Speaker 1: M Welcome to the Hidden Gin a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minkey. A
Speaker 1: brief morning before we get into this episode. This episode
Speaker 1: includes language and refers to sexuality and sexual practices that
Speaker 1: may be triggering or too mature for young audiences. I'll
Speaker 1: be honest, I often get a bit uneasy with stories
Speaker 1: about female gin and other kinds of malevolent female entities,
Speaker 1: because there's no escaping the reality that historically women have
Speaker 1: often warned the blame for things that go wrong in
Speaker 1: a family or a community. If a couple can't have children,
Speaker 1: it's because the wife is barren. If a husband goes astray,
Speaker 1: it's because a wife couldn't keep them happy. Even if
Speaker 1: a region is experiencing drought, somehow women managed to get blamed.
Speaker 1: And if you don't believe me, just a few years ago,
Speaker 1: a Texas assemblywoman tweeted the Texas was in a long
Speaker 1: period of drought until the governor signed an anti abortion law. Yes,
Speaker 1: that was only one person, but she was just reflecting
Speaker 1: the kinds of sentiments that have existed for centuries. And
Speaker 1: that's why when I read about the kinds of terrible
Speaker 1: things that female monsters are said to do. I can't
Speaker 1: help but wonder maybe these stories just to mirror deeply
Speaker 1: misogynistic attitudes about women in general. But then there's also
Speaker 1: this possibility that maybe stories of powerful, supernatural female entities
Speaker 1: are actually projections of the power and ability. Women wish
Speaker 1: they had the power to control their lives and bodies,
Speaker 1: the power to exact revenge on those who hurt them,
Speaker 1: the power to strike error into societies that really help,
Speaker 1: no fear of them or respect for them. Maybe these
Speaker 1: stories are a warning of what could be unleashed if
Speaker 1: and when there's finally a reckoning. My name is Robbia Chaudhry,
Speaker 1: and I'll be your guide into the world of the
Speaker 1: Hidden Gin. Welcome. You could say that vampires have come
Speaker 1: a long way today. There are dozens of books, films,
Speaker 1: and TV shows that have sort of endeared them to us.
Speaker 1: Vampire comedies like What We Do in the Shadows are
Speaker 1: a big hit, and thanks to the Twilight series, an
Speaker 1: entire generation of young people are open to vampire love affairs.
Speaker 1: And I swear there's an entire section of vampire why
Speaker 1: a lit in every bookstore I've ever been to. Vampires
Speaker 1: are kind of cool, right, now they didn't, of course,
Speaker 1: start out that way. The myth of creatures that crave
Speaker 1: and survive on blood goes back thousands of years, is
Speaker 1: found in nearly every culture, but seems to hail not
Speaker 1: from Europe but from further east. The earliest evidence we
Speaker 1: have of any belief in blood suckers are shards of
Speaker 1: Persian pottery dating back about four thousand years depicting demons
Speaker 1: trying to drink the blood of men. We find from
Speaker 1: the same region the tales of La must Do, a
Speaker 1: word that means quote, she who erases in the language
Speaker 1: spoken in ancient Assyria and Babylonia, La must Do was
Speaker 1: a demonus, a monster that killed babies in the womb,
Speaker 1: and that attacked healthy young men, sucking their blood and
Speaker 1: rendering them infertile. Her image was as terrifying as her reputation.
Speaker 1: She had the head of a woman, the body of
Speaker 1: a beast, serpents in each hand, and suckled a dog
Speaker 1: and a pig at her bosom. And there's not that
Speaker 1: much distance between the legends about La must Do and
Speaker 1: a horrifying she demon found in Jewish lore. Now you
Speaker 1: may be wondering what any of these demonists has to
Speaker 1: do with gin. But remember, the Gin are older than
Speaker 1: human history, and they take on any in every form.
Speaker 1: What one culture now calls a gin has been called
Speaker 1: by many other names and other cultures, and in Jewish tradition,
Speaker 1: we have evidence of belief in a creature that lines
Speaker 1: up neatly with the Gin, the shed Them, which North
Speaker 1: African Jews also referred to with euphemisms such as tata
Speaker 1: the yellna our counterparts underground, or Jarndellna, our neighbors. According
Speaker 1: to the Talmud, the shed them have attributes of both
Speaker 1: angels and humans. In three ways, they are as angels.
