Since writing about Otura Niko, I got curious and wanted to know more about it. I had never heard of this sign before. And I wanted to trace its origin. I think I found the possible origin. Translated from the original Spanish article here.
In the land of Yewe Inle, there was a time when there was a terrible drought. Everything was a great disaster. It was then when the main kings met with the Obá Ikú (king death), Elegua, and Iroko to deliberate in an assembly. The result of that assembly was that everyone should do Ebó. The last three, as they had no money for the Ebó, decided to ask Oba Ikú for twenty-four coins, he accepted.
But with the condition that they pay him back within three days. They formally promised to do so. When the three days passed. Obá Ikú went to Elegba’s house to collect. He found him sitting in the doorway of the house, he refused to pay.
Obá Ikú bashed him with his cane and killed him. And made a hill of crab land (Ilekan) and buried him there. Together with his hand of Ifá, he sacrificed a rooster for him, and said:
“From today onward, you will be the Orisha (God) Elegua,”
Obá Ikú continued to the house of Iroko. And found him in the heart of the mountain. He asked for his money back. But he refused. And so Obá Ikú took his cane and killed him.
Throwing two majá that Iroko had in his room, two white jars, and killing a white chicken, he sang to him:
“IROKO DILOYU, IROKO DILOYU, BABA IKU EGUN LAYE, IROKO DILOYU,”
(ROCO DILOYU, IROCO DILOYU, FATHER OF DEATH CURSED IN LIFE, IROCO DILOYU)
And he said to Iroko,
“You will become an Orisha, everyone will worship you,”
And at that moment a sacred tree rose, which is the Iroko. Obá Ikú sent an envoy to Orunmila. Who by now had made his daily divination and saw the Odu (text) Otura Niko. So he performed an Ebó, feeding his ancestors along with the land and his Ifá, and he prepared a large casserole of ajiaco.
Otura Niko becomes a child when Obá Ikú arrived
An Orula baby doll
Orunmila invited him to lunch, when they finished Obá Ikú thought:
“I killed Elegba and Iroko, I must now finish with Orunmila as well,”
Obá Ikú raised his scythe to land a blow to Orunmila. But he dodged the blow of Obá Ikú. Who then pursued him tenaciously. And while he was escaping, Orunmila performed sarayeye (cleansing by rubbing a sacred object on the body) using the stick known as Espanta Muerto (frighten the dead). A cleansing to keep him safe from death.
And he arrived at the river. Out of fear, Orunmila leaped into the River. But Obá Ikú absorbed the river to catch him. But Orunmila still escaped. Then Obá Iku, disheartened, walked away.
Leaving Orunmila the victor. The river continued its normal course. And Orunmila came out of the water singing:
“IRE IRE WANWAN LELE ASHE IFA”
(GOOD LUCK WANWAN LELE DIVINE GRACE OF IFA)
Then Orula transforms into a child, to avoid being recognized and starts crying. He stands at the foot of a laurel bush, which had a lot of curujey (West Indian tufted airplant) on top and continued to cry. At that moment he meets two women who were passing through. They prepared a jar and opened one of the jugs. And filled it and leaves, some plants and placed the child (Orunmila) inside and took him to the house of Olodumare. One of them suckled him from her breast.
When they arrived at Olofin’s (GOD’s) house, the child surprises everyone by speaking to Olofin and tells him that he wants Aiyé to take him home. She rejects this, but because it was a direct order from Olodumare, Aiyé accepted and took him. She prepared a mat next to hers. When night came Orunmila returns to her in his normal adult state and says:
“I am Otura Niko and now I am your husband. With these transformations I defeated Obá Ikú. Because I am the foreman of the Egun (dead). But never reveal this secret to anyone,”
Orula
The woman was engaged and they lived happily. Where the fame of Otura Niko began to spread throughout that land.
After some time,
Shango, Egun, and Oshumare come to visit Otura Niko. To receive them all worthily, he tells his wife, Aiyé, to cook great delicacies. She replies in front of Shango:
“I have no time,”
Then Otura Niko threatens her. And she mocks and insults him, saying:
“You are only great because you are the foreman of the Egun (dead) and capable of shape shifting,”
At the moment, Otura Niko took his Irofá and ran after her. She was on her way to Olofin. But before arriving, Otura Niko caught up with her and gave her a blow from his Irofá and killed her. Then he said,
“I killed you for violating your oath,”
(You see, his power was in that he had become the foreman of the dead. And apparently, no one knew that. Nor that he was such a mighty shape shifter. To know the secret was to share in the power. And I suspect that Orunmila also didn’t want Iku, the Orisha of death, to know the secret of his survival).
Shango and Orunmila
Immediately, he made a pact with Shango. Also giving him the secret and the ashé (power) of Otura Niko. He took Aiyé and buried her. Then he put his Ifá next to her tomb and gave 2 black chickens to the spirit of Aiyé. Along with his Ifá.
And put the chickens with Ekó to Egun. They lowered the vultures and ate them. Letting him know the power of Egun that he had.
Prayer of Otura Niko, Otura Ogbe
“Otura Niko adifafun iku alashona oumbo wa ni eshu ishonshon oba lele iroko oba lele orunmila ore lawa oba iku yen ore amaiyekun belele iya lele lokua ariku omi orunmila oun sede otura niko umbo atefa ni egun agboran iku agboran olofin yewe inle oba iku onika ododo sekun iroko segun gbogbo iya kalalu elebo owunko elebo moyeni iku orunmila akue ye akualosiña iya laye oba iku,”
(Otura Niko, the death of our child’s mother, is the God’s faith, the king, the king, the king, the king of death, the king of death, the eternal friend of the mother, the king of heaven, he is the king of heaven).
It’s unknown if Otura Niko was named after him. Since he ritually becomes the “foreman of the dead” after this. Or if the Odu (text) already existed prior to him taking on this title. But that doesn’t really matter at this point. As the Foreman of the dead, Orula is immune to death.
He’s also shown to be a masterful shapeshifter. So he could take on any variety of forms and escape Iku. And foreman is another term for supervisor. Perhaps it even means he could command the dead in this form. Or command Iku to leave him be.
I’m not sure yet. I have to ask my Babalawo about his knowledge concerning the text. And see from there what happens. Take care of everyone. And as usual, be safe.
– M
The Eggun or dead, looking at their own corpses on a battlefield
Well, we did it. We survived another shitty year. But we’re not out of the woods yet. For one thing, this year begins in a Saturday. Which is a weekend.
Symbolizing that like the year before this one, we still have things we need to finish this year. Probably because no one is listening to COVID guidelines. And we are still spreading this disease like it’s nobody’s business. Also, Saturdays are very chthonic. Which probably means we have far more work to do in the area of destroying things that do not work for us.
One thing I will say is that this year is for healing. The New Moon in Capricorn is here to tell us that we should not be holding on to our pain. This whole “tough love” stuff should take a back seat this year. Take the time to heal and be healed in turn.
The New Moon arrives Sunday January 2nd. Which as you know, new moons are times of the dead and of darker spirits. So avoid going out at night for Sunday and the remainder of the New Moon. Until you see the first sliver of the moon at least. Focus on destroying bad energy and bringing in good luck instead.
Write your wishes in paper and burn it to the Gods and spirits of this year for blessings. Here is some more advice on the New Moon tomorrow.
General He E, the Grand Duke of Jupiter for the year 2022
We are now in the Year of the Water Tiger which is considered a time for your dreams to take hold. Which makes sense considering who we have as our Tai Sui this year : General He E. This General was a bit of a hero. He solved complex crimes and even donated a treasure to the Emperor so that he wouldn’t raise taxes on the people. He was considered an honest politician. And truly Catered to the needs of his people.
The general consensus is that this is going to be a good year. But, there were other years where everything was supposed to be good. And it didn’t exactly turn out that way. Because very few people look at both sides of the Gods and spirits who rule. The shadow side.
So the good side is : honest politicians who care about their people. Who are trying to do something to make society better. Or at the very least as non shitty politicians as possible. The shadow side is what happens if exists. If we have bad politicians trying to force their way on us this year, this will clash with the ruling Tai Sui.
And the clash will be felt. So everything depends on how politicians decide to behave this year. Information on the water tiger can be found here.
On the left Oshanla the Orisha Mother of Light and Weaver of Destiny. On the Right Obatala the White Robed King, ruler of all the Orishas.
