Talkin To The Dead
The dead are loud, do we know how to listen? Then, what do we DO with that information? Your astrology chart can help - learn more from my own story below!
“I’m not dead.”
THAT was the message my dad had for me after all this time…
“Well, that is interesting cause I am talkin to you through a Vodu priest dad.” I replied, half annoyed half confused cause it had been almost 13 years since that man had literally dropped dead in my childhood home after I had talked with him on the phone that morning.
Back in 2018 I was learning foundational principles of magic through an African Traditional Religion (ATR) lens from a Haitian Hougan. I was also an Assistant Vice President for Campus Life and Affiliated Faculty in Africana at Brown University. It was my time working at Brown that once again brought me back to the dead, as the living were not safe and I was feeling an unease about being in this Ivy(ory) Tower that felt more confining.
My nightmares had started back up again. Dreams that felt real and instilled such a sense of terror in my body that I was waking myself up again to escape them. Yet, they still kept coming. Many were warnings of danger coming - always at work/on campus in one way or another - but I was uncertain of what I was suppose to DO about it.
I had just moved my family from Wisconsin to Rhode Island and bought a house. I was determined to make a fresh start in a new space and do things differently this time. But here came the same old nightmares, just in a different font and I knew when my dreams became active like this the dead were uneasy and needed me to pay attention.
Then the Haitian Vodu priest came in my life by way of a board meeting for an academic organization I was part of. One of the board members recently had a reading done by a trained priest who was also from Memphis and had a background as well in Hoodoo. Made sense to me since African-American Hoodoo and Haitain Vodu have similar origins, just different expressions of how they connect with Spirit and the Land. And, he was also finishing up his PhD in Sociology and the person making the recommendation was also a well known and highly trained scholar herself, so I trusted the source that was directing me to his work.
By the beginning of 2019 we were fully working together and I was starting my journey into receiving Orisa as part of the Lukumi tradition.
During a reading with Ifa I was told I needed to have a mass for my father. A Catholic mass to be exact since he was Catholic and needed the official last rites done to help his spirit. But my then godfather did not really elaborate and my own spirit was irritated as something was missing. So I went to my other teacher - the Hougan - for advice since he was also a child of Baron Samedi, the Lwa of the Gede (the dead). (I talk more about this on my former podcast “Abolitionist Dreamscapes” in episode 6 “talkin w/ the dead”)
Funny enough, it was really Baron who brought the priest back to be after our first reading together. Around Thanksgiving of 2018 I was in my car with a friend as she had come into town for the holiday weekend. Work was already stressing my out and I was looking forward to some downtime before the pre-winter break finals sprint that was waiting for me back in the office.
My phone started to ring and I saw the caller was from Atlanta. The name of the Hougan popped in my head and before I could deny the call that I did not know, I found myself hitting accept.
“Nicole - is this Nicole Truesdell”, the caller said.
“Um yes, who is this?” I replied.
“This is Quin, we did a reading a few months ago. I know this is goin to sound weird, but I woke up cause Baron kepy saying your name and told me I needed to call you and offer you free readings. I don’t know why but here is a code to use, go ahead and book you are reading for this week.”
I was literally too stunned to speak, cause while it did sound straight up crazy, it also rang very true in my Spirit. Also..I ain’t mad at a free reading cause his prices were PRICED. I followed up and a couple of days later we were on the phone while he was giving me a reading, and that is when Baron came down and said LOUDLY and CLEARLY that it was time for me to go back to the practices of my bloodline that were ancient. It was time I met Ifa.
I had no goddamn clue what Baron or the Hougan was talkin about, but again it felt right. Then 2 months later I would meet my now godbrother who would introduce me to my now former godfather and we would receive our Warriors and Hand of Ifa together.
(Picture: Odu - Ifa)
When Odu came down about my father I wanted to speak and work with someone who directly worked with the dead. It was during that reading with the Hougan that we both realized my dad…didn’t know he was dead. He had been walkin around for the past decade plus confused, and leaning on me to “help” my siblings.
