rickydoc flowers has got the blues

hello world
im feeling a little down i think
i think ol rickydoc has got the blues

this is another posting of a thread on the rootworkers list
i keep getting drawn into that but ima back out of it
and just let it be

i think that weariness is showing through in
the stridency of my tone here

there were all these blackfolk on the list
mostly from the westindies, putting down africanamericans
and it was a dialogue i just didnt feel like having

i got involved in this cause mambo racine kinda upset me
with her uninformed pronouncements on blackness
and her attempt to take over the hoodoo list
and make it a promotional subsidiary of
roots without end

and now shes there lecturing down at folk
and putting a lot of voudou dogma on the hoodoos

and making authoratative statements about hoodoo
in spite of fact that she dont know nothing about hoodoo

asked the other day, what is a delta griot
i didnt even bother to answer

neither do i feel like getting into a flamewar with her
i dont really have anything against her, just object
to her feeling like shes an authority on blackness

and resent her and her minions taking over a hoodoo list
with that condescending attitude that atr takes to hoodoo

but hey, if the hoodoo list lets her take it over, they deserve her
im tired of trying to defend them

and the black radical congress, another institution
i have hopes for, seems to be floundering and unable
to effectively shape itself for struggle in the 21st century
its like they stuck in the struggles & rhetoric of yesteryear

just when we are engaged in a struggle for the souls of blackfolk
with conservative blacks crawling out from under every rock
(where does the bush administration find these people)

im weary to the bone

god and when i look at the world, dont get me going there
bush and the rightwing trying so hard to put a hurting on everybody
and succeeding beyond their wildest dreams and our progressive nightmares
it will take generations to undo the harm that hes done to the american people
and to the world

what actually generated this post was reading about saddam in his underwear
and i wouldnt put it past the bush administration to have orchestrated that
it sounds like the little petty kind of thing they think is cute

and i thought about how they been torturing people to death as policy
and not holding anybody accountable for it and the american people been
letting that kind of behavior slide and i just dont understand it

and i thought about how they have debased everything america used to stand for

and this attempt to impose religious dogma on the american people
i got a post about religious movement called the dominionists that make
no bones about their attempt to impose religious fundamentalism on
every aspect of american society and their success so far

i fear for our souls

and africa convulsed with wars and poverty and disease and
behind in every criteria of well being

and african religious traditions still stuck in archaic modes
of blood ritual and sacrifice (which is another issue im taking a
beating on, when i tell atr folk that what worked for ancient cultures
that killed their own food dont necessarily work for cultures that dont
they start telling me about what the gods demand and its like look
i dont want to hear it, all that bloodlust just aint necessary, and the
gods are a little more flexible than most religious folk willing to acknowledge
but hell thats an entire post of its own, maybe the next one)

and all around the world blackfolk suffering and dying and hardly nothing
you can do that dont feel like spitting in the wind

and not just blackfolk the world is full of inhumanity
and sometimes you just despair and feel like best you
can do is go for self

okay, i didnt intend to go into all this
im just feeling low right now, i got the blues
but i will feel better in a couple of days i imagine

so here is my lastest rant from the rootworker list
as those of you who know me will see, its kinda redundant

okay im out of here, sorry world, i didnt mean to whine on you like this
had planned to say a few words explaining the post and let it be
problem with a weblog is that you tend to express whatever you
feeling at the moment and right now im feeling down

i guess i will try to get some novelwork done
a good day of novelwork is generally good for what ails me

a lot of my vision gets clarified in rest for the weary
and sometimes it actually feels like the wonderful
work of art i hope it to be

puts me to mind of a story about mozart passing out some new material
and one of the musicians saying this trash isnt music and mozart responding
it is not for you, it is for another age (future generations)

now thats what im talking about
hangingtough

rickydoc

----------------------------------------

hello raven
hello list

raven i wouldnt worry about folk
like the ones you talking about

all these issues of black selfhatred
and tribalism have been addressed and dealt with
as far back as the 60s and 70s and im not
going to worry about folk who didnt get the memo yet

i fear there will always be selfhating blacks
who will go for the okeydoke of putting other blacks down

i dont even feel like its a subject im
going to spend any energy on
in the delta my daddy told me never wrestle w/pigs
you just get dirty and the pig enjoys it

but while im here and in the spotlight
let me bring up a couple of subjects
that i am willing to spend energy on

a subject that i do think is important
though i assume will basically be ignored
and thats the future of hoodoo

which is my primary concern
and as i said in a previous post
i would like hoodoo to evolve from where
it is today

when i spoke of archival hoodoo i was
basically speaking of all of you

stuck in hoodoos past instead of its
evolving future

lasttime i posted
i spoke of adding highmagic to the folkmagic
we now practice and i spoke of aspiring to the
prophetic

trying to forge hoodoo into one of the
worlds great spiritual/magical systems
means taking it to higher ground

and i think that higherground will include
highmagic and the prophetic because they
are congruent with hoodoo reality

