Kitty (she/her)

Miami, Florida  

Akia Dorsainvil: Can you describe your practice?

Kitty: Since it is truth, it is ok.

Akia Dorsainvil: Who introduced you to your practice?

 Kitty: My grandma and myself. I always found myself, when I was a kid, I would eat Elegua candies. I would find Elegua, I didn't know who Elegua was, but I'd see the Scooby-Doo blue candies that my mom would buy at the dollar store, and I would eat them all. And I think that was him. And again, Elegua is old man and child. He loves playfulness. I think my spirituality found me the most woo-woo sense; I love that. Because no one ever really explained anything to me. It just came to me, and I knew that it was my truth. I've always been a dreamer, and I've always been very spiritual before I was even introduced into Ifa. So, I don't know. I literally think it found me.

Akia Dorsainvil: Can you tell us the history of your practice?

Kitty: Honestly, that might sound bad, but no. I think I urge people to do their own research. I think this is where my line is drawn, in the sense of how I was mentioning in my practice, I was taught a long time ago not to speak about certain things. And I pushed back on that, and there's certain things I share, what I think there's value. Not that there's not value in telling you right now, but, yeah, read up on it.

I have to do a lot to learn myself. Not that I wouldn't want to tell people, but I also don't think it's something that most people understand, and I might explain it right now, and people are going to be like bruja, that's not it.

Akia Dorsainvil: No, I think that is more than fair, because, like, we just said in the house, some shit is fucking sacred, and if you care enough about it, and your spirit tells you to go follow and answer that, nothing that we say right now will ever even stop you.

Kitty: I will say, to me, Ifa is the practice of my ancestors, the one that they had to hide from people that came and colonized. We were hiding our figures and what we believed in behind what they believed in. Yeah. You know, so, let's say the Virgin Mary, we had Sango behind, because that was our version of that. So, it's, I don't know, my hidden secret religion. If you want to learn about it, do the work, and I think through the work, you learn way more. And if you feel like you should learn about it, like, there's probably something there, and you should, like, actually do the work, and listen to the call.

Akia Dorsainvil: So, who do you consider a teacher or mentor within your practice?

Kitty: Actually, shout out to a specific person. Someone who is a mentor to me right now, who I search for. She feels me, and I feel her. Her name is Joanna. She was a spiritualist in Puerto Rico. She works at Le Siren in Viejo, San Juan. I met her at the beginning of this year, and she's actually the person that explained to me that I shouldn't be scared of my practice, and the rules that were set around it, because I did feel bad being the daughter of this specific saint that's so holy, and then I'm doing something that some people don't think, I'm a dancer, that some people don't think is very holy and good. And I would fight with that within myself. And when I met her, that's one of the first things she told me, and I knew she was for me, and through her being herself, she's taught me so much. She's taught me that I have the answers, actually, that I could look for Babalawo, and I could look for a spiritualist lady, and I could do this, but at the end of the day, they're going to turn me back to myself, because we are ultimately our biggest teachers. All the people that we go to are going to end up telling us that. We just have to get to that point. So, shout out, Joanna, for teaching me that I have the answers. So yeah, she’s my girl.

Akia Dorsainvil: Do you feel comfortable or safe to practice and engage in ritual?

Kitty: No. I wish I did, though. Yeah. I feel better than I did before, but people don't get it. People don't even understand, like, the basis of sacrifice. Maybe, you hear Ifa and you think dead things, and whatever, but it's really an act of sacrifice, which has nothing to do with actually killing something. It's sacrificing something within yourself.  Like, if you want to save a thousand dollars, are you going to sacrifice the one thing you like the most every week and go into golf? Yes or no? Are you really willing to do the work? I think that's Ifa, that's sacrifice, and it gets really swayed, and then when I really want to practice, people think I'm going to do something crazy, and it's, it's not that.

You know, even when I go outside, and I want to literally put my feet in the grass, and maybe look up, I do feel like people perceive that as crazy, and that hurts, as it is what brings me closest to myself. So, it's really just more of an embarrassment thing, because it's like, why does something that makes me feel so good seem so silly to people? It's less fear, and more like, ow that hurts from people around me. Like, this is sacred. Why?

Akia Dorsainvil: Yeah, and I'm sharing this intimate moment with you. If anything, I would hope this brings us closer, opposed to now I feel judged and shameful.

Kitty: Yeah, or people thinking I'm going to do something to them after. I've never in my life lit a candle negatively towards a person, because that's not, what it is.

