The Miami New Times reports this week that Santero Carlos Valdes is pushing to have a violent stalking case prosecuted as a hate crime, which, if successful, would make it the first official hate crime charge involving anti-Santeria sentiments.

Santero Carlos Valdes performing a ceremony at his home.

Prosecutors contend [Kellyd] Rodriguez has terrorized Valdes’s family for four years. It began with anti-Santería rants on the phone, Valdes says, and escalated into death threats, rock-throwing, drive-by shootings, and even heart-stopping phone calls to his young daughters’ schools. [...] The oriate is also pushing prosecutors to charge Rodriguez with the first hate crime connected to Santería. [...] ”I’ve had crucifixes thrown through my windows and a woman try to burn my church down,” says Ernesto Pichardo, the Hialeah santero who took the benchmark case [Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah] to Washington, D.C., in 1993. “So many people in Miami still don’t realize that a santero in his home has the exact same legal rights as a Catholic priest in his church or a Jewish rabbi in his synagogue.”

While this would be the first “official” case of a hate crime against Santeria being prosecuted, the circumstances are hardly unique. Anti-Santeria sentiments and  actions have been well-documented in the past, including harassment by local law enforcement and politicians.

“In 2006, for instance, three worshippers in West Dade were arrested during a sacrifice; charges were eventually dropped. Months later, a Miami-Dade firefighter was booked when a neighbor called 911 about a goat sacrifice. He too was exonerated. In January 2007, Valdes himself was detained during an animal sacrifice. That’s why he originally went on the radio — to talk about the need to better educate police about the religion. Seven month later, in August, Coral Gables Police swarmed a house on Casilla Street, disrupting a Santería service with their guns drawn. Worshippers were detained until officers realized no crime had been committed, but defiant Gables Mayor Don Slesnick vowed to stop all animal sacrifices in the City Beautiful and refused to apologize.”

I have extensively covered the harassment, demonization, and libel against Santeria and other syncretic Afro-Caribbean religions in the United States for some time. Any instance of dead animal parts being found, almost anywhere, results in a knee-jerk invocation of “Santeria,” despite the fact that these assertions are often debunked by various experts, including the ASPCA. It’s unsurprising that some of the old “occult experts” have added Santeria to their resumes when they now talk to police and local communities, these last few years there seems to have been an increasingly ugly dimension to some Santeria stories that point towards anti-immigration hostility, and have even led to what some have called racial profiling.

If anti-Santeria harassment and violence starts to fall under the rubric of religious “hate crimes” it could create a change in how adherents are treated by law enforcement and the media. Once Santeros and Santeras are seen as human beings, and not villainous caricatures, it changes the dynamic. They are no longer the “other,” but our neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Modern Pagans today have been building increasing ties with syncretic African traditions like Santeria and Vodou, with many seeking initiations and training. They are part of our extended family, and we should be concerned with how our “cousins” are being treated. The demonization and harassment of Santeria is but a hair’s breadth from the treatment modern Pagans have received in the past, and in some instances, still receive. Even if Carlos Valdes isn’t successful in his quest to have this case prosecuted as a hate crime, it should still be seen a call towards a new activist spirit regarding how minority religions are treated and portrayed.

Back in April I mentioned the case of Roberto Casillas-Corrales, a Santero living in Utah. A local narcotics strike force raided his home looking for illegal drugs. They didn’t find any, so instead they arrested him for possessing two human skulls.

“Roberto Casillas-Corrales, 53, is facing two counts of third-degree felony desecration of a human body for the two human skulls found on his property, according to a court official. Clearfield police and Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force officers served a search warrant at the man’s home as part of a drug investigation Sunday. No drugs were found. The man told police he used the skulls and animal parts for religious purposes. He said he practices Santeria, a Caribbean religious tradition.”

Now it should be noted that it isn’t illegal to own a human skull, even two human skulls. But when you go to all the trouble of doing a drug raid, and don’t find any drugs, it must be hard to come back empty-handed. Now it seems that prosecutors are walking back on those charges, citing some “further investigation” they need to do.

