SPANISH FORT and MOBILE — At a time when enlightenment is offered online in 15-minute sessions through the teachings of dubiously credentialed spiritual influencers, a group of more than 50 students traveled from across the country, and the Atlantic Ocean, to participate in a more immersive, authentic experience at Blakeley State Park.
The 8th annual Conjure South Hoodoo Queen Conjure Fete featured four days of interactive workshops, classes and rituals centering on ancestral reverence and connection. The Fete was founded by Cotaliya M. De Livre, Queen of the Imperial Court Milner-Meadows De Livre, a spiritual royal family with deep ancestral roots, tracing back to Queen Sehoy, of the Muskogee Nation, well before Alabama was a state.
This year, Queen Cotaliya was joined by Dr. Dòwòti Désir, Her Royal Majesty Queen Mother of the African Diaspora Bénin Republic, and Clan Mother Shoran Waupatukuay Piper, of the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe. All three of these women are held in high regard not only within their respective communities, but in the spiritual world at large. They each emphasize the importance of education around truly authentic practices and rituals in a world that has commercialized spirituality.
“If you go to Walmart, you can find candles, you go to Sephora you can find little crystal kits, all of these things are very trendy, they are not traditional and, really, they devalue tradition,” Queen Cotaliya said. “We created the Conjure Fete so that people have an opportunity to be in the presence of actual people that are a part of the cultures where these traditional practices come from.”
Aside from the educational component, Conjure Fete held a formal gala in Daphne on Thursday night, a Witches Walk second line on Saturday evening through downtown Mobile and a sunset cruise to the confluence of the Mobile and Tensaw Rivers.
If you want to learn more about Queen
Cotaliya and Conjure South head to
www.conjuresouth.com and keep an eye out for their next event, the Working Ritual Weekend, at Blakeley State Park at the end of October.