Witchdoctor Tours?

Hi Bill

Shame i cant view your video as the connection is very slow. I am extremely fascinated by this subject. I am not aware of "tours" focusing on spells and curses, but I did encounter an interesting experience in Recife which was based on something similar. I was interested in watching Candomble ceremonies, and after asking around i was pointed in the right direction. It wasnt exactly Candomble, but similar. Usually in Candomble, people dress up in white and go into a trance inspired by strong drum beats, followed by heavy cashasa drinking. (i have a feeling you may have covered this in your video which i cant watch right now?!). The ceremony i went to - the priest was dressed in black, and women who attended wore black and red. The ceremony was extremely interesting and far too long in writing. However after some moments, people did come up to the priest making special requests to solve their problems. A lady that had accompanied us was asked by the priest if she wished to cause any harm to her neighbours that were causing her trouble. Her answer was no, she just wanted to resolve issues with them. Candomble is sometimes misunderstood to be some kind of voodoo, but in fact it isnt - although the ceremony i went to seemed to partly resemble candomble, but strangely the priest did have powers to impose good or bad spells. Some people came to thank him for having their issues solved and rewarded him with a Cashasa bottle - two of them had their husbands brought back to them thanks to his powers!!

Unfortunately, I cant remeber who exactly this priest is, although i can give you some guidance how to find out. I was in Olinda, and just by one of the main squares a bunch of guys all dressed in yellow were acting as tour guides. One of them spoke a decent level of english, and he was the one who gave me details of this particular Padre (priest). the priest was based in recife - 20 mins by bus from Olinda.

Also in Olinda there is a church where candombe ceremonies are held. there is a fat old guy there who conjures good and bad spells, and is quite well known. Again you would have to ask around for him. I had heard stories of famous people going to him, Football teams such as Flamenco had often visited him, and on every visit apparently won a game!It shouldnt be too difficult to find out as Olinda is really a small place. Sorry, for not having names on hand, but it was about a year ago.

In the South of Brazil, there is apparently another kind of ceremony where people get possessed, but i´m not sure if its got anything to do with curses (maybe?). sorry to be vague again but its called something like Santa ...something ...i think around Sao Paulo there may be something..I am returning to Brazil to discover the south and witness this. Apparently in this Santa...ceremony people consume an amazonian drug called aiyawaska...I tried this with a shaman in Alto de Chao in the north...between Manaus and Belem.

I would still like to witness a Candomble ceremony. apparently there are many of these in Salvador, but i enjoyed the slightly different variation in recife, as it wasnt something set up just for tourists.

If you have any more info on this matter , i´d be interested to know as the subject fascinates me. My experience in Recife with the ceremony was quite weird and freaky and fascinating at the same time!!if you have any more questions or would like to send me any interesting informaion, my email is spacyraja@yahoo.com.

Regards

Sonia Shah