~ Voodoo Priestess Estate ~ ©

BE 2516 LP Liew First Batch King Turtle Amulet
in
Thai Coin Silver Case
with
Bali Sterling Silver, Mexican Trade Sardonyx and Indigofera Howlite Buddha Head Guru

Fifty-Four Count Mala Necklace

A Spell Box of the Main Séance and Reading Room Find

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This is another of our very long listings with an abundant text and 12 photographs, so please sit back and read the listing through.

If you have come this far, we feel you will find it was worth the wait.

 Twenty-two and a half years (12/06/2001) have now passed since we were called to do an estate that had been closed up for seventeen years!

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The Voodoo Estate!

This type of call usually gets us excited as they are a treasure trove.  Located here in Florida, there was no electricity or running water so we rigged our own lighting and in we went.  If you have ever seen the Adams Family you will have some idea as to what we were greeted with!  Then the attorney handling the liquidation gave us some background.  The estate had belonged to an alleged powerful Voodoo Priestess/JooJoo Exorcist, grand daughter of a Marie Laveau, and favored daughter of a Marie Glapion.

These names meant nothing to us, but the late night talk of Voodoo and exorcism in the old mansion was enough for us to spend the night in a hotel and return in the morning to assess the estate.  The rest is history.

Our research has shown that this woman was what she claimed and was indeed descended from a long line of well known Vodoun family originating in New Orleans in the early 1800's.

We were pretty unnerved by this until we discovered they were also devout Catholics!  Although I have to admit this was unlike any Catholic home we have ever been in and some of the items found inside were a bit disturbing. 

There was no feeling of dread or unwelcome in the mansion, however there was quite a bit of contraband and other items we can or will not sell here.

This is one of a few pieces from this estate we will be listing this week, so check our other listings!

 We will, upon the new guardian's request, issue a named Letter of Authenticity with each piece from this estate, complying with the terms set forth to us by the estate's attorney.

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Some Back Story

The amulet mala necklace shown here is one of the six that were found and recovered from the antique jewelry casket (shown above and not part of this deal).  It is last of the three boxes recovered from a cabinet in the foyer lounge to her main séance and reading room.  These rooms were a commercial endeavor that had a wealthy following and it is where many of the major séances of this estate were conducted.  Many, if not all of her associates worked this room, conducting séances, card readings and numerous forms of divination for their clientele.  Apparently this was a lucrative endeavor, as it remained active for over six decades.  Her journals tell us they had loaded this box with items they felt they could sell at a premium, whether through enchantments they had placed on them and/or through an items history of its own.

Their journals list a host of well known psychics, mediums and other celebrities that would make guest appearances and that these events were booked to capacity well in advance. 

Her journals and inventory tell us this unusual mala necklace was assembled posthumously as a commemorative to the 1898 LiDiex by her and "a few staff members during a ceremonial prayer bead making session in October of 1973."  They apparently did this once a year up until the time of her death.

The Amulet

They also tell us the King Turtle amulet used in this mala is one of the artifacts sent to the 1898 LiDiex from the monks of Wat RaiTangThong, the PhayaTow Turtle Temple, on behalf of LP Liew in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.  It was sent five years after his death, as this was unknown to them.  The amulets were ceremoniously given to him posthumously by those associated with this estate.

The 1898 LiDiex

The research involved in this estate has provided continuous fascination for over two decades.  The posthumous recipient of this amulet was a man known only as, "LiDiex."  A 5th. generation descendant of the original man known only as, "LiDiex" to these shores, who arrived as a survivor and saboteur of the slave Ship Henrietta Marie in 1701.  It is said he facilitated this disaster using egg shells to cast a spell, and certain folklore concerning egg shells corroborate this.

He then found his way to New Orleans to meet with the parents of the then infant grandmother (Marie Laveau) of our infant priestess, making him over one hundred years old around the time of her birth.  He had taken up trade as a wood carver and furniture maker as would many of his descendants.

 

The 1898 LiDiex branched off into glassmaking after returning to New Orleans from an extended stay in Europe where he studied the glass making techniques of Murano and Bohemia.  In addition to being the maker of a proliferous collection of glass, many pieces being described as having a wide variety of metaphysical attributes, he was a meticulous carver, responsible for an array of carvings, wood puzzle boxes and furniture recovered from this estate.

 

He is mentioned in numerous journal entries as one of the LiDiex who accompanied her on many of her adventures, being a trusted practitioner and follower of his mistress.  Their recovered journals show him as one of her chief enforcers and a "Zuvembie" leader, often referred to as, "a skilled sorcerer, tactician, warrior and artist," who was deeply involved in her works.

 

He continued making glass with metaphysical attributes for her and her followers right up to the time of his demise in 1968.