This year is ruled by the Orishas of Yoruba Gods Obatala, and his female avatar Oshanla. Obatala is the father of light. The King of the Heavens of the Orishas. He’s also the creator of humanity. The best of all Gods.
While Oshanla, his female incarnation is the Goddess of light. A guardian and sentinel protecting humanity. The weaver of our fates and destinies. So it would seem that like the Chinese Astrologers, the Yoruba believe this year will be a good year.
At least for justice. And as long as those in power don’t misuse their authority.
Phrases for the year
“King dead, king put”
“It is a mistake not to learn from the mistakes made”
Now however, we get to meat of the matter. Each year is ruled by a “Letter of the year” each letter in IFA is an Odu (sacred text). And each text has its own story and a moral at the end. The ruling sign is Baba Ejiogbe. This is the first of all signs. Father of signs hence the word “baba”.
The cliff notes version of the story is this. It talks about loss, stress. General bad things. So I was right to be skeptical of the sunny disposition of the Year in the beginning. It says that one moment you have the best luck, and the next your luck turns to shit.
I started feeling that happening the last two weeks or so. So for me it already hit hard. Perhaps many of you, my readers have already felt that. We are told in this sign that not to expect prosperity. That any good we have will not come from in high, but from the sweat of our own brow.
We are also told that this is a sign of frustration. Which is why we need Obatala’s guidance. We need an elderly mother and father to help guide us and place us in the right path. So overall it seems we will have many hardships this year. But they can be overcome with hard work and determination.
The sign tells us that we really need to control our behavior. We cannot get into conflicts. We should be tolerant of other people’s beliefs and ideologies (well, within reason obviously, Fuck Nazis and Anti-Vaxxers). But we need to avoid warlike energy at all costs. This year it will be only too easy to fall into that.
So we need to work our hardest to ensure it doesn’t happen. It also speaks of diseases. Specifically spinal and sternum problems. As well as anxiety, blood vessels and lymph, colds, breathing, the mitral valve, the stomach, health in general really. Asthma, syphilis and rheumatism, bladder, pneumonia, urinary tract, earaches, and bronchitis.
We’re also told to avoid being outside for at least seven days. They warn of not allowing children to crawl on the floor. A lot of this sign reminds me of sheltering in place and being protected from COVID. They also warn against abortions and premature deaths of children since the Abiku will have a lot of influence in this sign. And all forced good and evil are well balanced.
There’s too much on that sign to write about. So you can learn more by clicking on the link I provided for it above. The sign also warns of government coups. And given all the coups we have already had in the past two years that isn’t very surprising. But it is alarming.
The last thing we need are more. So keep your eyes peeled.
From the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba
Ruling prayer
“Ire Ayiku Oyale Elese Odudawa,”
(A firm blessing of health at the foot of Odudawa)
Onishe : Oshun Yalorde (so she’s also a part of this)
Aladimu Oshinshin is : Scrambled eggs, with barley, and Purslane
Ebbo for IFA Practitioners is as follows :
Two roosters, a jug (in Cuba they had clay jugs for keeping water cool), an eggplant, a white flag, a black flag, Water of Olokun, red mangrove and reef, smoked possum, smoked fish (any kind), toasted corn, a coconut, two candles, Brandy, and honey.
Ebbo for Santeros :
A rooster, reef, a sponge, ocean water, two dolls (one female, one male), trap, arrow, a small house, a coconut, brandy, honey, smoked possum and fish, and toasted corn.
Now this part, is pretty much a more condensed version of the article I posted above. The one on the meaning of Baba Ejiogbe which is here. Instead of translating I posted the entire English language article on it. Which is even more specific than what is listed here. Just click on the link and read it.
It also includes the taboos one should follow and what to watch out for this year.
Orixas Regente 2022 (Ruling Orixas of 2022)
The Orixas
Now, in Umbanda and Quimbanda as well as Condomble they are also based on the Yoruba of Nigeria. But they do their own divinations. And with different Orishas or Orixas as it’s spelled in Portuguese. I have translated the report on them here for anyone interested. Original article here.
Orixás regents of 2022
– Exú (from Yoruba Esù)
– The Ibejis (Divine Twins)
– Oxumarê (from Yoruba Òsùmáré)
– Yemanjá
“The year 2022, in all, will have the regency of 5 Orixás. Being that, 3 of them will govern every day and 2 will act at different times that will be the beginning and end of the year. In chronological order, see each of them so that we can understand when we will be according to a particular regency. Orixás, which are: Exú (beginning of the year), Oxumarê and Ibejis (all year round) and Yemanjá to end 2022. In view of this, we will see below in more detail the representativeness of each of them:
Exú (from Yoruba Esù)
We will start with the influence of Orixá Exú – different from the entity Exú also in Umbanda – which represents communication.
He’s the great messenger between deities and humans. Represents the path. Nothing better than starting the year with Exú, your energy will begin to organize all uncertainties we will bring back this year 2021. Whether in the political aspect, economic but mainly in the aspect of world health. As we enter the year 2022 still with many doubts, with fears and without knowing, in fact, which course to take or where to start again. Therefore, it will be a very propitious year for us to put our “homes up to date”, our lives, our families, jobs, health (mental, physical and spiritual) “up to date”
Because Exú will be at our side indicating to us what the best decision to be made before all the questions presented to us during this year. The day of the week dedicated to Exú is Monday, his colors are black and red (predominantly) and his elements are fire and earth.
Oxumare
(From Yoruba Òsùmáré) – orixá regent 2022 In line with Exú, Oxumarê is one of the main energies that will govern the entire 2022 from the first to the last minute. If Exú is the great messenger, Oxumaré is the Orixá who walks between heaven and earth. So much so that one of its representations in nature is the rainbow. It is also represented as a great serpent that envelops the earth and the sky, bringing and ensuring renewal. Oxumarê is recognized as “the great force that directs the movements”, that is, under the influence of Oxumarê we will have a year absolutely conducive to transformations and renewals.
It will be time to put into practice our projects that have been “shelved” due to the various crises that we still go through, because Oxumarê takes the rainwaters back to the clouds and then “the sun will shine” in 2022. It will be a very positive year for transformations in the professional sphere, as well as in the spheres of friendships and romances. To the extent that, Oxumarê represents the wealth and fortune and consequently prosperity. When we talk about prosperity we should not only focus on material prosperity that concerns money, although it is a favorable year in this regard, but especially with regard to spiritual prosperity.
This is because to the extent that we are well structured emotionally and Oxumarê will bring the conditions for this structuring. We will be very close to achieving prosperity also in the spiritual sphere because we must not forget that it is our individual energy that drives us to prosperity or failure. So let’s stick to this great opportunity to definitively take from our paths low vibration energies that are eventually afflicting us and preventing us from reaching our goals. With regard to affective relationships, Oxumarê is the “balancer of love”, so I suggest you wait a little longer for decision-making in that aspect of their lives and especially, do not lose sight of that opportunity that are awaiting possible reconciliation.
Those adjustments that are missing to put love life back on track. The day of the week dedicated to Oxumarê is Tuesday, its colors are black and yellow with regard to candomblé, jeje nation, or green and yellow with regard to to candomblé, Ketu nation, but let us not forget that Oxumarê is the representation rainbow and then all the colors of the rainbow belong to it. Its element is the sky and the earth.
(Oxumare or Oshanmare as we call him/her in Santeria is also worshipped on Sundays).
Once again we have the influence of the energy of deities who bring with them the characteristics of beginning and continuity, multiplication and riches. But they also bring with them the contradictory indicating that opposites can walk together and that all things have two sides. Ibejis will bring to us the importance of movement, of not waiting for things to happen and that it is time to “chase after what we really want” and together with Oxumarê and Exú will give us ways to achieve what we want as long as it is fair to us, that is, we cannot wait for “things to fall from heaven.”
(This is a similar sentiment to the Santero divination.)
The Ibejis (Divine Twins)
The Ibejis are two very little known and/or worshiped deities in Brazil (also in Cuba with Santeria and traditional Yoruba religion in Nigeria) although it is widely associated with two Saints of Catholic Christianity – They are Cosme and St. Damian. Therefore, Ibejis is not the same thing as St. Cosme and St. Damian. Despite the large existing similarities, including on the date of commemoration of these deities who also take place on 27 September. Ibejis will be together with Oxumaré ruling all year 2022 and with them will bring the continuity, since they represent children, especially twin children. In the Yoruba cult and with regard to this cult, children are the greatest riches in existence.