Prosecutors have dropped the case against a Santería clergyman accused of keeping two human skulls in a shed behind his Clearfield home, saying they want to further investigate the case’s constitutional issues. [...] In documents filed last week in 2nd District Court, prosecutors asked Judge David Connors to dismiss the case because “due to the constitutional issues further investigation is needed.” “From the start there was a freedom of religion issue,” said Deputy Davis County Attorney Kathi Sjoberg. “Then there’s some question as to whether or not the process that he went through [in obtaining the skulls] was unlawful.”

Now, the judge dropped the charges without prejudice, so they could charge him again, but you’d think the prosecutor’s office could have found proof they were illegally obtained in three months. As for Casillas-Corrales, he claims he bought the skulls in/from Cuba for 3,500 dollars.

The case raises a lot of different questions. Do law enforcement have any solid evidence that Casillas-Corrales is involved with illegal drugs, or was this a bit of drug-war over-reach? If they were involved in a drug raid, and didn’t find drugs, why did they arrest him for possessing human skulls? Is this due to “occult experts” who like to emphasize ties between Afro-Caribbean religions and the drug trade? Local media reported that Casillas-Corrales was, by all accounts, “somebody who invites people in for celebrations and aids those in need,” so why didn’t anyone dig into the possibility that he was an innocent man practicing a religion that may seem strange and alien to those not exposed to it?

It may be that Roberto Casillas-Corrales is guilty of something. Drugs, improper handling of animals or human remains, or even an immigration issue (he’s not a U.S. citizen), but so far no charges stand against him. In the eyes of the law he’s an innocent man until proven otherwise. His life has been exposed in a way he most likely would not have chosen, and this will have deep ramifications to other practitioners of Santeria, Palo, and related faiths, who will now be even less likely to trust law enforcement (not to mention the press, or at least the mainstream press). I think my recent interview with Morgan Page Iyawo Odofemi fairly sums up the general state of things.

Practitioners of Lukumi, along with most other Afro-Diasporic Religions, have faced an incredible amount of persecution – including being murdered and having our religious altars desecrated. This ongoing oppression, combined with class issues, race issues, immigration status, and language barriers creates a climate where many elders (who are generally people of colour, lower-income, Spanish-speaking, etc.) do not feel comfortable speaking about the religion out of a very real fear of persecution. There are also some priests who are given taboos against being public about their religious beliefs. I don’t think that our lack of public spokespeople necessarily hurts practitioners. I think racism, classism, and xenophobia hurt practitioners. Secrecy is what helped our ancestors to survive and thrive. Ashe to those who want to take on the burden of being public, but I don’t think it’s something we necessarily “need.”

I think the press needs to take a cue from prosecutors and have a greater emphasis on the “constitutional issues” that arise in interactions with Afro-Diasporic Religions instead of going for the sensationalist stenography that seems to sometimes pass for journalism. These faiths are only growing in the United States, and the more we alienate them, the more secretive and hostile to outsiders they will become. If we want to ensure that justice and fairness happen, we can’t allow the tiny amount of outreach that’s happened in the last twenty years to be undone.

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

• One positive thing that has come out of the recent Ninth Circuit Court decision in Patrick McCollum’s case against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is that mainstream religion-news outlets like Religion Dispatches are taking notice of Christian pseudo-historian David Barton’s part in the proceedings.
• A reality-based web series on a group of young Witches in Salem is set to debut this Fall. It will, naturally, take part during the Halloween season and will the see the Witches “interact with Pagan and Witch Elders.” Place your bets now as to who these “highly-recognized teachers” will be!
• The Atlanta Post features an essay by Ezinne Adibe that deals with attacks on African Traditional Religions. While the piece briefly mentions Pat Robertson’s slur against Vodou in Haiti, and traditional practices that have survived in America, the bulk of the article talks about the witch-hunting phenomenon in Africa.
• The Los Angeles Times interviews Rob Young, author of “Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music” (now out in paperback), in the piece Young calls historian Ronald Hutton one of his models for the book (which is very good).
• Time Magazine spotlights a self-proclaimed “proud Pagan” who is either so desperate for attention that he has taken leave of all good sense, or he truly is the kind of man who’d accuse his ex-girlfriend of aborting his baby on a highway billboard. He’s on such morally shaky ground that even the local pro-life groups have abandoned him, and the more people dig, the less there is to like.
• The documentary “Raw Faith,” about the faith journey of UU minister Marilyn Sewell, is seeing a limited theatrical release this month. More: here. Thought my UU Pagan readers might appreciate the heads-up.
• The U.S. Army has appointed its first Hindu chaplain. Like the Buddhist chaplain appointed in 2009, it happened through a conversion process (a process that didn’t work for Pagan Don Larsen). Will this continue to open the door for an eventual Pagan chaplain? Thanks to Chas Clifton for the heads-up.
• Indian Country looks at the movement to embrace Two-Spirits (LGBT members of American Indian tribes). You can check out the documentary “Two Spirits,” here.
• The defense case in the James Arthur Ray trial has begun after yet another attempt to have the charges dropped was denied.
• Catholic site First Things goes there with the Ayn Rand – Anton LaVey/Church of Satan connection. I am truly, honestly, surprised that it has taken this long.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

