u/FortunasSon

For safety reasons I won't disclose my specific location.

Hi im a native African, and I'm a Pagan! I was born into my religion, taught by my grandmother and mother who were taught by their grandmothers and mothers.

I've been down-low, I've been open about it, I preached about it but i also kept quiet. I welcomed people in, taught people and been taught by people.

I worship the Gods and honor them through ritual and will continue to like any other pagan in the rest of the world, AS ME ANYTHING!

So ive been living alone for 5 years now and since i moved ive been redoing the same protection ritual.

My dad (a local African mystic) gave me this ritual that he said he used in his house to use in mine after i moved.

It's basically making a deal with the local Djins, i give them food and water in exchange for protection from thieves and any hostility.

I channeled their talisman and buried it in my garden, I buried meat with it. I recited an evocation that my dad gave me calling the local djinns, passing by or not, with no malice to come for this job if desired. for 30mins while pressing my hands on the "grave".

And after that i lit incense for 24 hours straight around the house.

It's been 5 years and every weekend i leave a sheep's rib with water next to where i buried the talisman in my garden, i try to not go to the garden for at least a day after. When i go back to the garden the meat would all be gone with only the bones left and that's how i know that we still have a deal. And i reuse those bones for other rituals (no waste policy)

Every 6 months i do divination with the Djins to see if they still want the job.

Working with Djins is pretty common where we come from, we learn that they're not necessarily hostile and should treat them like we treat humans and go into business with them how we go into business with other people.

It's also in folklore that djinns like mean, especially meat with bones attached, hence the meat offerings.

Work with your local spirits they're more than happy to help for just some food!!!!!

I'm so sorry if this is long but i needed to vent so bad.

For context i live in a country where tarot, divination, or any form of occultism is criminalised and will put you in jail. (For privacy purposes i won't share my specific location but I'm in Africa.)

A friend reached out to me about 4 days ago (a friend I've known for 4 years and ive trusted with my religious life) saying that one of her friends is looking for a tarot reader if it would be okay to send him my way. My grandma may she rest in peace who taught me everything about tarot and our native religion (who did divination and spirit conjuring for a living) taught me to never reveal your practice to anyone except your friends and family, and friends of friends, and friends of family. So i naturally agreed.

The same day my friend's friend reached out to me on Instagram, he was super nice and very interested in my practice and he kept asking about how i practice my religion and all of that. I didn't sense any hint of a malice motive at the time, it's just looked like pure curiosity.

We agreed on meeting in a coffee shop and me giving him a tarot reading on the first of July(today).

We had small talk and then he said he recognised me and if i worked at this specific company, which was true but idk why i didn't deny.

Eventually it came to the reading and he asked whether him and his girlfriend will get married or not. I gave him a reading (that said they will) and he praised me for it.

He asked a couple of extra questions and then we talked non-tarot talk for about 15 mins and i left.

I said goodbye first bc he said he was waiting for his friends.

When i walked out the coffee shop I was met with a group of 4 men who stopped me and started asking some weird questions (do you pray, do you believe in God) and i found it funny bc wtf? (And ive faced similar situations before due to my scholarly religious interests but it was always banter) And the same banter kept going for like 5 mins. But then one of them started being pushy so i realised it was my cue to walk away. They followed me as i walked away trynna stop a taxi but this time they were yelling things like "sorcerer" "diviner" and that's when i got scared. What if somebody close by was ready to swing? What if the police heard? There have been 2 public witch hunts in my country this year alone and the victims were severely injured, so i was genuinely scared.

I eventually stopped a cab and left.

Now everything feels so weird, when i was with the guy in the coffee shop he kept checking and texting on his phone so their timing and everything makes sense if he was texting them, i feel like a pawn in somebody's sick game. And im suspecting that even my friend had part in this bc now that im thinking about it what's the likelihood of someone in this environment was just "looking for a tarot reader" and how convenient that it's just happens that she was informed about that.

I called my friend with no response and left multiple messages explaining what happened and it's been two hours since and no response.

Im honestly not as bothered by the harassment as with the fact that he knew where i previously worked and put a lot of energy to this. I know that i can't do much about this since the law is not on my side but my gods will hear about it.

Sorry if it's confusing I'm still hazy myself.