Thought for the Day

[bcholmes]

Whenever I am most myself,
a baking cake welled up beyond its pan
is what I am, anchored yet uncontained.

-- Molly Peacock

Comments

[rosefox]

Mmm, that's very nice.

Question

[djehutydjesi.livejournal.com]

Hi BC, its Djesi/Garth (remember from the Erzulie Wedding?)

I had a question and I thought I'd ask you since Tamara's behind enough as it is on the Kemetic orthodox front and really any Mambo/Houngan could answer.
Are bath ingredients secret? What makes them special? Are they magically prepared so that only a mambo/houngan can make them or could anyone if they know the ingredients?

Curious,
Djesi

Re: Question

[djehutydjesi.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, email at tardyg@umkc.edu if you'd rather not answer all that in your lj.

Re: Question

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

Hi Djesi. Of course I remember you. That was my first maryaj lwa.

Funny you should bring this up; I was just reviewing my notes about baths last night.

In general, bath ingredients aren't secret; there are a number of baths published in a variety of books. However, individual houses will have recipes that are "house secrets" not to be shared outside of an individual house (it's like competitive advantage, I guess). And the baths that I learned during my kanzo are secret.

There are usually certain steps in the preparation of a bath that imbue the bath with power. There are also general rules about acquisition of ingredients, which are true of just about any travay you might do.

For example, if you gather herbs from nature, you must leave some coins behind. If you don't, your magic will have essentially incurred a dept that will manifest itself in unwanted side-effects.