Altars, shrines, and Walter Mercado Documentary on Netflix.
My friend Jorge Ocasio (you can find him at Original Botanica making the most beautiful votive candles) announced one night on my Facebook feed, “the Walter Mercado documentary is up now on Netflix!” My brain warped back to a time when my mom and grandmother arguing over horoscopes, tarot clients, and celebrity gossip as they were cooking in the kitchen. A time when daytime shows were a huge thing. Coming from a Latin family, we watched the talk show, Christina, a lot. I personally could not understand the appeal even when as I got older.
Christina would catch cheating couples on camera and have the lovers fight on air. And then there was Walter. You ran when he was on. This was the days before TiVo and if you missed it, you missed it. Maybe you can schedule the VCR to record on VHS if you were clever enough but ultimately you were at the mercy of scheduled programming. So who is Walter Mercado? He was foremost a performer. He was an actor, writer, dancer, and eventually a TV personality that did astrology.
My grandmother and my mother
had enough bottles to open a GNC of their own.
I am slowly entering this phase. Eep!
To hear Walter Mercado speak was exciting. He spoke to everyone’s heart directly. You felt every horoscope he wrote was personal and not generic. He did this for years, telling viewers their fortunes while dressed in his grand and outlandish sequined costumes and capes like a super hero, gesturing with his graceful hands and proclaiming his loving catchphrase “Mucho, mucho amor!”. He is clearly a gay hero but due to the times and culture it was taboo to even discuss it.
When asked in the documentary, Mercado replies “I have sexuality with the wind, the flowers, the garden.” He never labels his sexual identity and jokes in the documentary that he’s a virgin. “I don’t need a person to make me happy,” he states. Hanging around with LGTBQ friends, I personally know quite a few gay and asexual aligned individuals so for me it isn’t a stretch of the imagination. I can see though why the older generations wouldn’t have bought that though. To them it’s either black or white.
The candelabras were put away for the event.
I shouldn’t be surprised witnessing in a religious Latin household
(Santeria, Luccumi, Espiritismo, Sanse, etc. )
all the numerous altars, setups, and shrines.
But seeing this particular one struck me.
Throughout the documentary, Walter delights in making light of his timeless glamour by alluding to the character Dorian Gray. I at first dismissed it as merely a joke. My eyebrow did perk up a few times though. When I saw the shrine to Oscar Wilde, I squealed. I didn’t expect this to affect me so. It made me realize various things at once. I had forgotten artistic spirit guides/helpers can be officially part of your spiritual court. In my mind, it was just the main commissions and that’s it. Healers to fighters kinda thing. Here was a Latin celebrity doing what I was doing. Here was someone venerating writers, dancers, artists ( !!! ) as part of their spirit court. Even though they were worlds apart. That is of course through family lines, blood, heritage, culture, etc. and here was Oscar Wilde being Irish and from the turn of the century.
For those who don’t know, a boveda is a white altar set up in the home by the entrance and away from the bedroom. Hopefully, it’s near the ground and a water source. On this table will be a white cloth, 1 large glass of water, 7-9 glasses of water (depending on what your family or godparents tell you), flowers (white usually), Florida water, a depiction of divinity like a cross or 7 keys to power, tobacco, rum, and lit candles, etc. The altar serves as a place of prayer or meditation, a portal for ancestors to communicate with you and family, a place for spirits to clean and accept offerings, and the first line of spiritual defense. In my family, we will have not just a family altar but mini shrines to spirit guides such as the gitanas, madamas or the marineros.
Walter Mercado is a true icon of the Latin spiritual community. Watching this film brought up a lot of wonderful personal nostalgic moments: from the vitamin/drug cabinet, fighting among family members, pets, styles, to decor. I do want to make a note in the movie how he talks about trying out different spiritualities. This for us is not technically spiritual appropriation. Why?
Ok Storytime. My grandmother once took my mom, me and my siblings to China Town on Canal St. back in the ’90s. She used to go there for her herbs, food, incense, and vitamins. While waiting for my mother, we went inside this Asian temple. As children, we felt weird and out of place. My grandmother not skipping a beat, grabbed incense, lit a candle, and started to pray. I think all of us asked her, “this isn’t Jesus or Yemaya, grandma. Maybe we should go? These are not ours.” She turned to us and affectionately said, “This is Chino Chango. This is China Ochun. Same spirits, different faces. They come to us everywhere in any form. How can you tell a diamond it’s not a diamond when you only see one facet of it? How very limiting to think of spirit. Of course, they will answer prayers. Pfff!”
Years ago, I went with my mother to see a documentary made by Dr. Vega at a college in Manhattan. When the subject of spiritual appropriation came up, these thoughts were echoed by the villagers being interviewed in the film and by the elders in the community. The more the world becomes smaller and faster though, with transportation and technology, you always run the risk of con artists (spiritual scammers to those not initiated) adding things to the religion and not knowing where certain traditions/practices come from, end or begin.
If you want to know about him, do yourself a favor watch the documentary on Netflix. It’s a beautiful treat in itself.