I’ve reported on this again and again; a dead animal (or animal part) turns up and local officials cry “Santeria”. This is despite the fact that academics, experts, and even officials within the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals say that this usually isn’t the case.

“According to experts, like local anthropologist and folklorist Dr. Eoghan Ballard, and Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of anti-cruelty services for the American SPCA, sacrificial remains found in parks, especially those adorned with talismans like candles or pennies, are most often the work of religious novices, teens or satanic dabblers.”

So I wasn’t particularly surprised  to see this article from The Journal News in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley about animal heads turning up in a local park.

While no direct link between the two macabre discoveries has been made, investigators said the incidents were the latest in the Lower Hudson Valley linked to ritualistic practices, such as Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion that often uses animals for ceremonial sacrifices. “Something like this, from what we’ve seen, is pretty close to Santeria,” said Kenneth Ross, the law enforcement chief for the Westchester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is investigating the New Rochelle incidents. “What we’re finding is the ritual here looks like it has to do with the blood or sacrifice to a god,” he said.

The statements by the local SPCA head aren’t that unusual, we’ve seen them before from various law enforcement and animal welfare officers. Nor is the article from The Journal News all that bad, it even goes to the trouble of contacting Miguel De La Torre, a theology professor and all-around go-to guy for debunking Santeria scares. What stood out for me, and made me want to write about it, was this secondary quote from Kenneth Ross of the WSPCA.

“I think what happens is you have different cultures coming into the United States, and when the cultures come in they bring their traditions and they bring whatever they practice,” said Ross, the SPCA police chief. “If you look back in the ’70s … Satanism was the big thing and everybody was dabbling in Satanism. I’m sure it happens and that’s how different sects are created within Santeria,” Ross said. “But I don’t know if it’s the dabblers or is it just the influx of different nationalities that bring their own traditions?” the SPCA police chief added.

Everyone was dabbling in Satanism? Now folks are dabbling in Santeria and creating “different sects”? Or maybe it’s the “influx of different nationalities”? This sort of open conjecture is troubling. First off, I’m concerned when law enforcement agents of any nature start talking about Satanism. For instance, the case of a Humane Society Police Officer, and member of the Lycoming County SPCA, who intimidated a local Satanist and told him that practitioners of his religion sacrifice animals. Add in the not-too-distant “training” many officials received concerning “Satanic crime”, and you end up with officials who may hold dangerous preconceived notions about what’s going on in someone’s house if they are “Satanic”. Secondly, for the last few years there’s been an increasingly ugly dimension to some Santeria stories that point towards anti-immigration hostility, and have even led to what some have called racial profiling.

“Capt. Richard Conklin of the Stamford Detective Bureau said Wednesday that police are targeting people of African, Central American, Haitian, Cuban or Caribbean decent who practice satanic rituals as potential suspects in the grave robbing. “We’re starting to look at this as a ritualistic-type incident,” said Conklin … Conklin said evidence recovered at the grave site and in New Jersey indicate the body was taken for ritualistic reasons. For fear of compromising the investigation, he would not go into specifics …”

In many of these cases I’ve covered the terms “Satanic” and “Santeria” are used interchangeably by journalists and law enforcement officials.  Though both camps are quick to cover their rears with a quick statement that it could just be “vandals”, in case it turns out to be, you know, vandals.

