The Voodoo priest was a very nice man, who giggled at his own little off-color jokes. Yet, behind the thin distortion of lenses, his eyes, preternaturally blue, held mine without once wavering. Even in the damp close hot courtyard where we met to talk, even in the close air of a Louisiana midsummer, I felt a prickle on the back of my neck, under that gaze.
He spoke in such a soft little voice that it was necessary for me to put my hands on the table and incline my head intimately toward his, all the way forward, as if leaning in for a lover's kiss. Even then, I could only catch every fourth word, like whispers on a rustling wind: "death...snakes...look...hear...old path...new path." I knew that I was allowed to assign any meaning I wished to his words, or no meaning at all; in the end, the words were of no great importance, just something to say.
The priest stroked sweet oil on my forehead, and on my palms, and he laid the resting coil of python across my upturned hands, and blessed me, and the weight of the inscrutable snake was a new experience of sensation: cool, still, heavy, quietly alive. A message, a lesson: a way to be in the world!
The snake raised her head and stared at me for a moment and her eyes were, improbably, as blue as the priest's eyes.
(photo taken at the Voodoo
Museum, New Orleans)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
19 comments:
i couldn't stay inside that place! we walked in, but immediately i felt overcome by something i couldn't explain, i just had to leave. i ended up waiting for the MITM and mr. moose across the street. i'm not a practitioner or believer, but it was it i was surrounded and the breath slowly squeezed from my lungs. go figure! xoxoxo
Sav, that is fascinating, that you had such a visceral reaction to that place! It must mean something, perhaps though you're not a believer or practitioner, you tapped into something...
oh wow...deliciously dark...would not mind a visit to this place...
Brian, I do think you would find it very interesting!
A blue-eyed snake. I'll bet it was wearing contacts, but then again, how many snakes have I gotten close enough to to look in the eye?
I wonder if Savannah would have had the same reaction if she had been blindfolded, and no one had told her where she was. I felt similarly about Andersonville, an American Civil War POW camp that was infamous for its brutality, yet I seriously doubt that it was the place itself that gave me the willies.
Snow, my daughter quipped that the snake must have been wearing blue contacts! Supposedly it's one of the only blue-eyed pythons around. I didn't get that spooked smothering feeling in that place--it felt weirdly comfortable. Don't know why...
On a loosely related note, I read the other day that blue eyed cats are far more likely to be deaf. I don't think snakes hear though, so they don't need to worry.
Sounds fascinating. I would like to see the museum. I wish I knew what those oils smelled like - my imaginings are probably WAY off the mark!
Meg, the place is tiny but remarkable!
Next you'll be talking Parseltongue!
Some experience. I'm not sure how I would feel about the python. Scared I think.
Princess, that is my fondest wish!
Pat, I don't mind snakes, but if you were squeamish it might not be the most fun experience!
Sounds like a very cool experience! I knew some people (many years ago) who had a 12' boa constrictor. He was a pretty cool snake. I've had him wrapped several times around my waist with his head on my shoulder. My sister couldn't even stand to look at him! Did Ella go with you?
Leah, you need to write a novel with this as the first few paragraphs. I was riveted. I want to know...who is this woman, why did she go see the Voodoo priest, what is going to happen to her now?
WRITE IT! WRITE IT NOW I SAY!!!!
Pony, Ella missed the experience--she was busy having peach-orange blossom ice pops with her dad! I figured that was a little less scary...
Miss RC, thank you!!!! of course the woman was me, but I could totally see this as the beginning of fiction now that you mention it...
I agree with RC! The previous post definitely needs to be in there as well though!
Funny how when I too was reading, I was thinking that this would make for a good book.
Let you make out of this what you will, but it was talking to us about a book. Keep having lots of fun. Stay safe.
God bless.
I've never tried holding a snake. I think I'd find it a bit scary, even if the snake was supposed to be harmless. And don't all those scales feel weird?
Meg, maybe I will!
MrsU, thank you! We are seeing some amazing sights.
Nick, the feel of the python was so neat, dry and cool, very alluring...
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