Ibejis represent the balance of the universe and thus will bring to 2022 the opportunity of mental, financial and spiritual balance inviting us to see the good because everything has two sides, as stated above and it is up to us to look to the good side, the pure and beautiful side. The day of the week we dedicate to the Ibejis is Sunday, their colors are green, light blue and pink. Their element is air.
Yemanjá
Far from being the least important, in fact is Orixá best known to Brazilians generally (and other Yoruba practitioners). Yemanjá is the GREAT MOTHER, the mother of all and almost all Orixás. That is Yemanjá is present in the life of each of us and it makes total sense for her to conduct, the end of 2022. She will follow the whole process of reunion, transformation and balance/rebalancing of her children as the great mother she is, she will be “half away” eagerly waiting for every step of ours and giving us the absolute certainty that we will be at all times rested by her love and dedication.
Yemanjá, queen of all waters (salty and sweet). Her name, in Portuguese means” mother whose children are fish” she will bring with her the energy of possibility to reinvent. And she will always be with her arms outstretched to cherish us from the whole process we encounter during the year 2022. And we will meet with that mother’s hug we need so badly. Despite being the divinity of all waters, her greatest energy is concentrated in the fresh waters of rivers that flow into the sea and so we will be, renewed and purified by their clear waters ready to cast ourselves into the seas. The day dedicated to Yemanjá is Saturday, her colors are silver, blue and green. Her element is water,”
Cuban Bablawos do the “Letter of the Year” on the modern new year. But the traditional Yoruba new year happens from June the previous year to June the next year. And like the Cuban Letter of the Year, the IFA of the Year is divination done by the Priests of Orula. The great Orisha (Deity) of divination and magic. The creator of the occult science of IFA.
The way in which we not only understand destiny, but also change it for our own benefit. The following is what the divination for this new year says.
Obatala the White Robed King, and Oshun the Queen of Love and Nature
In my post “Angry with the Gods,” I wrote that the Gods had disappointed me greatly. In the Letter of the Year done by the IFA masters, it was said that Obatala and Ochun would reign. And myself and many others in my community figured that meant this year would be way better than 2019. That 2019 was the worst and that finally, we would see good things. So when 2020 ended up being the worst of the years I have ever lived, I began to grow angry and bitter.
My faith was shaken. I started to wonder “What the hell is this?” If our Gods love us so much then why are they letting this happen? And then after my grandpa died of the Coronavirus I really questioned the hell out of everything. Then reading someone else’s blog on Santeria I realized something : the Letter of the year never said that this year would be better. That was just the assumption we made because Obatala and Oshun reign. And because this year there wasn’t a laundry list of maladies people were suffering from like the 2019 Letter of the Year.
Instead there was only one malady that was listed : Disease. I had completely overlooked that. I figured it would just be diseases in general being strong this year. It never crossed any of our minds that a pandemic was coming. So the Orishas had indeed warned us.
And then I started to realize something else, the Earth is regenerating during the pandemic. The largest ozone layer in recorded history was sealed shut again by a polar vortex. Water and air is starting to become cleaner too. It was even reported that the air hasn’t been this clean since World War II. I also forgot that the practitioners of Quimbanda had said that while Obatala and Oshun were partially ruling in their system, Xango (Shango) was in charge with others.
And that this year, justice would be done against injustices. That Xango would execute his justice. Humanity has been ruining the Earth for a very long time. And now the Earth is finally fighting back. Simply I didn’t want to hear all of that.
I was and am like everyone else, tired of living in constant stress and conflict. I have even wondered sometimes about just being a hermit and letting the world burn. Then I realized how selfish that would be. Every Santero and indeed everyone who comes from an ancient belief, are supposed to defend and protect the Earth.
You can’t do that if you’re sitting somewhere far away, without a care in the world as to what is happening in the planet or current events. But I am overstimulated. Just like everyone else. And just once I hoped we could be given something on a silver plate. Just once I wished manna would fall from heaven.
But sadly it doesn’t work like that. Everything has a price and a counter balance. And in this case, the price is that humanity needed a major wake up call. Because if we didn’t, we would all march into oblivion in a straight, neat little line. Now I am not sure that this is the work of the Gods.
I personally believe that this is nature in the scientific sense, fighting back. And negative spirits. It’s my belief based on Divination that this plague of death is a result of souls not in rest. But regardless, these lockdowns are a wake up call to what will happen if we do not change. For example, people are reevaluating their lives.
We now know that having a job or a nice car isn’t going to do shit when it comes to a Real Emergency. So all those mid life crisis be damned. You can’t eat money. And having a million degrees and being successful is virtually useless when in the face of something like this. We all need to be more practical.
We are now seeing that we have the means to end pollution. We don’t need advanced technology, we just need common sense. Contrary to that idiotic “Paris accords” which was nothing but politics. All it was, was creating a time table to make a time table o end pollution because by that time we would “have the technology to do it,”. What we needed was to not go out so much.
To not engage in wasteful activities. To stay home more often and at this point, we even have fewer Earthquakes now because of decreased activity. Heck, maybe even the face masks we are wearing are probably decreasing pollution. You never know. So I must once again humble myself before the Creators.
And admit that I was wrong. This is the best of the years….for the Earth. For balance to come, disbalance comes first. Just another version of “things get worse before they get better,”. In my humanity, I did not stop to see how what is good for humans is bad for Earth.
And vice versa. Again I am brought to my senses by the Wisdom of the Gods. And again, as in my last post, I have come to realize the truth. That even with truth presented to my face, I am unable to direct my own steps. And I need the Gods in my life just to be able to walk, let alone run.
A monument of an Angel crossed with Themis, the Goddess of Blind Justice, carrying a fallen Mambi soldier from Cuba.
Many in my personal life who read this blog are already aware of this. But last Tuesday my grandfather Juan had passed away. My grandfather did not have an easy life. He had a life marked by pain and by isolation. John Donne said that man is not an island. But with respect, he never met my grandfather.
And while his poem praised human unity, very few humans ever lent him a hand. He was born out of wedlock to a Babalawo and to a white woman of Spanish blood. A woman with a deep interest in the Occult. She loved her Babalawo despite the fact that he was a married man. The two conceived my Abuelo Juan.
His uncles hated him. Because his father was biracial, they told him he wasn’t really a part of their family. Instead he was a “negro they found in a hill somewhere and took pity on”. This was Cuba before the Revolution. My great grandmother had to hide him on that farm with her uncles and mother.
A child born out of wedlock and born of two ethnically different parents. It was a scandal and a shame for the family. And especially for early Cuba. My grandpa had to go through beatings and emotional abuse until he became an adult. His grandmother to her credit, loved him.
And didn’t care that he was mixed. She loved him and took care of him and defended him from his uncles. And was always making sure that he was alright. His mother would visit him on the weekends. He always blamed his father for everything.
Said his father was too much of a coward to tell him who he really was. My family said that his mother kept his existence a secret. She was afraid to ruin his father’s life. My grandfather spent a lot of time alone. He had his friends but he loved his solitude.
He absorbed himself in books, in poetry, in history and politics, and in writing. He was a bit of a ladies man and seduced many woman. He even warned me to be careful with any Cuban girls I date. Because they could accidentally be related to me. Which would put a dent in my dating life to be sure.
But despite all the womanizing he did, there was one person he seemed fixated on since his early years : my grandmother. In his youth, he fell in love with her. She was 17 and he was 14. And while she didn’t pay attention to him at the time, he always vowed that one day she would be his wife. She married a violent and corrupt Batistiano Captain of the police.
He beat my grandmother and was responsible for war crimes against the people before and during the Revolution. My grandfather was a soldier of lower rank under this man. He waited for the bastard to drink himself to death so that he could approach my grandmother and propose to her. And she said yes. Something I don’t think she ever thought she would do because of the age difference.