Speaker 1: They have wings like angels, fly from one end of
Speaker 1: the world to the other like angels, and they know
Speaker 1: what will be in the future like angels. And in
Speaker 1: three ways they are as humans. They eat and drink
Speaker 1: like humans, they multiply like humans, and they die like humans.
Speaker 1: He won't be surprised to learn that the shed Them
Speaker 1: live in dank, dirty and desolate places, with a particular
Speaker 1: fondness for bathrooms, and that they can shape shift, changing
Speaker 1: their appearance in any way they want, with one exception
Speaker 1: they can't change their feet. Now these descriptions should ring
Speaker 1: a Bell if you've heard our previous episodes, including the
Speaker 1: first one in which we talked about Ashmodai, the mighty
Speaker 1: demon Jin that King Solomon brought under his control. According
Speaker 1: to the Talmud, Ashmodai was a shed Dim, and that
Speaker 1: takes us back to one of many Jin origin stories.
Speaker 1: In this story, the shed them were created from the
Speaker 1: union of a demonus and the first man, Adam, and
Speaker 1: that demonus is Lilith. Lilith has a rich Semitic history.
Speaker 1: You might even call her the original vamp hire of
Speaker 1: Jewish lore, and she is well documented in Rabbinic literature
Speaker 1: as having been the intended ride of Adam. Some stories
Speaker 1: say that Adam rejected her because she refused to be
Speaker 1: a subservient sexual partner. Lilith believed that she and Adam
Speaker 1: were created equal, and for that he rejected her. Full
Speaker 1: of despair and indignation, Lilith abandoned Adam in heaven and
Speaker 1: dove to Earth, fleeing deep into the ocean in a
Speaker 1: complete rage. She didn't stay in the ocean, though. Three
Speaker 1: angels were sent after her to coax her back, and
Speaker 1: they found her by the Red Sea, where she was
Speaker 1: a mating with other fallen Gin and bearing baby demons
Speaker 1: and Isaiah. The Bible speaks of a dark wilderness, and
Speaker 1: there wildcats shall meet with hyenas, goat demons shall call
Speaker 1: to each other. There, too, Lilith shall repose and find
Speaker 1: a place to rest. Lilith was not about to return
Speaker 1: with the angels, though she told them, I was created
Speaker 1: only to cause sickness to infants, and I am the
Speaker 1: sworn enemy of pregnant women. The angels responded, we won't
Speaker 1: let you go until you accept upon yourself that each day,
Speaker 1: one hundred of your children will die. Lilith accepted the condition,
Speaker 1: and for that reason, one hundred demons die every day,
Speaker 1: but Lilith, who is immortal, can easily replace them, and
Speaker 1: is thus considered by some to be the mother of
Speaker 1: all gin. Lilith is also known to have a sexual
Speaker 1: appetite that is never satisfied, which certainly helps with the
Speaker 1: baby demon making pursuits. She took on many demonic lovers,
Speaker 1: and some say she made it with Satan himself, But
Speaker 1: along with her demon lovers, she sometimes chooses mortal lovers,
Speaker 1: and yet another legend says she came across a mortal
Speaker 1: wandering in the wilderness. Some one who had just murdered
Speaker 1: his brother. It was Kane, the son of Adam, who
Speaker 1: killed his brother Abel. Lilith showed Kine the life power
Speaker 1: of blood, and they became lovers together, birthing hundreds of
Speaker 1: dark souls, which is pretty sinister but ingenious revenge by
Speaker 1: Lilith against Adam, the man who rejected her. Other tales
Speaker 1: say that Lilith became the wife of the demon king Ashmadai.
Speaker 1: Lilith was you see among the legions of Gin that
Speaker 1: King Solomon took command over with his magical ring, which
Speaker 1: he used to force the Gin to present themselves before him.
Speaker 1: She appeared before him as a female figure with no limbs,
Speaker 1: just a head and a torso, her hair ratty and ragged.
