What You Should Know About Witchcraft: My Story

What You Should Know About Witchcraft
By Rev., Dr. Christos Kioni ©2017

Introduction
My Story

I grew up around the practice of African American Hoodoo AKA as roots and rootwork. Twice a year my legal guardian Pearlie Mae would take me with her to Leesburg Florida for a visit to a gypsy fortune teller who worked roots. I remember the fascination of peeping through the wooden door of the fortune teller’s office to see what went on behind the closed door. One year when I was around six or seven years old, the old woman sent someone to fetch me.

The establishment we frequented was in Leesburg Florida where the root lady had her operation setup in a weathered wooden building out in the country. Like a scene from Zora Neal Hurston’s novel “Mules and Men”; we traveled down a dusty road passing cow pastures and orange groves. Finally, in the distance, I could see a barn and a lone giant oak tree shading a small building that housed a greasy spoon café and the root woman’s lair.

The root lady must have been very popular because people would be everywhere. Her clientele appeared to consist of black people but sometimes white people were among the patrons. Old men sat under the giant oak tree swapping stories and drinking moonshine. Children played marbles and hopscotch in the dirt while others watched the cows come and go from a barnyard adjacent to the juke joint.

The scent of frying fish, chicken, and other Southern culinary delights wafted through the heavy hot air. Women dress in starched pleated skirts scurried about laughing, and occasionally crying upon exiting the lair of the root lady. An old outhouse in the back of the structure completed the scene and sometimes when the wind blew just right; one would think Satan himself was taking a dump back there.

It was during one of these trips that I was summoned into the dingy lit lair of the root lady. I had never accompanied Pearlie Mae inside the room to see her. However, on this occasion, one of the ladies traveling with us came outside and told me to follow her. Upon entering the mysterious room, I saw roots and strange bones hanging from the ceiling. Wooden boards formed shelves on the walls and held bottles and jars of powders, oils and strange stuff that I had never seen before. The lighting in the room was dim and in the corner I observed Pearlie Mae sitting stiff, her eyes covered by the dark glasses blind people wear. In the middle of the room was an old desk behind which the root lady sat staring at me intently.

She motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of the desk and asked for my hands. I was reluctant to allow this woman to touch me because she looked like the Witch from the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. Her eyes were yellow with jet black pupils and sat sunken back into her head as if they were being dragged into a black hole. Her nose was crooked, her teeth rotten and her skin wrinkled beyond anything I had seen in my young years. I was around age 6 at the time.

Taking my small hands into her emaciated claws, she cackled “the child has the mark”. She released my hands and focused on the Tarot cards spread out on the desk before her. She looked over at Pearlie Mae and asked: “is this boy named Kenneth?” Pearlie Mae nodded her head in the affirmative and the witch dismissed me with a wave of her gnarled right hand toward the door. I would not know the meaning of this strange meeting until many years later after I became a spiritual practitioner.

After I hung out my shingle as a Spiritual Practitioner and Adviser, Pearlie Mae recalled the event from my youth. One hot Florida afternoon I went to her house to deliver the dream books she asked me to find. She knew I was telling fortunes on the internet, and she asked if I could find the King Tut and Aunt Sally’s Dream Books for her and a close friend. Many people use these books to discern their dreams and obtain the numbers in order to play the lottery. In Pearl’s day, she played a weekly numbers game they called Cuba but was actually Bolita. She would have me to look up her dreams and give her the corresponding number. For example, perhaps she dreamed of the dead. So the number might be 13, 9 and 11. People call and write me today for numbers to hit the lottery. I’ve not had much success at it as much as others who swear by this ancient system of divination and numerology.  

Bolita (Spanish for Little Ball), is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which number will be drawn. [1]

“Do you remember the root lady in Leesburg?” Pearlie Mae asked, her hands clutching the coveted dream books tightly. I answered in the affirmative and inquired why she asked me. “Remember she looked at your hand and said you have the mark?” She then told me the rest of the conversation that took place when I left the root woman’s office. The old gypsy fortune teller had seen the letter “M” in my right palm. Palm readers say a person with this rare marking is seen as gifted individuals who hold extraordinary intuition. She said the woman told her that I was destined to become a world famous root doctor. The old woman told Pearlie Mae not to say anything to me about it until she observed that I was following this peculiar calling. “This gift runs in both your father and mother’s family line.” Pearlie Mae said. “But I was told not to teach you nor discourage you from learning if you showed interest in roots.”  

