Vendredi: Six of Diamonds

The six of our current suit is often called the artist’s card.  It tends to turn up in spreads laid out for those who make their living – or aspire to make their living – creatively.  Of course, I’m using “artist” in the broadest possible terms.  The querent may be a visual artist, a crafter, a musician, a writer, a director, a model; the list goes on and on. 

Many times you will find that this person has come to gain insight in a hectic and over-wrought time in their life.  They have so many projects on the stove – perhaps for the first time in their career – that they have no idea where to begin or end.  Both you as the reader and the Six of Diamonds are here to reassure them that all this newfound mess and stress is a very good thing indeed.

The best advice for anyone with this card in front of them is to prioritize, stay on track and don’t panic or give up.  They will meet all the demands currently made on them if they focus, delegate (sometimes a near impossibility for people with a creative temperament) and take one step at a time.  This will help in the future as the Six of Diamonds happily indicates that much more work – and many more satisfied customers – is coming the querent’s way.

If on the off chance that the person in front of you swears to have not a single crystal of talent under their skin, probe a little bit to find out what sparks their passion.  You will probably find that the area of their life where they are most “dialed in” is changing for the better whether it is work, family, volunteering or what have you.  And with that, Vendredi heureux ~

Header: Cards from a deck for children from the late 19^th century, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jeudi: Great Spirits

In Chinese tradition the 7^th month of the year, which begins mid-August, is known as Ghost Month.  Within the context of this remembrance of beloved and largely benevolent ancestral spirits is a darker celebration known as the Festival of Hungry Ghosts.  Hungry ghosts are the kind that are generally unspoken of and avoided at all costs but, during Ghost Month, they must be welcomed, entertained and remembered.  Otherwise unthinkable consequences will ensue.

In the Buddhist and Taoist traditions of China and certain other countries such as Malaysia, the gates of hell – usually closed to the hungry ghosts – are believed to open during the 7^th month.  The hungry ghosts are allowed to roam the earth seeking not only food but also amusement in the form of theatrical productions and music.  At this time, children are warned to be home before dark so that the ghosts will not mistake them for the food they crave.  Swimming is generally avoided; the hungry ghosts are often thought to cause drowning.  People try not to drive at night, and the word “ghost” – which is usually appropriate in regular conversation – is not uttered.  The terms “good brother” or “backdoor god” are used to avoid angering the spirits.

Hungry ghosts are believed to be the souls of people whose descendants no longer do them honor through offerings and remembrance.  To feed their ravenous need for not only food but earthly possessions as well, people burn joss papers in various forms.  Sometimes the papers look like cars or houses.  Other times they are replicas of money.  This so called “hell money” is said to be the currency of the netherworld.  Offering it to the hungry ghosts makes it possible for them to live in relative comfort and thus leave the living alone.

Altars of food and incense will also be set up, sometimes in the streets.  Local businesses will close to facilitate the hungry ghosts’ acceptance of these offerings.  Stage shows with live or recorded music will also be mounted with the first few rows of seats reserved for the phantom visitors.  Sitting in these seats will bring horrible luck or, at worst, possession by one of the “good brothers”.

Hungry ghosts are pictured as painfully thin people with huge, distended bellies, ribs showing, gray skin and disheveled or missing hair much like someone suffering from prolonged malnutrition.  Their necks are often imagined as pencil thin and very long, making it impossible for them to swallow what food they can find.   Tales are told of hungry ghosts failing to find their way back to hell and scavenging through garbage dumps at the edges of human towns.  They are invisible in daylight, but take form in the darkness.

In some places, the end of the Festival of Hungry Ghosts is marked by the lighting of lanterns which are then set afloat on outbound streams and rivers.  These are to light the ghosts’ way back to hell.  It is said that when the lanterns’ lights go out, the ghosts have gone home.  Hopefully, that means all of them.

Header: Japanese scroll depicting the realm of the hungry ghosts at left and how to make offerings to them at right via Wikipedia

Mardi: Herbal-Wise

Honeysuckle, that high climbing bush with the almost overwhelmingly sweet smelling flowers, has been a symbol of love since the European Renaissance.  Brides wore or carried honeysuckle flowers, and lovers were painted near plants drooping with buds.   In folk magick, however, the honeysuckle is rarely mentioned as a love drawing herb.

Old wives would recommend planting honeysuckle bushes near the front of one’s house to draw good luck.  Training the branches to grow over the main door to the home was thought to ward of illness and fevers in particular.  Honeysuckle flowers were kept in a vase in the kitchen to draw money into the home.

Diviners would crush honeysuckle flowers and rub the juice on their foreheads to encourage their psychic powers.