Speaker 1: He commanded her to tell him who she was and
Speaker 1: what she did, and she responded, By night, I sleep
Speaker 1: not but go my rounds over all the world and
Speaker 1: visit women in childbirth and diving. The hour I take
Speaker 1: my stand, and if I am lucky, I strangle the child.
Speaker 1: But if not, I retire to another place, for I
Speaker 1: cannot a single night retire unsuccessful. And now hither Now
Speaker 1: thither I roam, and to western parts I go my rounds.
Speaker 1: But as it is, though thou hast sealed me round
Speaker 1: with the ring of God, thou hast done nothing. I
Speaker 1: am not standing before thee, and thou wilt not be
Speaker 1: able to command me, for I have no work other
Speaker 1: than the destruction of children, and making of their ears
Speaker 1: to be deaf, and the working of evil to their eyes,
Speaker 1: and the binding of their mouths with a bond, and
Speaker 1: the ruin of their minds, and the painting of their bodies.
Speaker 1: So while King Solomon was able to bind her for
Speaker 1: a time, she eventually, like all the king's other enslaved jins,
Speaker 1: found her freedom when he died, and she went right
Speaker 1: back to hunting children. You might say Lilith really holds
Speaker 1: a grudge like the she demon La must do. Lilith
Speaker 1: is a sworn baby killer. Lilith doesn't even wait for
Speaker 1: a baby's birth to begin attack King it. Her attempts
Speaker 1: to harm human children begin when the child is in
Speaker 1: the mother's womb, causing miscarriages and stillbirths, and if they
Speaker 1: survive that, she pursues their debts for weeks after they're born,
Speaker 1: sometimes causing them to fall sick and die, and other
Speaker 1: times strangling them in a jealous rage, and in one
Speaker 1: final act of revenge against mankind, Lilith also visits unwitting
Speaker 1: men at night as they sleep, sexually violating them to
Speaker 1: steal their seed and bear more demon children. You may
Speaker 1: have heard of this creature the succubus. Turns out, that's
Speaker 1: just Lilith. Unfortunately we can't escape Lilith. While women have
Speaker 1: worn amulets and tied talisman and prayers around their babies
Speaker 1: for protection against this Gin, these are flimsy guardians against
Speaker 1: this vengeful spirit, and so this dance of revenge will
Speaker 1: go on for eternity, because unlike other Gin, Lilith is immortal.
Speaker 1: Lilith doesn't stand alone though. In the Jewish cosmology of
Speaker 1: female demon gin, she's accompanied by three sisters, Nama, Agrith,
Speaker 1: and Mahalath, who is said to be the queen of
Speaker 1: the demons and married to the demon king Ashmadi. There is,
Speaker 1: to be honest, a confusing intersection of all these female
Speaker 1: and male Gin, a lot of hooking up between them. Imagine,
Speaker 1: if you will, a reality show where everyone has been
Speaker 1: sexually involved with everyone else, kind of like a terrifying
Speaker 1: Jersey Shore, just with lots of death and destruction, and
Speaker 1: in all of these stories, the female gin often seemed
Speaker 1: to have one mission, making lots of demon babies, and
Speaker 1: that requires a lot of getting it on with other demons.
Speaker 1: But these ladies don't just stick to one man. They
Speaker 1: hook up with really anyone they please. So it's not
Speaker 1: surprising that Lilith has in more recent times become a
Speaker 1: symbol of women's sexual freedom and independence, although that's a
Speaker 1: bit of a hard cell given her baby killing tendencies.
Speaker 1: But if Lilith and her sisters inspired real life women
Speaker 1: to claim power over their bodies, the opposite might be
Speaker 1: true in the story of a real life Moroccan noblewoman
Speaker 1: that has inspired the tales of a powerful female jin
Speaker 1: by the name of Aisha Candiya. According to one fifteenth
Speaker 1: century legend, Aisha was a beautiful Moroccan woman from the
Speaker 1: El Jadida region, which was at the time occupied by
Speaker 1: the Portuguese. Her husband, part of the resistance, was killed
Speaker 1: at the hands of Portuguese soldiers, and she vowed to
Speaker 1: spend the rest of her life getting vengeance. In other
Speaker 1: versions of the tale, Aisha herself was part of the resistance,
Speaker 1: a warrior who one by one killed enemy soldiers Aisha
Speaker 1: used her beauty to seduce a suspecting soldiers and officers
Speaker 1: into dark corners where she could get them into compromising
Speaker 1: and vulnerable positions. Once she had them where she wanted them,
Speaker 1: she would pull out a long knife kept hidden in
Speaker 1: her robes, slip their throats, and savagely mutilate their bodies.
