Do You Believe in Magick?

Somewhere between science and sensation is the truth

Call me crazy for believing in a causal connection between these two events, but I’m linking the recent demise of the sushi joint right below my apartment in New York City with the placement of a Santeria totem on their doorstep several months ago.

Let me explain: Back in the late 80s a friend of mine in Chicago moonlighted as a shaman in a Jamaican voodo church. He introduced me to many of the rituals, one of which was sacrificing live chickens in his Edgewater studio apartment.

At such a ritual he presented Ogun, the Deity of Iron, War, and Metalwork, whom he molded into a clay figurine bequeathed as my Spirit Twin. My friend chanted in Swahili as I shook the decapitated chicken, and we smeared its blood all over the idol.

I’ve since carried Ogun with me through decades of moves from Chicago to LA to New York City. Considering the palm-sized figurine more of a memento of my friend and those times than anything else, I never really thought about its possible mojo.

Toward the end of August this year another of life’s many emotional tsunamis struck me, triggering waves of memories, soul searching, and wondering WTF. One such maudlin morning I randomly gazed over at a book shelf, and Ogun stared right back.