Roots, Rituals, and Heritage with La Sirena Selene

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Simply Soul Awakenings, the space where the seen and unseen meet. I'm your host Shanna, a lifelong medium and energy worker here to help you navigate the spiritual realm. Joining me are incredible healers and practitioners from the Gypsy So Fair and Holistic Hub, sharing raw stories of their past and the wisdom they've gathered along the way. Whether we're diving into the current collective energy, channeling wisdom from spirit guides, or exploring the metaphysical, anything from ghosts, past lives, astrology, star family, and beyond, this is your home for spiritual expansion. Today I have La Serena Celine, who is a Greek, Roma, and Mexican folk magic and root worker who does readings, classes, and mentoring. She is a holistic hub member and of course a Gypsy Soul Fair vendor. And she'll be at the upcoming fair in Oklahoma City November 7th and 8th at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds in the Hobby Arts and Crafts Building. All right, so we've got La Serena Celine on. Hey, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Hi there, Sheena. Thank you so much for having me. I am so incredibly honored to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Oh, I'm so happy to have you on. I have to say, you're one of those that whenever you walk in, you have such a beautiful smile, and she just has this kind and gentle spirit about her as well. You just really do.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

You are the sweetest, because that is honestly how I would describe you.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

So well, at just like I was telling our um our listeners, you know, I mean, you really have a rich uh background with the Greek, the Roma, and the Mexican folk magic. Um, you want to kind of like expand and let people know about your background a little bit? I think it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yes, and and thank you so much for letting me talk about it because I know it is definitely weird. No, it's nothing's weird.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

It's just always I think it's a wonderful mix. I mean, a very unique mix.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

So oh, I appreciate that. Um you're just and and I call I like to I kind of kid around and like I'm eclectic because when people hear it, they're like, oh, what what is that? Like I think a lot of people aren't too familiar. Um, so I would love to kind of talk about it. So essentially um my ancestry is Greek and Roma, which is a gypsies. So um as yes, and basically where my practices are founded is my ancestral roots, which is anywhere from like that Greco-pagan type, um, where I work with certain Greek spirits to read and help people, whether that's healing or whichever kind of um item they might need, if it's like self-love or work with, you know, Aphrodite. Um, and then the Roma magic kind of comes from the the Romani tradition. So the Romani people originated in India, supposedly. They're actually not quite sure where we come from. Um but the prevailing theory, because we were a nomadic tribe. So so the prevailing theory is that we originated in India and we were kind of like a lower case uh like um, you know, we weren't we were like nomads, we kind of we we didn't, we weren't on the upper like class. Okay, so we were kind of like lower, yes, right. And in order to kind of like look for better opportunities, we just spread all over the world to Romania, to um to Greece, to Spain, to Mexico, um, the Caribbean, so kind of just everywhere, you know. Right. And essentially what's really interesting about the Romani people is that wherever we landed, wherever we migrated to, we kind of adopted those beliefs and practices and incorporated it into our own.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

So it probably made you more ex more acceptable that way, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Yes, ma'am. That's exactly it. Yeah. And um, where we kind of like used it to kind of like blend in. Um, and we just were like, oh, this works, we're gonna use that too, and and just kind of yeah, combine everything.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

It's not too much different from today, right? Exactly. Grab a little bit here, grab a little bit there, this works, this works well. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

And I think that's like the perfect uh uh description of like what I do because you know, then you have the Mesoamerican indigenous, so like the Mexican folklore magic that I do and um the corenderismo, which is a healing practice that stems from indigenous Mexico tribes. Um, but there's also you can find this in the like Caribbean too, the Afro-Caribbean indigenous communities in particular. Um, everyone has their own twist and and style. Um but mine is I would say a little bit more Mexican influenced. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Um what makes it more Mexican influenced? What would you how would you say that it makes it more Mexican flair?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah, so basically, um I the the type that I learned was from Erica Bonafleur and Um Laura de Villa, who they you can check out their books. They they write um about Corenderismo, brujeria, um, and they are originally, well, Laura De Villa is originally from Mexico, and I want to say Eric, Erica Bonafleur is as well. So I think um, as far as my elders go, they that have taught me they were from Mexico, so that's why it's it's more that Mexico influence because it's particularly the um Mayan tribe and the Aztec tribe that it comes from.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah. Yeah. That is super cool. So um gosh, I could go in so many different directions and ask so many different questions that my mind is kind of like worms.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