Speaker 1: She killed so many soldiers and was so elusive that
Speaker 1: the occupiers started fearing her. Some even said she wasn't human.
Speaker 1: She couldn't be given the things she was able to do,
Speaker 1: They couldn't capture her. So in order to punish Aisha,
Speaker 1: the Portuguese executed her entire family, which caused her to
Speaker 1: flee into the jungle, overtaken by madness. But she didn't
Speaker 1: stay in the jungle. Instead, they say, she began to
Speaker 1: attack locals, young men in particular, and devour them. The
Speaker 1: Aisha that was once a hero against the Portuguese had
Speaker 1: now turned into a monster against her own people. And
Speaker 1: it was this depravity that over the centuries, gave rise
Speaker 1: to Aisha Condita the Jin know to every little and
Speaker 1: girl in the region. Even today, she's so feared that
Speaker 1: the mere mention of her name is forbidden because it
Speaker 1: might invite her into your world. Some say that Aisha
Speaker 1: Kandija the Jin is much more ancient than the fifteenth
Speaker 1: century figure, that her very lineage is from one of
Speaker 1: the seven great kings of the Jinn, schem Harush himself.
Speaker 1: Other scholars and historians believe the legend of Aisha Kandija
Speaker 1: hails to Canaanite cults whose temples included women called the
Speaker 1: Kadeshah known as sacred prostitutes. Now, the practice of sacred prostitution,
Speaker 1: unfortunately much more common in history and across different societies,
Speaker 1: going back as far as six thousand b c. Was
Speaker 1: framed as an act of worship and even female sexual empowerment.
Speaker 1: But here is a description of the practice as relaid
Speaker 1: by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. It compels every woman
Speaker 1: of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodity
Speaker 1: and have intercourse with stranger at least once in her life.
Speaker 1: Once a woman has taken her place there, she does
Speaker 1: not go away to her home before some stranger has
Speaker 1: cast money into her lap and had intercourse with her
Speaker 1: outside the temple. It does not matter what some of
Speaker 1: the money is. The woman will never refuse for that
Speaker 1: would be a sin, the money being by this act
Speaker 1: made sacred, so she follows the first man who casts
Speaker 1: it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged
Speaker 1: her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to
Speaker 1: her home. Now, the question of empowerment of these women
Speaker 1: is a bit questionable, given their inability to refuse any
Speaker 1: man who approaches them, and pardon me for thinking this
Speaker 1: feels a little more like exploitation than empowerment. Nonetheless, there's
Speaker 1: no question between the connection of female sexuality and divinity
Speaker 1: that these and other societies made, and the figure of
Speaker 1: Kadisha pops up repeatedly. She goes from being a sacred
Speaker 1: prostitute to worship in ancient Egypt as a goddish name.
