Louisa Jean sucked on some sweet logan berries that had ripened in the bramble.. Her Orchid parfume hung in the languid air, an ethereal affect of her daily visits. The battering of voodoo drums began slowly, rhythmically in the nearby Louisiana woods, as the sky darkened at midday due to a full solar eclipse. Blood from sacrificed sheep smeared the trunks of trees and the grass was stained red with the sacrifice of ten ravens. Today would be a full eclipse, and there would be no light for six minutes.

"Gris-gris lives as you live." Clothed from head to toe in a white ritual gown, Beulah spoke harshly, with corncob pipe in hand. A barking hound at her side also announced his presence, Louisa Jean looked up expectantly smiling from ear to ear. “Mawmaw!”


"I have something special for you." Beulah said in a raspy voice.

Beulah took the object and blessed it, turning it in her hand several times counter clockwise as she took a long drag from her pipe. "This belonged to my grandmother who passed it down to me and now it's yours, three generations blessed.”

Louisa jean held the pendant in her hands. “It’s so beautiful!" Beulah licked her fingers to shine the stone. "It's a fire Opal. It is a talisman to bring you cosmic energy, so that your inner soul can be healed. It opens your psychic center and tells of evil portents by turning a dark hue. It will protect you from harm. Take it child! Wear it from now on."

Louisa Jean graciously accepted. Beulah took Louisa Jean’s face in her hands that showed all too well her seventy odd years on this Earth. "Words that come out of us like words that stay within, bind us to those we love, forever."

They began to walk. The wind’s remorseful sigh, warned of the approaching storm. The dog then perked up his ears, listening intently to the ominous whistle. Spooked,
the old hound sprinted far ahead of the two women. Beulah laughed and looked up at threatening clouds.., " Danm coon hound, the physical world is restless today, a solar eclipse on 7/22. Today the moon becomes as blood."

As they arrived at Beulah’s cabin, music crackling from an old Victrola could be heard.. An old woman sat on a porch swing, the archaic RCA Victrola at her side playing a love melody from day's gone by. She continually fiddled with the tuning feeling her way with her fingers. Deep scars and wrinkles were visible across her face, and sightless eyes..

"How is Great mamere doing?" Louisa jean asked.

Beulah sighed as she looked at the aged woman on the porch swing. "Slowly dying of old age, dear one, but her time is not yet come.”

The interior corridor of the house held a sacred temple to Baron LaCroix-The Loa of the Dead. He was wearing a top hat, black coat tails, a gold cross around his neck, smoking a cigar. An altar was erected in his honor with various candles, symbols, colorful beads, bells, samhain oil, and rum. Beulah’s son, Antoine beat the voodun drums. Louisa Jean gave her nod of approval at him, and Antoine responded with a flirtatious smile, still tapping the rhythm out on the drum.

"P'tite Tawaye, how far along are you?" A squeaky almost unintelligible voice from behind them became audible. It was Beulah’s mother, Minirose .

Louisa Jean turned around and placed her hands lovingly on her stomach. "four months."

She looked back at Antoine who was now in full trance mode, still tapping on the drum. Beulah turned her full attention to Louisa Jean . "Are you ready to do this, child?"

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I reckon.” Louisa shook her head in agreement

With that they walked to the back of the cabin, into a small room used for scrying. The room was painted completely black and was empty except for a chair carefully placed in front of a large oval mirror. Beulah pointed to the chair and told Louisa Jean to sit.

"Clear your mind and your heart, be open to the forces that will be called upon to guide you." Beulah instructed her.

The old woman appeared with an herbal drink and handed it to Louisa Jean. “Ghede’s power is strongest tonight.”

"You must drink this now." She whispered. Louisa took the drink, and downed it in one big gulp, immediately her head started spinning.. She became nauseous.” I got the Mal au Couer”

Trying to keep herself from passing out she then focused her eyes on the mirror. She instinctively felt the dark. Images then started to appear in the mirror, she heard a voice as if she was under water..

Antoine beat the Voodun drum louder and began to chant:

Attibon Legba ouvri baye pou' moin ago!
Ou we Attibon Legba ouvri baye pou' moin ouvti baye!
M'ape rentre quand ma tourne,
Ma salut Loa yo!
Attibon Legba open the gate for me, I ask you please!
You see, Attibon Legba, open the gate for me,
open the gate!
I will enter when I return,
I salute the Loa!"

Minirose’s voice in rhythm with the drumbeat now, placed the fetish stone in Louisa Jean’s lap. “you must run your hands over the stone.” She was now dressed in dark ceremonial garb, and presided over the ritual as the Bokor – Mambo.

Louisa Jean’s hands felt the stone in the dark. She could feel the scales of the serpentine image carved upon it. Slowly images took form in the mirror…..A black man and a white woman could be seen making love among tall grass, their covered wagon parked nearby.... “I’m your’s forever Je t'aime toujours !" Louisa Jean’s eyes widen and she whispered "Great Papere? No!"

A group of hooded men came upon the young lovers in the tall grass….The woman was draged across the ground, then severely beaten by the hooded men, and left to die. . The black man was then tied to a tree. "If we let this nigger go, it won't be safe for your mother, wife, or sweetheart to walk down the streets of Baton Rouge!" “let’s hang the bastard! Hey, boys, it’s lynchin’ time.”

One of the men brought a thick rope and made a noose. "I can't see his body." Louisa Jean cried “The mirror keeps fading in and out…..”

"The body is no body to be seen." Beulah responds. "It is from the Earth he came and it is the Earth that will send him back to us by the power of Ghede.”

“My love, my Pookie" Minirose whispered, “Mi aime jou, I know you will come back to me.”
.
Louisa Jean stood erect, not noticing Antoine in the doorway, the sounds of the voodoo drums, silent.

"Reborn? Him! How is that possible?" Louisa Jean asked.” Dit mon la verite'!”

Beulah sidled up close to Louisa Jean, and placed her hand on the girl's stomach. Antoine winked at Louisa Jean as she stared on in disbelief. "By the darkness of the fertile moon we ask the Baron Samedi in his hour of greatest power…..”