“Still, police note that graffiti and other vandalism — and even more graphic discoveries such as those in New Rochelle this month — could always have another explanation: They could just be the work of vandals.“

But how many casual readers are paying attention to the small disclaimer? How much fear and animus towards innocent practitioners of Santeria, and other African diasporic faiths, is being generated by this stream of “dead animal” stories? Why do we almost never see the follow-up stories where it turns out to not be Santeria? I keep insisting we have to on the lookout for the development of new moral panics in our society, are we seeing a “Santeria Panic” in the works? Fueled by sensationalism, ignorance, fear, and increasingly desperate occult “experts” grasping to the last straws of their relevance? Whether a moral panic ensues or not, what is clear is that journalists and law enforcement/animal control don’t seem to care if they all but blame Santeria and turn out to be wrong later.

Once again, it’s time to play that game beloved by journalists, animal control officers, and law enforcement officials: Is it Santeria? That’s right, we present some suspicious evidence and allow you to decide if it was an act perpetrated by that oft-misunderstood Afro-Caribbean syncretic faith, or if it was simply some disturbed teenagers playing with dead animals. Our first case comes from Miami, home to many Santeros and Santeras, where a trail of headless animals was found in a local neighborhood.

“About a dozen goats, cats and different types of birds were laid out on nearly two blocks between 16th Terrace and 15th Terrace on 34th Avenue in Miami, leaving residents scared at what might be next as Halloween approaches … Miami Police believe the dead animals might have been part of a religious ritual like a Santeria, but those don’t usually involve cats. There was also a “very large” animal that no one could identify, residents said.”

Is it Santeria? There’s a clue right there in the paragraph! Did you catch it?  “But those don’t usually involve cats”, you see, adherents to Santeria usually cook and eat the animals they sacrifice, and it would be highly uncharacteristic of them to sacrifice dogs, cats, or other household pets. Even more uncharacteristic of authentic Santeria is the following fact in the report: “it seemed like the animals had been dead for some time.” Santeros and Santeras usually don’t hold on to piles of moldering animal corpses and then spread them around local neighborhoods. So if you guessed “probably not Santeria” then you’re right!

Our next case is a tough one! Because it doesn’t involve animals at all, it involves human hearts!

The worker was in an isolated part of the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery on Oct. 12 when he spotted the tops of two jars sticking out of the ground and knelt down to take a closer look, said Colma police Cmdr. Jon Read. He pulled one of the jars from the dirt, saw what was in it, and then he called Colma police. Police opened up one jar and found a human heart with the photo of a young man and woman pinned to it. Nearby there was a second jar with the same contents, but bearing a photo of a different young man and woman. Officers also found partially burned cigars and candles, Read said. The San Mateo County coroner’s preliminary investigation shows the hearts contain embalming fluid and likely come from dead bodies … “The investigation appears to lean toward some kind of ritual involving Santeria,” Read said. Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion that melds Catholicism with traditional African religious beliefs.

So we have what is obviously a ritual act, but human hearts? It sounds like whomever did it had access to a funeral home or other business that prepares dead bodies. How about we turn to our panel of expert judges to help out the audience?

Two experts on the religion say otherwise. They said it is unlikely that the hearts were buried by people practicing Santeria, because the faith does not call for human organs to be used in rituals. “I would be totally shocked if it was related to Santeria or Voodoo,” said Miguel De La Torre, a professor at Iliff Divinity School in Denver. “If it is connected to Santeria it would be by people who don’t know what they are doing.” Police say the investigation is ongoing, and they haven’t ruled out the whole thing could just be a prank.

So it doesn’t look like it’s likely to be Santeria, even the Santeria-happy police say it could be a prank, sorry to those of you who were sure they had sure thing!  That’s all we have time for this week, and remember, just because you find a dead animal or a strange looking ritualistic item, it doesn’t mean that you’ve found the handiwork of a Santeria practitioner.

Just as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says:

“According to experts, like local anthropologist and folklorist Dr. Eoghan Ballard, and Dr. Randall Lockwood, senior vice president of anti-cruelty services for the American SPCA, sacrificial remains found in parks, especially those adorned with talismans like candles or pennies, are most often the work of religious novices, teens or satanic dabblers.”

So don’t confuse a dabbler with a Santero, and we’ll join you next time for Is It Santeria!

A few quick news notes for you on this Thursday.