They were both involved in the failed Counterrevolution on the island and ultimately divorced. But he still loved my grandma. So much that before she died he almost seemed to sense it. And he said to my mother,
“Hija, if one day your Mother should die, please don’t tell me. Because I know I’ll fall apart if I know. Just tell me she’s still alive,”
Unfortunately, he did find out and he went into a state of shock. Which led to him having two strokes and developing Alzheimer’s. Just as he told us, my grandmother’s death undid him. He seemed to go into an accelerated physical and cognitive decline in just months. He was rapidly turning into someone else.
Each month was like a decade for him, and soon the man who helped raise me as a child was disappearing before me. When I was a boy, my grandpa was one of the best and greatest people in my life. He defended me from my father when he got abusive. And asked my mother what the hell was going on and what she planned to do about it. He warned me about the dangers of cult brainwashing.
You see I was raised in a Fundamentalist church and he didn’t want me to blindly follow the doctrines of men, disguised as ‘divinity’. He claimed to be an agnostic, and once said that he believed,
“In the God who created Heaven and Earth. But I don’t know who the fuck this Jesus guy was. He was probably a delinquent and that’s why they crucified him,”
To my very Christian and very horrified mother. He also “shit on the Seven African Powers” and “Shit on every Saint in Heaven!” whenever he was angry. I always laughed and he couldn’t help but laugh with me. He would also write vulgar poems about Christian people, including a certain sect that knocks on doors to preach the good news.
“The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that soon Armageddon will come, but I laugh, I dance, and I shit on the Mother of God,”
I remember that when he took me out to eat at a Cuban diner. It was the very first memory of him I have. I think it was our first outing. He gave me an unlit cigarette and put it in my mouth and said,
“There, now you’re a man damn it!”
I think I was 6 or 7 at the time. My Mom went apeshit when she found out. It was awesome! Since that time we would go together to Little Havana where we would hang out with his friends on the side walk. Where we would work together on the farms with the animals. We would even make deliveries to places of bird food and sometimes the unsavory deliveries of animals to be sacrificed by Santeros.
Something I vehemently oppose to this day despite being a Santero myself. I would actually wake up at 5am on Saturdays to go with him to have a good breakfast and to plan out our day. We’d go to a Santero Botanica where I would go to help him bring in merchandise. We’d go see old friends of his, which included a couple that got married thanks to him (long story). Other times we would meet random strangers and talk over cortaditos about random things.
Oh, and then there was the Cuban-Chinese Restaurant. He’d go there not to eat Chinese food. He went there because they had “the best rice and stake he’d ever eaten,”. My mom used to tease him about it. “What? It’s true,” he’d say.
Mostly it was the solitude we both enjoyed. I loved talking to my grandpa about everything. We had no secrets. He quickly learned that he wasn’t so happy by himself after all. I was his partner.
I remember spending an hour eating cold pizza in his old truck. The windows down, the breeze of a nice day. The grey skies that promised a dark and stormy day. Oh how we both loved that kind of weather. Or at least I do.
Maybe he just enjoyed it because he knew I did. I remember when he bought me my first black leather jacket for the cold. I wore it even until the leather went bad and when I was hot. People thought I was crazy or that I was trying to be a punk rocker or something. But really I just enjoyed it.
When it was cold and early in the morning we would go to a diner and have a good breakfast. Then just enjoy the cold weather with a hot cafe con leche and eggs and ham. I knew all of his friends and they knew me. But despite that, he was silent as a tomb about his most private affairs. I dare say I probably know more about some of the things he went through or experienced than most people.
Only my mother knows more.
As a teenager, he loved the cemetery for example. He would spend hours immersed in the silence and the solitude. He’d even go there after school to do his homework. It was also one of the few places where he felt truly at peace. Death didn’t really scare him.
I’m sure like a normal man he feared the pain. But the act of being freed from this world did not bother him. What he feared if anything, was a life un-lived. That gusto for lifetook the form of travel, strange adventures with friends, the occasional brawl (even with younger men, he always won), affairs with younger and older women, and a lot of laughter. He even had an affair with his land lord’s wife.
I remember facepalming myself and going “Ay Abuelo tu eres tremendo,” (Oh Grandpa, you’re something else). I figured he’d end up having to find a new home. But as it turns out that is not what happened at all. He discovered that the man was beating his wife. So one day in their kitchen with both present he promptly said,
“She and I are together now. So, I don’t give a fuck if she’s married to you. She’s not your property. If you touch her again, I am going to crack your skull open and you’ll have a closed casket funeral,”
He said this nonchalantly while both the man and his wife where in the room. The story was told to me by her. That’s how I even know it happened. My grandpa had many flaws, but he loved you and was loyal to you. And he defended you with no care to what would happen to him.
Needless to say, while they were together the beatings stopped. I remember how bizzare that relationship was. That this guy had a tenant he knew was sleeping with his wife. And that the wife treated my grandpa like her husband instead of him. She even cooked breakfast or special foods for him.
My grandpa really seemed to like her. He once told me that talking to her he felt better than if “he fucked the princess of Spain!”. And he meant it too. Which made it funnier. This man could write poems in old Spanish verse yet that’s how he described his personal life.
One time, after he was already sick and looking like a corpse, my mother was “dating” some asshat that had a reputation for hitting women. She didn’t know that when she decided to give him a chance. But grandpa sure did. He sized this guy up, literally looked him up and down. So he looks at my Mom and says,
“Hija what is your size and weight?”
She replied and he said,
“Good! If some piece of shit ever lays a hand on you, you take your fist and you hit him as hard as you can under his chin and fuck up his jaw. He’ll live to regret it,”
The guy laughed nervously. He knew my old man had him pegged nice and good. And even while he was so weakened from his first stroke, that one hard gaze was enough to make even a younger man think twice. This was my second father. In many ways my real father, as he had influenced me in ways that my own could never do.
I remember visiting him at the retirement home for the first time. I took a Lyft to travel from Sweetwater to Miami Springs. I remember it was a beautiful sunny day and I actually enjoyed the little trip. But no one told me, no one warned me about what I would find when I got there. I liked the building, I thought it looked nice from the outside.
I searched for his room in the hallway. That rancid smell hit me all at once. That smell that lets you know there are elders who have not bathed yet. Like a smell of dust accumulating. People who can no longer move on their own.
Who need constant supervision. Then I found his room. He was sharing it with three other people. How can I describe seeing him turn from a strong man, despite his age, into a living corpse? I was shocked to say the least. Holding my emotions in was no easy task
That first day when I got to the Home he had to be placed in and saw him in that bed I hardly recognized him. I’m not exaggerating when I say he looked like death itself. He had lost so much weight, his skin grew so pale as if no blood flowed through his veins. And to make it worse, he couldn’t even stand up anymore. Now he required a wheel chair and a diaper.
Most of his friends weren’t around. He had fallen out of touch with all of them by this time. But not me, I’m your partner remember grandpa? Till the end. I stayed with him all day as he slept. I only left to eat in some little Restaurant around the corner.
I came back and I stayed until 5 or maybe 5:30pm. I knew it was late because night was breaking through. I took another Lyft home and felt mixed up inside. Confused. So, so confused.
I took pictures of him and shared it with my uncle and with my sister. For three years almost without fail myself, my mother, and my sister visited grandpa every weekend. We would bring him Cuban cafe, and chocolate pudding. Sometimes jello. He would devour it and then sing lewd songs aloud.
Mostly he would change the lyrics of Guantanamera to “Juan Cagalera” (Juan Shits alot). He would also sing about a man taking a shit. And that he saw that he had a small gun and a sack with two bullets. My mom was trapped between being embarrassed and laughing at the same time. I’m pretty sure he did it to piss off all of those old society ladies in the home.
The ones who wore fancy pearls and thought they were Spanish aristocrats. One of them was named Daisy. She came up to us to try and complain about my grandpa. My mom quickly defused the situation.
“My what nice pearls you have Daisy!”
“Why thank you child, I’ve had them since I was a little girl,”
Then my grandpa said,
“Coño (damn) they must be over a 100 yrs old. Quick! Run to an Antique Dealer, you’ll be a millionaire!”
My mom, sister, and I tried so hard not to laugh. We went red in the face. And Daisy walked off so pissed we thought she’d have a stroke herself. Gradually, this became the new normal. And my mother said seeing him like this was even worse than watching my grandmother die.
We never thought this would happen to him. We never thought he would end up in a home. We are a family that takes care of our elders. All my other grandparents lived with the family. With their children and grandchildren.