That conversation with Pearlie Mae solved the mystery of the meeting I had with the gypsy root woman. Indeed I had been curious about the occult as a child and into my teens. However, I never revealed my interest to anyone. It was a part of myself that I kept hidden for fear of recrimination and punishment. I was a voracious reader as a child and daily frequented the library to delve into my secret interest about magick, especially Hermetics.

Hoodoo was a part of my life but no one taught me about it. I observed Pearlie Mae sprinkling sachet powders when tenants didn’t pay their rent. Within two or three days, the unwanted tenants would pack and leave. At the time I didn’t know she was hot footing them out of the rooming house. I also witnessed her sprinkling green powders in front of rooms that were vacant. Soon thereafter she would have inquiries to rent the rooms. This was my first observation of money drawing magick. Additionally, I observed her annual ritual of washing several dolls she kept on a wall shelf and laundering their clothes with herbs in a bowl of water. Each doll was named after someone in her inner circle and she would talk to them kindly telling them how to act toward her. There was a doll for my mother, Sarah, a doll for Ms. Roberta who managed the bar, a doll for Grady who was Pearl’s man, etc. Working voodoo dolls also known as poppets in hoodoo is a common practice to positively influence or to maim and kill one’s target. [2]

Pearlie Mae and I were avid church members and attended services weekly. You could say I was raised in the church, and at age 15 I professed a call to preach. As I pursued the ministry over the years, I forgot about what I witnessed in my childhood. I was a gung-ho evangelical with a bloodlust against anyone who practiced witchcraft. When I saw Papa Smurf making his potions on the cartoon The Smurfs, I forbade my children from watching the show. I had an evangelist’s zeal against the occult not realizing I had a date with destiny.

I was the Senior Pastor of a Assemblies of God Church in Montbello Colorado just outside of Denver. It was the church of my dreams replete with a K-12 Christian school and TV ministry. I was the 9th pastor at the helm of the church in 15 years. Every pastor that was called to lead the congregation found himself embroiled in controversy and fired soon thereafter by the board.

I was on the second of two 40 days fast within a four month period. The Bible says that some spiritual difficulties can only be resolved by prayer and fasting. So I asked the congregation for volunteers to fast with me, and we met daily at dawn in the sanctuary to pray. Upon assuming the leadership of the church I found trails of missing money market certificates totaling tens of thousands of dollars. As I dug deeper in the financial web, it became apparent a group of individuals was draining the church dry with exorbitant salaries and perks. In my attempt to right the listing ship, several influential members were taken off the payroll and benefits were cut.

The fight was on and soon a group of members was plotting to overthrow my leadership. It became apparent three individuals who appeared more spiritual than others were leading the rebellion. When I stood in the pulpit to deliver sermons, they sat with arms folded staring at me while mouthing words silently. At first, I thought they were simply speaking in tongues but later realized they were invoking an incantation.

The 40 day fast was hard on my body especially the second fast because I drank only water and a little orange juice. No amount of prayer and fasting appeared strong enough to break the grip those individuals had over the church. I found myself unable to function and I was depressed and disheartened. It was in a closed congregational business meeting I resigned out of frustration. Upon hearing that I resigned the three individuals seated together muttered out loud. “Finally, thank God!” 

It was then that a light turned on and I entertained the possibility that I had fought something other than the devil in the church. I can’t say exactly when the idea came to me that I was fighting witchcraft. Perhaps it was God finally answering my prayers. A few years later I ran into this energy again in a church in Orlando Florida where I was an associate pastor. It was revealed to me by a visiting evangelist that I was hot footed by the pastor’s wife who had become envious of my ministry years earlier. Everywhere I turned in the evangelical movement I was confronted by witchcraft. It was then I realized that I needed to know about this energy and how to protect myself from it.

As I slowly moved away from organized religion I found myself associated with sheep not of the denominational fold. I reinvented myself as a spiritual practitioner online during the early days of the internet. Eventually joining several forums for the occult, specifically witchcraft and hoodoo. My digital footprint as a tarot reader and rootworker was growing.  My popularity and success was noticed and garnered the evil eyes of witches and warlocks. Several of them attacked en masse to destroy me out of jealousy. At that time my knowledge base about witchcraft and the ATR’s was infantile. I was a known hoodoo practitioner but was limited in the knowledge of the aforementioned systems of spirituality. Answering my appeal for help a group of spiritual practitioners intervened and assisted me.  

