Azal,

I don't recall another article, but there may well have been one.

And no, I don't know of anything on veves and ruhaniya sigils, but it's a fascinating question. I would assume there's some crossover between modern ruhaniya and Zar practices, no? From what I know of it, Zar could legitimately be called Islamic(ate) voudon, insofar as its origins lie in the historical Muslim slave-trade and the integration of slaves from various parts of Africa.

As for the sigils, the oldest examples of those in manuscript that I know of are in codices originating in Yemen. This brings to mind some researchers who have traced Zar to spirit-possession practices among Ethiopian Christians and Jews. Also, I know there's a great old book in French on Ethiopian magical sigils (Deleuze and Guattari draw on it in Mille Plateaux, so I'll have to check there to find the title). In any case, perhaps the nexus of all this runs across the Gulf of Aden? Just a thought.

- Noah

On 5/19/2012 3:17 PM, N.W. Azal wrote:

[log in to unmask]" type="cite">Hi Noah

Memory is fuzzy, but wasn't there a similar article last year or the year before in the UK Guardian -- or was that the Independent? -- about something like this being uncovered in Britian itself involving West African practioners?

Also, is there anything published on Voudon veves and ruhaniya sigils that you may know about?

N
On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Noah Gardiner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/18/briton-arrested-thailand-babies-corpses

"A British citizen has been arrested in Bangkok on suspicion of smuggling human infant corpses for use in black magic rituals after the bodies of six babies were found in a suitcase in a hotel room, Thai police have said... Some of the remains had been covered in gold leaf, said police, apparently for use in black magic rituals... Black magic rituals are still practised in Thailand, where street-side fortune tellers offer ceremonies to reverse bad luck."

Thoughts? I have to say that the part about Thai fortune-tellers practicing 'black magic rituals' seems a bit non-sequitur to me, though it's hard to know much from the scanty details in the article.

- Noah

-- Noah Gardiner Doctoral candidate, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

-- 
Noah Gardiner
Doctoral candidate, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor