Snow Days

Ahhhh.... snow days.

I was lucky enough to get home last night before the big blast made commuting a pain in the gluteous maximus. A freind of mine, who left only 50 minutes later than I did, did not get home until THREE hours later than me. Yes, I was lucky!

I got to cuddle up to watch one of the best Lost episodes of the season (Richard Alpert's long awaited and highly anticipated back story). And even though we had a minor power outage 10 minutes before the epi aired (frightening) - it was smooth sailing for my satelite dish for the entire hour and 4 minunte long show. Whewww!

During the evening, however, the weather turned terribly nasty. My husband was told to remote in to his office for the night - which is good because the highway he takes up to Broomfield was shut down. School was cancelled for my tots - which by default enabled me to remote in to work myself this morning. I have to say, I get a heck of a lot more done when I'm remoting in. I think it's the lack of distractions and conversations that happen near my cubicle each day. Here, I can work something through to completion, more often than not.



Here's a cute shot of a chilly canine enjoying the snow. Not my dog, I must note. I snagged this from 9news.com's weather update page. No, my dog doesn't like to have her head hanging out of an open window. My dog has also been known to get very car sick. I tease her and tell her she can't truly be a canine if she doens't like to hang her head out an open window and stick her tongue out. She looks at me like I'm stupid. She does that a lot. :)

Everyone in CO who has a snow day today please enjoy it. The 90+ degree summer heat is only a blink of an eye away.

Happy Ostara

It was a bit chilly for celebrating out of doors here (with our new 8" of snow on the ground). But I had a special evening anyway. Here's a neat story on NPR this morning about the Vernal Equinox --


Spring Equinox Brings Balance, At Least To Eggs


I've been focusing on balance a lot lately, so very pertinent.

Voodoo, Voudou, Vodun, and Hoodoo - an extremely brief history

After coming back from a wondrous, but regretfully brief, stay in the French Quarter of New Orleans, I have to say that I am quite smitten and inspired by the little bit of Voudou enlightenment that I received during my stay. Please note that the majority of the info I am sharing below comes from what I garnered on the Voodoo Tour I went on with Haunted History Tours. We were lucky enough to have the marvelous Kalila Smith as our tour guide. I’ll write more about the tours and the remarkable French Quarter itself in later posts, but today I’m going to focus on the basics of “What is Voodoo exactly?” to give you an idea of what I’m talking about when I reference the term.




Having a background with other Earth-based religions (Wicca and Paganism) I expected there to be a vast difference between what the pop culture representation of Voodoo is and what the religion really embraces. I assumed that, like Wicca and Paganism, it would be an early earth based religion that is tied to nature and several deities.

Interestingly, I learned that Voodoo *is* an early religion that ties deeply with nature through it's herbalistic arts, rituals, spells, and “root doctors”, but it is not a polytheistic religion as I had assumed. It is a monotheistic religion that worships one God, or one single divine creator, just as Christianity and Judaism do. With Voodoo you also get a Lwa which are a set of helpful entities or spirits akin the saints in Christian religions. This is often what makes people see it as a polytheistic religion, but in fact it is not.

New Orleans Voodoo is a mix of many things - Haitian Voodoo, Spanish traditional practices, and a dose of Catholic influence. Voodoo originated in West Africa where it is known as Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or Voodoo depending on the area. Vodún is the Gbe word word for spirit. According the wikipedia, Haitian Voodoo is based upon merging the beliefs and practices of West African Vodun with Arawakian religious beliefs and Roman Catholic Christianity, which was brought about as African slaves were brought to Haiti in the 16th century (for more see the wiki article here). A large group of free people of color migrated to New Orleans after the 1791 slave uprising in Santo Domingo. They brought their religion with them and were relegated to practicing it outside city limits (thanks to the Catholic Church). It was here, in Congo Park, now Louis Armstrong Park, that the New Orleans brand of Voodoo emerged – a blend of the Haitain tradition with a mixture Native American, Spanish and French traditions. My favorite place for New Orleans Voodoo necessities is Erzulies Authentic Voudou. It's a great little place run by a spirited lady who gave us a lot of information about the religion and it's origins in the city.




Now Hoodoo is something a bit different and I’m not as clear on that as I am the different types of Voodoo. As I understand it, hoodoo is more of a type of work and not a separate religion, it's a rootworker or a practitioner who works with herbs, spells, and tinctures. It is not relegated to the realm of Voodoo alone (it can be Wiccan or other religions as well), but can be used to mean anyone who works as a "Root Doctor". See Hoodoo explained in detail on the wiki. Please feel free to set me straight if I’ve muddied that one up J So that’s it. This little intro should help you understand my references to the religion in upcoming blurbs about the tours and the other wonderful ditties I will weave for you in future postings.