I I told you it is like a can of worms and it's a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Um I so what would you tell people that because people hear about like folk magic? So you said that you do specifically like Mexican folk magic. So what would that entail? What kind of uh what kind of rituals do you um kind of go into doing? Or uh are there certain deities? Um certain i I mean, you know, do tell us some information about that. I feel like people would be interested in that.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Absolutely. So basically, um when I say folk magic, I kind of group indigenous-based practices in folk magic, and opposed to the more um like ceremonial magic, which is if you ever heard like the ceremonial magicians, like the Solomonic magic, um the PGM, you know, workers, like the the goetic type, like I've I consider all of those as like your more ceremonial type magic, where um even even Wicca in a way, you know. Yeah, and I feel like um for me, how I classify the folk traditions is it's what your grandma was doing in the kitchen and you didn't even know.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Right. So I call that a kitchen witch. Exactly, exactly. An herbal witch, an earth witch. I don't know. That's what I always think of.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Exactly. And that is so that is so true. I mean, um, it's really like what they were doing gathering in the in the gardens to help you knock out that cough. And to this day, you're like, what did grandma put in this soup that works so well? Right. And I think that, yes. So I classify that as kind of the the more folk magic where it's not so much things that are written down anywhere, it's more ancestral based where your ancestors taught you um and just passed along the line.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Um it's very intuitive though, too, it sounds like right.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Yeah, yes, that is very true. And um, and I think it's where my traditions, they're they're mostly indigenous-based. So um I think it's also like this almost ancient wisdom that people knew at one time but have forgotten. So I like to think my whole purpose, my whole what I my goal, what I would love to do, is to help people remember the practices that they have previously set aside. And really they're as a result, like their ancestral line lost their traditions. And I think that for me is the most important thing is um getting back to people's roots and what their ancestors practiced and believed in. So I'm hoping to honor the old ways and and bring back those traditions into a time that is quite scary right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Right. Yeah, and I mean, in kind of leading into that, I know that you're doing some classes and things like that right now. You want to tell people a little bit about what you're doing as far as classes that are gonna be coming up and maybe even into the new year and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yes, ma'am. Oh, thank you so much for for giving that a shout out. So I do teach a variety of courses, and I actually do it on um soulfulsenteto.com. He is my colleague. His name is Dr. Reverend Aaron Davis. So his practice is also the Afro-Caribbean indigenous um based practices, and we really just collaborate and teach a whole variety of subjects together, whether that's the pagan magic, root work, um, you know, that Mesoamerican indigenous practice. Um, and we just kind of created a hub where you can take these ancient practices and practice it in modern day.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Um yeah, one of my favorite courses that that I find a lot of people benefit from right now is um it's our self-love course. And I love it because we combine hoodoo and root work with the graco-pagan magic. And people might be like, what? How does that work? But really, when you dig into it and and we explain in the course, there's a lot more similarities than you would have previously thought between the two traditions.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yeah, I bet there is with a lot of stuff. That's what I find whenever I start studying things, is that there's a lot of overlap with a lot of different, you know, ways of doing things. And I do want to ask, just because there are people that may be tuning in and they don't know what any of these things mean, right? So when you're talking about root work, what is root work?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Yeah, so that's a great question. And um, I appreciate you asking because a lot of people, like I said, they look at me when I have three heads when I talk right. So essentially, um, root work is a very earth-based tradition. Um, it originates from Africa, and essentially what happened was when the slaves were brought over, they were forced into a land that they had no idea about. Right. That, you know, they like even so so in their homelands they knew which herb was used to cure this cut and to to subside this tooth pain. And but when they were brought, when they're forced here, they this was a foreign land. Every the herbs were different, you know. Right. So what what would happen was because you know, humans as cruel as they can be, can be so beautiful at the same time. Um the African slaves got together with the indigenous Native American slaves, and they taught them like, oh, you'll you will need this, this herb, this root for that ailment. Use this and do and and they were kind of the able to teach each other their practices. And what's really interesting is a lot of people don't know, and especially in like the Appalachian area, um, the Irish also contributed to this, where when they came over, they brought their practices so in a totally um way, different way that you would never even imagine, these three groups kind of combined their traditions, their practices, their beliefs, and it formed root work.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Okay. So is it herbal work? That's what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

That's right. It's more, it's it's more herbal work, and then it's but I would say it's really centered around ancestral veneration. So a lot of working with spirits too. And not so so it's like your spirit guides, but also the spirits of the land and your blood. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah. So it's going through the roots of the ancestors and through Mother Gaia, too, kind of like right. Absolutely. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Yes. I I think that there is, you know, because you can be a root worker and a Catholic. Like, like it's not really so much a belief, but what I do find with every root worker that I've met is that they believe um, they're kind of like in that animism type belief where everything has an energy, everything has a spirit.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