An Imbolc Muder? A Winston-Salem North Carolina couple are being charged with first-degree murder that prosecutors say was planned around the Wiccan wheel of the year. The murder, which took place back in 2004, was allegedly planned out via e-mail by Katherine Hofmann and Kim Stout against Hofmann’s long-time partner Sharon Snow, who was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

“In e-mails, they talked about killing Snow and having Stout move into the house that Hofmann and Snow shared, Hall said in court. After Snow’s death, Stout did move in with Hofmann and together, they sought to collect $157,000 on Snow’s life-insurance policy, Hall said. … Stout and Hofmann both practiced Wicca, a pagan religion that focuses on worshipping the divine in nature, and Hall said the two women decided when to kill Snow based on the Wiccan calendar.”

Stout and Hofmann were arrested back in 2009 on murder charges, it is unknown what spurred movement forward on this cold case. The state is pursuing the death penalty, and it could be another year before the case comes to trial. In addition to being practicing Wiccans, both Snow and Hofmann were members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro. If, as the state alleges, Hofmann and Stout truly did time the murder around a Wiccan holiday (Imbolc), it could be the first time where the Wiccan religion was truly relevant to a criminal case at hand instead of a sensationalist distraction or attempt to sully the character of a defendant. If there are any Pagans or UUs in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem area who knows more about this case, please contact me or feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Salem’s Psychic Industry: The Salem News checks in with their city’s psychics three years after regulations were eased by Salem’s Licensing Board. While there are some complaints about the relaxed regulations allowing folks who “aren’t truly psychic” to set up shop, and grumbling about diminished business due to increased competition, many seem to agree that it’s been an overall positive step for Pagan, occult, and psychic businesses in the Witch City.

“…the number of shops in Salem with a psychic license has increased sixfold since 2006 — from four to 24. Each store has the ability to employ up to five individual psychics. At last count there were about 75 psychics licensed to work in stores in Salem. There are also 17 individual psychics licensed to work as private contractors, more than twice as many as before. … Diana McKanas, who owns the Salem Psychic Center and has been a practicing psychic in Salem for about 30 years, says the new ordinance allowing more psychics “cuts both ways.” It has made it easier for her to hire psychics and expand her business, she says, but it’s also paved the way for people who aren’t truly psychic to set up shop.”

Longtime readers will remember that the battle over regulations in Salem back in 2007 got truly strange, and that what we have now is a compromise solution. If there was a “winner” to this saga it must be promoter and shop-owner Christian Day, a member of the Destination Salem board who fought for relaxed regulations, and who envisions Salem becoming “a destination for psychics”. I’m hoping to feature an interview with Day soon in my Psychic Services and the Law series.

Vodou Out of the Shadows: The Globe and Mail in Canada reports on how the Haitian diaspora is working to dispel rumors, counter bad PR, and defend the religion and traditions of Vodou. Spurred partially over the spate of demonizing that came from various pundits in the wake of the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, and partially to overcome taboos within their own community, Vodouisants are organizing a Canadian “national voodooist confederation” and are hoping that an upcoming Museum of Civilization in Gatineau exhibit will allow them to re-frame an oft-misunderstood religion.

Despite the move to go mainstream, voodoo has long been taboo in the 100,000-strong Haitian diaspora. The religion was the focus of “anti-superstition” efforts by the Catholic church in Haiti that began in the late 19th century, which pushed voodoo underground even as some Haitians clung to its practises.

“Haitians are ambivalent about voodoo,” said Emerson Douyon, a retired psychology professor from the University of Montreal who studied voodoo in Haiti for his PhD. “On the one hand, they’re very proud of their ancestors’ religion and their African roots. Voodoo is part of who they are. But Haitians know Canadians don’t necessarily approve of these kinds of practises. They worry about being considered primitive. That’s why it’s kept hidden.”

Shortly after the earthquake I noted an emerging Vodou voice, and this seems to be very much an outgrowth of that. I think we’re going to see Vodou (within the context of the media) come into its own in the next ten years. With some religious scholars finally giving Yoruba religions and its diasporic offshoots a place of prominence, we may see more serious attention given to faiths like Vodou and Santeria by scholars and journalists. I think modern Pagans, who’ve been down the road before, can be useful allies as these faiths emerge into the mainstream.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Florida has long been a hotspot for practitioners of African diasporic religions (Santeria/Lukumi, Vodou, Umbanda), due to its proximity to Cuba, Haiti, and other nations where these faiths first took root. In recent years, these religions have also been co-existing with a growing number of African immigrants who bring their own native faiths with them, most notably Yoruba Traditional Religion. While the Yoruba religion provided some essential spiritual DNA to the diasporic religions, the gulf between them in traditions, practice, and behavior can cause frictions and misunderstandings.  These differences became very pronounced when two Lukumí priests were re-ordained by a group of traditional Yoruba priests in Miami.