Speaker 1: Kadeshu Kadesha was not only a fertility goddess, she was
Speaker 1: also a goddess of sexual pleasure and sacred ecstasy. The
Speaker 1: likeliest scenario, then, and how the legend of the jinn
Speaker 1: Aisha Kndicha emerged, is that multiple threads of beliefs came
Speaker 1: together to forge the mythology that exists today. In the
Speaker 1: region most closely associated with her, Morocco. In some areas
Speaker 1: she's believed to be a siren like figure, and another
Speaker 1: is more of an earth mother type, but in all
Speaker 1: cases she's known to be a sexually ravenous gin not
Speaker 1: unlike her mythical predecessors. Aisha Kndicha roams a wilderness near
Speaker 1: bodies of water and northern Morocco, often the Cebu River,
Speaker 1: but also in some of her other favorite haunts, grottos,
Speaker 1: springs fountains, where she searches for her next victim, usually
Speaker 1: a young man. They say she's tall, with large, alluring
Speaker 1: eyes full lips, though she never smiles. Aisha Kndicha has
Speaker 1: a flipped she was figured that can't be hidden in
Speaker 1: the black carbons that she's draped in. Some say those
Speaker 1: grapes are her own hair, jet black that has grown
Speaker 1: so long it wraps around her body, and at times
Speaker 1: when she's spotted, it's as she's emerging from the water
Speaker 1: source she haunts, combing her long, wet black hair back
Speaker 1: from her bare body. While she's feared for causing harm
Speaker 1: to pregnant women. What Aisha Kandita is really known for
Speaker 1: is her fearsome and violent lust, a lust so strong
Speaker 1: that her only real mission is to seduce men into
Speaker 1: her bed, and once her victim has been intimate with her,
Speaker 1: she reveals her true terrifying form. She's gargantuane with teeth
Speaker 1: like knives, and hidden under the black folds are the
Speaker 1: legs and feet of a camel. Not all of the
Speaker 1: men who fall for her discover the truth of who
Speaker 1: she is until it's too late, until they've already entered
Speaker 1: into a sexual tryst with her, at which point he
Speaker 1: can no longer reject her. He will either have to
Speaker 1: become her sexual slave for life or risk being murdered
Speaker 1: by her. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
Speaker 1: Becoming her slave comes with dozens of conditions. Her new
Speaker 1: man can only wear a dirty, ragged clothing that's green
Speaker 1: or red or black. He can never cut his hair
Speaker 1: or his fingernails, and he definitely can't cheat on her.
Speaker 1: And if he rejects these conditions, tough conditions, and refuses them,
Speaker 1: then he has to pay for it with his life.
Speaker 1: And that's because I sha CONDITYA doesn't just satisfy her
Speaker 1: sexual urges with her victims, she also satisfies her other
Speaker 1: carnal drives. She drinks their blood and eats their flesh.
Speaker 1: She is quite literally a man eater. Not all of
Speaker 1: her victims end up dead, though some end up driven mad,
Speaker 1: possessed by her, possessed with love and lust for her,
Speaker 1: but unable to obtain her. They say that those who
Speaker 1: seek her become married to her and her alone, unable
Speaker 1: or unwilling to take interest in a human bride, and
Speaker 1: in that way I should condi Ja has at any
Speaker 1: given time thousands of lovers and husbands. But beyond her
Speaker 1: human husband's she's also married to Jen royalty to an
Speaker 1: invincible Jin king by the name of Basha Hammou. Hamu's
Speaker 1: weakness is blood, and so you'll find him at slaughterhouses,
Speaker 1: but he also possesses people who then slashed their own
Speaker 1: limbs to satisfy the Jin's desire. Aisha, Condisha and Hammu
Speaker 1: quite a power couple, you could say, if we lean in, though,
Speaker 1: what we see in stories about Aisha Kndija are layers
Speaker 1: of lessons and warnings. A lesson on the power of
Speaker 1: a woman's sexuality, but also what happens when the sexuality
Speaker 1: of a woman isn't in check. Its spirals out of control,
Speaker 1: lust turning into violence and even death. And it's also
Speaker 1: warning to men to stay away from tempting beautiful women
Speaker 1: that you aren't married to, because for all you know,
Speaker 1: she could be a cannibalistic jin. Engaging and forbidden sexual
Speaker 1: trysts could literally be the death of you. And even
Speaker 1: if she doesn't kill you, you could find yourself gone
Speaker 1: mad with desire for her, wandering the earth the rest
Speaker 1: of your days, seeking her, useless to the rest of
Speaker 1: the world. So in that sense, it's almost a warning
Speaker 1: against falling in love itself. It might seem that all
Speaker 1: the female jin have a bad rap, sexually insatiable baby
Speaker 1: killers and man eaters, but that's not exactly true. Just
Speaker 1: as there are good and evil humans, there are good
Speaker 1: and evil gin and the good ones are often as
Speaker 1: powerful as the not so good ones. In Morocco, where
Speaker 1: we met Aisha Candia, we also meet La La Rakia
Speaker 1: el Khammer, which translates to Lady Rekia, daughter of the
Speaker 1: Red One. People seeking her blessings travel to the foot
Speaker 1: of the Atlas Mountains to the enchanting town of Seffru,
Speaker 1: located hours from the Moroccan capital of Rabat. Centuries ago,
Speaker 1: Seffreu wasn't important trading city as well as an ancient
Speaker 1: Jewish Berber settlement and Nestled in the western part of
Speaker 1: the town is the Fountain of Lady Rerechia, a miraculous
Speaker 1: fountains set to bring healing for both physical and mental ailments.