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BE 2516 LP Liew First Batch King Turtle Amulet

 

This cased amulet is another fascinating study of Southeast Asian Buddhism, its worshippers and their sorcerer monks.  Thai beliefs tell us the turtle is a good fortune symbol, one of wealth and prosperity.  It represents progress in life as the turtle always walks straight, never backwards or side by side.

The maker of this amulet was Luang Phor Liew of Wat RaiTangThong.  He studied the knowledge of Pa Ya Tow from LP Yong of Wat Ban KongYai, in the Ratchaburi Province of Thailand.

He recited his first incantations of the Pa Ya Tow in B.E. 2516 (1973).  Pa Ya Tow is a powerful protection, metta, attracting wealth and good luck.  The Pa Ya Tow (King Turtle) became the symbol of LP Piew.  He was the guru monk known for making these amulets with the intended effects of bringing prosperity, longevity, success, fertility and security to worshippers.

It is essentially a wealth amulet which their journals and our own research tell us is a First Batch, B.E.2516 Phaya Tao Ruen or turtle copper coin by LP Liew of significant value.

Legend has it Luang Phor Liew blessed his turtle amulets for lengthy periods of time, chanting over them while soaking them in his blessed holy water, chanting them until the turtle could swim in the holy water.

Luang Phor Liew

He was born on December 7th., B.E.2448 (1905) in Ratchaburi province, Thailand.  His family were poor farmers and he grew up helping them make their way.  Thieves had stolen their livestock and stores prompting him to study magic in order to protect his family and their property.

 LP Liew, along with two cousins went to the study this magic from an Ajarn Mong that practiced at the frontier between Thailand and Myanmar.

One cousin died from malaria while the second cousin abandoned the quest, heading home before beginning the studies, leaving LP Liew on his own to pursue these studies.  Study he did, spending three years under the tutelage of AJ Mong before returning home proficient in the magic to protect his family and village from harm.

News of thieves In the night soon circulated and they soon visited the farm of LP Liew’s family where they attempted to steal a bull and a cow but they were unable to complete their thievery.  The next morning the family found bloodstains around the farm.  LP Liew had made a magical water buffalo amulet out of sacred clays to protect his family and their farm.

Although he never married, he had a son out of wedlock but he decided that his calling was to ordain as a Buddhist monk at the age of 27 years old.

LP Liew was ordained at Wat Bot, in Ratchaburi province.  After his ordination he went on to continue his studies of magic and mediation from many famous monks such as LP Dang of Wat Khao Bandai It, LP Khlai of Wat Suan Khan and others.  He helped develop many temples such as Wat Rai Tang Thong and Wat Sanam Yae.  Luang Phor Liew passed away on September 4th., B.E.2543 (2000) at the age of 95 years old.

The amulet uncased measures approximately 1 3/8" x 1 3/4".

 

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The Case
 
The case is original to the amulet, as received from Thailand, according to her journaled inventory.  Although their description of 'coin silver' would lead one to believe the metal would be .800 Silver Standard or better, it is not.  Like, Nickel Silver, and German Silver in the west, many of the Thai coin silver items contain no silver at all, having been made from alloyed metal coinage with imagery said to contain magic, such as Buddha, Garuda, King Rama, holy sites, etc.  This one does not test positive for any silver content.

Cased, as shown, it measures approximately 2 13/16" (with bale) x 1 11/16" x 3/4" and is unmarked, with no maker's or assay marks.

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Their journals and inventory go on to tell us six of these amulet necklace malas were made posthumously for this LiDiex in 1973, as stated above.  Examination reveals a Bali Sterling Silver, Mexican Trade Sardonyx and Indigofera Howlite Buddha Head Guru, Fifty-Four Count Mala Necklace, for a single amulet, as the title implies. 

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The Sterling Silver 

Mexican Trade Sardonyx

 

Her journals chronicle a ten day visit with a pair of Tzotzil women at the pueblo San Lorenzo Zinacantán in 1947.  She details much of their belief system which she tells us, “is based in sacrificial sun worship, and an infinite number of gods.”

 

“The Moon is their Holy Mother, and the Sun is their Father Heat, while they call Venus the Sweeper of the Path, for it precedes the Sun in its path around the World” she writes in one entry.

 

Some other excerpts from this interesting treatise read, “The local hills are home to the ancestral couples, the Totilme'il (Fathers-Mothers).”

 

“each of us harbor a pair of souls, a ch'ulel and a chanul.  The ch'ulel is the inner, personal soul, that resides in the heart and blood, it is placed in us while in the womb by the ancestral gods, and is consists of thirteen segments.  One who loses one or more of these parts must have a curing ceremony performed to recover them.  This soul loss may be caused by fright, taking a fall, seeing a demon, as punishment from the gods, or by being sold into slavery to the Earth Lord, through evil witchcraft.  At death, the inner soul leaves the body and goes to the Katibak, the world of the dead in the center of the earth.  There it will remain for the same length of time it had spent on earth."