“I sincerely believe that those Lukumí olorishas that actively participated in these ordinations consciously mocked our Lukumí forebears and our religious heritage. Their direct participation in these initiations is reprehensible, irresponsible, and by all means unforgiveable because they perpetrate a direct and outrageous affront to us as a religious community. Their actions constitute a deplorable transgression against our religious legacy because they question and cast doubt on our validity and orthodoxy as a growing world religion. As such, I am not willing to sit idly while a misguided and injudicious group of people maliciously burrow at the foundations of our community, disregard its historical plight, destroy its stability, and question its legitimacy and validity, something that has taken the Lukumí and their descendants almost two hundred years to accomplish! We cannot allow the seeds of discord and instability to sprout among us—Traditionalists, Lukumí, and all Diasporan traditions—because instead of promoting understanding and mutual cooperation, these seeds will only evolve into confusion, tension and intolerance. Sadly, instead of seeking unification and cooperation, these initiations will only contribute to the further fractioning of the Orisha religion in Africa and the Americas.” – Obá Oriaté Willie Ramos, Ilarí Obá

This began a debate between the two communities, and culminated in the formation of a council of Oba Oriates in South Florida, who ratified an accord in June concerning initiations and relations between Lukumi practitioners and Yoruba Traditional Religion practitioners. Here’s a brief excerpt.

“Those priests ordained in the Lukumí Religion that for whatever reason wish or are desirous to be ordained by and/or convert to the practices of the Traditional Yoruba Religion will abandon and renounce any and all rights – hierarchical and practical – within the Lukumí Religious system. We will not recognize nor validate the consecration or the privileges of those priests that abandon Lukumí worship to adopt those of the Yoruba Traditionalists. If they decide to abandon Lukumí Religion and are ordained in the Traditionalist rites, they will lose the religious status they acquired through their Lukumí ordination.”

In short, you can be Lukumi, or you can be a Yoruba Traditionalist, but you can’t be both. The document emphasizes that though both faiths share a common heritage, they are too different to co-mingle.

“We emphatically reiterate that the practices of the Lukumí Religion and those of the Traditional Yoruba Religion are completely and unequivocally different. As such, we do not currently share any common ritual practices that link us. We consider both religious systems to be totally and unequivocally separate and independent of each other.”

This accord is supported by noted figures within the movement like author Ócháni Lele (Stuart Myers), and Oba Ernesto Pichardo, who was involved in the famous Supreme Court case Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah. Yoruba practitioner Ifakolade Sangobunmi Obatalayemi (Christian Carrazana) has rejected the accord and is encouraging “all Orisa worshippers” to do so as well.

“So in conclusion, the core of the problem lies within Lucumi community; there are those who accept the reality of the situation and are open to learning from the Yoruba; but on the other hand, there are those who are not, and insist on keeping their tradition as they were taught—but are doing so by waging a campaign of falsehoods, insults and isolationism. This Accord is an instrument of that on-going campaign; and it does not fix the problem; but instead, it exacerbates it.

For all the reasons set forth herein,  I encourage all Orisa worshippers, regardless of whether you are traditional Yoruba, Lucumi, Candomble, Vodoun, to deliberate upon this matter; and join together to reject this Accord as an instrument of discrimination and hate.  Most of all, I sincerely hope that for the next up coming conference in Miami(and there will be one soon)  that Ernesto Pichardo, Willie Ramos, and especially all who agree with them, have the courage to attend so we can sit down as adults and discuss our differences so that we can find a way to peacefully co-exist with one another.”

Will tensions cool and relations normalize between the two camps in South Florida? Are there similar tensions in other regions as well, or is this development due to South Florida’s unique concentration of practitioners? If one cannot be Lukumi and a Yoruba Traditionalist at the same time, does this hold true for any other faith as well? Specifically, as more modern Pagans explore and initiate into African diaporic religions will they have to stop practicing whatever traditions they were previously initiated into? I welcome input and feedback from any of my readers involved in African diasporic or traditional African faiths on this matter.