Resurrecting Pa Neezer, Correcting Obeah

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Vladimir Lucien

Can anybody tell me of any famous obeah men in Trinidad's history, or exorcists outside the Catholic church.....medicine men. feel free to catalogue.....perhaps those as famous as criminal 'Boysie' Singh may be put to the top of the list.

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    Vladimir Lucien perhaps the areas where they were based should be listed as well...
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    Ayanna Gillian Lloyd Head of a papa ebenezar (spelling?) from moruga. I think he has passed over though. There is a book written about him but I am not sure of the name
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    Maven Huggins the book is the worse book i ever read. He is Papa Ebenezer Elliott, my direct descendant; my great grandmother's nephew and godson. Vladmir, please tell me what you are doing? I am always interested to learn and reclaim what has been lost...
    
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     Ayanna Gillian Lloyd ‎@maven powerful ancestor! I have not read the book. what was awful about it? I hope it was not derogatory
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    Ayanna Gillian Lloyd ‎@maven powerful ancestor! I have not read the book. what was awful about it? I hope it was not derogatory
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    Maven Huggins

    Yes Ayanna. I think so, And have set my life purpose to reclaim my ancestral heritage. It was not just Pa Neezer, but my great Grandmother, Annaliza Huggins was a healer by hand, her daughter, my grandmother Ruth Huggins was a healer by her...bs. I am way behind the curve
    
    about the book: It has been years since I read it, so my critique of it will not be as tight given the dismissal from memory, but if I recall, the book was supposed to be about Pa Neezer but instead this writer transgressed every anthropological rule there ever was, and wrote about her self most. Second, the book gave no insight, intrigue, understanding, highlight as to who Pa Neezer was in any context, not family, not history, not personality, nothing about how he came to be. And what i find astounding, in the last year, I discovered he was and we are African American descendants, of those who fought in the American Civil war as freed slaves and who were granted land by the British, in the colony Trinidad, and settled as the Companies. None of that is mentioned in this book that was supposed to be about him. I also recall a text full of grammatical, syntax and quality errors; poorly conceived and written. I have often wished for others to read and critique to check my memory, but then I remember this is also a place where i saw a text written by Selwyn Ryan at UWI, probably around 2006, full of errors, so i thought, who is going to see anything.>>
    
    it is ashame and a burning sting that a book would have been purported, but so poorly done, is best and is as if, none were.
    
    we remain to find out about this figure
    
    i think so much work needs to be done and corrected about obeah. first of all the perception, and to reclaim and let it be known that it is just alchemy, healing, medicine and magick of altering cause and effect;
    
    i hope and pray

    
    
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    Laverne Amanda Burnett obeahwoman ... mother cornhucks

    
    
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    Maven Huggins a book of all of them; that name, i just heard of recently and was piqued by it; my grandmother smoked a pipe made of corn husk
    

    
    
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    Ayanna Gillian Lloyd that is a shame indeed. maybe the work remains for you. i know of the story that many moruga families are descended from those companies. my family (granderson) is supposed to be also from what the research has told us but i don't know too much about it; so much many of us do not know about ourselves.

    
    
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    Maven Huggins ‎"so much many of us do not know about ourselves."
    
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    Nikita Alcala Maven we hadda talk. Thanks Ayanna. The book on Papa Neeza is called 'he had the power' or something so
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    Nikita Alcala Nkrumah bought it
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    Nikita Alcala This is vladimir btw lolol lemme sign in on my account
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    Maven Huggins lol. i was like..ok. "nikita"
    
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    Vladimir Lucien

    ok here i am. the African-Americans from Moruga were called 'Merikins' if I recall correctly. Want to do some work down in moruga. Research wise. I think a lot has been misunderstood about there and ignored...historically. There was a forei...gner who recently did some work down there and presented his findings at Alice Yard some time this year. Trying to get in touch with him to see the merit of the work. And Moruga i mean not just in terms of its importance to Afro-Trinis, but the Kali Mai Pooja (which is somewhat taboo in the Hindu world) takes place down there I believe as well (in Tuna Puna also)See More

    
    
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    Maven Huggins

    that is right. Merikin. I am part, though i stopped going to the meetings because the person running it is a sham, but i was brought in to help them manifest a project, they want to create themselves into a national heritage site, but there... are so many obstacles to the movement forward. all having to do with shady, treacherous and incompetent people they let fly their flag.
    
    i have written the Smithsonian, and several colleagues in the states but no one has taken it up..i agree..great significance down there ignored.
    
    I even wrote to UTT to give me a fellowship to do that work/ the clothes is still out on the line...
    
    if you get down there, please let me know, i will tag along and not doing anything now, between gigs. Even thought to move down there...
    
    wanted to do video interviews of the old people but ...but...but...
    
    Please link me with the person who did the work down there, had no idea or awareness of such>
    
    yes, lets talk

    
    
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    Vladimir Lucien off air (fb) gimme ur number and we cd talk when the time comes. I just got the name of the man who conducted the research. lets keep in touch. im gettin off facebook now. laters...dont forget to inbox. ill respond tomorrow with the info. my internet @ home is down
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    Vladimir Lucien ‎Maven Huggins, Ayanna Gillian Lloyd http://aliceyard.blogspot.com/2011/03/high-science-conversation-with-brent.html
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    Maven Huggins thanks for the link. cool
    
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    Marvin George ‎Vladimir Lucien and Maven Huggins WE NEED TO TALK. Let's start to inbox
    

    
    

    
    
    
    
    

    
    
    

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    RE: Obeah

    Between Vladimir Lucien, You and Marvin George

    

    Marvin George June 9 at 11:32pm

    Yeah: about 11 years ago - while I was doing an Associate Degree in Management at COSTAATT - I started looking at Obeah as a research topic. At that time I think Michael Anthony was (perhaps) the only person, who wrote about Papa Neeza. He is synonymous with Obeah and like the science has suffered some level of ridicule in calypso and local consciousnes. Now that doh mean I anti kaiso or calypsonians. Like everything in a post-plantation society we have to expect the schism in the psychie; because make no mistake about it, Trinis love Obeah too eh!
    
    But what MUST also happen - as Maven has pointed out - is that there must be efforts as restitution. Plenty things get bruised here. Obeah is just one. It is a legitimate word/practice/science; refer Maureen Warner Lewis. It is not an English word; but English damage it. So this kind of work is important.
    
    Anyway, I kept interest in the subject, but never made it a full study. The text on Pa Neeza is Dr. Frances Henry's "He Had The Power". I suspected there were some gaps/weaknesses. My spiritual mother gave me a story that I found in the book. And given the fact that I had to live with my spiritual mother for about one week, and hear that story every day, I came to believe that Henry's story may be flawed, and well...
    
    So, if you all are interested, we could talk further. I am here.
    
    Strength!
    
    Marvin