And you can work with that spirit, that energy to to amplify the characteristics of that you're needing, you know, the traits that you need, like I need chamomile to soothe my headache. So let me go ahead and and start praying and connecting with the spirit of that plant to bring it forward to do that for me.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was actually talking on another podcast about something similar about that, and that uh whenever I work with my herbal teas, I always um intuitively first know what I need, and I'll look it up because you know I'm that person, right? And of course it'd be what I need, right? For whatever ailment it may be. And then whenever I make my tea, I connect with the herbs, and I, like you said, pray or you know, over them, you know, and amplify the energy of them because we can do that with anything we put in our bodies.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Yes, absolutely, and I love it that that is very similar to to what what I do, and I think um, you know, where root work it does kind of combine a lot of the the Bible. So every time I say that, people are like, What? But but we we do, we use a lot of psalms, um, and even my the Mesoamerican indigenous practice that I do called Espiritismo, um, that's basically mediumship, but it's the Afro-Caribbean indigenous style. Um so even there, like we will be using Catholic prayers. And when I start doing it, people are like, what, why are why? What is this? I'm like, it's okay. In Espiritismo, everything works. And and we just we we do um what it what's beneficial, and you know, for whatever reason, uh when you're when you start saying like the name Jesus Christ, the the yucky spirits, they scamper away. So perfect. That's what I'm gonna use. Right, exactly. Yeah, and and um, you know, with root work, you you really that you have to think these people were uh tortured and enslaved. They weren't able to use what they originally had. So they used the guise of the Bible and they used saints and they used psalms and prayers because when the enslavers were looking in, it looked oh okay, they're just praying. It's you know, it's just it's just a candle and and a Bible, they're you know, they're just praying, we're good. Um, but in reality, it's they were using that kind of as a face. Um, and it worked, so they continued to do that.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Yeah. Yeah. It it was almost kind of like a facade that they were putting up so that they could do uh their own spiritual practices and kind of combined. So it ended up, but it ended up in being a combination of both, is what it sounds like. Even though it might have started out as a facade, it evolved into a combination, which I see so much stuff. If you read the history of uh pagan lore and Christianity and things like that, if you actually dig into the into the history, it it it's like um most of the stuff that is pagan. It was originally pagan, and then Christians took and went, oh well, we're gonna do something similar, you know what I mean? And it's going to be this and it's going to be that. And I was like, oh my gosh, like everything that was born in nature, and we did it through nature and intuition, but then yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah, and it evolved that way.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Yes. And and you're so right. If you do the research, that's why, you know, when you get the the like religious haters, I kind of laugh, especially with me, because I use the Bible all the time. So so I'll kind of like recite the passages along with them, and they look at me like, yeah, I use that too.

unknown 20:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

So it's true. Um, but it it makes me chuckle because if they realize and they did the research, like exactly what you're saying, it's all especially pagan-based.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Yeah, I mean, it it's it's almost like it's just semantics, right? Because it really is. Yeah. Yeah, I find that some so many people at the fairs would be kind of like surprised when they sit down with some of the readers like you. You know what I mean? I have several of them that, you know, um, they embrace many different spiritual practices and a lot of them are, you know, Christian. And they're like, what exactly?

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Yes. Yeah. And I love it where that, you know, where they are open-minded and and they realize like, oh yeah, you can you can be both. You can be Christian and spiritual. And um I think that will lead to us as a society healing is that realization that we could we can all work together. Yeah, we can we can all work together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

And they're and they're in.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

comes the harmony and the peace and everything right then bringing all that together yeah that's awesome oh my gosh um gosh like I said I could go in so many different directions so like when you do your mediumship so you at the fairs you do offer mediumship and you do tarot ratings too right that's right and that's in honor of my Roma tradition because we used a lot of tarot readings so so the Roma people too were um kind of prose like they well they not kind of they they were prosecuted against where we weren't allowed to get regular jobs.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

So especially like in the European countries but like you know Albania Romania where where we went um they weren't they wouldn't let us work. So we had to get creative in ways to bring in income. So that's where like the fortune telling came in and what a lot of people don't know is um like horse races we would we would do that a lot or or like there's even like horse whisperers they would go into that um but the the fortune telling and and like the tarot reading was the most common the most popular um so that's because everybody wants to know the future right exactly exactly right everybody wants to know what's going to happen. I mean it's not really the way it works we know that right exactly yes and and now there what's interesting is there are romani people that will say like no like you can fortune tell but it's they say that's a closed practice in the Romani tradition. I think when you're talking to spirit anything can come out and it could be a glimpse into the future you know like like so and it's does that mean it's gonna it has to it's written on the wall destiny no but it's a possibility it's a possibility it gives you the possibility so that if that's the direction you want to go in then that can happen.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