Scott Cunningham recommends ringing green candles burned for prosperity work with honeysuckle flowers.  Combining this ritual with the magick of honeysuckle in the kitchen can make an attractive and aromatic summer centerpiece for a kitchen table that will help encourage harmony in the home as well as bring in needed funds.  Bonne chance ~

Header: The Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens c 1609

Lundi: Recipes

One of my favorite fish dishes has always been trout amandine.  Mom made fish every Friday when I was growing up but I have never become a big fan.  Aside from salmon and the old school tuna salad sandwich, it has just never been my thing.  I like a fish done amandine, though.  As long as it’s not overcooked, I think any kind of fish benefits from the addition of lots of butter and a delicious coating of thinly sliced almonds.  Mom often substituted walnuts for the almonds because we had a tree in the back yard and, to my taste, that’s even better.

½ cup thinly sliced almonds, walnuts or pecans

2 sticks butter

2 whole eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

Salt and pepper to taste

6 filets about 6 to 8 ounces each of trout, halibut or any white fish

Oil for pan frying

Sauté the sliced nuts in butter until they are golden.  Set aside and keep warm.

Combine milk and eggs in a bowl.  Combine flour with salt and pepper in another.  Dredge cleaned and patted dry fillets first in the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture.

Pour enough oil into a deep frying pan to fry the fish but not drench them.  Heat the oil until it is hot but not smoking.  Lay trout fillets in the oil and fry to a golden brown ; about five minutes per side.

Drain the fillets on paper towels.

Serve one fillet per person, spooning the warm butter mixture over them just before they come to the table.  Bon appetite ~

Header:  Still Life with Trout by Jeremy Mann

Dimanche: Swimming

1950s Catalina Swimwear ad via Mid-Century

Samedi: Voudon Calendar

Like most religions, Voudon has its own special festivals designed to bring worshipers into touch with the divine spirits.  Depending on where a voudonist is from, the main festivals, or fetes as they are called, will number between twelve and twenty per year.  I spent time in the Les Cayes region and keep the fetes that were taught to me there.  Though local festivals can raise the number to as many as thirty, this general list of fetes is an all around if not all inclusive example of the celebrations in Voudon.

Many of the fetes are synergized with Catholic Holy Days.  This, it goes with out saying, gave the original slave population of old Sante Domingue the opportunity to celebrate the lwa without drawing attention to their practices.  To masters and overseers, the slaves were celebrating Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16^th, for instance, when in fact they were raising a fete for Erzulie Freda.

For the purposes of this list, I will give the date, Voudon fete, Catholic Holy Day and significance as I understand it.

January 6,  Voudon Fete Les Rois, Catholic Epiphany: This celebration honors the ancestral kings of Africa and is similar to celebrations of the 9 African Powers in Santeria

February 25, Manje Tet Dlo, no corresponding Holy Day: Offerings are made to feed rivers and springs so that they will continue to provide sweet water

Movable fete usually in March or April, Fete Souvenance, Good Friday: A weeklong festival held in Souvenance which only houngans and mambos may participate in

March 20, Legba Zaou, no Holy Day: Homage is paid to Papa Legba through the sacrifice of a black goat

April 30, Manje mo, no Holy Day: Offerings of food are made to family ancestors

May 12, Manje lwa, no Holy Day: Offerings of food are made to the lwa sacred to the local ounfo

July 16, Fete Saut d’Eau, Our Lady of Mount Carmel: People make a pilgrimage to bathe in the waterfall at Saut d’Eau recognizing Erzulie Freda

July 25, Fete Ougo, St. James: People make a pilgrimage to Plaine du Nord in recognition of Ougo Ferraille

August 15, Fete Soukri Kongo, Feast of the Assumption:  Weeklong honoring of the Kongo lwa at Nan Soukri

November 2, Fete de mo, All Souls’ Day: Weeklong remembrance of dead family members and Ghede lwa like Maman Brigitte and Baron Samedi including ritual meals which are prepared without salt

November 25, Manje yanm, no Holy Day: Celebration of the harvest

December 25, Fete des Membres, Christmas: Every attempt is made to return to one’s home where ritual baths and feasting are part of the celebrations

December 28, Manje Marasa, Feast of the Holy Innocents: The divine twin lwa known as the Marasa are celebrated

My personal favorite is Fete de mo, because I especially appreciate that this is a celebration that was recognized by my Celtic ancestors as well.  Finding connections to all the things that we are and can be may be the best thing that any religion, “organized” or not, can do for us.  At least that’s what I hope for.  Bon Samedi mes amis ~

Header: Soukri Kongo celebration in modern Haiti via HaitiXchange.com

Vendredi: Five of Diamonds

This is an extremely auspicious card.  Regardless of the cards surrounding the Five of Diamonds, the fact that it is in the spread is a sure sign of luck for your querent.

There is the possibility of an inheritance, a grant or a gift on the horizon.  What ever the source of the fortune, it is probably unexpected.  On the other hand, the querent’s hard work may finally – and at the least expected time – be on the verge of paying off.  To use the term windfall is not to overstate cases.

As with all of the cards, there is a caution.  The querent’s good fortune will turn sour, and quickly, if he or she is not willing to share in their largess.  A miserly attitude toward their fair luck, no matter how well it may be deserved, will lead to nothing good.  Pay this fortune forward, and reap the rewards twice over.  Vendredi heureux ~

Header: Playing cards from the Burgundian Netherlands c 1475, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art