Reglas De Congo: Mayombe Palo Monte (Coleccion Del Chichereku En El Exilio)

Rating:
Summary: Palo Mayombe
Review: As an initiated priest of Palo, I can say that it depends on what house you are in whether you think this book, or any other book by Lydia Cabrera, is all that good or not. This one does have some interesting material, as do all her books. But it has plenty that is not universally agreed upon, and it has absolutely nothing at all to say about the deeper, and most important secrets of Palo. Palo is not a standardized tradition. What you know and what you do depends on what house you are coming from. The houses are secret societies. You can't expect to learn anything without being in a house. It's as simple as that. No good Palero is going to make the secrets public. By their very nature, that would be insane. Not that I am showing disrespect to Lydia Cabrera. Her books are more or less good. I like some parts of her "La Regla Kimbisa." But a word of caution to you who want to dabble with African magic: there is a lot that will never be put into writing. Dabbling, when you don't know what you are dealing with, and especially in Palo, is a very fool hardy and dangerous thing to do. You don't know what you don't know. A lot of the older Paleros question what got into Lydia Cabrera to write what she did. Palo is closed to the uninitiated.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Lydia Cabrera is consider one of the foremost scholars on afro-carribean religions and rightfully so. As an initiated priest of Palo Mayombe I highly recommend this book as a source of information for any interested in the religion.