But you can make a swerve if you're like oh that's not where I want to be at it kind of gives you a little head up heads up so that you can go oh no let let's switch directions because that's not where I want to be in six months.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yes and that's exactly how those readings would would go right um so yeah I I do the um the tarot readings and I also do um a bit of palm readings as well um again nod to the Roma culture right and then the mediumship so that is where the espiraptismo comes in um so aspiraptismo is a form of mediumship that's from again so so Mexico practices it the Caribbean African traditions but the one that I know specifically is Afro Cuban so it's it's the Afro-Caribbean style um there are a lot of different branches and like houses that practice so everyone does it differently um but essentially the the one that I learned the one that I come from is a method to connect to our spirit guides and ancestral spirits and by that I mean in my tradition we believe that we are born with a group of like a spirit team like a we we call it spirit court like quadruple um where essentially like before we're born we choose the spirits and the the spirits choose us and then we get in reincarnated onto this like plane and they're with us simply because we were born. Right. So for me what I love about that tradition and that belief is that these spirits like they believe in us more than we do. Like they they were like oh I've known you before you known yourself like you like I've known you for thousands of years.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

So you've only known yourself for like you know 20 exactly exactly and and I we remember everything you don't exactly and they are just they're so filled with like such love like you you might know like like love like what you might think you know how to describe love but then you you meet these spirits and you're just like oh that's that's something no human can grasp like like it's the kind that makes your heart feel like it's breaking but it's not because it's just so full.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

That's exactly it that is exactly it. Yeah um and really what what I love about my practice is I will try to kind of connect to the person's spirit team and and my spirit team and see um who they need to work with like who needs to come forward and and what their message is. And sometimes that's like their ancestors we kind of that we call them like eggon they're a little bit different than the spirit guides because the spirit guides do not have to be blood related. Right um and in my experience they're often not I I actually have very few clients where it's like oh no this indigenous spirit is like also blood related and they're not only just your spirit guide but that's like your great grandpa yeah I bet that's not very often though is it yeah not not too often um but it's always it's always really cool when it does happen um because again it's just a reminder that like our ancestors like us ourselves can be like that whenever we pass we can be the spirit guide for a future person who who needs us in in some way shape or form. Right exactly yeah and essentially these spirits like they all have a role um to help us in our lives so so we for example there's a Matty Mattle spirit guide so um sorry I have to like always remember the English mariners I guess would be like a fit like kind of like a fisherman like ship working on like yes yes and what they're good at is um business helping like like charming kind of helping bring in income and and working with your hands and like like really like business savvy. So that's now not all of them do that but that's just like kind of an example.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

That's interesting. Yeah I have never heard that one so yeah that's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

It's very different. Yeah um now I guess what you can compare Espiritismo to is spiritism because it is uh influenced by that and and spiritism was a mediumship modality uh brought forth by Alan Kardec so European mediumship um but he kind of got it from the indigenous tribe the Afro-Caribbean indigenous tribes in like particularly Puerto Rico so it's kind of like you could say that we both influenced each other right yeah so I mean how did you I did you grow up with all of this? That's what it sounds like you had all of this kind of passed down to you is that how this kind of shaped up for you to be on this journey yeah so I was so lucky in that I just either like grown up with it or like it just was randomly taught to me like I just I randomly ran into elders that in these traditions that were like okay it's time you learn this now I teach this are you interested I'm like okay sure um so it's really it it is uh really funny like for instance the the tarot cards like the the Roma traditions I didn't even really know that's what we were until um my yeah greek Greek for for grandma like she saw me with tarot cards and reading them one day and she's like oh your great grandma did that I was like what and then and and um she was like yeah she's like she would always do palm readings and stuff too like always with a cup of tea I was like yeah yeah tell me more you know yeah um and then um and then like we we did the DNA test again like that's when I was like yeah like this is all Roma tradition so so that was wild and then what's really funny was how I got that tarot deck was from my third and fourth grade teacher. Oh really that's interesting it was so random how I found these people these traditions um it and it just goes to show like the universe will provide like like even because some people like they do have blood ties to this but they don't have like they don't have the teachers they don't have the knowledge and I've just been so blessed where I've been able to find these teachers um but I would say like the the reason why because like I said over time we lose our roots we lose our traditions um you know we we conform more to the modern society um but I was just so lucky um with like when I was eight years old I had this amazing elementary school teacher back in New York um her name was Miss Sarah Long she was so young I I think she was oh she wasn't more than 27 28 and she she was beautiful um actually I don't know if you remember this but the first time I went to your fair you did an open gallery and you picked up on her oh really I don't remember it I don't oh this was this was years ago this was at least like five plus years ago so this was a while um but yeah this this was so so and you nailed it so so essentially she saw me and I was I was struggling in school because I had um a self-confidence issue and I like I would do fine on the tests and I would do fine on homework but when I was in the classroom and I was being called on I would just shut down and like I wouldn't know any answers like I would just kind of like the the board it was English and then it just went to this unknown language you know right um I I couldn't answer you know so she saw that and really wanted to take me under her wing. So she tested me like she had me tested for different learning disabilities and I didn't have any and she said she's like I don't think you do she's like I think this is a voice thing and I'm gonna help you find your voice so for she was amazing. So so for like those elementary school years she tutored me in particularly math and really helped me grow as a person and and her she would like give me gifts of like crystals and prayer stones and meditation music and meditation balls. Oh I love tarot death yeah so like it was just so she really began your journey at that age then yeah she did she it was it was that that woman that that and and it's it's heartbreaking she actually when we moved to Oklahoma like within months she passed away she had breast cancer um so it was heartbreaking but but she truly changed my life and and I think that's also why I'm so blessed to practice a spiritismo because you bet that I have her on my bulvada like my my um altar and and I I give her water and candlelight all the time.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Oh that's a wonderful story and I bet a lot of people that are listening will be able to connect with that story um with their own experiences and stuff like that. I I really do I feel like they will be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

