Beginning June 9th I will begin weekly showcasing spiritual artist from the US and around the world. Email me at houseofconjure@aol.com if you would like to get on the list.

I recently ordered this documentary on netflix. It was filmed in the town where some say she became popular in the 1960's. I highly recommend this film for anyone wanting to know more about her. The thing I found the most interesting was the fact that these people are not caught up in dogma and rules. They just simply love her and honor her. http://www.lasantamuertefilm.com/

La Madama is part of Caribbean and Latin American Spiritism but has been included in southern Hoodoo practices for many years. La Madama is called upon for instructions on healing, divination, spellwork, protection from negative energies, maintaining finances, spiritual cleansings and dream prophecies.

La Madama represents the female protective and empowerment energies in families. She is also known as La Negra and La Conga. She is the protector of tarot readers and many rootworkers. To call upon La Madama, place an image, statue or doll on an altar along with seven or nine brightly colored scarves tied together.

Offerings to her include healing herbs, flowers, red fabric, cowrie shells, tarot cards, cigarettes and strong black coffee. Light a candle to her in a quite dark room and listen carefully for her to speak. She speaks bluntly and will tell you what you need even if you don't want to hear it.

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Madrina Angelique's Food As Medzen Hint: Eat one tablespoon of LOCAL honey daily for seasonal allergies.

Madrina Angelique's Food As Medzen Recipe: Immune Boosting Soup

1 onion (Protection, Healing, Wealth, Prophetic Dreams

2 (or more) cloves garlic (Protection, Healing)

1 inch piece of ginger root (Love, Wealth, Success, Power)

2 medium carrots (Fertility, Abundance)

1 cup of fresh spinach (Psychic Awareness)

1 cup of mushrooms (Healing, Sympathetic Magic)

2 sticks celery (Enhancing mental and psychic power)

Sea salt (table salt is nothing more than sodium chloride, with aluminum oxide to keep the salt free flowing where as sea salt has essential minerals)

Black pepper (Protection, Exorcism)

1 tablespoon olive oil (Blessings)

1 ½ pints low sodium organic chicken stock

Add everything to a stock pot and simmer for about 2 hours on low.

Strain and drink the broth for a boost your immune system.

"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food" Hippocrates 460 - 359 BC

By Madrina Angelique

This series of Food As Medzen in Hoodoo and Conjure is to help us as magical practitioners become the healthiest and best spiritual elders we can be. Food as medicine has been around since the beginning of time. Chinese and Indian medical practitioners have combined spiritual awareness and food as healing for thousands of years with spectacular results. In our modern society, with all of our scientific break throughs and time saving devices, we have forgotten the simple act of eating. When we have to read mysterious ingredients that are hard to pronounce and have no idea what they are on a package, that should be a red flag. An apple doesn't have an ingredient list.

Have you ever gotten up in the morning feeling hung over when you consumed no alcohol the night before? Do you get up in the morning feeling just as tired as when you went to bed? That began to happen to me several years ago in my mid forties. My focus was gone, I was tired all the time. I began to do some research on food as medicine. What I found out was amazing. As I did more and more research, I began to wonder how the toxins I had been eating effected my magical practice. It dawned on me that the negative energies, chemicals and poisons I had been consuming had a direct link to the energies I put forth in my workings. As a society, we have become obsessed with finding the "magic" pill, the quick fix to whatever ails us, both in the mundane and magical world. It seems that the "faster" our food gets, the "faster" we want a magical fix to all of our problems.

The first thing I did was remove all canned, boxed and processed foods from my diet and begin eating natural real foods and practicing what is called conscientious eating. Conscientious eating is the practice of asking yourself where does this food come from, what is in it that I need and how does this food effect the environment.

