Magick of the GOBC- Knight hand out- Spirits- Introduction to the Loa Gede
In the Gnostic Order of the Black Cross, Gede is not directly called like Legba, Chango, or Yemaya are. Gede, also spelled Guédé, or Ghede, and pronounced (Geh-Day) are the family of spirits that embody the powers of death, dance, and fertility. Gede is a good friend to our order. The dance associated with Gede is called the Banda and is a lewd, sexual dance.
What follows is the section of my book “The Divinity of Death.” Gede is a Loa I am extremely connected to as you will see and I have a lot of information about him. This will be multiple sections. Understand that this is a chapter out of my book and is out of the context of that book but I think it gives a rounded representation of my best friend of Death.
What follows covers general information about Gede. The next post will cover particular spirits in this amazing family of Loa.
Several years ago I found myself in a small magickal group. I had become disillusioned with the O.T.O which I had been active in for years. Some friends and I had begun doing some group rituals together. Most of the time, we were doing evocation. More often than not we were calling kabalistic archangels. Sometimes we were calling spirits out of a grimoire. Other times we were performing dramatic path workings using Tarot symbolism.
The group was eclectic. There were a few Wiccans, someone practicing Native American Shamanism, and myself a Ceremonial Magician. None of us were newbies. I had been seriously practicing magick for around ten years by this time. We got together no less than twice a month.
My temple was in a converted garage in my home. It was twelve feet wide and twenty two feet long. It was not huge but it certainly worked for our purposes. In the east was a large altar that was seven foot wide and three foot deep. There was a veil that could be closed in front of it. Before the altar were three black and white checked steps. On the left of the steps was a black pillar sitting on a white cube. To the right a white pillar on a black cube. To those of you familiar with the Gnostic Mass alter, this is the one called for in that ritual. I still like the way it looks and enjoy the symbolism even though I have not been active in the O.T.O. for years.
In the center of the room was an eleven foot circle painted in white on the floor. Actually there were three concentric circles with archangelic names and symbols painted in appropriate colors. There was a small three foot tall by one and a half foot square table in the center of the circle. Generally this table had a black candle, white candle, an incense container, and a censor on it. Often it had my elemental tools on it as well. I had a dagger for air, a disk for earth, a cup for water, and a wand for fire. It was quite a pretty site in the candle light.
In the west was a hodge podge of different items. I had statues and items for a variety of different gods from many pantheons. I had a large statue of Diana, a statue of Venus, a statue of Anubis, a statue of Shiva, a relief of Cerridwen, and one for Cernunnos. There were many other items as well. There was a sword on a stand, several crystals, and many candle holders with candles in them. There were many pictures of gods as well.
In the corner of that western altar was my voodoo altar. I had been told as hopefully you recall that the Loa had something for me to do. They still had yet to tell me what that was. I had amassed a few items for some of them. I had an axe for Chango. There was a heart shaped pink quartz for Erzulie, Loa of love. I had a top hat for Gede with a skull shaped candle holder on the brim that I burned black candles in. I had burned so many candles in it that the wax had joined the holder to the hat. All of the voodoo stuff unlike most of the other stuff was extremely dusty from lack of use.
One night we decided to forgo our complex ceremonial magick and do some good old fashioned witchcraft. I don’t even remember what purpose we did it for. We were to raise energy in a pretty traditional way. We were circling the central table and dancing. The music we were playing was a project by Rodney Orpheous called Sun God. The music was a modern interpretation for the Voodoo Loa. Each song is dedicated to a different god. For instance the Erzulie song was a love ballad in a Spanish style. Many of the songs have drumming, so it was great for dancing. I remember everyone having a grand time. The Cd went through several Loa, coming to Gede. The next thing I knew, I was being awakened on the concrete floor by all gathered. Everyone had wide eyes. I felt as though I had been asleep for some time.
Initially when I looked into Voodoo, I liked many of the Loa. I liked Legba, who is an old man who likes to tell stories about mystical subjects. Damballah sounded awesome. He is a white snake of purity and truth. Another snake spirit that seemed right up my alley was Simbi, Loa of Magick. Above all others I liked Chango, warrior magician king.
I never saw myself getting all that close to Gede. Sure I did not mind death gods but many of the descriptions of him painted him fooling around. He played jokes. He seemed like an ass. I was a serious magician and I might like to share some rum with Gede but that would be as far as our relationship would go. At least that was what I thought.