We wanted Abuelo Juan to live with us too. But he was so stubborn. He didn’t want to be a burden on us. He lived on his own and had his own place. But with his cognitive decline, the owners of his building began to tell us that he was falling asleep in the hallways and forgetting where his apartment was.
We never thought a retirement home was where he would end up. It was unheard of in our family. But with each stroke and the growing Alzheimers he needed help only professionals could give him. He’d more or less become accustomed to his new surroundings. He believed it was a new apartment building.
He’d talk with other people but it was just small talk. The only people he really talked to were younger, attractive nurses. He would hit on them and make them laugh with his jokes. And would speak gibberish that he claimed was Arabic or Russian. But he only really came alive when he saw us.
Especially me.
“Pepito Carajo! Que bueno verte,”
(Pepito Goddamn it! It’s great to see you).
He was the only one I allowed to call me that. Pepe is my father. And I hate being seen as similar to him in any way. But somehow my grandpa changed the meaning of the name for me. The last peaceful memory I have of my grandfather was the last time me and my mom visited him.
My sister had already moved to another state. It was a calm Sunday afternoon. Sunny outside and the light coming from the window cast shadows that made it look as if the room were under water. You know what I mean? Like the reflection of water from a pool. He was already almost immobile by this point.
He never wanted to get out of bed now. Although he seemed more alert and happy strangely. He stayed awake talking to us for a bit and asking me how old I was now. And as usual, when I said 33 he would be shocked. He remembered me as I was in my teenage years.
He thought I was 15 again. He started drifting to sleep. And then we left. And that was the last time I saw my grandpa alive. Because then the pandemic hit.
And his retirement home was shut down. My uncle and mom were able to see him through the window and talk to him. Or sometimes talk to him through the phone. He started developing a cough and we began to get worried. We suspected it was the Coronavirus right away.
But they assured us it was a case of pneumonia. Nothing more. They took forever to test him, if that is what they actually did. And claimed he tested negative for the virus. My mom breathed a sigh of relief for the first time that day.
So imagine what it was like the next day to be ordering dinner and finding out that he passed away. My mom said she had felt a heaviness in her heart. That she knew something was going to happen but not what. She had left work earlier that day to give him a visit but no one answered from his room when she called out. Not even a nurse.
Not his usual protests of “shut the fuck I’m trying to sleep!”. Nothing. The nurses claimed they came in with his food and found him dead at 5:30pm. I had to be the one to break the news to his friend from his old job that he possibly died of Coronavirus. The assisted living facility we took him to, had apparently had 106 cases of Covid 19.
We learned about all these cases nearly a week after he died. We were starting to get grounded. We were starting to come to terms with what had happened. Only to watch Univision at 11pm for one of their daily Coronavirus reports and see this.
I just found out that the Senior Living Facility my Dead Grandfather was living in has 106 Confirmed Cases of #Coronavirus! It was called #FairHavens @ 201 Curtiss Pkwy (#MiamiSprings) they told us he died of Fucking Pneumonia! https://t.co/K8F9I2pJ7i
— Adventures of a Mage in Miami (@MiamiMagus) May 2, 2020
My rage, my pain, my anger. So much hurt in so little time. This had to be the shittiest week of my life. Nothing else could ever compare to this. I used to think my ex leaving me was bad.
I wanted to marry her and have a family. But this was far worse. In fact it set the bar for just how much worse something could be instead of a breakup. Someone you dated leaves you? Big Deal. There’s someone out there for everyone.
You just have to go out and find them. But there are some losses that one never truly gets over. Losing someone that you have loved since you were born, the first person who held you as a baby. That’s a fate worse than death. Or perhaps it is a death of some kind.
It’s as if my life force had been sucked out of body. As if something in the Universe just went cold. I feel numb and almost cold inside. I have had to keep myself from crying and grieving because my mother needs me. She just lost both of her parents now.
She’s not going to see them again for a very long time. Until her time comes to depart as well. I’ve been sleeping on the floor of her apartment so she wouldn’t be alone. And today I heard her talking to her husband (who is stuck in Honduras now). I pretended to still be asleep.
And I heard her crying on the phone. Telling her husband that she’s worried about her brother. Because their Dad’s death has so deeply effected him. That he blames himself for his death. Because he had power of attorney.
Because he trusted the scum from that facility to care for his Dad. That he would be safe and cared for. As mother’s day nears, it won’t be quite the same. For all intents and purposes she’s an orphan now. They have a cliche for this kind of thing.
You know, the one that says that with a person’s passing, the world gets a little dimmer. Well, it’s not a cliche. It’s truth. In Judaism, God is believed to be this gigantic swirling pool of light.
And all of us come from that pool of light. We’re all pieces of Adonai’s great cosmic soul broken down into human form. So when we die, our souls or our light, returns back to the Source. And that Quantum Source is God. Or comes from God.
So when we die, we are dimming the world. Because our light flees this place to go home. We leave the world dimmer and darker than when we first started out because our presence made it a better place. So the dead are not whom we mourn, but ourselves. The dead find peace (usually).
As long as they are remembered, as long as they are not forgotten and the proper rituals and prayers are offered, they are well. It’s only when they are forgotten and unloved that they suffer. No, we mourn ourselves because just a little bit of that light left our world and went back to it’s source. And we are left in a world far less bright, than that which we lived in before. How did I do Abuelito?
Did I succeed at condensing your long, eventful life, into one gigantic post? I found it hard to do. I feel that the Earth has shifted underneath my feet. That my hold over everything is lost. That I am lost. But I won’t mourn you Abuelo, I’ll celebrate you.
We will take our time to grieve yes. But not to feel bad about ourselves. Instead, to heal and to move on. To honor your spirit and your memory. To cherish all the fond memories we have of you.
And to light your way so that you may be with the ancestors. Adios Juan, hasta la vuelta. Until I see you again grandfather. I love you.
This is a story I actually told someone else about a few years ago. She posted it on her wordpress site under the same title. The reason I’m not linking back to that site is that I was not a seasoned practitioner of magic then. And I wasn’t a Santero. I made some mistakes in the telling of the story that only now after deep study I know better now.
I just saw someone’s video about a ghost in the form of a disembodied head. I decided to share my own family’s tale with you. Years before I was born, my mother and her family came to this country. This was when Jimmy Carter negotiated with Castro to allow families of political prisoners to be freed to US custody. My uncle came to this country believing the streets were paved with gold.
Instead what they encountered was racism, greed, and drugs in America. He took this reality the hardest. He was an honest immigrant before. He became a cop in this country. But after witnessing the corruption in the American police he just became another dirty cop.
He figured there was no reason to even try being a good man. He became rich from drugs sales as a result. People believe in that Tony Montana bs that Cubans were all drug dealers before they got here. The truth is, drugs had already hit Florida hard before our people came here. Simply many Cubans fell into this life to feed their families.
Now why am I talking about this? Because my uncle was friends with a man who would hit on my mother. And unbeknownst to us and him, he would one day become the subject of this family ghost story. I won’t be mentioning names and I changed my mother’s name. I’m sure people will say this is made up. But hey people will believe what they want to believe.
This one friend of my uncle started to hang around the house a lot. My mom was a teen then, not that he cared. He was married and had tried to get my mother to become his mistress. When he was rejected again and again he would talk behind her back. He told her brother that she was pursuing him.
And that it was causing a rift in his marriage. My uncle having believed this, called her a whore and tried to hit her. My grandma intervened and told him that his “friend” was a lying sack of shit. Still he believed this man over his own sister. My grandmother was or Bruja witch in the Santeria practice.
Her Santeria was mixed with other ancestral magics. And my mom had inherited the gift of sight from her. My mother was able to interpret dreams and pass on messages. One night she dreamed that this man crashed his plane in the mountains somewhere. He was thrown out of the cockpit of the plane through the windshield.
He was instantly impaled by a nearby tree. It took hours until someone found him before he was taken to a hospital. Where he died shortly thereafter. Then right before she woke up, she saw ribbons of many different colors. The dream frightened her and she told my grandmother because she couldn’t interpret it on her own.
Grandma quickly interpreted the ribbons as being the Necklace of Flags. In Santeria we wear multicolored beaded necklaces. They are magically prepared by a Santero or Santera with special rituals. They embody the energy of the Orishas or Gods of the Yoruba pantheon in Nigeria. To wear these necklaces is to be protected.