One of the things I began doing was comparing the magical properties of herbs and foods to healing properties. Lemons were the first foods I used. Lemons are often used for cleansing in workings. Lemon also cleanses the liver when squeezed in warm water and consumed every morning. I found out margarine is 3 chemicals away from being plastic and shares over 25 ingredients with wall paint, so I went back to real butter and just eat less. The sodium, chemicals, toxins, poisons and nitrates in these types of foods are a direct link to many of the illness's over 80% of the US population suffer from. As I began to make small changes in my eating habits, I found the body has an amazing ability to heal it's self. And when the body is healed, the soul is empowered. When the soul is empowered, the workings become more focused and stronger. As magical practitioners, we are more susceptible to the energies around us and the energies of the food we consume. Food for us should be a power source, not an energy vampire. Eating a vegetable that has been cooked beyond recognition, a piece of fruit laden with pesticide or a piece of meat processed inhumanely brings those energies and toxins into our bodies and our souls. And it is my belief that these negative energies compromise our spiritual workings. Be well !

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A powerful woman. Why does this sentance bring such fear and disgust to the minds of some people? A powerful woman. That sentance is often followed by the word Bitch. Why are women still being told in 2011 that they can't do this or that? Keeping women from authority and leadership I believe comes from the western Christian writings undermining the female spiritual power. Because of male dominance, especially in the west, women of power have been demonized, dehumanized and disdained. The roles of women of power have been distorted and edited out of history. Women of all cultures are now beginning to take back their power and seek out the balance of nature.

I have been told on many occasions over the years that I couldn't do a lot of things simply because of being a woman. I have been told that the upper ranks of the African Diaspora had no place for women. I disagree with both of these statements and have proven both statements wrong time and again. I have been called many things over the years such as disrespectful, invalid, a fraud. But more importantly I have also been called strong, innovative, powerful and spiritual. And those words are what make me who I am. I have been known to step outside the box. I have been known to step outside tradition. I do these things NOT out of disrespect nor to cause controversy. I do these things out of a deeply rooted belief that we as women have the ancient right to achieve spiritual growth and leadership. I do not believe that spirituality or divine help belongs to a select chosen few, nor do I believe a select chosen few have the right to dictate the spiritual growth of others. To say that any group of people can be excluded and denied a spiritual path is a violation of basic human rights. To say that women have less spiritual power than men is to deny the sacredness of life its self. Women are both the caretakers and the warriors of life.

The divine female power rules both life and death. Whenever the divine female power is not valued or given respect and equality, the balance of sacredness becomes lost in a power struggle. Women have been the keepers of the spiritual flame since the beginning of time. We are the healers, the teachers, the keepers of mysteries and the givers of life. As women we must always strive for peace and love while maintaining our warrior spirit. As a modern society, we need to bring forward once again the ancient ways of seeing and believing in the truth of the female divine. As women in a modern society we need to stand strong inside the roots of our power. I am female, I am powerful, I am spiritual and no one has the authority nor the right to take that away or try to invalidate it. I work with my spirits for the good of all. We all have a purpose and a voice in this life. As I sit here writing this I feel the love and protection of my spirits swirling around me and I know I am so much more than just the title of Palera/ Iyalorisha. My goal in life has been to run my spiritual house as my Creator and I see fit.

I believe positive change with added modern elements keeps balance and harmony. I want to remove any barriers that keep those who come to me with problems from living their best spiritual life. I wake every morning secure in the knowledge that I am living my best spiritual life. I ask all women to stand strong, stand spiritual and most of all standup for the goddess in all of us.