I awoke on that floor completely unaware of what had transpired. Everyone filled me in on the events. As I was dancing with everyone else I suddenly began to stumble. I veered towards the Voodoo altar. I started complaining about there being too much light. There were several candles lit but the floor, ceiling, and walls were all black so it was not that bright. I had purchased some cheep sunglasses that sat folded for every bit of two years on the voodoo altar. It is here when I will start saying he. He, because everyone noticed my voice had changed, he grabbed the top hat with the lit taper in the holder stuck to the rim off the altar. While putting on the hat quickly he strutted around the temple and spoke in a deep Louisiana accent. I am from Indiana and I would not say I have a deep accent.
He grabbed a cane I had on the altar for Legba. Next he went for the dusty cigars that were there. Off came the wrapper, and he asked for a, “fucking light,” obviously he was unaware of ritual etiquette. Not once did he even come close to dropping the cane or hitting anyone with it. This would be a feat for me in those close quarters. My x -wife who was still my wife at the time asked, “Who the hell are you?” It was obvious to her this was not her husband.
He informed her, his name was Gede. The song for him still played in the background. She was completely unaware of what that name meant. She had a basic knowledge of paganism but she was a Thelemite and his was a name she did not recall hearing. As I said I was not all that interested in him. She knew virtually nothing about voodoo except that I kept a dusty altar for its gods. He told her that he was the Loa of death, dance, and sex with emphasis on the sex part. Going on he informed everyone he thought it was about time he came and played with us.
Gede proclaimed that he was the Loa directly connected to me; he was the master of my head. He also said that everyone better get used to him because we would be seeing a lot of him. He next approached one of the ladies present who seemed quite amused by him. This particular woman was the one who practiced Shamanism and happened to be a lesbian. She as well was around fifty years old. He put his arm around her and said, “I don’t scare you none do I?” To which she replied, ”No, I think you are pretty funny.” To that he said, “yeah, I am, could I get you to do me a favor?” She said wisely, “Maybe.” To this, taking a puff off his cigar, he said, “Being that you are such a sexy woman, could I see those supple titties of yours?” She blushed and everyone laughed. As strange as it may sound I think that it was that moment which helped many people in the room get comfortable with Gede. To be clear I do not act like that. To this statement though my x-wife angrily said, “ok, why are you here, surely it isn’t to see her breasts.” He retorted, “I told you why I’m here, to introduce myself. By the way where the fuck is my rum?” We did not have any. That did not happen again; I bought some the next day. To this day there is always rum in our temple, even though we seldom drink.
For a follow up move Gede then approached to one of the males in the room and announced, “You know, I like dick too.” I am straight; the gentleman he was talking to was not. He looked around the room, winked and continued, lifting up the cigar, “anyone want to suck on this?” The same man asked Gede if he minded if he lit a cigarette. Gede said, “of course you can.” Looking him straight in the face with a serious tone he added, “those things will kill ya.” A spirit of death telling him something would kill him frightened him a little.
The song ended and Gede reacted with, “Start that shit over.” He continued to introduce himself to everyone, tell jokes, and let us get to know him. At a later time more information would come he told them. We would begin to converse with other Loa through my body he also informed everyone.
He had the music restarted a third time. He went through a total of three cigars, I don’t smoke. After his song ended a third time he yelled, “shut that shit off!” Which, they did. He promptly left my body while still in motion hurtling me to the floor. My head bounced off the concrete. After awakening I felt no pain. That was how everyone met the Voodoo Loa of Death, the master of my head, and the best friend I have ever had. This is how my journey with death began.
After closing temple and getting into my living room, we all sat around and discussed what had happened. I heard the story in amazement. It also horrified me. Finding out that Gede was the master of my head did not make me happy. I was also embarrassed about how he acted in my body. Understandably, it concerned me that someone might think that it was me play acting.
No one thought that. They knew me and he was not me. Everyone seemed to like him alright though. One concern everyone had was his ability to move around freely. In our evocations the spirit was confined to a triangle. They had come to value the safety of the circle. Gede walked in and out of the circle with no trouble or care.
He was easy to talk to and that was good. Most of the other spirits were rather formal. The angels are nice enough but they do not pal around with you. We were all excited at the prospect of more communication with both Gede and other Loa. This was a new frontier. On top of that they all felt like they had a new and fun friend. Gede acted like one of us. He even teased us.
It had us ready to do more because in many ways he had shown himself to be otherworldly. He had done things I was incapable of. Also through his joking he had mentioned things that I do not know about people. Privacy was a talk I later had to have with him. With all of this in mind, we had planned to do an evocation the following weekend, which was changed to “witchcraft” with voodoo music.
Again I was possessed, this time by Chango. I would over the next few years be possessed by several Loa and many times by Gede. Over time I began to remember what happened while I was possessed, especially by Gede.
There have been many ups and downs in my life since then. Gede would be there at ritual to lend his love. Yes, I said love. I cannot explain it but he has a way of showing you he loves you even when he is sometimes, most of the time, rude.