The Necklace of Flags has the beads of every major Orisha. The combined power of the nacklace of flags can protect the wearer from evil. My grandmother told her she had to tell him about the dream. Because if anything happened to him, she would feel guilty afterwards. When she saw him in her home again, she told him the whole story.
Then the explaination of what the necklace he needed was for. He laughed and accussed her of attempting to bind him with magic.
“¿Me estas tratando de amarrar? (You’re trying to bind me?) You really think you can be rid of me that easily? I know magic and especially the Afro Cuban religion inside and out. Your tricks won’t deceive me little witch,”
At this point, my mother got so mad that my grandma had said her face reddened. She looked him square in the eye and said,
“You know what? You’re an idiot and an asshole. Wear the necklace or don’t. I don’t care what you do. But don’t you ever speak to me again,”
After my grandmother chased him out of their home she hadn’t seen or heard from him for about a week or so. Later another relative answered the phone.
“Rosi, some man says he is so and so and wants to know the color of the beads you mentioned,”
My mom replied,
“Tell him to go to Hell. Don’t answer anymore of his calls,”
The relative explained that he was persona non grata in this home and then hung up on him. Apparently he was supposed to fly a shipment of drugs to another country. As far as I can tell, this is what happened after he was dismissed. He began having engine trouble in the air. He couldn’t just land because he was near the mountains.
He crashed just as my mother said he would. He was propelled from the glass of the windshield. He was impaled by a branch of a tree on the mountain. He stayed alive in agonizing pain. Finally, an indigenous man found him and got help.
But by the time they took him into the town hospital it was too late. He was fatally wounded and died on the operating table. Doctors said he shouldn’t have lasted that long. Hearing this account, I wondered if the family spirits had something to do with this. In the dream he seemed to be cursed to die a slow death.
My grandmother practiced a very strange form of Santeria. It wasn’t pure. There was some necromancy as well as some Spainish witchcraft. Witchcraft from Spain rather than Latin American magic. These spirits were very violent.
And if you were dumb enough to mock them, they would retaliate. I believe this man was cursed to death by them. They must have been sick of his shit. He probably saw or felt something bad to have called her and asked for the specific necklace. Otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered calling before his flight.
Later on my mother started experiencing some stranger than normal paranormal activity. My grandmother brought her to her godfather. He was a Babalawo or priest of the God Orula. The priest told her that the man’s vengeful spirit was around her at all times. He hated her for not talking to him one last time and blamed her for his death.
But he was also obsessed with her. He became an Eggun Buruku or dark ghost. She constantly had to do rituals and prayers to ward him off. Fast forward years later and she was now dating my father. When they would sit on the couch he’d try to put his arm around her.
And something kept pushing his arm off. One day he asked,
“Why do you keep pushing my arm away? Are you upset with me?”
My mother nonchalantly replied,
“Oh that’s the spirit of some asshole who tried to date me years ago. Just ignore him like I do,”
My dad almost laughed. He didn’t actually believe in the supernatural back then. But he went along with it. He went from skeptic to believer almost overnight. This thing would follow him to his car and then flip through the radio stations to annoy him.
Everytime he tried to go to a specific station it would change again by itself. He thought it must have been a glitch. He also told me that it started to follow him home. He had the errie feeling sometimes that someone was in his car with him. Just staring at him with the most profound hatred he had ever felt.
One day when visiting my mother, he used the bathroom. But as soon as he turned on the light, he saw a disembodied head. It had intestines protruding from the bottom of it. And it screamed in his face. He screamed and fan out to tell my grandmother and mother and he never used the bathroom there again.
My mother must have been worth it to him. Because he kept on dating her. Eventually my mom got baptised into my dad’s church and the paranormal activity seemingly stopped. A few years later, as I grew into a man I made a conversion of my own. I began to practice magic, study various religions, and apprenticed in Santeria.
My mother wasn’t thrilled. She went from being a seer to a bible thumper. But just as she found her path in Christianity, I found mine in the old religions. I began reading Jonathan Maberry’s book “Vampire Universe,”. At this time I was helping paranormal groups as a consultant on magical things.
A traditional female Penanggalan
Or things that were just plain weird. I was researching the book for something else then I saw the word Penanggalan. I found out that this creature is seen in different cultures in Asia. All with different names but it’s the same creature. Penanggalan is the name in South East Asia.
I read that it is a floating head with intestines. A sort of hybrid of a demon and a ghost. It’s considered a form of vampire. This was the thing my father saw. The legends even state they scream at people when they fly in the air.
You can get a quick crash course in the lore here :
But, all accounts I have read thus far says they are all women. Men don’t usually turn into these things. And my family is Cuban. The only thing I can think of is that in Cuba there is a large Chinese community. And many Chinese Cubans brought their religion to the island.
So there are people who mix Santeria with other religions. I theorize that some spirits have the ability to control the spiritual politics of certain people or areas. For instance, this country belongs to Native Americans. Now you’d think you would bump into native spirits more than anything else. But a person or community’s beliefs play a role in what kind of spirits are around their homes or areas.
In Cuba for example, you’ll find indigenous spirits as well as dead slaves and non human African spirits. You’ll also find spirits of the Chinese religion in areas dominated by Chinese Cubans. And they wander those areas as if those were their home continents or countries. Maybe this man practiced a variation of Santeria with another religion. Maybe of Asian origin.
Or he had aligned himself with evil spirits that came from that culture when he was alive. And maybe one of them was a Penanggalan. The truth is I don’t know. This is all theory. But it’s the only explaination I have as to why this guy who was Latin American turned into a monster from Asian lore.
What I do know is that my father left his church because he was a skeptic. And he got scared straight to Christianity as soon as he realized that these things were real. He has zero knowledge of Asian religion or culture. And I have never bothered to tell him about this. Why would I? Just telling the story or hearing my mom talk of it upset him.
Somehow I think saying “it’s a demon ghost vampire from Asia,” won’t put his mind to ease. Especially since it raises more questions than answers. But I often wonder if that entity could still be out there. Waiting to get my mother back.
Greetings in OLODUMARE. This Itadogun period, IFA warns us against sickness and untimely death. IFA says that all those considering IFA initiations should do so. IFA says we should be making an offering of two orogbo (bitter kola) to SANGO. On this IFA says:
Asunmosi abidi jangele
Cast Ifa for one leg of Ogbe
When going on an Ifa mission to the home of Sango
He was advised to offer sacrifice
He heard and complied
One leg of Ogbe, Awo of Sango
Cast Ifa for Sango
When he was suffering from a serious ailment
And was crying to be able to rise up and be in good health
If you’ve read my posts before, then you already know that I often divine with patterns. This means that I take random (or seemingly random) bits of information. And from there I actually find patterns which show a bigger picture of events. I’ve done this with Chinese New Year divinations, and African Disapora Divinations as well. Every Month the IFA Priests do their divinations about which of the Orishas (Gods) rule which days, I have paid attention to what happens on those days.
And from there I began to map out the days based on the ruling Gods. Like a do or do not list to avoid trouble. Or to take full advantage of the good energy available for projects or work related issues. I also include any holidays on those days or sometimes not the holidays themselves, but the Astrological shifts happening those days. With all that being said, let me show you what I found for this Month.
If you haven’t read my last post about the Orishas who rule the IFA Calendars, click on it. Otherwise you’ll be confused as Hell. So, Shango and Oya ruled the first day, then it was Obatala, Egungun, Iyami, and Sanpanna, then IFA, Esu, Osun, Aje, Yemaya, and Olokun. Then we get a breather with Ogun, Ochossi, and Orisha Oko. Notice a trend here? Energy in motion is what I am picking up this month.
Constant conflict or battle, dead ends and restarts, etc..we only get one day to chill out before the madness starts again. I believe part of this is the Mercury Retrograde. But the majority of this is what the Babalawos were telling us about in their new year’ divination. This whole year we are being forced to confront our inner demons. Our bad habits.
Our bad luck. Forced to look into reality no matter how painful it is. Forced to confront our darkness. We’re not being given a choice. And to make that point clear as hell, we are suffering another late winter.