and i expect most folk wont be interested in this
im speaking to the cutting edge

cause i believe we can make hoodoo as strong a force
in the world as say christanity, islam or judaism, etc

but i dont want to go religious and would prefer
that hoodoo not
which is why i object to the religious dogmas
of the other atr traditions being imposed on hoodoo

i believe there is a flexibility to being a magical
system that the religious systems dont have

but because hoodoo has begun to interface so heavily
with atr systems im willing to look at the compromise
of aspiring to the prophetic

i dont believe there is any more powerful contribution to make
than to shape a spiritual tradition in such a way that it evolves
along the lines you think suitable

and because we are in at the beginning more or less of this process
we are the ones
who will determine the lines of hoodoo evolution and its influence on
the destiny of humanity

its on us to make sure its a strong contribution and try to alleviate
the weaknesses that can so often attend to spiritual activism and
result in abominations like jonestown or other such

accordingly as part of that hoodoo activism i dont want to shape
hoodoo as a religious tradition, i would like to leave it a magical
and spiritual tradition, one that questions and is skeptical rather
than basing its power on blind faith

even within religious traditions the prophet is free of
institutional hierarchies (much like the hoodoo vis a vis the other
atr hierarchical religions)the prophet is a part of yet not

the prophet is an individualistic practitioner (much like hoodoo)

and there is not much difference between the sorceric and the
prophetic, they manifest the same powers, except that one serves only
clients and self, the other also serves god(s) and the community

i was made aware of this distinction reading a work on the prophets
of east africa and the book made the statement that the difference
between the diviners (which is basically what we are) of the masai
and others tribes and the prophet/diviner (the diviner who is also
ackwnowledged prophet) is that the prophet diviner is not only
concerned w/clients but with the guidance of the entire society (or
tribe)

and that the prophet diviners practice went beyond the private
readings of the diviner to include public ritualwork (which for me is
those of us who practice performance ritualwork)

folk think prophecy (or divination) is foretelling the future. But
the prophetic voice is more than a foreteller of the future. True
prophecy is prophecy that guides individual, social and destinic
action. Prophecy connects current behavior w/future consequences in
order to force social change through divine sanction.

the wouldbe prophet uses the prophetic vision to see as far into the
future as possible and anticipate the changes, the crises and
opportunities the tribe will have to overcome in its generations long
struggle for survival and prosperity.

the aspiring prophet then determines what social traits will be
necessary to meet those challenges and tries to program them into the
cultural soul through ageold techs of magical, prophetic and
ideological orchestration. basing authority to do so on the
deceptively simple proclamation, "god told me to."

i have often used the term destiny players, destiny workers, to
define the hoodoos of my hoodoo vision

and basically i mean folk who are trying to shape the destiny of
humanity, who feel that human destiny is not a given but that we
shape it daily and that with study and application it can be shaped
as we see fit

that parts of my interest in adding highmagic to the folkmagic focus
of hoodoo today, striving to be able to shape reality so that it
reflects our vision of what it should be and not necessarily just
accepting it as it is

why should we be satisfied with being folkmagicians
in the 21st century when we could so easily be highmagicans also

folk who are comfortable using ageold techniques of ideological
orchestration and prophetic exhortation to try to shape the destiny
of humanity in the direction of their vision for humanity

folk who are capable of forcing reality
to respond to their will

i am constantly trying to assess the challenges and opportunities
that will face future generations and try to input into the cultural
mix (the tribal soul), the psychological and cultural traits that i
think will finesse these challenges and keep humanity growing on
the good foot

for me that tribal soul is both the black race and the entire human
race, but im not going to go there again

suffice it to say that i have decided that the hoodoo tradition is
the most promising instrument of this ongoing effort to forge a more
appropriate human destiny

i believe that it is our responsibility as
the awake and aware in the land of the half sleep
to use our powers to take care of the community
and provide guidance and protection

and part of my hoodoo mission is to develop this confidence and this
power and the necessary skills to manifest this prophetic power in
the hoodoo practitioners of the future

my most fundamental phrase that i hope to imbed in the culture is:

cast your vision young hoodoo as far as you can see
determine the challenges the tribe will face
prepare the tribal soul to meet them

right now im in a dialogue of one
but thats alright it comes with the territory
when you aspire to the prophetic

now part of what i love about hoodoo
is that its an eclectic system that allows you to
practice pretty much however you want
so im not saying you should practice what i practice
most of you i assume will keep on doing what you doing

but understand, whether you like it or not
im the hoodoo future

i aspire to be a prophet of the hoodoo way
and i will defy all of you if i must
to bring hoodoo into the 21st century

i am rickydoc trickmaster
and i will not be denied

in spirit and struggle
rickydoc

Comments

stay strong bro, i think it's the full moon messing w/ a lot of people. and people read your blog, dont worry about that! i read it at livejournal, the rss is syndicated and there are almost 30 people reading it.

peace-

appreciate the shoutout
sometimes i falter and get
weary and a little pat
on the back goes a long way

good looking out
arf