BIOGRAPHY

When i experience all the nightmares I knew somehow that these nightmares were connected to my late mother. When I talked to my father about this, he looked at me like he didn’t know or didn’t understand, but he gave me the address of My Grand father who was in America that I should see him and he will guide me, not knowing my father knew who i was. The following week i travel and met my late Grandfather, who lived at the bottom of a tall and dark house with the smell of rosemary and incense.

My Grandfather had the deep gaze of the people who have lived all things, and his voice was sweet and had authority, but he imparted millennial authority. I still remember that with that voice he told me the origin of my nightmares and how i was so blind know my calling as a great SPELL CASTER.

I was the last of a long family of witches who had reached the shores of Brazil from Europe in the 16th century, had suffered persecution by the church, harassment by rulers, and rejection by the upper class, but despite that, we had managed to survive and be the greatest and important personality in the society. The dreams that hunted me at night were a call from my blood, demanding that I continue the family tradition that forced me to take on the duties of witchcraft and sorcerer to receive communion at the altar shared by my ancestors, and to honour the gods that were familiar to me.

I was a young boy, back then, who strongly believed in modernity, science, and progress. I was part of that innumerable army of people who firmly believe only in what they can verify and who distrust everything they don’t understand. I was innocent enough to believe that witchcraft does not exist, and what is worse is that i knew magic is a child’s play. I was so naive and that’s why i was having attacks and nightmares because i was not understanding myself.

That night I slept worse than ever, and the bad dreams grew more and more, demanding (now I know) that I take charge of my destiny.

I finally made the decision to follow the footstep of my Grandfather. Before I spoke, he looked me in the eye and with a slight smile ordered:

“Pegue o pentagrama. Eu estava esperando você começar o ritual”*

(* Take the pentacle. I was waiting for you to start the ritual ”)

It was then that I first saw a magic altar: there the candles burned, the crystals shone, the symbols multiplied and during the casting of opening my eyes, i felt like another being is in me and i felt supernatural force from within me.

It was after the ritual that I began to be a witch and a sorcerer and nothing ever made me think i was doing the wrong thing because i had a mentor who was my Grandfather. Every afternoon after school, I went with him to practice my spells and castings so that i can perfect myself. Remember every talent needs study and practice to perfect the talent. With his laconic and authoritative voice, forced me to repeat the same prayers enchantments over and over, to rehearse the same rituals, to memorize the names of the deities, to know the usefulness of each type of candle to use for a particular castings and to investigate the properties of the herbs. I came home late at night. My Grandfather waited for me for the meal and did not ask much: he had been married to a witch for many years and he knew the path that awaited me.

The lady of the forest

A few days later I arrived in Zagan, Poland, near the border with Germany. When I got off the train, there was a beautiful young woman waiting for me, dressed completely in white. She was Alenka, my next instructor. She led me to a small but very nice house near the Bobr River, where I was able to settle into a neat and well-kept bedroom. Alenka was a cheerful, friendly woman, always attentive to the needs of others. Her blonde hair, her eminently Polish face, helped give her a doctor or nurse appearance. It was hard to think that one was facing a real witch. I watched her perform the spells with her delicate hands and I couldn’t help falling in love with that splendid woman, who seemed to be ageless and unaware of the world but i could not go further Lol because she was married Lol. Alenka always took care of me. She cooked me delicious bigos (a typical Polish dish) very good for the cold, and taught me every day different ways to connect with people’s needs, listen to them, understand them, and try to solve their problems by finding the right spell for them. In Poland, I spent the whole winter. During that time, I learned the principles of magic that seeks to help, heal, and improve people. That is to say, White Magic. During the morning, Alenka encouraged me to walk around the town. Heavy snow covered the streets and made everything look pristine. In the afternoon, day after day, Alenka gave me classes on the different problems that people usually have, and the proper way to help them.

Once I had the opportunity to hear one of Alenka’s cases. She received desperate people at her house, crying and pleading for the return of a husband or to bring back their Ex, for the impossible love of a woman, for taking off bad luck, or for getting a decent job. She let them speak and seemed not to listen to them, but then she asked them, with her delicate voice, for a picture and their target date of birth. She did not promise them anything, but she said goodbye with a comforting smile that soon made them trust her. Then Alenka prepared her rituals, lit candles, sprinkled her altar with flowered water, recited beautiful incantations that looked like poems, and a few days later people came back thanking the miracle, to which she denied having had anything to do with it and from there i knew she was a perfect caster with abilities and my eyes and ears open for more lectures and study.

