Ancestor Reverence, The Tarot, and Raising the Dead
with
Mambo Racine Sans Bout
and the
Roots Without End Society


An interpretation of the Tarot Key called Judgement, digitally altered by Mambo Racine. Mambo Racine and members of the Roots Without End Society at the Cross of Baron in Jacmel, Haiti. Photo by Loulou Prince, used by permission. An interpretation of the Tarot Key called Judgement, digitally altered by Mambo Racine.

Greetings in the name of God, the ancestors and the lwa! I invite you to attend our workshop on ancestor reverence, the Tarot, and "raising the dead" - contacting a particular ancestor and bringing them from the grave to work with you!


This exciting, powerful workshop will be held July 17 - 20 in western Massachusetts. It is an all inclusive, intensive workshop, open to initiates and non-initiates alike. Your room and meals are part of the cost of the workshop, so you don't have to worry about hotels and restaurants and so forth. (If you live close by you can skip the room and pay a different fee.)

Houngan Wolmer Joseph. Digitally altered photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. Click on this photo to see Houngan Wolmer's web page. Detail of a peristyle in rural Haiti, from a photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. The crowning activity of the workshop is your recovery of a Mo, the spirit of a Dead Ancestor, from the graveyard. Every participant will learn to do this, and you will have the choice of either finding an ancestor in the immediate vicinity to recover, or going home to recover an ancestor from your own area. In this workshop we will investigate and invoke for ancestral power. Our services will focus on the development of clairvoyance, lucid dreaming, and magical effectiveness through the practice of Vodou and the use of the Tarot. Another highly attractive feature of this workshop is the participation of Houngan Wolmer Joseph, a Haitian Houngan of considerable reputation, by telephone from Haiti. Houngan Wolmer, a dedicated servant of the lwa Baron, with Mambo Racine acting as interpreter, will provide consultation and teaching to each participant. Here is a chance to obtain information directly from Haiti, from the lips of a respected contemporary Houngan.

As a participant, you will undergo many Vodou ceremonies - the Action de Grace seldom seen in the United States, the bay mo manje, the retire zombi. You will receive ceremonial cleansings to bring you into harmony with the ancestral lwa. Ancestral food and drink will be prepared, and you will learn secret recipes for foods to attract ancestral lwa.

Itinerary


The Cross of Baron Ti-Charles La Croix, photographed in a Vodou peristyle in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. The "Ancestor Reverence, the Tarot, and Raising the Dead" workshop will offer activities every morning, afternoon and evening for four jam-packed days. On arrival at the two specified pick-up points, the Northampton, Massachusetts transportation center and Bradley International Airport outside Hartford, Connecticut, participants will be conducted to their hotel for a welcome dinner followed by an introductory presentation by Mambo Racine Sans Bout.

Ceremonial work will be conducted in the Roots Without End Society's hounfor in Massachusetts and outdoors on private, wooded land, while parallel ceremonies are performed in Haiti at the Roots Without End Society's peristyle in Jacmel. Drummers will be in attendance, as will initiate members of the Roots Without End Society. All ceremonies are strictly authentic ceremonies of Haitian Vodou.

Friday morning breakfast is Continental-style at your hotel, and then your first class begins on private, wooded property at the foot of a mountainous wildlife preserve. The basics of ancestral service are demonstrated, and you will learn songs and liturgy. The Ancestral Altar will be opened and illuminated and the Action de Grace, a ceremony seldom seen in the USA, will be performed

Detail of a peristyle in rural Haiti, from a photo copyright Mambo Racine Sans Bout. Most meals will be provided by Lorraine's Ital Vitals, all-natural Caribbean-inspired cuisine with vegetarian options. In the afternoon, you will be guided to a site of spiritual power for the invocation of Nipmuck Native American ancestors and European-American ancestors of the early colonial period. It is possible that particpants may receive information regarding the location of Nipmuck Ancestors wishing to work with them - there is at least one I know of available right now!

In the evening, we will conduct the ceremony of bay mo manje, giving food to the Dead. You will have the opportunity to present offerings to your personal ancestors, to the Mighty Dead, and to the ancestral lwa. You may undergo possession by your own lwa, who knows? It usually happens. Undoubtedly the ancestral lwa will appear through possession of someone, and who they choose is up to them!


Saturday morning, more class! The Tarot has adherents from many spiritual traditions for a reason! We will investigate the theory and practice of divination, and Mambo Racine will perform divinations for each participant (if there are more than five participants the readings will be spread over two days.)

Vodou ceremonies of consecration will be performed for your Tarot deck, which will be sequestered on the Ancestral Altar for twenty-four hours. While your deck "sleeps", we will take you on a cultural shopping in some of the area's more interesting and diverse markets and stores. Believe it or not, Afro-diasporan and Caribbean culture and spirituality has been a major factor in this area for decades, and the choice of music, clothing, books, food, art objects, and many other cultural offerings reflect this indisputable fact.

Members of the Roots Without End Society in procession during an ancestral service. Photo copyright Mambo Racine. After dinner you'll have a review, and then on Saturday night we will perform the climactic ceremony of the workshop - the taking of a Dead Ancestor from the grave. As this is a secret ceremony, one which is not taught openly in our house and is often reserved for initiates, no cameras will be permitted at this time.

Once the Dead have been recovered, they will be taken back to the hounfor, fed, attended, and served, and secret information regarding the magical work with these Mighty Dead will be imparted to you.

Sunday morning it's not over yet - your Tarot deck must be reawakened, and we will perform the ceremony of the batem, the Vodou baptism for your deck and for your Mo. At this time, those who wish to become postulants of the Roots Without End Society may do so, and begin their training for the kanzo, the ceremony of initiation, which is being held in December of this year.

Houngan Wolmer is a teacher - here he demonstrates the sacred dance of the ancestors, the banda, to international candidates in training for initiation as Houngans and Mambos of the Vodou religion. Photo copyright Mambo Racine.

Members of the Roots Without End Society in procession during an ancestral service. Photo copyright Mambo Racine. So what are you waiting for? Here's your chance to really supercharge your spirituality, guided and facilitated by Mambo Racine, well-known for her abilties as a teacher of Vodou theology, liturgy and dance. Your four-day stay in a pleasant local hotel, your meals, your transportation to and from the pick-up points, all are included... the entire program, all activities including the cost of drummers, is only $1750. If you live nearby and want to skip the hotel, that's fine and you can get a lower price, but then you are responsble for your own transportation of course.

This workshop is limited to ten participants and places will go fast, so we suggest you hold your spot by sending your payment using PayPal, just click on the button below to register. Or if you prefer, contact Mambo Racine for instructions on paying by mail.


We hope to see you!