And once my father was told, that stubborn ass Scorpio came out and we spent at least 20 minutes arguing with his hardheaded ass about the fact that he was not only dead but he was being a pain in my ass cause he was hindering my ability to grow.
See, the dead learn lessons too but they have to turn around and face themselves (the light) in order to know and do better. Otherwise, they become part of the walking dead.
Once he recognized his death I was able to do a number of rituals to help him not only cross over but understand his role and position as an ancestors. One of those learnings was that my father cannot sit at my ancestral table (more on that in another post), but he is part of my bloodline and his work is to learn and assist those who ARE at my ancestral court.
When I look at my astrology chart, this interaction as an example of my relationship to the dead also makes sense. My dark houses are ruled by air, meaning I do tend to “hear” what cannot be seen. A pack Libra 12th house (Venus - Saturn - Jupiter - Pluto) with a South Node in Aquarius in my 4th house has me always navigating the realms of the sacred and mundane. My childhood was unconventional and violent, so my only real relief came when I could daydream and play with the spirits of creativity.
Working more WITH my chart has also given me so many insights on HOW I can work with these gifts that for most of my life felt like a burden. Since that encounter with my father I have had to help a number of folks work with their own dead to ensure they are speaking with ancestors who are elevated and not those who still have to do the work of facing themselves.
When you don’t face yourself in life it can be hard to face yourself in death. That is why it is so important to understand your “gifts” and then learn how to USE them for the betterment of Self, which then helps the collective.
Over the past 3 years I have been working on some techniques and interpretations to help others understand more about their spiritual gifts in a society that is both hyper-religious but also anti-spirit, and learn to work with them as a way to come back into one’s humanity.
I have two offers to help with this. The first is my “Understanding Your Spiritual Gifts w/ Astrology” seminar! In this workshop, I’ll guide you in activating these gifts using astrology as a tool for insight. We'll focus on the "dark houses" of the natal chart - the 4th, 8th, and 12th - along with the nodes of the moon, and explore the energy of the planets and zodiac signs within these houses. These areas are deeply connected to our spiritual paths, ancestral wisdom, and intuitive abilities.
By examining the North and South Nodes along with these houses, you’ll learn how to uncover your unique spiritual gifts and activate them through your personal chart. This workshop offers a focused dive into how these astrological placements can help you understand and harness your intuitive powers, providing you with the knowledge to begin working with your gifts - and therefore your humanity - in meaningful ways.
This seminar is good for beginners up to more advanced folks as this is an overview of how one can work with their chart to access one's spiritual gifts. So we will go over what spiritual gifts are, why it matters, and then get into the astrology of it all. Spaces are limited!
My second offering is my “Understanding Your Spiritual Gifts” 1 -on 1 reading with me! This is a reading focused on your nodes and the dark houses (4-8-12) as a way to lean into the gifts of your ancestral lines and reconnect with the essence of your humanity. I use a combination of astrological analysis alongside my training as an anthropologist and practitioner of African-American Hoodoo, magic, and Lukumi. If you want a more personalized reading with a ritual that is informed by your chart than this reading is for you!
Both offerings are for folks who are at any stage of their spiritual development -from just seeking to fully being in a practice and wanting to go deeper. The focus of both offerings is to provided practical guidance and steps of what it means to be embodied in your humanity, and how turning the body on means your gifts will also be turned on.
As we see the world starting to burn, it is time we meet this fire with our own. But it must be grounded and used to bring clarity to what is already a burning house. Working WITH the dead is one way we can gain that clarity, yet to do that we have to make space in the body to receive and transmute those messages. This offering is one way to learn HOW to turn the body on since that is the vessel that houses our spiritual gifts.
In a time of uncertainty, activating your spiritual gifts can help you ground yourself, find clarity, and make choices from a place of inner knowing. Let’s work together to turn this fire into fuel for growth.
Come and dream with me! Don’t wait for the fire to consume you - begin your journey to spiritual clarity today.