“This is a key text that we use, this is obviously an updated version,” Apostle Michael hands me his well-worn copy of The Sworn Book of Honorius, translated by Joseph Peterson, “also, they use The Sword of Moses, The Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon, also Picatrix, for those who are doing moon magic or astrological magic. The Black Pullet and The Dragon Rouge or The Green Butterfly, all of which are the same book by different names, those are said to be more infernal, for those who are into that sort of thing, those are the key texts. But this, The Sworn Book of Honorius, with the Greater and Lesser Keys are what most people use. The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses they don’t really use because they can’t understand it. It is very difficult to understand and to categorize what is in that. However, everything that is in these books can be done through the Sixth and Seventh, with what is in there. It’s a much higher form of magic. Some people, if they are knowledgeable, they will get the Jewish texts, so for example The Book of Raziel, Sefer HaMalakh, of course the The Book of Psalms, Sefer Tehillim, with all of the added things that is left out of the Bible is in there. They read those books too.”
“Not all of the entities that we work with are in there, but the conjurations for them are,” he gestures toward a stack of books including a copy of The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses he had laid on the table before us. “Of course, they have different… how should I put this? They use diluted versions, because that book has a lot of stuff in it. It’s written in such a way that’s very difficult to understand unless you know the field well, and so people have just taken out pieces. And then there’s the other side which we use, which is the books by people like [Richard] Dukante and [S.] Connolly which is the demonology books [e.g. The Complete Book of Demonolatry], which gives us some of the sigils and the enns, the ‘enns’ they call it. It also works, but that’s a different level.”
Above is an excerpt from one of innumerable conversations I have had over the years with Apostle Michael, a longtime friend and research interlocutor in Trinidad and Tobago. Apostle Michael is an influential Spiritual Baptist leader who, like many members of his faith in Trinidad, is an active participant in a creolized form of occult spiritism referred to locally as “Kabbalah.” Seemingly unrelated to the Jewish mystical tradition of the same name, Kabbalah in Trinidad is a largely secretive Afro-Creole religious complex heavily influenced by demonological and occult literatures. During all-night seances called “banquets,” Kabbalists, led by a Grand Master (or Master of the Art), gather at elaborately set tables to summon and commune with spiritual “entities” who throughout the proceedings possess designated mediums and are controlled by wand-wielding “operators.” While some of the entities with whom Kabbalists work, like Lucifuge, Astaroth, and Bethor, are referenced in popular grimoires around the world, others are of local or unknown derivation and go by names like Joe Steele, Immanuel Bones, Sir J.D. Hunaman Singh, and Mr. Link Yuh. Waite’s The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts, perhaps the most influential work in Trinidadian Kabbalah (Houk 1993:47), is a primary source for magical seals and conjurations utilized during banquets and less formal “sittings.” It also informs everyday ritual practices in Baptist and Orisha circles where its influence is denied publicly but embraced privately. Waite’s text along with several others were originally distributed throughout the Caribbean by The de Laurence Company well over a hundred years ago; today they continue to serve as indispensable sourcebooks on occult knowledge for practitioners across the local subaltern religious spectrum.
Despite the enduring appeal of these texts locally, surprisingly little scholarship exists on their contemporary application in Trinidad and Tobago, let alone the broader Caribbean. Indeed, what specific texts are used and how they are used are still very much the subject of speculation (Polk 1999:116). Due to the community’s general commitment to secrecy and observance of closed-door rites, no detailed studies of Kabbalah in Trinidad exist outside a few summaries derived from limited exposure or secondhand knowledge (exceptions, if still truncated accounts, include Houk 1993, Lum 2000, Glazier 2001, Ashby 2012).
Drawing on eight years of comprehensive ethnographic research in Trinidad and Tobago with Spiritual Baptist Christians—Trinidadian Kabbalah’s primary audience and core membership—this paper considers several areas of adoption, adaptation, and application of global esoterica, namely the mystical seals and conjurations collectively referred to as “keys” that the faithful employ to conduct spiritual work in a variety of ritual contexts. Part of a larger book project on Spiritual Baptist religion and identity, this paper develops some preliminary thoughts for a chapter in progress that explores the diffuse, albeit unappreciated, influence of Kabbalah and other occult philosophies on the cosmology, ritual practices, and biblical exegesis of the Spiritual Baptist faith.
Works Cited:
Ashby, Glenville 2012 The Believers: The Hidden World of West Indian Spiritualism in New York. Hertford, UK: Hansib Publications.
Glazier, Stephen 2001 “Adumbrations of Dread: Spiritual Baptists at the Dawn of the Millennium,” Journal of Ritual Studies 15(1):17-26.
Houk, James 1993 “The Role of the Kabbalah in the Afro-American Religious Complex in Trinidad,” Caribbean Quarterly 39(3/4):42-55.
Lum, Kenneth Anthony 2000 Praising His Name in the Dance: Spirit Possession in the Spiritual Baptist Faith and Orisha Work in Trinidad, West Indies. Boca Raton: Harwood Academic Publishers.
Polk, Patrick 1999 “Other Books, Other Powers: The 6th and 7th Books of Moses in Afro-Atlantic Folk Belief,” Southern Folklore 56(2):115-133.
This paper offers a fresh ethnographic perspective on the role of esoteric texts in contemporary Caribbean religion by exploring the Trinidadian Spiritual Baptist community’s involvement in a creolized form of occult spiritism referred to locally as “Kabbalah.” Seemingly unrelated to the Jewish mystical tradition of the same name, these closed-door ritual practices are supplemental to the faith and are heavily influenced by demonological and occult literatures. Delving into the esoteric reaches of Baptist biblical exegesis and the private unorthodox engagements of my interlocutors, this paper considers the adoption, adaptation, and application of mystical seals and conjurations derived from Waite’s The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts and looks to contribute novel ethnographic insights into the diffuse, albeit unappreciated, influence of occult philosophies and literatures on Spiritual Baptist and other Afro-Caribbean religions.