And there's a difference in things, like, there's Brujería, there's Ifá, there's, you know, and people make all these things that they don't understand, Paleros, all into one thing. Yeah. It's not, and that's why I say, like, doing the research is good, because you get to, like, really learn about this, and this is what we were doing for thousands of years before people came and told us what to believe in.

So, like, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with our white God, but maybe let's get closer to our roots. You decide. To me, it's closer to my truth, which was the first word I used.

Akia Dorsainvil: From your family's knowledge, who was the first practitioner, if not you?

I'm probably the most stick out with my shit, because even while my family practiced what they practiced, they still used the blanket of Christianity above them. So, I would say just the women in my lineage are closest to my spirituality, and they're the ones that taught me.

I wouldn't say I'm the first witch in my family. My grandma's a witch. My mother's a witch, just in their being, and I know it. Even if they fully, themselves haven't fully messed with it. I actually should look into that, if there was a full-fledged witch in my bloodline, but I just know the women in my family are spiritualists. They always retreat back to nature. Not to be like they end up by themselves, but they choose themselves. And, yeah, it's me. It's me, dick out.

Akia Dorsainvil: And hopefully not only you.

No, my little chickens will be witches before they come out of my womb. And they'll be witches loud and proud. Just how I feel that little bit of nervousness. I'm sure my kid's going to be a little follow tongue.

Akia Dorsainvil: Encourage, because then, like, you, that's you rewriting, like, your family's trajectory.

Kitty: I really love my religion, and I honor it, and I wouldn't stop it for anyone. I've had scenarios with that in my family, specifically, like, my mother would practice and, for love, gave that up. Which, again, to each their own, but I think the love that comes from my practice is so much grander than something like that. I don't think that my God would put someone in front of me that would make me choose that. Just a lot of love.  

Akia Dorsainvil: Do you have a spiritual home?

I feel like I have a couple. Yeah. That same lake. That I'm talking about, that I prayed at, it's literally 19327 Northwest 62nd Avenue is the park right in front. It's the lake park in front of Joella. My grandfather's ashes are also buried there. So, I think that place, to me, means anything. It's also when I first would see weird things. Shout out to the lake park.

Akia Dorsainvil: Would you consider yourself someone who is gifted?

I would. I would say, specifically, in sight and vision. I know, because my grandma feels. And there are people who also more hear, like spirits and things, and see. But mine is a vision, whether it's dreams or I see things before that they would happen. Real light. Not in a way where I'm like That's So Raven, but my gift would be vision.

Akia Dorsainvil: When was the first time you actually acknowledged that, hey, maybe there's something here?

Kitty: I know when I was younger, many times, but there was just one scenario when I was 20-something. I was working at Hooters. I had a dream before that I worked there. I had never entered into one. Could have just been, like, life, because I had a lot of friends. I had a dream where I dropped the plate off. I, like, look at the people. I say, like, a specific set of words, and then I gasp, and I wake up. And I had this scenario where I'm literally at the fucking job, and I drop off the plate, I say the same exact words, and I gasp, because I realize that I did what I did in the dream. And it might sound silly, it might sound silly, but it was too, it was too perfect. And already before that, I knew, like, there's a sense of knowing. It might sound silly, because, yeah, it's the Hooters scenario, but I've had bigger things happen where I'm like, whoa, like, this is insane. And that just teaches me to trust myself, trust my intuition. Like, it's not dreams. I've literally, not to be like, the basic girl, but the dream where the guy's cheating on you. Babe, get up and look through his, he's doing it. Like, your intuition is strong, especially when you, like, are sexually with someone, that, like, you're not crazy. Maybe a little bit, but you know what I mean? You have to trust yourself. This world teaches you to do everything, but that, absolutely not, fight it. That's your spirit. Your truth is spirit. Please, please fight for it.

Akia Dorsainvil: Do you consider your relationship to spirit ancestor work?

Kitty: Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I actually asked that question. I was like, there's a, there's a version where they don't align? But I do, I feel it. I feel it. I don't know what they want for me or, but they're leading me, and I feel it. They're what I trust the most. And in like my life experience, they have been the presence that's been the most for me. So, I love my ancestors, and yeah, I'm sure they got me doing all this crazy shit for them. They better. With good reason. It's to bring me closer to myself. I know this entire journey is not about myself, but it's to do that. And I think it's on them.

 Akia Dorsainvil: What are some practices that make you feel closer to God?

Kitty: Standing in front of things bigger than me. So, ocean, mountain, anything bigger than me, because it puts me in a place where I realize my place in a sense. And yeah, it brings me closer to God. And I tap out of whatever shit I'm on, and I get closer to true nature.