 

"The Catholic influence of their beliefs are obvious in their associations of the Sun with God, Jesus Christ and the Moon with the Virgin Mary.”

 

 

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But Back to the Sardonyx

 

Her journals tell us she traded two labradorite and silver rings for five strands of these sardonyx beads with these women.  The fifty-four 12.9 mm round beads used in this necklace mala being part of those strands.

 

 She goes on to attribute these with entries that read, “its energies are of strength and very protective.  I have found it to enhance concentration, integrity, willpower, and Stamina.”

 

 “It bears a similar vibrational pattern to carnelian, and I have prescribed it as a marital aid to bring stability into a relationship.”

 

 “As a money draw, it has attracted good fortune.”

 

 The beads are of fine grind and polish displaying the white quartz and carnelian bands of this agate.

 

 

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Indigofera Howlite Buddha Heads

Her journaled inventory also tells us the dyed howlite Buddha beads used as the Guru for this mala are part of a group that were cut from stone she obtained as trade goods in Southern California in 1956.  Years later, after having these, "cut and charged" as she calls exposing them to one of her potions which in the case of these stones effectively dyed them to their current robin's egg blue color.  Her journals also go on to tell us about this treatment, "being an effort to duplicate the energy of the Blue Apples to be used in the rebirth of man."

 

 According to her entries, the potion used on these stones was staff manufactured using the estate grown Indigofera tintoria and Indigofera suffruticosa plants.  Our own research has revealed that many dyes are derived from the chemical aniline, which was first synthesized from I. suffruticosa, hence the name aniline.  Several species of this group of plants are also used to alleviate pain.  The herbs are generally regarded as an analgesic with anti-inflammatory activity rather than an anodyne.

 

 This treatment did certainly enhance the color of these stones, and she tells us it was meant to, "bleed off on skin" if held or worn for any period of time, indicating this to be a good thing, but it has long cured and we could not get it to bleed off as described.

 

 Apparently she liked this stone for her own use as well as that of her followers and clients as she notes of the jewelry and ceremonial implements she had made from these stones; "these are Gemini stones with energies suited to aid those with a dark side when symptoms of pain, tension, nervousness, anger and inconsistencies develop as they open the doors of reasoning to memory and knowledge.  Most have been clean, but many are influenced to draw the attention of cunning and inquisitive guides of ancient memory and knowledge.  They are wonderful in the aid of calcium absorption and have been well used in stimulating bone growth."

 

 "This is a stone of calming and dreams.  It induces a euphoric dream state that allow access and recall to gain the insight brought by lucid dreaming."

 

 The Buddha head beads are of fine grind and polish, and measure approximately 1 1/8" x 13/16" x 1/2" each.

 

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All of these have been hand knotted and strung with black yak sinew to form this unusual, fifty-four count, amulet mala necklace measuring approximately 25 1/4" in overall length and weighing 10 oz.!

She writes of the acquisition of a large quantity of this sinew from a, "Chinese healer and talisman maker known for and sought for his works," purchased at the Namche Bazaar of Nepal in 1928.

This is certainly a fine Occult Buddhist artifact with an extraordinary provenance that is much nicer than the photographs are able to depict.

 

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We have been contacted and visited by a number of people who were interested in the items from this estate since our first batch was listed.  Among the buyers have been known psychics and practitioners.  More than one, after adorning themselves or handling their purchase, stated, "this is a woman of power!"  Many of our customers, after receiving items from this estate have reported dream contacts and other unexplained phenomenon.  Unusual, authentic Voodoo Priestess Estate piece and at a bargain price!

This is truly a rare opportunity to own anything with attributes to this estate.  The majority of this estate is now gone.  Most of what we had left, and it was considerable, has been split up and sold to a couple of private, foreign collector practitioners and will never be available to the public again.  We made the decision to do this as we have had some pretty strange visits from even stranger individuals and there have been enough unexplained phenomenon going on in the warehouse where her things were kept that many of our employees refused to go in there.  The pieces offered and sold here are some of the few remaining pieces that will ever be offered to the public.

Nice addition to any collection, altar, wardrobe or decor, displays really well.

Really doesn't get any better than this.

There are 12 photographs, so please give them time to load, and enjoy the listing.

 

Buyer to pay $0.00 for Insured USPS Ground Mail with Tracking, handling and lagniappe.

Rest assured your order will be carefully packed to withstand the onslaught of the most deranged of Postal Workers.

 

International Buyer's, pleas email us for a shipping quote.

Payment is due at listing end.

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©Text and Photos Copyright 2001-2024 bushidobuce, all rights reserved.

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Props are not part of the deal.  But you knew that already.

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