Death on the Horizon

The Virgin of Mount Carmel or simply La Virgin del Carmen in Spanish. Mary as the Queen of the Dead. She has the power to free souls from Hell and Purgatory.

A few days ago, I got a nasty feeling. My land lady is a Romani woman. One of her animals almost died. And the red scarf around her neck that she uses to protect herself from the evil eye was loosening. Some nasty person whom she is already aware of had sent her a curse.

And said animal absorbed it. After the incident, I started getting a warning from my own spirits. And I am now doing special protective rituals for myself.

Leading the lost and angry souls out

Not too long after that, I received a blog post notification from an Orisha Temple in California. And they had a very interesting thing to say. They were warning of sudden death.

IFA To Overcome Death from OTURAOYEKU

In Yoruba religion, we have sacred signs. And they have different stories attached to them. They tell various stories that are sacred texts. But this sign I did not recognize. It’s called Oturaoyeku.

I had to call up an old Santero from Cuba to look it up. Apparently it’s referred to as “the devil’s mark” and a “sign of demonic power”. It means there are people plotting mischief or harm of some sort. Betrayal that could lead to murder. Curses from unethical practitioners.

Strange deaths, bad luck of every sort, the works. I looked it up later for myself and yes. This is a sign of corruption and vice. It symbolizes the “rot of corpses”. It means “even the Devil has a protective Egun” (spirit of the dead, a spirit guide).

This is a metaphor reminding us that everyone, even bad people, have spiritual protectors. And these evil spirits aid them in causing harm to good people. Speaking from past experience, that’s very true. Also we have a Mercury Retrograde headed our way next Saturday (Jan 30th, 2021). Which means Hermes is headed towards his cthonic aspect of Terrestrial Hermes.

Terrestrial Hermes, the guide of the dead

Hermes as a God of the dead. Their guide and protector. Hermes is a God of many things. From magic to technology, to languages, and business. Not just communication.

So when he enters his reaper aspect, everything he’s in charge of goes in reverse. Marriages break down, businesses go down, friends become enemies, etc.. And of course money problems. So now is not a time to make projects. Now is not a time to argue with anyone or try to prove yourself right. It will all backfire on you.

Now is the time to honor your dead through Hermes. Ask for his guidance. Retrogrades happen for a reason. And that reason is that things need to be corrected. And given the clusterfuck of a year we had in 2020, that’s an understatement.

Meditate, be a hermit. And stay the hell out of trouble. If someone mouths off to you, ignore them. Be polite and move the fuck on. It isn’t worth it.

Because all it takes is one confrontation. Just one, and you could get beat up. Or arrested, cursed, hell even killed. It isn’t worth it.

Leading them to their eternal resting places

So we all need to slow down. Don’t go out as much. Try to avoid dangerous situations. During a normal retrograde, accidents happen. But given that the Babalawos have sensed death in the air this isn’t something you want to tempt. And have a lot of patience because you need it.

They prescribe using Iyerosun. It’s a type of magical powder that comes from a tree named the Iyosun tree. Loosely translated it means Iyosun powder. It’s wood dust normally made by termites. And it’s blessed with ashe (divine grace) by the Babalawos.

The instructions are in their post. However, you should only do this if you are either a Babalawo or have some kind of knowledge on it. For non initiates that will be a lot harder. Unless you can find someone in your area who practices. If not I would suggest doing an offering to Orula and Odudawa for some heavenly protection.

You don’t have to be a Santero for that. I’ve seen Rootworkers pray to Orula and give him offerings. Do a divination and ask for help. Ask them what they want as an offering. Or even look it up.

It won’t have the exact same effect as what is prescribed. But the Orishas always listen to those who wish for help. Same with other divine beings. Just make sure you respect the culture and heritage. If you have questions book a reading with the Babalawos.

I normally offer that myself. But in these matters, these are high priests and have greater knowledge and spiritual authority. Or if you have a God you already feel comfortable with or a Saint or whoever, ask them. This isn’t a contest. Everyone has their own spirituality that works for them.

If you wish to work in your own culture, but need a few tips, book a reading with me. Studying folk magic prepared me for helping others to carve out their own rituals. Make it there’s. Regardless, there’s a few things that the Santero I spoke with gave me as advice during this time.

– He said I should pray to Orula and Odudawa. For protection of myself and family.

– Make offerings to Babalu Aye and Oro.