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I have always said that I believe the Spirits of the African Tribal Religions are for everyone, not just a select few. The Orisha, the Nkisi and the Lwa are always willing to help those who truly need their help. I was taught the African Tribal Religions were about community, about family and about living your best life. I am by no means a traditionalist, I believe in change and progression in the African Tribal Religions. With that being said, I can also say I believe those who think they can do what I do without an initiation are sadly mistaken. Initiations are not for everyone. Initiations are not instant gratification nor are they a magic pill for everything that ails you. Initiations are a serious commitment not only to Spirit but to yourself and your community. What I see happening that saddens me is the ongoing assembly line initiations for power and money. People are being initiated without proper training and left to fend for themselves with a title they haven't got a clue what to do with. These people are left with nowhere to turn when confronted with problems a Priest or Priestess is supposed to know how to handle. My Padrino did not give me a Prenda for a year after my initiation. I spent that year working with his learning the ins and outs of caring for a living breathing altar. It was 9 years until Centella herself gave me permission to have a human skull in her Nganga. There were many other things I had to have patience and wait on. My advice to anyone seeking anything within the African Tribal Religions is research and patience. If anything feels wrong TO you, it probably is wrong FOR you. If you run up against an initiated person who rubs you the wrong way, then they are obliviously not the right person for you, move on to the next one until you find the right one for you. Ask about their initiation, their lineage, their house rules. Ask many questions. Get to know them. My Padrino always told me "seek your truth and no one elses".

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What makes an Elder or a Spiritual leader in any religion or lineage? Is it age? Wisdom? Power? Or all of the above? It's my belief that's it's all of the above and then some. Taking on the responsibility of helping another human being find their spiritual path and make decisions that can change a life is a daunting task and not one to be taken lightly. An Elder should never tell you what you should do, but tell you what you could do. An Elder is there to guide you, empower you and lift your spirits. An Elder is there to not only answer questions but to ask them. An Elder should never make you feel afraid or belittle you.

@COPYRIGHT MadrinaAngelique.com Can not be reproduced in part or as a whole without written permission. All Rights Reserved.

by Baba Medahochi Kofi Omowale Zannu


I cannot help but see the value and necessity in finding unity in diversity - especially being Afrikan-American!


... Our ancestors have made a way out of no way; we brought together everything we could to continue our survival. Sometimes we had to just go with what we had (and still do) to do the best we could in that moment. Nobody can tell me that some of the things our ancestors did (i.e., synchronizing/blending/creating spiritual systems) was wrong, because it was effective. It meant survival for us then, and believe it or not, it will mean survival for us now. We had to rely on our own spiritual light to discern what was useful and what was not.


Can you say 'conjurer'? Can you say 'root doctah?' Have you ever been to a spiritualist church? Did you know that in our spiritualist tradition, in addition to getting in touch with the Holy Ghost, we can get spirits of our dead, Native American spirits (like Black Hawk) and others?


And now today we become initiated priests and perform great works and have access to and sanction to certain mysteries, and we call down the Orisa, the Vodun, the Caboclos, the Nkisi! It is so beautiful to return!


Do you know what 'Obeah' is? What about the secret doctoring tradition of the Afrikan American south? When I utilize the sacred herbs that I am guided to in the forests around my house for Orisa work does this make me wrong, even when it has been sanctioned by the deity I'm working with? Am I wrong to recommend these prescriptions to others when they have been effective? These questions are serious questions, I believe for us all in general, and Afrikan-Americans in particular, because they beckon us to search out our spiritual foundations.


What exactly is the spiritual foundation of Afrikan people in the diaspora? A people composed of at least 100 different ethnic groups stolen from the motherland, are you going to tell me that 'doing work' strictly from One Afrikan spiritual tradition is the only way to activate the healing, transformation, and ascension of the Afrikan-American spirit?


Our spiritual foundation is very vast, comprehensive, syncretic, effective, usable, creative, traditional, non-traditional, new, old... Now please, don't get me wrong. there are certain aspects of the traditions that must be protected, respected, and upheld with the highest integrity. But there is room for creativity, expansion, and evolution. Our ancestors have proved it, check it for yourself.


I know this debate will continue, because Afrikan Americans in the USA bring something different to IFA, that has been and is being called into question by other brothers and sisters in the spirit - that something different being our full intention to validate and recognize the truth in the history of our experiences over at least the past 500 years.


~Medahochi Kofi Omowale Zannu.