I wrote in my Imbolc divinations that light and dark are fighting with no clear winner in the horizon. But, the dark is doing it’s damndest to win. We have corrupt politicians doing power grabs now more than before. We have more plots in Latin America with Bolsonaro and Duque stealing the elections in Brazil and Colombia and now another US backed coup. We have Shinzo Abe in Japan being a corrupt war monger stirring up the pot against North Korea, while ignoring the wishes of his own people.
Even the so called “good guys” like Bernie Sanders, was pushing regime change narratives in Venezuela. And the Democrats are so far to the right, that with the exception of a few things, they might as well be moderate Republicans. So even the people we are told are good, are not actually good. More mass shootings, storms killing people, and mean while we’re being told it’s all naturally and okay. And that’s just the political crap we’re going through.
I’ve recieved a flurry of clients reaching out to me and my Shaman friend over malevolent paranormal activity. No sooner do we help one group of people, than we end up with someone with something far worse. Like seriously, what the hell? I was already helping a friend through a Generational Curse and teaching him how to cleanse and bless his house after we and our spirits helped break the curse and heal his family. Then we had a guy on his death bed practically. At this point we have to take weeklong vacations to rest before being asked to deal with something else.
To further emphasize this : Mercury Retrogade began the day before the New Moon. So, as one Astrologer that I introduced you to said :
“We’re ending things right when we are suppose to begin them,”
Because Retrogrades bring an end to something that needs to go. And New Moons are a begining period where we can start over. So the begining period here, is that we are meant to destroy the structures and monoliths of power that aren’t serving us anymore. I already covered this a few blog posts ago. But it seems based on how I have interpreted the pattern I see in the IFA Calender plus current events that March is a real shirtstorm in the making.
It seems January and February were only leading up to our current situation. These are days of note.
March 5-6 : Double Chtonic power
Retrogrades are mini seasons of the dead. New Moons in Hinduism are considered the time for dark spirits of the dead. Which is why, traditionally, people try to avoid doing things or going to places on this day. Especially after dark. Both these days so close together says to me, that this Retrograde period is a time of extra reaping and extra harmful energies and spirits out there.
March 8th (this Friday) : Double Prosperity
Despite that, Friday actually seems more or less good. That doesn’t mean nothing bad will happen. In this season, even lucky days can flip on you. But Friday is an Ogun, Orisha Oko, and Ochossi day which as I explained last time is normally good luck. It is the 8th day of this Month which is a number for stable prosperity.
However number 8 is also the number for Hermes (Mercury) so I get the feeling that in this current retrograde, Friday will be bad for some and good for others. And even more people will find mixed results on that day. Also, Friday is good for Jobs and making money. Witchcraft for finding work is usually done on Fridays. But given the retrograde, we would have to be careful.
March 9th : Mixed Results
Immediately the next day, we have Sango and Oya. Oya is the gatekeeper for the dead. The guide for souls who need to cross. Saturdays are days to honor the dead in general. And number 9 while it can be prosperous, is also a number for destruction or domination.
In Numerology number 9 can mean slow, but long lasting prosperity. Sango and Oya are royalty. So I don’t know for sure what will come of this day. The good and bad qualities may duke it out or cancel each other out. To mention just how mixed this day is : In Greek religion, 9 is the number of Aphrodite. But in Santeria 9 is the number of Oya.
While Oya does bring prosperity, the retrograde and New Moon just a few days before, and the day itself will probably mean Underworld power on full blast.
Sunday 10th : More Mixed results, but leaning on a peaceful day
Or it should be anyways. It all depends. Sundays are good for white magic and spiritual meditation. This Sunday will be ruled by Obatala, Egungun, Iyami, and Sanpanna. Obatala the white king of Heaven is obviously going to have his influence felt.
But the Iyami Goddesses are known for being violent if offended. Egungun is a dead child of Oya and is the embodiment of all the dead ancestors. And Sanpanna or Sakpata is the lame footed God of disease and cures for disease. Seems like it could lean in any direction.
March 13th : Tripple Cthonic Power, or Mixed Results. You be the judge.
Wednesday is the day of Hermes who is in retrograde form right now. It’s the number 13 which can be good luck or sometimes bad luck. And it is ruled : By Sango/Oya. And again they can bring good luck or bad luck. Depends on their mood.
March 17th Sunday : Begining of Light Week
This is where the good actually comes from the reaping. I felt that Sango and Oya were bringing good energy this day. And it’s also St. Patrick’s day. The days ruled by Obatala and his party and the days ruled by IFA, Esu etc..and their party started to feel lighter and better to me. From this point forward.
I began to feel spiritual light appear.
March 20th : Full Moon, Sun enters Aries/Spring Equinox
Ruled by Orishas Oko, Ogun, and Ochossi. The good energy ia starting to appear en masse. An energitic doorway is open on this day.
March 21 : Thursday (Thor’s Day)
is ruled by Sango and Oya. If you read my last post, you know Sango rules lighting storms like Thor. I felt that Underworld Gods will gain some extra power this day. But, Thursday is good for prosperity magics. And Sango and Oya are both King and Queen.
With Oya being the Matron of the Market place and businesses, and Shango often depicted in statues with black cauldrons of gold. He is King after all. I feel that this is definitely when they will aid with money.
March 22 : Friday
Obatala and his Party, normally give me days of wisdom and spirituality. The number 22 in Angelic Numerology corresponds to the Archangel Raphael. Who teaches knowledge such as the magical uses of herbs (Book of Tobit) and is the Patron Saint of Healing. I feel this day will lend itself well to wisdom, knowledge, and clarity.
March 23-24 : Mostly Good
There’s a partial Chthonic influence on both these days. Saturday because that’s naturally a day for the dead. But I can feel the retrograde dying faster here. It is ruled by IFA, Esu, etc..and it felt like a day of great blessing. The number 23 always reminds me of Psalm 23.
Which I use in special baths for cleansing and blessing. The next day I can feel the retrograde starting to wrap up. I felt a nasty bit of negativity coming out as part of our reaping. But other than that, mostly a good day. Orisha Oko, Ogun, and Ochossi rule here.
And Sundays are meant for good energy as I explained. But it feels off. Dark and gray in the spiritual sense. Murky is the best word for it. That same under world energy feels stronger the next day on the 25th ruled by Sango/Oya but in the retrograde death throes.
March 27th : Extra Blessed
Now at first I thought this was weird as Hell. And I will tell you why : Because the three day lunar festival of the Ancient Greeks is happening here. And the 27th is the first and worst day : Hekate’s Deipnon or feast. Hekate told me when I first started out to celebrate the three day feast the day before the last quarter of the moon at Sunset. I’ve followed her instructions ever since.
Everyone has their own ways for doing this. Many modern practitioners of Hellenismos will do it the day before the astronomical new moon. But back to the point, Hekate’s Feast is a very nasty day. It’s a day when Hekate collects all the nasty energies from every corner in the world and brings it to the crossroads to destroy it all. And part of that, is that she finds all the dark, angry souls of the dead, including murders and suicides and brings them there.
The Hellenic will then go to the crossroads at Sunset with food and drink and leaves it there to appease the dark spirits and the Deity. But now that I am looking back on this, it actually does make sense. The next day : Hermes-Mercury leaves the Underworld and turns direct which ends the retrograde. So the final end of the retrograde is actually this day. Also, Hekate’s Deipnon is a day to spiritually and physically clean the home.
You take the dust to the cemetery and leave the bad energy there. You also confess your sins to Hekate and ask for a clean slate. A sort of absolution. That’s something other practitioners taught me, not my priest. Hekate’s Deipnon goes on the next day till Sunset.
That also makes sense because the actual day it goes direct, Mercury still needs some time to leave retrograde and station direct. And the moment Hekate’s Deipnon ends (which coincides with us leaving retorgrade) it becomes the feast of Noumenia. The new Lunar Month. Which brings positive energy and good fortune and tidings.
I purify and cleanse and ask for good energy to replace the bad.
March 29 : Cleansing and Restoration
Now that said, negative after effects of a Retrograde can still be felt days after it ends. On the third day of the Lunar feast, it’s the day of Agathos Daimon (the Good Spirit). Now Agathos Daimon actually is a name for a Serpent God of Good Luck. He’s married to Tyche (Lady Luck). But as is the case with may Gods and spirits, Agathos Daimon’s name is also a name used for a specific type of spirit.
