always falling asleep with candles lit throughout the night. Which may be true, I have an interest in candle work and during college I explored more on how fire works with me.
The summer before college, the first post that introduced me to ATR was by Kemie Marie. My spiritual journey has always felt very intentional, like the steps are being placed in front of me - leading me to grow more into who I am + what I feel is my purpose(s). Learning about Ifa opened me to the plethora of religions that have grown from and hold similarities to it, including Hoodoo. I began connecting dots from cultural books my grandmother gifted me, I read Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston then discovered a large portion of my ancestry comes from the Dahomey kingdom of Benin soon after. That was an emotional moment, it's an amazing read if anyone hasn't already. My grandfather's life also reminds me of a rootworker, he learned a lot from his mother. In return, I've learned the most from him. My family comes from all over as they continued to migrate towards SoCal.
Maternal side: Louisiana, North Carolina and Arkansas.
Paternal side: Texas until my grandfather moved to SoCal, meeting my grandmother whose family came from Oklahoma.
My last name is very distinct and uncommon so easily found documents from a white Texan family with confirmed Dutch relatives who owned slaves. Recently, I looked again and there's even more information...I dont know how to feel about learning that family entered Texas on my birthday 203 years ago. My dad's ancestry results came out 90% Nigerian descent, < 1% European (the rest Congolese + Ghanaian descent) - I'd say it's safe to assume one of my ancestors took that last name and they remained in Texas.
My family is also majority Christian. Since this is a Hoodoo forum, I'm sure many of you have similar experiences. My family is Christian-ed down but our ancestors' culture - routines, habits, beliefs - has been held close. Even my dad, who is often too logical to see whats beyond the tangible, has had visits from his father in his dreams. His father passed before he was born but he keeps his journal (handmade out of wood) and photo on a stool outside his bedroom. My maternal grandmother is a traveling woman, their home mostly filled with memories of her trips throughout the African continent and Caribbean islands. Behind the front door, there's an all black statue of a man with a straw hat and a wooden stick. As a kid, somehow I busied myself playing with whom I now believe is the orisha Elegua.
Okay, I'll wrap this up to conclude that I know I need to seek community to continue growing on my journey. I'm aware many people go to Hoodoo when their ancestors are calling them elsewhere and vice versa. There has been many stories and experiences that confirm I'm on the right path. Even the random moments during thunderstorms and a critical point in individual growth (by embracing change as it comes), I found myself singing Oya's name. Not too long after, I found music dedicated to the Orishas. I explore candle work, the psalms, crystals find me. I've left food offerings, whiskey offerings, and keep water filled. My family's memories holds traces of Hoodoo, Vodou and maybe Ifa. I hope to find someone with much more knowledge than me, to learn from them. If anyone in the Los Angeles area knows or is a person who can do divination, please let me know. I believe my next step is receiving confirmation and if initiation is an upcoming step, I'm ready to explore it.
Thank you 100x more if you read all of this! I have severe ADHD and love to tell a detailed story but I'll never bore you!