Speaker 1: Those who believe in the powers of Lady Rerechia fill
Speaker 1: up their jugs at her fountain, but most Moroccans don't
Speaker 1: have to go that far to find her. That's because
Speaker 1: the abode of Lady Rerechia is the bath house. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean the room where you go to shower
Speaker 1: in your house. I'm talking about the public bath house,
Speaker 1: the hammam, which is ubiquitous in North African and Middle
Speaker 1: Eastern cultures. Ham Moms are culturally, socially and religiously significant,
Speaker 1: segregated by gender. The hammam is much more than a
Speaker 1: shared pool of water, steam rooms, heated marble slabs, rigorous exfoliation,
Speaker 1: cold showers. It's an entire series of pampering and cleansing rituals.
Speaker 1: But beyond beautification and cleanliness, the hammons are kind of
Speaker 1: like a local pub for full get together to linger
Speaker 1: and trade gossip, albeit naked, relax with friends and neighbors,
Speaker 1: and the hammam often even has a role in marriages, births,
Speaker 1: even birthdays. Apparently there's nothing like water and naked people
Speaker 1: to attract the wrong kind of gin, which is where
Speaker 1: Lady Reky steps in. She's a queen in the gin world,
Speaker 1: deeply respected for her wisdom and diplomatic skills, and she
Speaker 1: lords over all the gin and every ham mom in
Speaker 1: the world. She makes it her job to protect the
Speaker 1: hammed bathers, but only if people request her permission to
Speaker 1: enter the hammm ask for her protection and greet her
Speaker 1: as they enter. Once in the hammam, Lady Rerekia guards
Speaker 1: both men and women from malevolent beings who might otherwise
Speaker 1: get too attached to abeather and follow them home or
Speaker 1: whisper sinful thoughts and to obey the heart leading them
Speaker 1: into forbidden acts and for the price of keeping peace
Speaker 1: the hammam, Lady Rekia also demands to be thanked and
Speaker 1: bid adieu while leaving. She loves offerings of oil, lamps,
Speaker 1: incense and perfumes too, especially on special occasions. You could
Speaker 1: say she's a bit needy, but really, who among us
Speaker 1: doesn't like to be valued and recognized for their work.
Speaker 1: Now in the world of good versus bad Gin. There
Speaker 1: is one that kind of toes the line. If you
Speaker 1: remember back to earlier in the season, we mentioned one
Speaker 1: jin that while we aren't able to shake. That's our
Speaker 1: jin double, the one we're born with and die with,
Speaker 1: the Corinne. And if you're a woman, well, your female
Speaker 1: counterpart is the Carina. There was, however, an original Carina,
Speaker 1: the one that birthed all the others that were stuck
Speaker 1: with today. It's believed that at the dawn of human creation,
Speaker 1: that Carina was Adam's first wife, but was rejected by
Speaker 1: him and later made it with Satan to produce legions
Speaker 1: of baby gin ad infinitum. She nominally hated men, but
Speaker 1: women too, and to punish both, she made children the
Speaker 1: target of her fury, causing stillbirths and fatal illnesses and babies.