About a year into working with Voodoo I also began to hear Gede in my head. At first I thought I was just talking to myself. I have spent many hours wondering if I am crazy. His voice is nasal and distinct. Usually he is encouraging me. Sometimes, I have to admit, his “insights” are less than relevant. He says things like “I am here,” “it will be ok,” or “lighten the fuck up.” Often he says “look at the boobs on her,” or “well he’s an idiot.” More often though he pushes me to excel, he wants me to be a better man.
You will never find anyone more dedicated to my spiritual development than Gede. Christians might say he is the devil, or a demon. A psychologist, I am sure, would have a field day. If any of that is true than this devil or alternate personality sure does love God. He constantly pushes me to find God in everything. He also is fond of Jesus. Whether Jesus was a man or not, Gede has been instrumental in me seeing the difference between Jesus and his followers.
Gede continues to influence my life. I still do a lot of ceremonial magick. I feel I have learned more from Voodoo. All of the Loa have become part of my family. After some time my x-wife and I divorced. I became a bit of a hermit. Gede, Chango, and Damballah stayed by my side and talked me through a difficult part of my life.
A few months after the divorce, an old friend of mine contacted me. She was in a relationship with someone I was acquainted with. She had as well been involved with Voodoo. My friend was an Alexandrian Wiccan high priestess. The two of them had been talking and they wanted to start a magickal order. They were both interested in ceremonial magick but did not have enough experience to organize it. We created an order that mixed witchcraft, ceremonial magick, and Voodoo.
We began planning and set a date for our first ritual. We had decided to base our public rituals on the zodiac signs. The first ritual happened to be in the sign of Aries. The Voodoo mambo planned the ritual. I had not been possessed for several months. In previous rituals when we did non-Voodoo rituals I would not get possessed. This ritual, though planned and written by the mambo, was a ceremonial ritual. It was an invocation of the magickal energies of Aries. There was no dancing and no drumming. After the ritual itself was finished, to the surprise of all seven of us, I was possessed by Chango.
After that it did not matter what kind of ritual we did, I got possessed. It also became common for me to be possessed by more than one Loa in the same night. Often when we were doing an evocation of an angel I would even get possessed by them. I had become a full trance medium. Eventually we took advantage of that and put me in a triangle.
Gede came on strong. He dominated my possessions. Several other people in the order began to get possessed as well. Voodoo certainly integrated itself into our little order which had around thirty or so members.
Along the way I met several Gedes. The name Gede actually denotes an entire family of Loa. They are all death spirits but they differ slightly in their ways. I will describe several of them later in this chapter as well as give you their basic attributes and their symbol, or Veve, with which to call them.
When a Loa is of what is called the Rada Nation they just go by their family name, we just call Rada Gede, Gede. The Rada are considered the more pure form of that Loa. If they are from another nation there will be another name associated with them. An example of that is Congo Gede. He is of the Congo Nation.
Over the next few years Gede and I became closer and closer. He was always by my side. He has become completely entangled in my identity. Recently as I have been reading a variety of philosophers I have become fond of many Deists. As my wife and I were talking about my belief system she said that I am a GeDeist. I agree.
Today Gede is not only close to me but my entire family. I remarried a wonderful and spiritual woman. She and all of my four kids are close to Gede. Even my youngest who at this writing is six and loves Gede. Our close friends are also fond of Gede.
Halloween, which we call Gede day, is very popular among our friends. It for us is a combination of a ritual and a party. We are usually visited by several Gedes and other death spirits. The evening usually starts with a ritual of some kind. It is usually, but not always, is a ritual I wrote called the Mass of Azrael. Everyone brings an offering to Gede. This usually consists of cigars, rum, or sugar cookies. Everyone consumes them and are usually inebriated by the end of the night.
I will now begin to describe many of the Gede spirits I have worked with extensively. Included in this description I will also give you their Veves or personal symbol. Telling you a story about them along the way will also help you get a feel for what they are like. Finally there will also be a list of the things they like so you can either give them offerings or use those items to identify them.
Just because you are interested in the divinity of death does not indicate that Gede is the master of your head. He is the primary source for much of what I have learned but that may not be the case for you. Voodoo might not even be your thing either. All of that is ok. There are many death spirits which you can work within and outside of Voodoo. I in this book will give you many to choose from and experiment with. There are also many that I did not include because I have yet to become close to them and I want to give you educated information. This book should be a good place to start but it certainly will not be all you need. Magick of any kind must be worked to come to any result.
It is Gede that I started with so here we are. If you have a more somber approach to death he will not likely be the spirit for you. Me, I love my smiling skull face friend. I love to curl up with him, my wife, a cigar, and a bottle of rum.
