ON THE OBEAH MAGIC THAT WAS PRACTICED IN THE CARIBBEAN
In this regard, the
expert on African magic, Miad Hoyora Korahon, commented the following:
Contrary to Africa where the
teacher-disciple relationship does exist, and where the eldest sorcerer
initiates and is taught what that he knows his student. On the other hand, in
the Caribbean until now I have not been able to discover any school or
teacher-disciple structure among the practitioners of Obeah magic.
In fact, the opposite is most
often true, as most Obeah men who get into trouble under the law are reported
by their own colleagues in Obeah.
Magicians brought from black Africa
In confirmation of my theory that
the Obeah is a disintegrating, but not yet dissipated, relic of a real system
of magic, it is somewhat important to note that the reason assigned by the
natives themselves for the current widespread belief in it is that until a
relatively recent date (since the emancipation of the slaves) the knowledge and
practice of magic had been maintained thanks to the periodic introduction of
new slaves brought from sub-Saharan Africa.
It seems clear that there already
exists, in more or less all African tribes, a certain amount of arcane
knowledge, which among the Julus of the southeast includes the use of spells,
induced clairvoyance and conscious projection of the astral double.
Magicians brought from Muslim Africa
However, it seems that this
knowledge was also transmitted to the Nordic populations of Africa because the
most distinguished representative of Obeah magic in the Caribbean was, by
description and appearance, a Moor, or of Moorish descent.
About sixty years ago, two men
who were distinguished from the others by their light brown color and straight
hair were brought to the farm among other new slaves.
They are also described as having
unusually large heads, prominent noses, and long arms. These peculiarities are
inherited to some extent by the descendants of one of them, some of whom I have
seen. I have no doubt that these men were Moors, as evidenced by the physical
characteristics of their descendants.
About six months after their
arrival, one of the brothers physically and completely disappeared. The other,
who had meanwhile married a black woman, and explained his brother's
disappearance by saying that "he had flown back to Africa, and that he
would have done so too if he had not eaten something that prevented him from
doing so" (my informants say it was salt).
The man who remained became known
as 'Kongo Brown' and was one of the most prominent Obeah magicians ever known
here.
Instructor in Cayenne
But apparently there is another
more recent source of such teaching in that magic, because the two most recent
men who were noted for their Obeah exploits, only did so after having been in
communication with Moorish, Arab and Algerian forcats in Cayenne, and have had
opportunities to learn from them; to whom, correctly or incorrectly, all the
natives of these islands attribute that these individuals were masters of the
magical arts.
To explain the knowledge of such
things among the Moors, it is said, and I believe rightly, that about twenty
days' march west of Souss in Morocco, on the banks of a certain river (Wadi),
there is an ancient and established school, but still large and active, from
which most of that learning is spread among the Moors of today.
Without a doubt also, the Muslim
propaganda that is currently advancing so far south, towards central and
western Africa, carries with it some that are capable of teaching what they
know and assimilating what they find.
Here, in the following examples,
we have the Semitic population of the present-day Northern Moors, recognized as
Obeah by natives who are children and grandchildren of those who brought Obeah
magic with them from West Africa and from places there that in most the cases
are separated from any possibility of past or present Moorish instruction by
immense distances.
These two obeahmen did not
display knowledge of as high a degree as that of Kongo Brown, but eyewitnesses
confirmed the veracity of the feats they performed. On the other hand, although
the two interpreters were native Creoles born in the Caribbean, I reiterate
that they only began to express such knowledge after visiting Guyana, where
they had the opportunity to meet Algerian Moors or Arabs.
MB, who died in 1875, was a
carpenter by trade and his figure was marred by an illness that had almost
completely eaten away his nose. This disfigurement had also affected his
palate, causing him to speak with a very hoarse voice.
He returned from a stay of some
years in Guyana when he was about 45 years old; and being of a very irascible
temperament and given to strong drink, he soon became disliked and feared. And
this last feeling does not seem to have been mitigated by his proofs of his
powers as obeahman. One of this evidence was that he is credited with forcing
all kinds of people to employ him, even his declared enemies, and despite the
fact that he was notoriously a bad worker.
A contemporary of MB was a man
named D who had also been to Guyana and had also brought back some teachings of
the same type. However, in the manner of other Obeah practitioners, the two
were never able to agree, and their unease culminated when MB challenged D to a
fight.
Example of initiation
Sometimes one of these obeahmen
is willing to initiate another man, and the following story told to me by a man
I knew about an initiation that did not come to fruition is an example of this.
«
On e Sunday
in 1878, I was riding down to P and on the way met with an African called Pebu,
finding he was going to P too, we agreed to ride on together.
This Pebu
was a man who had no visible means of livelihood, but always went about well
dressed, and rode a good pony. He was said to be a great Obeahman, and I felt a
good deal afraid of him; but being very curious to know about Obeah, I asked
him to teach me some of it. He refused at first, but after a great deal of per
suasion, he consented to do so
He directed
me to meet him at a certain place on the banks of the P river, at 12 o’clock on
the following Wednesday night. There he was to take me to a certain large stone
which he knew of in the bed of the river, at that season nearly dry. Under this
stone I was to put my hand, which would there be grasped hold of by another
hand.
That hand
would pull mine, and I was to haul against it sometime with all my strength.
However much it might hurt me, I was not to give in. The seventh, haul was to
be the last, and so strong as to nearly pull my arm out of the socket, but it
was to leave in my hand a small white stone, and a little of some slimy
substance, both of which I was to put into a clean little bottle (which I was
to bring ready with me) and to cork up securely.
This bottle
I was to take great care of, and “the fellow” who held my hand under the stone
was to be always at my service when I shook up the bottle, and would do, or get
me anything I wanted. But, when the time came, I was too much afraid and did
not keep the appointment. »
This, it
will be seen, is part of some method of obtaining command over an elemental, —
a “familiar.” But it is a great pity my informant can tell no more about it.
It appears
not a little curious that he was not instructed to prepare himself by any
particular diet or otherwise, for a set and certain time prior to the event.
The bottle and its contents would have more or less taken the place of
Aladdin’s “Wonderful Lamp.”
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