American Voudou: Journey Into a Hidden World by Rod Davis Page B

things she kept on it: a thick, cream-colored Bible, three small goblets of water, a statue of St. Lazarus and another of Whitehawk (one of the Native American spirit guides popular in New Orleans), and a note pad. Like most priests, not to say therapists, Lorita kept track of the progress and problems of her clients, and referred to her notes for repeat visits.
I slumped against a wall, next to a black palo staff with a serpent carved down its length, and sipped my coffee. The far corners of the 10×20 rectangle were crammed as ever with sacrificial altars on behalf of clients. Among them were two fist-sized Elegba statues similar to one near the botanica entryway out front. The crossroads god in all three cases was rendered in the standard symbolic manneran inverted, cone-shaped head molded of laterite and featuring cowrie shells for eyes and mouth. A pointed nail, imbedded in the laterite before it hardened, stuck up from the top of the flat crown. In all, the figure resembled the shape you'd get by filling a paper cup with sand, turning it upside down, and pulling the cup away, then sticking in shells and nails. Surrounding the Elegbas, which had been set on plain ceramic plates on the floor, were offerings of bloodied feathers, ripe bananas, and red candles.
I noticed at least one new altar, next to the Elegbas, for Ochosi. Equated with the astrological symbol Sagittarius, Ochosi's talismanic symbol is a U-shaped metal band linked at both ends by a chain and pierced lengthwise by a sharpened rodit looks like a tautly drawn bow and arrow. Among other
     

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attributes, Ochosi is also considered the owner of all jails and traps. Lorita had set up an altar to him (the plate on which it was held also contained a pair of handcuffs) because one of her clients had a son in prison. It was a tough case, she said, and would require much sacrifice. From the fresh blood drippings on the Ochosi figure, I knew Lorita had already sacrificed several chicks, one of the god's favorite meals. I could tell by the cheeping from a perforated cardboard box that more would be required.
Not far from Ochosi was a miniature black cast iron cauldron (different from the palo pot) set up for his spiritual mate, Ogun. Santeros call the pair Los Guerreros, the Warriors. Their beads, and those of Elegba, are the first that a prospective initiate receives. Another Elegba sat nearby, also on a plate, and surrounded by sacrificial crabs, doubtless from the crate out front. Gary had set up the offering, one of Elegba's favorite snacks, for a woman who wanted to get away from an abusive husband and was asking the spirits to get her a contract for a small house of her ownher ticket to freedom.
I remembered having seen the woman come in a day or two earlier. She had been euphoric, bursting in to tell Lorita the house contract had come through, slamming down a $100 bill in tribute to the power of the priestess and the gods. Lorita had whooped with delight, picking up the money and cleaning herself with it on the spot, wiping first her ''cat," as she calls it, then her legs, arms and neck, and turning to me triumphant, as if to say, "See! They believe in me. This is proof!"
But now the woman's altar was several days old, and the crab Gary had placed on it was funky and covered with black flies. You never clean an altar in any way, but you may dispose of it when it has completed its use. Lorita decided the Elegba with the crabs had fulfilled its functionor at least she rationalized doing so because of the stench. Perhaps to get me to
     

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leave her in peace, she asked me to get a small trash bag. She put the crabs inside, opened the exterior doorfor clients who wished anonymous exitand walked the bag out to a garbage can at the curb. She drew a fresh breath, chuckled a little, and came back in, leaving the door propped open. I went back to the counter.
About nine, the "urgent" clients started showing up.
A young boy was the first, bringing with him a