Ya Sezi Bo Oungan

Oungan ~ Diviner~ Author ~Singer~ Historian~ Artist ~ Poet ~ Unlimited Being on Limited `time ~

Books by Ya Sezi Bo Oungan

Papa Legba: A Workbook (Guides to the Underworld) by [Ya sezi Bo Oungan]

Papa Legba is the Haitian Vodou Lwa that guards the doorway between the physical world and the spiritual world, who decides who and what can enter. This workbook describes his origins, temperament, songs, and colors, and gives recipes for libations and baths. It also describes Legba’s mirror and opposite, Met Kalfou, with songs and workings to aid one in working with this spirit.

This booklet should be used as an early way through the dark, not as a substitute for traditional education within an oral tradition. 

Kuzen Azaka Mede: Engaging with the Lwa of Work, Labor, and Land by [Ya Sezi bo Oungan]

Kuzen Azaka Mede is a powerful and loyal ally from the Djouba nation of Lwa. Within these pages, novices and practitioners alike will find an in-depth discussion about specific terminology related to as well as various mysteries within the nation, as well as a thorough groundwork for working with these spirits. Along with a background on the horrors of Columbus’s arrival in the ‘new world’ which led to a synthesis of African and indigenous practices and offering details about the family tree of the Djouba nation, Kuzen Azaka Mede: Engaging with the Lwa of Work, Labor, and Land provides detailed information concerning offerings, workings, tools, and more to help get you started with working with this Lwa, should he be with you. Ya Sezi bo Oungan offers here a great introduction, primer, and resource for those who are interested in Vodou or Kuzen.

Guede et Mô: A Workbook by [Ya Sezi bo Oungan]

Papa Guede, the Bawons and the Guede Lwa represent the power and mystery of death, funerary rites and the afterlife in Haitian Vodou. They are the lost ancestors – the ancient unknown force that pushes us from behind.

The figure of a skull wearing sunglasses and a top hat is ubiquitous in popular culture, but often misrepresented and misunderstood. This workbook unpacks some of the myths and describes who these Lwa are and how they are served in Haitian Vodou. It is an educational guide for how to begin approaching these mysteries in a traditional and non-appropriative context, and includes guidelines on how to meet these spirits in the cemetery, as well as instructions for cleansings, baths and lamps that can be performed once a relationship with these spirits has been established.

This book should be used as an early way through the dark, not as a substitute for traditional education within an oral tradition.

Ya Sezi Bo Oungan also has a collection of songs and prayers available on Soundcloud. Some of the tracks are embedded here. For more music visit https://soundcloud.com/josephrobicheaux


La Siren – a Poem
Who is La Siren? To say she is the queen of Sea is to meager, to say she is a Mambo is not enough, La Siren, Sea salt spray, beach break foam, pearlescent, sailors boon or burden, polyvalent, owner of mirrors, ferocious, treasures guardian, songstress, star of the sea, shark toothed, man drowner, submerged danger , tempests caller, loose haired sorceress, comb holder, bedecked and resplendent one, wrathful peacemaker, water leopard ambush, net cutter, glittering, glistening, fish mother, merchants mistress, captains wife, gulls screech, oceans Shepard ,crashing and roaring, lands second, conquers agent, ambassador, imperatrix, silent imperatrix, secrets repose. mother of waters daughter of water.
Gran Silibo Vavou:
Gran Silibo Vavou is the spirit of wells, springs, and spiritual baths. She is the life that surges and floats in the unseen places deep in the earth. She is the force that grants humans spiritual talents and knowledge at birth. She is the resurgence of lost and forgotten ideas, rituals and the revival of secrets. She is the voice in fairy tales, the voice emerging from the old, and reliable, constant well speaking needed advice and uncommon wisdom to her seekers. Like the seasonal well spring that appears as if from nowhere and gushes forth, she has a lot to say, and no one can grasp it all. Gran means grandmother, she is elderly and wise. But grandmothers, and especially old people are a rarity in the cruel world of slavery, where reaching a considerable age is improbable with the effects of hard labor and grueling tortures of the day-to-day life of a slave. To reflect on Gran Silibo or any of the Grans is to for a moment recalling the wisdom of the past to support us in the present. We should take the time to talk to people today who are here, before it’s too late, Before the wisdom and stories are forgotten. Silibo is the well who refreshes, she is the cool water of nourishment, she gives the gift to the baby that was thrown away by the mother. She grants the child a position, when that was discarded by the father.
Silibo Vavou is also the healing waters of many spiritual baths especially the kind prepared for ceremonies like Lave Tet, And Kanzo. She is recyclical, she takes Away and replaces and replenishes. Together with Aggasu wedo, and Papa Loko and a handful of others she informs ritual procedure, and protocol. A well is life, where a well is found, there too will you will find life, and the beginnings of generational blessings.
Gran Mambo Ayizan Velekete
Ayizan is the lwa that oversees the mysteries and responsibilities of the Mambo, or Priestess. Ayizan also oversees the Marketplace, she oversees with Gran Bwa the Lwa of the forest and wilderness the knowledge of plants and the medicines that can be made into potent healing medicines as well as many other secret positions within the  initiation processes of Haitian Vodou. One of her primary symbols is the Royal Palm tree. The palm branch is a multifaceted tool to Ayizan. The palm branch firstly demonstrates her flexibility, and her ability to survive. It also exists to give our eyes the ability to see her invisible nature as the wind. Even in the softest breeze the leaves of the palm tree drift in the breeze, even in the strongest winds its trunk bends instead of breaking. Ayizan demonstrates the first of the many opposites of Loko. Why they are necessary to the developing and growing priests, and initiated people. It is a requirement of survival to find the balance between these places. The flexibility to withstand the world, and the strength and fortitude of being able to stand firmly for what must be done. Ayizan and Loko represent together the forces of development of a house. These two powers are equal and opposite and so must be respected together. Ayizan is the first Mambo, and thus each initiated Mambo has a connection to this lwa, just as Oungans have this connection to Loko, who was also the first priest. Both the Mambo and the Oungan are reliant on these Lwa, as a team and not individually, or singularly one or the other.
As descendants of the slave trade, and as decendants from far flung colonists, many have been brought to this land by the wind, even Legba was carried here by the wind. 
The palm leaves are also essential to call Ayizan. Her flag of palm leaves must be made, the chair, and Secret food offered. Ayizan is a lwa of ritual order and sequence of events. The ceremony to call her is by far the most steppy and elaborate out of all the lwa in the area of public ceremony. The lwa of the sacred beads must be honored, and these beads distributed to the initiated, the palm branch wrapped in a white cloth must be presented, The palm leaves torn and separated are then presented to the Lwa and used to call Ayizan the spiritual substance of the palm changes, and new properties emerge. The Ayizan can be used to designate ritual spaces, or places that are sacred and must be respected as well as the sacredness of humans. These can be commonly seen above doors to the rooms of the lwa, the Badji, and the Dejvo. Ayizan is the defensive and protective wall, she draws the boundary of what can and can not be seen. and in this mystery we will let her name rest. Ayizan is the invisible becoming visible, the unseen, revealed and returned. Ayizan is unseen by the uninitiated, only witnessed second hand form through the invisible internal change of their peer who has seen,who is then and now priestess.
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