Rapper Azealia Banks shocked her Instagram fans when she took to the platform to upload a series of videos that appear to show her and a friend digging up her dead cat Lucifer that died three months ago.
She then boils the remains of the cat in a pot in preparation for what appeared to be a voodoo ritual.
The now-deleted video was captioned: “Lucifer 2009-2020. My Dear kitty. Thank you for everything. A legend. An icon. Forever a serval serve.”
The video begins with a pair of hands clawing at dark soil.
Banks explains in the video that she buried her cat Lucifer in the ground after he died three months ago and that she was now digging him up to bring him “back to life.”
As the pair of hands move away soil to expose a bag buried in the ground, Banks begins to sing lyrics from her 2012 hit song, 212.
The hands pull a bag from the ground. The bag apparently contains the remains of her dead cat Lucifer.
Azealia Banks boils the remains of her cat Lucifer
The video then shows a pot filled with boiling liquid in which Azealia appears to be boiling the remains of the dead animal.
She later uploads another video (now-deleted) that shows a pink-colored pot girded by a chain and padlock.
Inside the pot are several items, including the skull of an animal (presumed to be her dead cat’s skull).
Other items in the pot include a $100 bill, a bottle of champagne, a bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume, a crucifix, peacock feathers, objects decorated with cowrie shells, and several wooden sticks.
She also took to her Instagram Story to share a video of herself burning sage incense in an abalone shell as part of a ritual to clear out negative influences.
According to New York Post, Banks performed the ritual ahead of moving from her home in Woodland Hills, California to Miami, Florida.
Fans react on social media
Many of Banks’ Instagram fans were spooked by the video.
“Someone help her,” one horrified fan wrote in all caps.
“We’re all begging you, please get help,” a second fan wrote.
Twitter fans joked and shared memes about the video.
the cats at the adoption center when they see azealia banks come in pic.twitter.com/7lGbmLDppR
— Boo Union (@sailorsmina) January 12, 2021
Azealia Banks really dug up her dead cat and cooked it on Instagram Live. pic.twitter.com/VAR5d9x19v
— YERRboi Shredda (@ShreddaSosa) January 12, 2021
the cats at the adoption center when they see azealia banks come in pic.twitter.com/7lGbmLDppR
— Boo Union (@sailorsmina) January 12, 2021
Azealia Banks’ cat looking down form heaven right now pic.twitter.com/6APNe7BbxN
— Mrs Phil Perry (@MrsPhilPerry) January 12, 2021
Azealia once claimed that she practiced Afro-Cuban Palo “brujeria”
Azealia later uploaded a photo showing the pink-pot preparation to her Instagram.
She captioned the photo: “The beauty. True Palera.”
Her use of the term “Palera” suggested that she was performing a Palo religious cult ritual.
Followers of the Palo cult are known as “Paleros” (feminine: “Palera”).
The hip-hop artist has claimed in the past that she practices Afro-Cuban Palo brujeria. The word “brujeria” is Spanish for “witchcraft.”
Banks also claimed in a 2016 interview on Vice’s Broadly Meets that she is a “controversial witch.”
In 2016, she shocked her fans when she uploaded a video that showed her cleaning up blood and chicken feathers from her closet after performing sacrificial rituals.
Banks claimed at the time that she had been practicing Palo brujeria for three years.
Banks has courted controversy over the years by claiming that she practices Palo witchcraft.
She once threatened to use voodoo to burn down Lana Del Rey’s house.
What is Palo?
Palo (Palo Mayombe) is related to the better-known Afro-Cuban Santeria cult. But while Santeria originated in the traditions of the Yoruba of Nigeria in West Africa, Palo is a cluster of cults that share a common root in the beliefs of Central African ethnic groups of modern-day Congo.
The Palo system is practiced in Cuba and South American countries, such as Venezuela and Colombia.
Some Floridians also reportedly practice Palo.
Palo focuses on the worship, veneration, and invocation of the spirits of the dead and natural objects, such as sticks.
It often involves the ritual preparation of pots containing sticks, remains of humans and animals, and other objects supposedly having magical powers.
Palo cultists in Florida have come into conflict with local authorities in the past after robbing graves to obtain the human remains they need to practice their rituals.