Babalu Aye handles disease. Oro is a very strange being that didn’t quite make it to Cuba. Essentially he is a God of the dead and necromancy, and he punishes the wicked. When he kills them, their ghosts join his group or entourage and they punish people for him

him.

A Babalawo first told me about him. But good luck getting any real information. His cult in Nigeria is a mystery religion, for men only. It’s a secret society. And when they do their night time rituals, people know to stay in doors.

There was a controversy in Nigeria a few years ago. It was over a Muslim woman at was out on the road at night. The cult was doing a procession in the streets with drums. People are supposed to stay in doors. But she was out at night and had encountered the men doing their rituals.

A taboo that hasn’t been broken in a long time. I can’t remember too much except that I think she got hurt. And it made a huge religious debate. The question was raised about whether or not everyone in a community, should be subject to taboos from religions they don’t practice. Regardless, Oro’s cult and it’s secrets are known only to those who initiate.

What I do know from a Paranormal case where I asked a Babalawo for help, is that Oro and Babalu Aye are often called upon together. They’re given offerings and called upon for protection from evil spirits. From Black Magic. From cursed lands and weird deaths etc.. So it makes sense this old Santero would tell me to call upon them. Apparently we are to ask from protection from them as well.

– Wear a Cross or Protective Charm around your neck.

He says that at this time, the Devil’s power will be at it’s strongest. That in his day, he was told to wear holy items around his neck if something like this came about. It wasn’t always a cross either. Sometimes he would wear some kind of amulet in the form of a small charm bag around his neck. At other times a tiger’s eye stone, or a medal of a Saint.

So no matter the religion, wear something protective around your neck. A crystal, a small bag or ring. He even mentioned having small family heirlooms blessed. You could wear that around your neck and it would work too. He didn’t go too deep into it except that it was a taboo he observed.

In my case I don’t have my necklace because it broke recently. So I am using a red band blessed by by the Romani woman with the medals of St. Benedict around my wrist. The use of charms is a very important taboo to follow now.

– Avoid all forms of negative thinking, action, or speech

What he was told when he was a young man, was that the bad spirits can hear you more clearly under this sign. So if you complain about something, or just say something nasty in general, they’ll make it worse. They’ll take it as an open invitation to come bother you. Even if it’s something nasty about a person who is nasty themselves. Don’t speak on it.

Don’t do curses or just retribution spells. Instead do offerings to your higher powers and let them handle stuff for you. These beings want to give you enough rope to hang yourself with. Don’t give them that satisfaction. And with a retrograde, that is likely to happen almost anywhere.

So don’t just quarantine because of the pandemic. Staying out of the streets is a good thing even if we didn’t have a plague on our hands.

– Beware of betrayal. And beware of gifts from enemies.

You have no idea what they’re really giving you. A special emphasis was made on witches who curse objects they gift you. These objects are supposed to turn your life upside down.

– Beware when divining

He mentioned something about these spirits trying to reach us when we divine. If we must divine it should only be in daylight hours. Never in the night. And only if we know how to block negative spirits from messing with our visions and messages. This is something very prevalent in this sign.

Especially with the use of cards I am told. Which is probably some kind of psychic interference these entities do in this sign. They seem to cause confusion and misinformation. Which leads me to the next taboo.

– Don’t make decisions with a bad mind

The bad spirits will make life more stressful. They will try to spin you every which way. To get you off guard so that you can make a mess out of your life. These are things that sound a lot like a Retrograde. But unlike a retrograde, this is not for your own good.

It’s meant to take you backwards in life.

– Beware of dark spirits

Specifically, beware of Eggun Buruku or “dark dead”. These are the angry ghosts of people who either weren’t good in life. Or they died in horrible ways, were forgotten and lost by their descendants etc.. They’ll be roaming the streets more than usual. Many cultures or faiths have their own version of dark ghosts. The Japanese even had their own books detailing what kinds of Yūrei (angry ghosts) were out there.

So probably brush up on your banishing rituals and recharge your charms. And when walking into your house, walk backwards with your back entering the home. Otherwise, certain spirits can follow you inside. This is something they do in Trinidad to break your tracks so entities can’t follow you in.

– Avoid being out at night if you can. If you have to be out, ward your car and yourself with charms and prayers.

– Treachery from children. Whatever that means.

There’s a bunch of other stuff associated with this sign and all of it is bad. But I think I made my point. Oh and one last thing, cleansing baths. And the use of holy water. To cleanse your soul and mind.

Or if you are good with herbs, cleanse with that. Cleanse daily to avoid dark energy in yourself and your body. Be safe everyone,

– M