Curiosity and the Occult

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I originally thought I would write about the voodoo religion and its practices in this post. Others commented both on the value of that, and of the dangers inherent. Upon reflection, what I will write is more of a treatise on how to research and satisfy the curiosity about this kind of thing, and the obstacles you will encounter.

I will also touch on parts of the practice of voodoo, but not delve too deeply. If, however, you don’t want to associate yourself or read any of it, I don’t blame you. There is a warning below for when I get into some detail.

One must be very careful when researching ANY of the occult religions in this day and time. Sadly, there has been such a fascination with them over the past couple of decades that good factual information can be hard to find. There is a lot of pure bullshit being passed off as real. As an example, I will cite the Druids.

We actually know very little about the Druids, except for the fact that they existed, and that they were scary. Druids kept no written records or history; most of what we know comes from Julius Caesar, who had his own reasons for branding the Druids the way he did.

https://latinitium.com/latin-book-club-julius-caesar-and-the-druids

We know little to nothing about the actual rites, rituals and religious practices of the Druids, however there are groups today who claim to be practicing Druids, with all kinds of rituals and rites they have essentially made up. This has “poisoned the well” of knowledge, so to speak, when looking for good information, because you will find all this made up crap. And since WE know that many so-called “credible” sources have ulterior motivations, even the “scholarly” sources are suspect.

This fascination and reverence for tribal religions also spills over onto things like voodoo and Santeria, another animal-sacrifice religion. There appears to be a sort of “glossy magazine cover” version of these. So, when the researcher goes after real facts, they can be hard to uncover. I have personally seen this in people I know; they become enthralled with the New Orleans voodoo culture, for example, and the scarier parts of it fade to the background. They see the “lighter side,” and ignore the darkness.

I write this only as a warning to you all about digging into this subject. Because it is being “sugar-coated,” it can appear harmless, or at least not nearly as scary as it is.

STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ SOME SCARY PARTS.

For me, the most frightening aspect of voodoo isn’t the animal sacrifice. It is the vacating of the human body to allow for possession by a loa/lwa spirit. This is common in voodoo. They consider the person thus inhabited as the chwal (“horse”) of the loa spirit, that it is “riding.” This kind of thing happens all the time; special ritual or sacrifice is not necessary for the possession to occur.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctv2t4d7f.16.pdf%3Frefreqid%3Dexcelsior%253A9a59400679b2fb871c3dd74fbe145b44&ved=2ahUKEwjWmML14cCIAxW_weYEHQPIKjUQFnoECBcQAw&usg=AOvVaw1jZKtnNiscQlxJeUIcckXx

The reason why I find this particularly disturbing is, what will happen in our liberal courts when someone claims to have been “possessed” by a loa during the commission of some crime or another? For example, one of the results of loa possession:

“Simpson has noted that in normal, everyday life, there is “considerable sexual modesty among the peasants.”³⁷ The picture changes radically during possession experiences. Huxley writes of the “sexual megalomania” that characterizes many possessions.³⁸ Possessed persons often have to be restrained from taking off their clothes to go naked. Courlander writes of the contempt for proprieties and of the lascivious and lurid behavior and speech of some loa.³⁹ Behavior that would be quite unacceptable to the community and even to the possessed person himself is excused because the loa — not the person being possessed — is responsible for unacceptable behavior and speech.”

https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/voodoo.htm

This is a religious avenue for irresponsibility for one’s actions. America was founded on freedom of religion, but I doubt if this is what the Founders had in mind.

SCARY PART OVER

If you choose to delve into research of any occult religion, be aware that many so-called “Neopagans” have co-opted and bastardized real practices into their own forms. Our society is currently very, very sick with what seems like “cult fever” to me. So many people have rejected Christianity for some flavor of tribal religion that they know very little about. They just make it up as they go along, and it all ends up posted somewhere on the internet.

I am going to sign off with this:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Medicinal Cordials Open Thread: Health Friday 2024.09.13

The above image of vintage pharmacy bottles for medicinal cordials is courtesy of Wikipedia.

Today’s post is one of a series, Health Friday, related to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. However, the discussion in these posts is not limited to what is presented: it is an Open Thread.

