Happy Man At The Crossroads Day, Hoodoos!
Today we celebrate our cultural crossroads-keeper.
The force of nature known in Yorubaland as Eshu/Elegbara, to the Vodoun as Legba is known as The Black Man at The Crossroads (+ the Man at The Crossroads or Ole’ Crossroads Man) by the Hoodoo peoples.
These aren't the same "deities" and are not necessarily interchangable. Each have their own origin stories, way of movement, aesthetic attributions and culturally-specific manifestations.
For Black Hoodoos, the Man At The Crossroads is, at very least, a traffic conductor of the vital Ashé needed to make things move, shift, and change in this lifetime. He is the spirit that closes and opens the door to what we want or don't want, need or don't need. He is the point of contact for what manifests into the world, and what simply doesn't.
He can change our hand from a bad one to a great one, and vice versa.
You see why our Ancestors and Cousins from West Africa and the Diaspora prioritize the appeasement of the one who keeps the crossroads!
We want our desires to manifest with potency and power, don't we?
We want electric vitality and to have enough energy to do what out destiny requires, yes?
We want our prayers to reach who or what they need to reach in order to be received!
We want our talents to take us far and wide, right?
This is why we give offerings to this spirit, and this is why he has a special day during #HoodooHeritageMonth.
On a deeper note, we know that the Deities we revere as African people are all culturally personified forces of nature, that we recognize in our living world.
YOU are nature. You are a Force of nature! Any and all of the spirits in the Hoodoo Pantheon exist in the context of your body and beingness.
The Black Man At The Crossroads represents the crossroads in the body.
The neurological pathways of positive (+) and negative (-) electrical currents that activate consciousness, awareness, and movement....he exists in all of those currents. What you think opens and closes pathways.
He is at the crossroads of the conscious and subconscious mind. The 2 sides of the brain. The 2 nervous systems.
He exists at the crossroads where your head and arms meet + (your throat). What you say makes open and closes doors.
He exists at the crossroads where your trunk and your hips meet + (your Mojo/Moyo center). What you sensually and sexually experience and create opens and closes doors...sometimes to whole human beings arriving here.
He exists at your heart, where red blood and blue blood exchanges energy, and takes new roads to to keep you thriving. What you feel opens and closes doors.
He exists at the subdued, void space after the exhale and before the inhale, and after the inhale and before the exhale.
Honor these crossroads in yourself and you're honoring the Man at the Crossroads.
May you have all the Asé you need today.
-BLESS-ED CROSSROADS MAN DAY/HAPPY HALLOWEEN/SAMHAIN