Path: Supernews!supernews.com!news.gv.tsc.tdk.com!hub.org!news.theriver.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!howland.erols.net!usc!newshub.csu.net!csulb.edu!info.ucla.edu!nnrp.info.ucla.edu!ts36-15.wla.ts.ucla.edu!wehmeyer From: wehmeyer@ucla.edu (Stephen C. Wehmeyer) Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick,alt.lucky.w,alt.religion.orisha,alt.wiccan,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.folk Subject: Re: African American lodge-oriented magic Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 15:41:48 Organization: UCLA Lines: 35 Message-ID: References: <336F6035.72A0@ix.netcom.com> <5li9t5$j5l@kudo20.kudonet.com> <199705162110.OAA25866@kudo20.kudonet.com> <337FC138.7BB3@luckymojo.com> <5lv8sh$27m@nntp4.u.washington.edu> <3389F550.6472@wavenet.com> <338B862F.729 NNTP-Posting-Host: ts36-15.wla.ts.ucla.edu X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Xref: Supernews alt.magick:104265 alt.pagan.magick:4450 alt.lucky.w:1510 alt.religion.orisha:516 alt.magick.tyagi:12643 alt.magick.folk:760 In article eballard@sas.upenn.edu (Eoghan Craig Ballard) writes: >I don't pretend to know anything about Gamache other than having seen some >of his titles in shops. I have not read his works because they don't >reflect my specific interests, which is of course only a comment about my >interests and not his worth. I would however like to hazard a guess that >he may well have either come from Trinidad or had some contacts there. It >was for a while under French influence, and more to the point there is a >significant integration of Hinduism and Orisha worship to be noticed in >contemporary Shango as practiced in Trinidad. >Further, Cabalism, as filtered through "European High Ceremonial magic" is >also practiced there. Houck depicts Cabalism as occupying, although he >doesn't comment upon or develop this idea to any extent, the same sort of >subaltern relationship to Orisha worship as Las Reglas de Congo has with >Santeria or Kimbanda has with Umbanda and Candomble. IMHO, it's more likely that Gamache is either influenced by DeLawrence and the _Great Book of Magical Art, Hindoo Magic, and Indian Occultism_ or by similar post-theosophical ideas which privilege the Orient as the source of spiritual power. By way of example, Hyatt's various conjure doctors [interviewed in _Hoodoo, Conjuration, Witchcraft, and Rootwork_) also had access to Hinduism, Cabala, etc. filtered through writers like DeLawrence here in the continental U.S. -- Steve Stephen C. Wehmeyer, M.A. UCLA Folklore and Mythology Program -- Steve