To begin, there are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, with a couple of extra items:

Free speech is practiced here. “Use it or lose it.”

The following are alternate Q Tree sites for certain circumstances:

The U Tree is for “argue it out” interactions.

The Rescue Thread at the U Tree: click on the “Featured” article.

The Third Site, in case the above two are not accessible.

Civil discussion is practiced here. The excellent and timely Rules of our late, good Wheatie prevail:

One: No food fights.

Two: No running with scissors.

Three: If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.

Please follow the added guidelines from our good Wolf Moon. Please do not give the modern-day version of Cato the Elder the opportunity to show “enmity” to the board.

The extra items:

What Yours Truly presents in this series, as in her previous blog posts for this board, is not medical advice — they are opinions and hypotheses based on her over 4 1/2 years (and continuing) of reading about, researching about, and writing about “all things COVID”, Big Pharma, and other health topics. Readers are encouraged to consult a healthcare practitioner regarding health concerns or conditions.

Today’s offering for Health Friday is one of a “slightly different path” — it regards Medicinal Cordials. It is a fascinating history that traces at least as far back to Italy during the 15th and 16th Centuries (the Renaissance period.) At that time, medicinal cordials were created and sold by apothecaries (what would now be called Pharmacists.) The craft spread quickly among western European countries (France, Spain, Germany, and England.) Medicinal cordials were originally used to “release” diseases from the body of the patient; to assist in the “renewal” of the diseased body, mind, and spirit; and, to “renew the natural heat” of the body. There were medicinal cordials that had flecks of gold. crushed pearls, or crushed coral added to them, as these items were thought to “assist” the mechanism of the drink. Medicinal cordials eventually “evolved” along two paths: One, into what became “patent medicines”; and, Two, into what are now called “digestifs” and non-medicinal cordials or liqueurs. A “separate” path of development produced a kind of “medicinal beer.” Some medicinal cordials had no alcoholic content at all; others had varying amounts of alcohol content. Some medicinal cordials were made from flowers and spices; others contained herbs and wood derivatives; still others were made of only from herbs and spices. They were (and, along with their modern-day versions of liqueurs, still are), distinct from “fortified wines”, such as Sherry or Vermouth; and, from certain other types of “alcohol + derived ingredient drinks”, such as Ouzo. There are “modern-day” types of “medicinal cordials” available: for example, https://texasmedicinals.com/, which produces and sells various cordials tinctures and elixirs made of flowers, herbs, and spices.

Certain orders of Roman Catholic monks were also involved in the making and providing of medicinal cordials. The famous cross between a medicinal cordial and a “digestif”, D.O.M. Benedictine, was first created by the Benedictine monks at the Abbey of Fecamp, France, in 1510. A French merchant, Alexandre Le Grand, found the original recipe in 1863 (it had been considered lost), and eventually recreated it as the drink sold today. Please see: https://wineanthology.com/1943-benedictine-dom-liqueur. The current product is no longer strictly a “medicinal cordial”, but is a liqueur. The exact ingredients are a secret, but the mixture is believed to contain hyssop, juniper, aloe, and cinnamon, among others. Please see: www.catalystplanet.com/travel-and-social-action-stories/2022/04/12/5-alcoholic-drinks-made-by-european-monks.

Then, there is Chartreuse, first created by the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse Monastery near Grenoble, France. A blend of distilled alcohol and 130 other ingredients (herbs and flowers among them), it is also no longer strictly a “medicinal cordial”, but a liqueur. (However, along with D.O.M. Benedictine, Chartreuse is still considered to have medicinal properties.) Chartreuse is available in “yellow” or “green” hues, which are different in their alcohol content. Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(liqueur). There is also a version available, Chartreuse Vegetal, that is 138-Proof (www.luekensliquors.com/), search “Chartreuse Vegetal.” There are some websites that claim to have the ingredients of the recipe for Chartreuse; other websites have instructions on how to create a kind of “clone” of the recipe.

