The original concept begins as a line drawing and then I fill in the blanks by letting the piece “speak” to me. In fact, I do believe / feel that is the Netjer communicating this. After all, it is Their portraits I have been making.

You can see my recent work here if you are interested (I would love you to look at it Drew)

http://setken.deviantart.com/

“In Cuba, the term nganga refers to a certain creation made with an iron pot into which several items (such as bones) are placed. It also refers to the spirit of the dead that resides there.

“In Caribbean [sic], an iron pot/cauldron used to imprison evil spirits using chains, padlocks, knives, etc. can also be used for evil deeds if given to wrong person.”

Unfortunately that Wikipedia page seems very poorly written throughout, but that sounds like the object in question – probably the ladder version since it was filled with bullets.

Installing a spirit into an iron pot is a widespread technique in African diasporic traditions. I would recommend asking an houngan or a santero if you wanted to know more.

Also, welcome to the site Bobby! Thanks for joining the discussion.

Valentina, you seem very knowledgable about this very subject, could you send me some links specifically on the functionality and purpose of Nganga?

Hmm… me and creative block. You can throw me out of the artists’ club for this, but when I get blocked I back up and do outlining. I take a break from the creative work and focus on the logical: what is the point of this piece? What does it need to say? If it’s a book I do outlining and break it down to what needs to be conveyed. If it’s art I do sketches, even ones I’ll never use, and combine sigils or just experiment with techniques. But I always focus on that question: what is the point of this piece? What is it about?