Particularly a person’s spirit guides. This day is sacred to him, your spirit guides no matter the culture they may be from, and the Heroes of Ancient Greece. The God Agathos Daimon, brings good luck by causing a person to shed their karma and negative or useless traits. Things that don’t work anymore are driven out of your life as a reaping for you to gain good luck. So we just got through a Reaping and we’re going through a final one.
It was explained to me in the Soothsay session that this is similar to giving yourself a final rinse of water before finishing a bath. I was also told that there is a balance of both light and dark happening this day. And it’s ruled by Sango and Oya. Who I saw both glowing gold and pleased in this session when asked about this day.
March 30-31 : Final Blessings, Wisdom
The final two days are ruled by Obatala and company and IFA, Esu and company. We end on a high note with wisdom and clarity after the long reaping of this season. So those are my impressions about this month. Please forgive my weird little divination rants. They tend to come out when I am doing trance work.
I’ll probably read this after it’s posted and go : “What the Fuck?”
As always, take my predictions with a grain of salt. Based on a person’s energy, things could be very different.
For those who don’t know, the IFA Calender is created by IFA Priests who divine who will rule each day of the Month. So the calender is not set. The Gods who rule each day are always different. My perceptions of these days are mine alone. Perhaps someone else with a different personality would view Sango/Oya days as prosperous all the time.
Or an O/O/O day as warlike. These are the following Orishas :
Sango or Shango
God of lightning and fire, masculine sexuality, and magic. He’s also a seer God. His Wife Oya, is the Goddess of the marketplace, storms, winds, change, and she’s the guide to the dead. She leads them to the front door of the Cemetery. So these are both powerful Deities.
And as both King and Queen they personify wealth.
Shango & Oya
So a day ruled by them may be prosperous or disastrous. Or both, it all depends on the nature of the day. Or how you choose to see it.
Ogun, Orisha Oko, Ochossi
Ex husband of Oya, and brother of Shango. The blacksmith of the Yoruba Orishas. A master of metal and weaponry, every blade made is usually owned by him. Unless he makes it for another God who is then gifted the blade. He also has a powerful responsibility as protector of nature.
Lord Ogun & his Altar of metal work
After losing his wife to Shango and the drunkenness which caused him to disrespect his family, he exiled himself into the jungles. There he grew to understand nature, appreciate, and love the animals. So, similar to Leshi (Ukrainian Green Man) he is a defender of nature. In Haitian Vodoun he is worshipped as a God of Revolution and Freedom. He is the Loa (Vodoun Deity) who inspired the Slaves and Free people of color to wage Rebellion.
He is acompanied by Orisha Oko and Ochossi. Orisha Oko or the God Oko, is the God of agricultural Prosperity. His altars are always outside of a house near grass or plants. He brings prosperity in the form of crops, food, and other necessary things. Ochossi is a master magician and shaman of the Gods as well as a hunter and enforcer of justice.
Ochossi, the Divine Hunter. Founder & owner of all prisons. Dispenser of justice. Mage & ShamanOrisha Oko in the field. Often synchronized with St. Isidore
The thing all three have in common is nature and prosperity. I personally view a day ruled by them as prosperous. Because Ogun makes things, Orisha Oko grows crops, and Ochossi is a Shamanic Healer. An O/O/O day for me, is always good and actually chill. It’s a day to do whatever you want or to focus on nature and spirituality.
For me an S/O day is usually for major projects, visits to the cemetery, or breaking curses and bad luck (or casting curses). There is prosperity in these days too but becareful.
Obatala, Egungun, Iyami, and Sanpanna
Obatala is the white robed king. Ruler of Heaven, second only to the Supreme Creator Deities. He’s the King of the Gods. Egungun is a child of Oya, Orisha of all the Dead. The collective dead.
This Deity is every dead person who has ever died or will ever die.
A man dressed as Egungun
The Iyami or “divine and mysterious mothers” are Goddesses of Ashe or divine energy. They are the guides of Olodumare (Mother Goddess) to all of us. They are the pure incarnation of the Aje or first energy. No one can directly make offerings to them. All offerings are done via Elegua.
One of the Iyami Priestesses
And Sanpanna or Sakpata is the Lame footed Deity. The God who heals or causes disease. To me, Obatala and Egungun symbolize tranquillity. And the Iyami Goddesses symbolize knowledge. Sanpanna is a Deity who is normally relaxed with me.
Sanpanna, Sakpata, or in Santeria Babalu Aye
I am not afraid of him. Nor does his presence make me feel uncomfortable. So while others would find this to be a turbulent day, for me it is a day of blessings and wisdom. Comfort and an energy toward action of some sort.
IFA, Esu, Osun, Aje, Yemoja, and Olokun
IFA is the spiritual order created by the God Orula. Orula is the Orisha of magic and divination. A powerful sorcerer deity, he created IFA as a science and religion. The science of understanding Fa, Orisha of Destiny. Through sacrifices or Ebbos, it is possible to alter the course of someone’s destiny.
Blessings of IFA
Babalawos or “fathers of mysteries” are the high priests. They even remove Generational or Karmic Curses. And they have been called upon for the removal of evil spirits. They act as intermediaries with the Gods. Esu is also known as Elegua in Santeria and Yoruba practice.
Esu or by whatever name you call him by, is the God of the Crossroads. Messenger and Gatekeeper of the Gods. Protector of the home. Much like like Hestia or any other home protecting Deity, first and last offerings go to him in any ritual. So Esu is the opener of roads.
The one who makes the way clear. He’s also a master magician who has learned the secrets of every single Orisha. The Patakis or religious stories, tell us of how in his child form (he can be a young boy or a grown man) he cleansed the Creation Goddess Olodumare. When she asked him how he came to have this knowledge, the divine child simply answered that he followed the Orishas and learned their knowledge. From that day forward, the mighty Goddess made him the Keeper of the Crossroads.
Giving him a key necklace as a sign of his Kingship over the crossroads. That’s also how he became the messenger of the Gods. So Elegua is one of the most important Deities.
Osun or Oshun is Oya’s mother and one of Shango’s other wives. She is the Goddess of Love, Nature, Rivers, Prosperity, and a Witch Goddess as well. She actually has an incarnation named “Oshun Queen of Witches”. Some have likened her to Aphrodite. And she does have similar qualities.
Lady Oshun
But, she also carries deep associations with nature that liken her more unto Demeter. As a queen of nature, without Oshun, there could be no life on Earth. When the male Orishas laughed at her and told her she was “too girly” to help build the Earth, she fled. The result was that the Earth started falling apart under their too agressive influence. When they panicked, they went before Olodumare and Olofi (The Supreme Father God and Mother Goddess).
Olodumare quickly figured out why creation was falling apart : Oshun wasn’t there to bring balance. When the Goddess of creation ordered them to find her, they were surprised to see that she actually turned her small corner of the world into a paradise. And that it was functioning without any of them. With Oshun alone, her Ashe or cosmic life energy kept everything working smoothly. The power of the Gods manifest in everyone.
It’s the same energy as the Hebrew Ruach or the Egyptian Ekat.
Yemaya is the Queen Mother of the Ocean. Santeros often call her “the mother of the world”. Because without water, there can be no life. She is also a powerful Witch Deity.
Yemaya, worshipped as La Virgin De Regla (The Virgin of the Rule) in Cuban Catholicism
But more than that, she is a Mother Goddess. She watches over Mothers and Catholicism.
Olokun is the Priest (or Priestess) of Yemaya. Some have argued that Olokun is just another Camino (Path) or Avatar of Yemaya. Others say Olokun is a seperate Orisha.
Olokun Altar
And no one knows what gender Olokun is. Because Olokun no longer appears on land. When Olokun had, dogs chased him/her back into the sea. That legend states Olokun was a woman. But other legends describe Olokun as male.
We’ll never know. Though another school of thought states Olokun is transgender. No that isn’t meant to be a political statement. All Gods and spirits are shape shifters. And Gods in every culture have taken a male or female form. Even Shango has a female Camino/Avatar.
Same with every male and female Deity. Oya can shape shift into a man to ride into battle beside her husband. That’s why she’s called “The Woman who puts on pants to go to War”. An I/E/O/A/Y/O day is a day that feels semi peaceful and semi conflictive. I say this because Yemaya and Oshun have a rivalry going on.
These are simply my impressions of the energy of those days. Tomorrow I will post my divinations on this month.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 