While most know of Obeah in Jamaica, few know its counterpoint, Myal.
An Entry in Jamaica Talk: Three Hundred years of the English Language in Jamaica by Frederic G. Cassidy ( MacMillian Caribbean, 1961), we get one notation:
“Obeah, the Jamaican form of sorcery or `black magic’, [sic] was once counterbalanced by myal, or `white magic’ a healing cult. Obeah employed its power against people; myal claimed to counter those powers.” P. 241
Another entry in the same above text, “Another plant with supposedly magical property is spirit weed or myal weed. These names refer to religious practices in which the myal-man used the plant to `bring back to life’ a celebrant whom he had previoulsy `killed’ with a narcotic draught. This plant does indeed have a pungent aromatic odour, from which it is also called fit-weed or fit-bush and goat-root; snake-weed and snake-root may also allude to cultist use.” P. 380
“Gombay is considered to be a myal dance. The term `to cathch myal’ in the Kumina cult refers to full posssession of a person by an ancestor.” – from A-Z of Jamaican Heritage by Olive Senior. (England: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983).
See also, Erna Brodber’s novel, Myal (London: New Beacon Books, 1988).
I am on my way to Jamaica to meet and hopefully interview current myal parctioners and learn more about their herbs, and practice.
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Unsettled/Soiled Group is a group of East, Southeast, and South Asian diasporic movers, makers, and settlers on Ramaytush and Chochenyo Ohlone land. Unsettled/Soiled Group is led by June Yuen Ting, one of CounterPulse's 2022 ARC Performing Diaspora artists and will debut Dwelling for Unsettling alongside VERA!'s Try, Hye!, Thursday through Saturday, December 8-10 & 15-17, 2022
Try, Hye! by Vera Hannush/VERA! & Dwelling for Unsettling by Unsettled/Soiled Group December 8-10 & 15-17, 2022 // 8PM PT // 80 Turk St, SF
Opal– Congratulations on being the first Performing Diaspora Resident artist to post on the CounterPULSE Blog! We’re so excited to see the work that you create here at CounterPULSE!
I can’t wait to learn more about Myal when you return from Jamaica! This is so interesting. Thank you for posting information from these books, too.
Fascinating information Opal, I love the ancestry part, in retrospect it is what ties us all together. Now I am gearing up to post something, yayayyayay!
Hi Opal,
This was great info. Is there any chance you can direct me towards photos or videos of a traditional Myalist? I want to start learning the visual style of everyone’s traditional form before we start to find ways to experiment with it.
Very interesting. This reminds me of a ceremony in Haiti called “Pele Fey” or “Stepping on Leaves” where in a ceremony folks sing while the drums are playing while they are dancing in a sense on top of a variety of particular leave. Which are made into a “bayen” or “bath” for healing purposes.
Hope you had a good time in Jamaca