Cut from the Same Cloth

So the Jamaica Observer of April 25, 2025 had me in stitches. Truth be told, I am still laughing so hard, I am finding it difficult to process that this could happen in my Jamaica.  Someone charged for Obeah in the absence of those who identified something as such and who were the chief and only beneficiaries.  Unless , of course, arrests, floggings, fines etc were categorized as benefits.  But on a sober note, the Paper, in its ‘Inside the Courts’ section carried a story that involved the police, a young man and a Judge as the main players.  There was mention of a warrant that allowed for the discovery of smoke, incense, a white T-shirt, money and candles.  It is said that the burning candles surrounded the T-shirt in a ‘ritualistic fashion.’  Would someone please explain that?   The finds were more, including the gold rings and the story goes on.

The young man suddenly “had blue boot fi climb ‘11 step.’  This of course, after he was charged under a law almost as old as ‘11 step’ itself.  A British Law, which has remained on the Jamaican law books, through Emancipation, through Independence, till today, even while we seek reparation.  The law, the Obeah Act, was first enacted by the British in Jamaica in 1760.  Its sole purpose was to protect and safeguard, at all costs, against any actual and or potential financial losses from the British export of sugar from the Island.   These exports were at risk of being diminished by virtue of the equation that expressed Q as the quantity of export quality sugar produced, as being inversely related to N, the number of protest actions taken by the enslaved sugar workers that would affect the amount of cane reaped and therefore the amount of sugar produced.  In other words every time black man and woman bun dung plantation backra pocket feel it.  And in some more other words the British i. e. the whites, had discovered a source of wealth and were prepared to be neither just nor fair about it. Worst yet, they were not prepared to even contemplate any loss of income even at the expense of the black peoples’ lives.   The Law provided severe penalties for any black person who would even think to, much less actually do anything at all, to threaten sugar cane production.  

Bearing in mind that the British in their British societies, were already believers in and practitioners of witchcraft, (which they associated with magic, conjuring, bewitching, evil, superstition etc., and which they first legalized against in their own country in 1542), it was quite easy for them to convince themselves, and be of the strongest belief, grounded, of course, in all that they believed in, fear, ignorance and especially greed, that the enslaved black people were using ‘something,’ natural or supernatural, but preferably supernatural, to help them to successfully fight against enslavement, oppression, colonialism and all its atrocities.  They called it ‘Obeah.’  And though today we claim to be an independent, developing nation and although the British are not physically present in large numbers, the influence of many of their laws and practices and indeed their colonial presence is still to be seen, heard, felt and generally experienced.  Our Government is theirs, the courts are theirs, some laws are theirs, our minds are theirs.   

It is 2025 present day Jamaica and we only have a few more years left to make our Vision 2023 a reality.   What I want to take issue with, is all those people up in arms about the Judge and the archaic British Law that was used to charge this young man.  I am also especially upset by those taking umbrage to her, the Judge’s instruction, to him to read the Bible.   In this still British Jamaica where the religion of Christianity is the dominant heritage should the Bible not be our only recourse to God? Think about it!   How would the Taínos, the earliest inhabitants of this Island, have managed without it, for nearly 1000 years before the Spanish brought it here and introduced it to them along with their pagan religion?  I am not familiar with the books of the Bible she particularly mentioned but I know this for sure having some of the Bible myself, that she offered useful and valuable suggestions. 

So clearly the man, through the invasion of his privacy, or not, quite unwillingly ends up in consultation with her, the Judge that is.  She listens to what he has to say, reads the situation well and makes her determination.  Without going into the inner workings of her assessment, the Judge seems clearly well aware of Biblical and other solutions to the specific situation the young man was facing.  Her advice was therefore very well thought through even tried and tested.  In reading the Bible, although not specifically the books referred to by her, I found that it actually offers remedies for sleep.  

The plant Mandrake was mentioned in Genesis 30:14-17 and Song of Solomon 7:13.  This plant has sedative and aphrodisiac properties.  Hyssop, with which many Bible readers are familiar is mentioned in Psalm 51:7 and John19:29 where it is used for purification and cleansing.  Song of Solomon 1:12 and Song of Solomon 4:13-14 talk of Spikenard a fragrant plant used to promote relaxation and sleep. More excitingly Psalm 104:14-15 and 1Timothy 5:23 suggest that wine may be used in moderation to promote relaxation and sleep.  

So the Judge also offered the advice that magnesium and prayer be tried.  Now of course everybody needs to be praying unceasingly based on all that is going on in the world.  Also everyone is aware of the power of Prayer.  This, along with her advice regarding the use of magnesium quite sufficiently displays the supernatural wisdom and knowledge of the Judge.  Obeah certainly sounds good when it is issued forth from one sitting on a Bench in a modern Jamaican Court of Law!  So here is what I discovered about magnesium from AI…It protects from negative energies, evil spirits, bad luck. It promotes spiritual and physical balance and stability, amplifies intentions and prayers, it heals, calms and relaxes, can be used in ‘ritualistic fashion.’  So should we assume from her advice that the Judge had tapped into the reason for the young man’s sleeplessness?  

So where did the Judge go wrong? Because she charge fi di likkle advice and threaten the man wid jail if him no pay? Rather than sit down and chastise the Judge, give thanks that the young man met with a higher head who could talk his language.  I suggest we all take her advise, after all the young man done pay for it already.  Read the Bible, is not as if we have the freedom to decide what to read or not read and what spiritual system or religion we may choose to express your spirituality.  Jamaica is a Christian country, that is all there is to it.   Just the same as it is British and there seems to be nothing we can do about it.   It is 2025 and there are still British Laws on the Jamaican Law Books.  A young man was charged under one of these Laws.  If I say, Vision 2030, will you start laughing?