Because Alenka was a silent, humble witch. She did not want to be venerated, much less be famous, and preferred to deny her intervention in the fate of people. She was like that and she like to keep it descret and secret because she love her privacy if not her surrounding would have been full of people.

After being with her all winter, learning, and practicing my White Magic lessons, Alenka told me that I should continue on my way becasue i was good enough and i knew everything about her spell casting. At first, I refused, I didn’t want to leave her side, I thought about staying forever. But it dissuaded me with her soft voice, she said some words that I will never forget. That will remain in my privacy. I packed my luggage crying, and the next day I traveled to my next stop: now it was going to be difficult.

The dancers on the beach

A few days later I landed in Haiti. There I stayed at the home of Mama Kande, a medical witch from the community of Lafiteau, north of Port-au-Prince.

My season in Haiti was most fruitful. There, between the palm trees and the beach, I learned the elements that make voodoo magic, their rituals, and their gods. I practiced many times how to make a voodoo doll, I tried different methods and various materials, until I managed to master the technique.

One night Mama Kande took me to a beach, a half-hour walk from Lafiteau. She was ahead, walking on the sand with a torch in hand, and I behind, looking at the blue night of the Caribbean, full of stars. I remember that we came to a cove with a log pier. There was a fisherman’s boat moored there, gently rocked by the sea. I jumped into the boat and helped Mama Kande down, carrying the torch. Once settled in the boat, she ordered me to row.

We went to Isle Cacique, a small desert island 200 meters from the beach. I knew that the boys from the town went to the island swimming, and there they collected formidable snails to make pendants or fished pufferfish with a spear, but to my knowledge, there was no one living there.

On reaching the island, I helped Mama Kande out of the boat, and she immediately led me through the jungle on a very narrow path, barely distinguishable from the large tropical leaves. We arrived at a clearing somewhere on the island. It was there that I took one of the biggest scares of my life. There was a large bonfire burning, torches creating a circle, and people kneeling on the ground, performing what appeared to be a ritual.

A witch-doctor walked among them, muttering words I couldn’t understand. He walked past each person and prayed with them, chewing on what appeared to be green leaves with powders wrapped around them. I stared in fascination at those kneeling, wide-eyed, totally still. Mama Kande must have seen my face, because she said calmly, “Those are zombies.”

Mama Kande made me kneel too. Drum music began to play soon, and the zombies began to move slowly at the same time. The music rose in pitch until it became frantic. I remember those people dancing furiously by the fire without stopping, increasingly seduced by their own movements and the fire that surrounded everything. I remember that music also took my body by storm and that the night was as bright as fire.

What happened later I will not tell: up to here I allow myself to be an infidel, there are things that should not come out of the intimacy of religions, and it is good that they do. I will only say that that night my spirit reached a new level of openness, and since then I carry with me an indelible mark somewhere in my soul, since I was not the same person again.

After that definitive experience, Mama Kande recommended me to continue on my way to my next destination.

The Gypsy Kings

When I arrived in Bulgaria Madam Gergana hosted me. The old woman greeted me with a big smile, took my hands warmly, and without any concealment looked at my palms. For a few seconds, her little eyes traced the lines, while her face was thoughtful, like someone reading a book. After a brief silence, she sighed and out of nowhere gave me a big hug. With time I got used to it, it was just a plump and happy grandmother, with quirks and quirky customs, who scared the pigeons with her uncontrollable laughter.

That day, as soon as I arrived, she said to me “I was waiting for you, daughter. Just yesterday your Grandfather warned me that you would come, I did not have time to prepare a room for you ”. This surprised me greatly, I asked, She kept talking without hearing my question. “She told me in a dream. I was surprised because since i left my Grandfather place in America My late mother had stopped talking to me in dreams and all the nightmares stopped, but yesterday she came and told madam Gergana, take care of my son, and so you see that I will accompany you. The good one of Madam Xicuba was so beautiful when she was young, and we were so friendly, but now, she takes advantage of me, but I will reach her in eternity ”