I love that so is there anything else you would like people to know that you do before we begin to kind of wrap things up here oh you know um it is like that jack of all trade I love the expansion and I'm sure you're gonna be expanding even more by the time people see you in November uh I bet there's even more expansions that you you don't even realize yet so you're funny because things are brewing right but but by November it should so it's funny yep I see that happening for you spirit's showing me that right now so oh my goodness I love it oh you're so sweet um I did want to say though for for you um that in the gallery reading because you didn't know this you didn't know me you didn't know about this woman you were like she was really intelligent and she was good in math right and I was like huh she literally like she because she did she literally tutored me in math for years so I was like oh my gosh I just wanted to tell you I was like you're getting sick of that's awesome yeah I don't remember that because whenever I do readings or open galleries or any of that stuff I don't remember the messages that come through about 99% of the time every once in a while I'll remember something but it's usually because I'm supposed to for some reason but yeah I I don't know I always say that that is a sign that you are talking spirit when you can't remember like what's being said and I always tell people I'm like get a journal and a pay like a you know pen right and and write down what the reader is saying because sometimes they'll kind of hit you up and be like hey what did you say I'm like I don't I don't remember yeah I was like was it even me talking at that point right that's the reason why I even recommend people to record it on their phones or you know what I mean? Or I'm so I'm like so old fashioned of like writing paper because it's I do the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Yeah if I'm doing readings for people because whenever I do readings for people I open up to all their spirit guides um before that I even have the session with them. Yeah so I start writing down information before they get to me right and I love that I love doing it that way because people are like holy crap because they'll start telling me about stuff that's going on you know what I mean that they wanted to talk about in their session. So I always it but that's the reason why I write everything down even whenever stuff for myself I write it down because I will forget by tomorrow. Absolutely absolutely no I'm saying I don't understand all righty guys well you can find La Serena Celine at the Gypsy Soul Fair. I want to thank you guys so much for your time and energy that you spent with us today. You can see her uh on the holistic hub because she is a holistic hub member you can go under the tab on thegipsyso fair.com it has all of her information so you can see what classes she has book a private session or if you'd like to you know book a session with her before the fair because she'll fill up and that way she'll already have you on her books and everything. So that fair is in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma City Fair Park November 7th and 8th in the Hobby Arts Craft Building that is one of our largest fairs it is the last fair of the year November 7th and 8th let's see here we have over 50 vendors. We have oh my gosh we're gonna have 22 classes over the entire weekend yes a lot that's the most we've ever had um and then come stay with us all weekend because we're gonna have a concession stand that's gonna have all kinds of yummy food so you can go shop you can go to classes um make sure and become a member on the gypsy cellfare dot com because then you can favorite your classes and I think it will give you notifications about those. And you can see all those on gypsy gypsy cellfare dot com under the events tab. And if you've enjoyed today's podcast and feel called to support the show you can find the link for buy me a coffee in the show notes. Your generosity is so much appreciated. It helps me to keep this podcast going. Until next time I wish you a day full of joy love light and peace guided by spirit