The Spirit of Cascarilla, Efun & Ritual Powders

The spirit of Cascarilla, Efun & Ritual Powders

Waves to surf in this entry: 

• Opening
• What is Cascarilla?
• What is Efun? 
• Why are ritual powders so powerful?
• Closing

   Idk about you, but at a point in my practice I evolved from just using the ritual items that peeked my interest- I started learning them carefully, listening to them closely, and connecting with them intimately. Nothing wrong with younger me, and I admire her for feeling magnetized to certain activities like making eggshell powder. Even when I first started with these ritualized practices, I was doing so from a place of curiosity and calling… let’s just say what was curiosity grew into knowledge and continues to brew great wisdom as I move along my path. The depths have always called me, as I grow into myself- it’s impossible to ignore the depths in any and every activity.

   Now let me tell you, the act of making a powder is the act of Refinement. Like how Mami Wata creates sand of her rocks and shells. In my act of refining eggshells into powder over the years, I’ve found my Mami Wata refining my wisdom, my technique, my understanding of what it is I’m doing, and my ability to speak with the spirits of refinement. In this case, specifically those spirits within the Cascarilla and Efun making process.

   In this entry I’ll be sharing some insight from the conversations I had with said spirits in my most recent rituals of powder making. First though, let me give you an overlook of the powders I’m talking about.

What is Cascarilla?

Cascarilla is a powder made from ground eggshells. It’s most known within the traditions of Santeria, Lucumí, Voodoo & hoodoo. The process consists of cleaning white eggshells, removing the inner membrane layer from the shells, baking or sun drying, and finally grinding into powder with mortar & pestle. Often it is added with blessed water to make a more compact, chalky consistency.

What is Efun?

Efun is a powder made from a white clay from the earth also known as ayilo (sometimes with ground giant african snail shells & blessed water) most commonly recognized in Iṣeṣe, Ifa and Candomble traditions.

Why are ritual powders so powerful?

•1 to Infinity •Something to Nothing •Thinning the veil

So as I mentioned, powders are refined from their larger more solid forms. One of the reasons this is so powerful is due to how the breaking down/transformation of something solid into a fine powder symbolizes how 1 thing can be many things. 1 egg shell worked into uncountable amount of powder grains. 1 chunk of clay ground into trillions of fine dust particles. 1 God, infinite creations. Get it?

Cascarilla Spirit says it is one that protects life, knowing death, and protects death, knowing life. Interpret that as you will! But let me also suggest you think of it this way: As the chicken is experiencing life, it is a bridge between the realm of the unborn and the living adn the dead (as any life-bearing/pregnant individual is). The chicken holds the egg in its womb AND the egg itself symbolizes a womb, fertility, and a world within awaiting its birth- and eventually too, its death/rebirth. It is an infinite labyrinth- and when refined, can be a potent gateway to the infinite realities our Ori can reveal to us for out of body experiences and greater synergy with the Great Divine. Cascarilla also called itself an Integral Spirit in our last conversation. The veil & void thins with refining things to powder, and so the powder becomes a tangible symbol of the ability to access spaces between worlds. In the process of making powder, a smoke like dust rises into the air- if you've ever used a mortar & pestle to make powder, or even just a grinder to grind up di herb, you might be able to recall this! The essence of this powder dust acts as / IS a spiritual vehicle for the spirits to mount through simultaneously with the human being using the powder/preforming ritual.

It's also insightful to note, as the cascarilla informed me, that if powder were turned in a mortar with pestle forever it would turn to nothing and therefore evaporate into everything. Dissolution is the next season after Refinement takes its course.

 

   I ask that you walk away from this entry asking yourself questions, and listening closely for the answers that sit within you. I ask that you ponder on Refinement, Dissolution, Spirit Mounting, the Veil, the Bridge, and all things far and in between... how do these things show up in casual daily life? Might you find yourself speaking with the spirits of refinement the next time you pick up some flour, cane sugar, or even simply a kitchen cabinet spice jar? Continue to travel the path of your calling, beloved~ and stay wet ;)

 

One Love,

Lailana Victoria Yaa-Akwuobi