Black Witches in Pop Culture and Herstory

Witch Sabrina ;D

                       Tia Dalma/Calypso

I used to love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I remember I was so happy when I saw the Voodoo Priestess Tia Dalma come through lol.

Tia Dalma was originally the sea goddess Calypso.  She took on a lover by the name of Davey Jones. Calypso decided that she would put Davey to work, and gave him the position of captain of the Flying Dutchman. His job was to guide the spirits that were lost at sea into the underworld.  Ten years later Davey came back only to find her gone.  It was not in her nature to stay put in one place. Davey got salty and wanted revenge.  He got with the Pirate Brethren and taught them how to bind Calypso into human form. Davey knew that in binding her, the seas would become tame, thus she would become tame.  Or so he thought.

Calypso, although contained, still possessed powers and became known as Tia Dalma, an Obeah priestess. During this time, Tia Dalma came up with a plan to free herself from her confining human form, and to get revenge on the men who had wronged her. She used her magick and her wits to execute her plans to get all of the men together, which would break the curse. She succeeded, and when she became free, she grew six feet high and told her enemies , “To your graves wrongdoers, I bend your path, to the depths of the sea".  She transformed herself into a bunch of small crabs and wandered away into the sea back to her freedom.  Her wrath incited a terrible storm, thus leading to the deaths of her enemies, including Davey. That scene was bad ass too lol!

Tia Dalma was a true Black feminist witch.  She didn’t have time to sit around and wait for Davey’s ass to finish his assignment. She was of the wild sea. When she was betrayed, she plotted and witched her way out of bondage and she came for all the heads of her enemies!  I love it!  She had a really great story line, and I’m glad it was central to two of the movies! Yay for Black witch visibility!

-Sabrina