Speaker 1: If she sounds like Lilith, you're exactly right. The original
Speaker 1: Karna and Lilith are one and the same. So for
Speaker 1: the ladies out there, the Carina that you carry with
Speaker 1: you everywhere turns out that she's the daughter of the
Speaker 1: mother of all the gin. Our personal Carina is also
Speaker 1: sometimes called our or Shakika, both words that mean sister,
Speaker 1: but this jin takes sibling rivalry to another level. She
Speaker 1: carries a particular interest in the spouse of her human,
Speaker 1: fueled maybe by jealousy of all the human beings she's
Speaker 1: missing out on. She does her best to break up
Speaker 1: the couple was to bring hateful thoughts in her humans ears,
Speaker 1: poisoning her heart against her husband and urging her to
Speaker 1: leave the marriage, which begs the question though, what if
Speaker 1: he's just a truly terrible spouse? What if it's a
Speaker 1: toxic or abuse of marriage? Does blaming a garna let
Speaker 1: crappy husbands off the hook? Does it redirect blame back
Speaker 1: to a woman to check herself health, to second guess
Speaker 1: the thoughts that she has of leaving? But then, divorce
Speaker 1: has always carried a heavy social stigma, especially in times
Speaker 1: and places where women didn't have the agency to make
Speaker 1: such monumental decisions. Maybe, just maybe, the Carina gives a
Speaker 1: woman in an unhappy marriage who might find it impossible
Speaker 1: to leave otherwise away out and so Ladies, maybe, just
Speaker 1: like their mother Lilith, the Corina are simply asserting power
Speaker 1: that's long been kept from women. Speaking of power, there's
Speaker 1: a fascinating female flip side to the world of Gin,
Speaker 1: and it's not about the jinn themselves, It's about the
Speaker 1: power of women in fighting the Gin. North African regions
Speaker 1: are replete with female jin stories, but they're also replete
Speaker 1: with the stories of the power of women themselves, women
Speaker 1: who were able to trick the devil himself into giving
Speaker 1: them power. According to the friend writer Aleene de Lenz,
Speaker 1: who lived in Morocco in the early part of the
Speaker 1: twentieth century, the oral tradition of how women of the
Speaker 1: region came to their power goes like this. In antiquity,
Speaker 1: old women wanted to seize the devil. What can we
Speaker 1: do to attract him, they asked themselves. While the devil
Speaker 1: always arrives during a dispute, So the old woman started
Speaker 1: insulting each other and the devil arrived. Then the shouting
Speaker 1: turned to sobbing. What's wrong, asked the devil. The old
Speaker 1: woman responded, the devil is dead. The devil, confused, said
Speaker 1: that is a lie. I am the devil, and the
Speaker 1: old woman said, he is dead. We tell you you,
Speaker 1: we don't know you, And the devil responded, I speak
Speaker 1: the truth. If that's so, the old woman challenged him,
Speaker 1: enter into this glass vial, and we will believe you.
Speaker 1: And so the devil entered, and the women quickly put
Speaker 1: a stopper on the vial. Let me out, he shouted,
Speaker 1: by fire, we won't let you free, and so the
Speaker 1: devil berated them ditch a female camel's prostitutes, and the
Speaker 1: old women rerated him. Back you one eyed person, possessor
Speaker 1: of a single hair, And that made the devil reconsider, Oh,
Speaker 1: my daughters, deliver me and I will help you. But
Speaker 1: the women responded, helping you help anyone you the father
Speaker 1: of evil, And the devil said, I will teach you
Speaker 1: how to prevail over men, and so the old women agreed,
Speaker 1: and he taught them sorcery as well as the art
Speaker 1: of curing illness. It said that since then Moroccan women
Speaker 1: have been feared by some as sorceresses, having the knowledge
Speaker 1: and power to not to subjugate and control men, keel sickness,
Speaker 1: and fight the gin, but they also have the power
Speaker 1: to control nature itself. One account of this comes to
Speaker 1: us by way of doctor Emil Moauchamp. Doctor Moauchamp was
Speaker 1: assigned by the French to establish his medical practice in
Speaker 1: Marrakesh in nineteen o five as part of the French
Speaker 1: government's ploy deepen its hold on Morocco through providing healthcare. Yes,
Speaker 1: that seems crazy, but believe it or not, they weren't
Speaker 1: the only colonial power who has used such ploys. Mos
Speaker 1: Schamp was one of many colonial observers in the region
Speaker 1: who collected their own ethnographies, fascinated with local customs and traditions,
Speaker 1: especially relating to magic and sorcery. He explained one point,
Speaker 1: how to sorceress concocted a magic paste to be able
Speaker 1: to control the moon itself. First, the sorceress would buy
Speaker 1: a new kneading dish during the day, and then she
Speaker 1: would visit the home of all the gin with it,
Speaker 1: the slaughterhouses, the toilets, cemeteries, the tombs of saints, as
Speaker 1: well as synagogues and mosques, with a genie stand guard.