The Christian Brothers (originally, the De La Salle Christian Brothers), another Roman Catholic religious order of monks, began to grow and produce wines in the Martinez area of California around 1880. They expanded to include vineyards and wineries in the Napa Valley. They now produce altar wines for use in the Mass, and certain types of Brandy. They do not produce medicinal cordials or liqueurs. Please see: www.montlasallealtarwines.com/forms/MLS_History.pdf.

Drambuie, a whisky-based liqueur made in Scotland, is thought to have been created by “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (Prince Charles Edward Stewart) in 1745. A blend of malt whisky, honey, herbs, and spices, it was used as a medicinal cordial. The modern-day product is a Scottish whisky-based liqueur. Please see: www.thespruceeats.com/drambuie-liqeueur-profile-and-cocktals-760270.

Among other types of liqueurs, there are ones made of mostly flower or flower-herb bases. Some of these were originally used as “medicinal cordials.” Modern-day examples are: Vespetro (Italy); Becherovka Original (Czech Republic); St.-Germain Elder Flower Liqueur (France); and, American Elderberry Cordial (Missouri; no alcohol.)

And, yes, there is a kind of “medicinal beer” — Trappist beer, made by Trappist (Cistercian) monks. There are only a handful of Trappist monasteries that brew authentic Trappist beer or ale; they are governed by the International Trappist Association (ITA.) The recipe, a secret known only to a few of the monks, is thought to include herbs and spices. There is a “light” and a “dark” version of Trappist beer or ale (https://beerconnoisseur.com/articles/almighty-trappist-ale.) It is thought that the brew contains certain spices, such as cinnamon and coriander, in the mixture. For persons interested in making a “home-brew Trappist-style version” of the product, please see: https://beersmith.com/blog/2010/09/01/trappist-dubbel-and-tripel-recipes/.

However, there was a “darker side” to medicinal cordials — those that were used to quiet restless or ill babies and children. These were actually “patent medicines”; two such products were “Godfrey’s Cordial” and “Dalby’s Carminative.” They were used in England and the United States during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. The main ingredient of each of these “cordials” was opium — “Godfrey’s Cordial” had one ounce of opium for each two ounces of the product; “Dalby’s Carminative” contained 1/4 ounce of opium for each two ounces of the product. The number of babies and children who died from taking these products is not known. In addition, there was the original recipe for “Creme de Noyaux”, from Yvelines, France. This “cordial”, made from apricot or peach kernels, or cherry pits, could accumulate trace amounts of hydrogen cyanide (a poison.) The longer this “cordial” was kept in storage, the greater the potential for the hydrogen cyanide to accumulate and collect at the top of the bottle — an unsuspecting imbiber could be badly poisoned upon taking a glass of it. The recipe was re-formulated a few years ago by the Tempus Fugit company to remove all traces of the poison. (This formulation would appear to be the “safest” for Creme de Noyaux.)

There are sources online that can assist interested persons who wish to create cordials or liqueurs at home. One source is here: https://theherbalacademy.com/. Another source (which also has a history of medicinal cordials) is here: https://traditionalroots.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Herbal-Cordials-and-Liqueurs-2_16.pdf, by Glen Nagel, ND (Naturopathic Doctor.) Here is an image of an Alembic Still, used to create home-made cordials or liqueurs (courtesy of Glen Nagel):

Interested persons should note that taking modern-day “versions” of medicinal cordials or liqueurs does not replace consulting a healthcare practitioner regarding health concerns; also, they should also investigate ingredients in home-made “medicinal cordials or liqueurs” to make sure none of them would interact with any prescription drugs, OTC drugs, and/or other herbals that the person is already taking. For example, the Gentian used in this home-made herbal “cordial” can interact with prescription drugs for high blood pressure, as Gentian is may lower blood pressure (www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-716/gentian, click on “Interactions.”)

Cordials glasses are usually small and hold no more than 2 to 4 ounces of the cordial. They are used to serve the drink at room temperature or chilled, and usually without other items mixed in. Some types of cordials glasses are also used to serve liqueurs. An example of vintage cranberry red cordials glasses is below, courtesy of https://rustedlove.com/:

Due to the varying alcohol content of cordials or liqueurs, and to their unique flavors, the modern-day versions of these products are often added to mixed drinks.

Ad Salutem Tuam!

Good Energy, Peace, Respect: PAVACA