How To Interpret Omens? ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

How To Interpret Omens?

An omen (also called portent or presage) is an occurrence or incident that foreshadows a favorable or unfavorable issue in a certain state of affairs. The belief in wonders and signs is closely connected with divination and magic. For some people, interpreting omens requires neither higher inspiration nor special knowledge. I, on the other hand, believe it still needs divine or spiritual guidance to be able to understand the complete message behind it. The principal characteristic of the omen is the happenstance of the phenomenon or the event, which, most of the time, carries no significant value or apparent causal connection.

The belief in omens in Hoodoo came from various influences; Central West African, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, Caribbean, and Asian. In the more accurate acceptance of the term, interpreting omens is the most primitive stage of divination and soothsaying or the most straightforward and direct means of discerning the future. Studying the signs of the heavens (astrology) and predicting from the flight of birds (augury) or other circumstances were practiced by most, if not all, Hoodoo practitioners in the Black-belt period and even at present.

Most of my teachers in Conjure place far greater value on omens. Reflecting on the wonders that occur almost every day, they explain that the purpose of the omens is to demonstrate the spiritual world's total mastery over the physical world. From the omens, we appreciate the spirit's direction over the world, specifically over what happens to us.

The omens instilled within the conjure workers and even mundane individuals a deep belief in the spiritual world and God as a result of their experience of everyday miracles. The centrality of the omens is so great that it establishes our fundamental faith in our spiritual community. The effect of an incident, however powerful it might be, fades over time. To continually strengthen our faith, many customs, which are now considered superstitious beliefs, hearken back to antiquity, recalling the great signs and reinvigorating our faith in God and the spirit world.

Practices of Signs and Omens

A client of mine was found to have a tumor behind her eye, which had to be removed surgically. Although the tumor was benign, the needed operation was complicated due to the tumor's proximity to the brain, requiring two surgeries. In addition to the risk of brain damage, permanent blindness was also possible.

She was terrified by what awaited her and found herself emotionally paralyzed and unable to concentrate on her work and studies. Upon seeing her terror, I told her to go to nature and talk to her spirit guides. She did what I advised her - she went to a seashore, talked to nature, and found herself asking this:

"If I'm going to survive the surgery without any complications and adverse effects, then please show me a bright star (except the sun) in the daytime sky."

Then a message of reassurance was received by her when she borrowed her nephew's laptop computer one morning and was surprised to see her wallpaper - a bright star! It was precisely what she needed to see and hear. She started to cry as the gentle image of hope and faith swept over her. What she saw gave her the strength to face her two operations and the lengthy recuperation after. She felt God and her spirit guides were with her, sending Their love in the messages from the computer.

We all want a connection with our spiritual community when we are troubled and having difficulty finding answers to complex questions. Conjure workers before us advised us that the best way to hear God is by exploring and studying nature.

Throughout the slavery period and up until recent times, nature tells the conjure men and women that God and the spirits speak to them anywhere and anytime in a simple, straightforward way, spelled out how we human beings could forge a relationship with Them, how we received Their answers, and how we could have our prayers answered.

The spiritual voices from nature have never ceased. It resonates today, and the easiest way to tune into it is by learning about the natural world and being attuned to it. Everything has its characteristics that can communicate different messages and qualities to every one of us.

Responses from the spirits don't necessarily occur in the spoken language. Images, emotions, impressions, symbols, and signs are the more subtle and emphatic forms of communication. However, we often don't notice omens or choose to ignore them, believing it's a product of our imagination or just a chance or coincidence to occur.

I always use omens to know the answer to seemingly unanswerable or inexplicable questions I have, like, "did my spellwork accomplish its purpose?" A genuine recognition of Divine, universal, and natural forces around us allied with a higher state of consciousness, will enable me to hear the answer to that question.

By passing a logical and rational mind that creates walls between things beyond physical reality and embracing the unreasonable as mere cogs in the wheels of reality, I become attuned to the universe, giving me the wisdom to understand the language of omens.

Enslaved ancestors generally agreed with originating and preserving signs and omens, which occupied a real place in their lives. Here are some of the most prevalent omens believed by rural Black people:

If your right-hand itches, you will receive money. If your left-hand itches, you're going to pay out money.
If a child cries continuously, a close relative will die soon.
If you break a mirror, you will have seven years of bad luck. If the mirror breaks itself, a close relative will die.
If the right side of your nose itches, a strange woman comes to the house. If the left side of your nose itches, a strange man comes to the house.
If the spoon drops while you are eating, expect someone hungry is coming.
If something sharp drops and sticks to the floor, it signifies good luck.
If a swarm of buzzards flies into your house, it's a sign of death or something in your life is ending.
If you hear an owl on the right side of the road, good luck; on the left side, bad luck.
To see a flock of sheep, good luck, while hogs, bad luck.
If you see a star run, make a wish, and your wish will come true.
To hear a dove mourning is a sign of death in the neighborhood.
To see white butterflies means good news is coming your way.
If a pregnant woman is upset about seeing someone with a physical or mental handicap, her child will be born with the same handicap.
Getting a knife as a wedding gift means the relationship will be severed.
Finding a spider on your wedding dress is the best omen a bride can get.
When walking with someone else, never allow the plane between you to be broken by a pole or post. It will bring bad luck and potentially ruin your relationship with that person.
Stepping in dog poop with your left foot is a sign of good luck, while your right foot is bad luck.
A bird poop that lands on you or something that belongs to you will bring you wealth.
If you open an umbrella before heading outside, bad luck will rain on you.
If you spill some salt, throw some over your left shoulder to prevent bad luck.
If you walk or jump over a person, this brings a curse to them.
When it rains and thunders on the day of the moon's disappearance, the crops will prosper, and the market will be steady.
To see a black cat crossing your path means good luck and protection.

Other omens include natural phenomena, for example, an eclipse, the appearance of stars and planets in heaven, abnormal births of animals and humans, unusual growth of plants and trees, and behavior of the sacrificial animal on its way to the slaughter. The interpretation would be based on the practitioner's intuition.

One of my mentors, though, places a limited value on omens, signs, and wonders. First, he told me that one should only pay attention to omens after carefully scrutinizing the person witnessing or interpreting them. Only after ensuring that he is a profoundly God-fearing person or a genuine spiritual worker who is scrupulous in his interactions and balanced in his ways can the omens he sees be considered proof of spiritual messages. Even after all this, proof from omens remains inconclusive.

So should we believe in these superstitious omens?

I regard such omens as reminders from the spiritual world. They serve as warnings and confirmations if we are heading in the wrong or right direction. Omens are part of the natural order of the cosmos, so our decisions must always be bound by nature and aligned with the spirit and God's will as we rise above the physical cause-and-effect order of things.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.