Speaker 1: Then she takes the water of seven springs or covered wells,
Speaker 1: and in the night of the full moon, between midnight
Speaker 1: and one am, she darkens her right eye with call
Speaker 1: let's blush on the right cheek, a bracelet on the
Speaker 1: right arm and anklet on the right foot, and braids
Speaker 1: a lock of her hair on the right Then she
Speaker 1: goes alone to the cemetery, puts the dish on the ground,
Speaker 1: strips naked, and runs holding a reed with a little
Speaker 1: green flag attached, asking the spirits of darkness to make
Speaker 1: the moon descend for her. In the dish she has
Speaker 1: put the water of the seven fountains. Then one sees
Speaker 1: the moon mount to its zenith and descend into the dish.
Speaker 1: Immediately a storm is unleashed. The water phones and spills over,
Speaker 1: and the sorceress collects this phone. At the same time,
Speaker 1: Benzoin and Coriander cook in a neighboring pot, and the
Speaker 1: sorceress commands, I want you to serve me for good
Speaker 1: and for evil. When the tub is full of foam,
Speaker 1: the Sorceress puts out the incense fire and spills the
Speaker 1: water on the ground, and the liberated moon rises slowly
Speaker 1: into the sky. Now that is power. Unfortunately, formau Schamp
Speaker 1: he wasn't able to like these stories for long. Less
Speaker 1: than two years after arriving in Morocco, he was murdered
Speaker 1: right outside his own clinic. His crime he raised a
Speaker 1: pole or intent of some sort onto his roof, which
Speaker 1: some locals feared meant he was a French spy connected
Speaker 1: wirelessly through the pole to a a various network, but
Speaker 1: I can't help but wonder if he just got on
Speaker 1: the wrong side of a sorceress. Thanks for joining us
Speaker 1: this week. Next week we'll be back to take you
Speaker 1: into another step into the world of the Hidden Gin.
Speaker 1: Until then, remember we are not alone. If you loved
Speaker 1: today's episode, I'm going to ask you a big favor.
Speaker 1: Please stop my iTunes and leave me a rating and
Speaker 1: a review, even if it's just one short sentence. Not
Speaker 1: only is that how other listeners discover the podcast, but
Speaker 1: it's also what keeps the podcast going. And for every
Speaker 1: thousand reviews that I at on iTunes, I'll release another
Speaker 1: Patreon episode absolutely free. That's right, we're on Patreon, so
Speaker 1: if you're a Gin enthusiast, check out the Companion Patreon
Speaker 1: series at patreon dot com slash Hidden Jin again, that's
Speaker 1: patreon dot com slash Hidden Gin and remember Jin is
Speaker 1: spelled d j I n N. That's where you're gonna
Speaker 1: find an amazing series of interviews between me, scholars, experts,
Speaker 1: art as, historians, and everyday lay people who have had
Speaker 1: extraordinary experiences with Jin and everybody can check out the
Speaker 1: first episode absolutely free. It's me and my husband sharing
Speaker 1: our gen stories and it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: And if you have any gin stories, well, I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear from you, email me at the Hidden Gin
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Once again, it's The Hidden Gin
Speaker 1: Gin with a D at gmail dot com. And you
Speaker 1: might just hear back from me, or you might hear
Speaker 1: your story on the show. And finally, don't forget to
Speaker 1: follow us on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and
Speaker 1: Instagram with handle the Hidden Gin. There you can tweet, post,
Speaker 1: insta dm me. I'd love to hear from all of you,
Speaker 1: and believe me, I read every single message. The Hidden
Speaker 1: Gin is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankey. The podcast is written and
Speaker 1: hosted by Robbia Chaudry and produced by Miranda Hawkins and
Speaker 1: Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick. Music for the show was provided by Smith
Speaker 1: Sony and Folkways Recordings. Our theme song was created by
Speaker 1: Patrick Cortez. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.