The intervention was through the ATR known as Palo Mayombe. This system of spirituality from the Congo of Africa was new to me. It both frightened and fascinated me. The psychic remedy called for the sacrifice of a red rooster to the Palo nkisi Sarabanda. In addition, a special makutu (amulet) was recommended to bring the energy of the warrior nkisi into my life and surroundings. The attack was abated and a wizard who allegedly was leading the attack against me tragically lost his life. Impressed by the results of Palo Mayombe, I began to study about this powerful and feared form of Congo spirituality. Within 5 years of attack, I was initiated into Palo Mayombe as Tata Nganga (High Priest of the Altar) and given licensia (permission) to step into the duties of a High Priest in Palo Mayombe.

The experiences I had with organized religion and online convinced me of the necessity to know how to defend myself psychically. Psychic threats are real and exist all around us. The Soviet Union is known to have carried out many military experiments utilizing psychics. [3] People from all walks of life use magic, hoodoo, roots, and witchcraft. I should know because as a spiritual practitioner, they call me by the thousands every year.

Who does magic? How about your neighbor next door? Or your boss? Your mate? Grandma? The grocery store clerk? My clientele consists of white collar professionals, entertainers, politicians and ordinary people. Reality TV stars call me, major cable news anchors call me. Airline attendants, CEOs, stock brokers, escorts and drug dealers call me to help them deal with life magically. Magic is everywhere.

Why should you know about witchcraft? Because you need to know how to protect yourself and your family. Because you need to know how to respond to the haters and backbiters who will at some point try to block you and destroy you. You may be a good person and attend church regularly. You treat people honestly and fairly yet you find your life stunted. Nothing you do has moved you ahead. No amount of prayer, fasting or sanctified sacrifice has broken the stranglehold of negativity choking you.

Why can’t you keep a relationship? Why aren’t you advancing on your job? Why is it every contract you bid on is rejected. What is causing the blocks to your success, love, and happiness in life? Perhaps what is happening to you is being exacerbated by witchcraft. Perhaps someone has put the evil eye on you and your family. Perhaps you have run afoul of a witch in your community, at school, on the job or in your family. A family member could be working witchcraft on you right under your nose.

Pearlie Mae tried to control my life using hoodoo. At one point in my life, I could not settle down anywhere. I wandered across America unable to establish a home for my growing family of seven. It wasn’t until I finally moved back to my hometown of Cocoa, FL that I was able to settle. It was apparent something was working against me and the evidence was soon revealed.

Pearl would often say to me that I would not settle down until I returned to Cocoa. She eventually told me she expected me and my family to move in with her. A psychic reader later confirmed Pearlie Mae had a hot foot spell with a return to me rider spell cast years earlier. Here is an example of someone close to you working magick to interfere with the destiny of your life. It took years of wandering and feeling displaced before I discovered what was done to me by a loved one. One can only question what other spells and charms may have been worked to block my progress and success.

Another example I can share is when a client’s mother in law decided to work roots against her marriage. The mother in law was actually a National Teacher of the Year. The client was caught between an abusive husband and a conniving mother in law. The mother in law’s intent was to break up the marriage. She created confusion and caused violence in the home. Eventually,  I had to craft a psychic response to defend the client and to warn the witch. The marriage ended in divorce and the mother in law fell down the stairs breaking her leg in three places! She ceased and desisted her meddling after the fall.  

In a Pollyanna world, guns and self-defense course are not needed. However, in this world where mentally ill people have access to weapons and arcane occult knowledge, having a good defense makes good sense. I am a gun owner not because I enjoy shooting guns, but because I must have protection. I have a security system on my house for the same reason.
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You may not like guns but you know it makes good sense to own one, just in case. You don’t have to be violent or a bully to learn self-defense. It just makes sense that you do. I submit that knowing about witchcraft falls under the heading “It makes sense”. There are people plotting and scheming against you and your loved ones. They may never make themselves known or get in your face. However, they are the ones hovering over cauldrons and candles at midnight calling incantations over your name. They are the ones making sacrifices of animals over your pictures with the intent to obstruct, harm or kill you. They are the ones who bury images of you or your family in a grave with a fork stuck through the photograph to keep you down and oppress you by a malevolent spirit. 

Shouldn’t you know how to respond to psychic attacks? Shouldn’t you be aware of how to protect yourself and love ones from psychic maliciousness and demonic harassment? If you’ve answered yes, then you are ready for this book. If you answered no, continue to place your head in a hole in the ground.  As the late Prosperity Preacher Rev. Ike would say “You’re in the perfect position to get a swift kick in the ass”.

June 2017, Rev. Dr. Christos Kioni ©2017

[1] Bolita: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolita
[2] Voodoo Dolls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_doll
[3] Psychic warfare: exploring the mind frontier - Central Intelligence Agency
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00789R001001420001-3.pdf
Stargate Project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project

"This is a first edit of a manuscript I am writing". - Dr. K

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