Soror Amy forwarded a link to a tantalizing piece by Allison Meier on the use of offerings in thaumaturgy. It centers on the chapel of St. Roch in New Orleans, whose devotees are unlikely to view their practice as “magical” but as magick is defined ” “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will”…clearly their practice walks and quacks like a duck. The article also touches on similar practices from around the world during different periods of time. If you see any similarities between the collection of offerings and most home altars devoted to Vodoun or Wiccan practice…figger it out.
Here’s an excerpt:
“While in New Orleans last month I visited the chapel at Saint Roch Cemetery, where since the 19th century people have left ex votos in thanks for healing. Ex voto offerings can take many forms at religious sites, from paintings of prayers answered in a Mexican sanctuary to the repeated word “merci,” or “thanks,” carved on plaques in a French church. At Saint Roch they are tributes to healing, a tradition going back to the creation of the cemetery in 1874 following a yellow fever epidemic. The then pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Father Peter Leonard Thevis, is said to have prayed to Saint Roch for his congregation to be spared, and when they were, he kept his promise to build a chapel to the 14th-century saint. Saint Roch is considered a saint of good health, and in Catholic tradition he’s known to have helped the sick and poor, contracting the plague in the process. A statue on the altar at the New Orleans chapel depicts him with the dog who licked his bulbous plague sores.”
Read the entire piece here:
PS New Orleans Black Metal band filmed much of their yet-to-be-released debut music video at the cemetery of St. Roch.
