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The Obeah Woman

Heavy musty air reeks with the Obeah Woman’s pungent perfume, 
sweat, burnt incense, bitter roots, and swirling black smoke,
dim light from a waning moon streams into the shadowy room;
and mirrors crack as restless spirits appear that she has evoked. 

Thick, tall beeswax candles darkest black and blood red,
dried aromatic herbs, pincushion effigies, and chicken feet,
glistening gold crosses and machetes hang from rafters overhead,
as she fervently chants mystical spells to complete.

Swinging Chango’s double-headed axe, she dances by her hearth,
with a bottle of Barcadí Rum and expensive Cuban cigars that she smokes,
unearthly voice passionately invoking the Orisha’s vengeful wrath,
she gyrates hypnotically as the crackling red-hot embers she pokes. 

A force to reckon with, she is reviled and made an outcast by some,
as many fear the mesmerizing icy stare of the Obeah Woman,
believing she is possessed by dark spirits and belongs in an asylum;
she is damned for her mystifying gifts that are truly uncommon.

But her magical arts are sought after by all even the bigots,
rich as well as poor visit her hut in secret,
braving the dead of night and taking risky shortcuts,
paying for her services with food, money, and gold trinkets.

Many rely on her uncanny supernatural skills, 
to predict the future with her divine gift of divination,
using her potent potions to heal their ailments and other ills;
or warding off demons with her spiritual charms and incantations.

Her powerful amulets and herbal brews are always in demand,
with clients pleading for protection from every evil,
the Obeah Woman’s forceful spells keep their fates in her hand,
as she decides who to reward, or who to haunt with a devil. 

The High Priestess of Obeah can bestow either happiness or grief,
richly rewarding the faithful or punishing an offender with dire misery and pain;
but whatever may be one's considered belief, 
curses or blessings - her mysterious powers are difficult to explain.

08-13-2014

Contest:      Screwed IX
Sponsor:     John Hamilton
Placement:  5th

Note: Obeah is used in the Caribbean to refer to folk magic, sorcery, 
and religious practices similar to Palo, Vodou, Santería, rootwork, and hoodoo. 
In the Yuruba religion, Chango is the Orisha of fire, lightening, thunder, and 
war.
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