I started this first week in the New Year in mourning. I lost my Great Uncle and my neighbor who was a good friend all at once. I’m using Santero rites to cross him over. He was a fellow practitioner. So for me, the above image makes a lot of sense.
Because death and it’s energy has been with us this beginning of the year.
And I am ready for this shit to go. Despite the darkness, I’m still hopeful for this year. So with that said, here are the astrological links. Here we have all full moon dates and names for 2023.
Yes this is a year ruled by Obatala and Oshun (or by Exu and Oxum if you practice Quimbanda). But the sign of the year is what seems to truly be reigning this year. Already, it seems that the Ajogún are on the move bringing with them misfortune and death. Yesterday, my friend got into a car accident. A little while later, I learned that my great uncle had died suddenly.
Between yesterday and today, some of my magical charms for protection against death, started to become overwhelmed. I had to call on the spirits to reverse whatever it was that was sending death this way. And I had to cleanse, re-bless, and recharge all of my charms. And right now as I am writing this, I found out that my neighbor whom I always talked with, died from a heart attack recently. Either just before or after New Years.
I didn’t want to ask the date because that’s disrespectful and insensitive to his poor wife. But it was recent. So either just before or just after New Years. This year is not a good year. It’s not a year that we should all be cheering for.
It is the year of Otura Niko, the Foreman of the Dead.
Friends, things are only going to get worse from here. Before in 2020, COVID was the force used by the Ajogún to spread terror and disharmony. But this year they are mixing the tactics up. Now it’s more like a mix of 2020 with 2019. In 2019 it was more personalized attacks sent to different people.
Personal problems. And 2020 was a massive problem that struck us all. This seems to be a hybrid of both those years. It has all the force if not more, of 2020. But disseminated in ways that will effect us directly.
A friend of mine who has mixed white and native ancestry told me something recently. Now his magic is strong. He works with indigenous spirits. And when my ass has been in danger, he’s protected me. But he has this thing.
And he had the feeling before I even knew it, that this year would be bad. And now here we are. But it gets worse. Last month a fellow blogger named Librarian of the Multiverse had also had a conversation with me. That she sensed that death would be coming this year as well.
In my head I was like, fuck because that’s really what we need now. Maybe it is. Because clearly humanity refuses to awaken from this walking coma we’re all in. I wonder if we have fallen so deeply asleep that the Ajogún have seen us as easy prey. That we’re being targeted now because they see us as dumb sheep that are easy to take out. But now I want to move on to something else.
The Divination (letter of the year) says to stay away from lakes and rivers and even rain water. A friend of mine who is a seer told me something that spooked me. You see, she had no idea what the letter of the year had said. I didn’t have the time to tell her. But she said that something is in the water.
That something is in the water that’s going to kill people this year. No, she’s not a nut job. No, she doesn’t normally say stuff like that. For the very first time in my life, I understood the true meaning of the term “my blood ran cold”. Because I felt ice in my veins hearing her say that.
I feel a rising death wave like in 2020. But this one is worse. Part of me feels like I’m on a roller coaster. I want off of and I am screaming my head off into the void. But no matter what no one is going to save me.
So with that said, I think I am going to give you all a simplified version of the Ebbos or karmic cleansings for this year. Along with some additional advice that may come in handy.
The Ebbos given for this year include animal sacrifices. Which I am against. But I also understand traditions and what not.
I am no one to judge my people and how they follow the ways of the ancestors. I just don’t like or agree with all the ways of our ancestors. I don’t always follow those ways. I actually considered saying nothing for fear of being rebuked by other Santeros saying I am “exploiting our religion”.
Or some other horseshit that the zealots in my faith come up with to silence dissent.
My spirits and my Orisha do not care about whether or not I kill an animal. They accept fruits and vegetable offerings. But they also accept cooked animals. In other words, instead of giving them an animal that is being sacrificed and discarded I give them food. If the Ebbo asks for a roaster, I go out and find a cooked roaster.
It’s not impossible to find. There are some animals that are sacrificed in Africa that don’t exist here. So with divination and research I find what they would accept and grant them that dinner. In places that are sacred to them. I also add the fruits and vegetables anyway as an added offering.
If blood is what they want that isn’t a problem either. There are butcher shops that are willing to grant the meat and the blood. As long as they get paid they don’t care. Again, this is how I do it because my Gods and spirits allow me to. Because my Orisha allows me to.
Do a divination, meditate, and find what works for you. And if any Santeros out there have an issue with how I approach our faith, I don’t care. It has served me well up until now. And until they (the Orishas) or my spirits tell me otherwise I will continue. I am accountable to them, not to you.
Now the offerings in IFA, you can skip because that’s for the order of IFA. The practitioners of IFA divination and magic under Orula. I am going to give you a simplified version of the regular Santero offering. A medium rooster and seven colored strips.
The seven colored strips symbolize the Seven African powers. The other ingredients are only for Santeros. So this simplified version is to ask the Seven African Powers for help. Tie them into different parts of the house. Such as door knobs and in windows to ward off death.
In fact consider making a bracelet of these seven strips for yourself. As an amulet. The cooked roaster is the sacrifice that will empower the charms. They will work against death. Which will be very important because there is an article I wrote which is about charms against death.
In addition to that :
– Honey for Oshun, Brandy for Eshu, Incense or anything holy for Obatala because he’s the King of Heaven. And because Santeria is mixed with Catholicism, Christian things like blessed white candles or incense for him will do.
– And you could get another roasted chicken for Orula, his wife Odu, and the spirits of IFA and ask for their blessings and protections. If you approach them with respect, they won’t care what faith you belong to.
Leave these offerings at a crossroads with three pennies for Elegua so that he will send the offerings to the Orishas. Also this is very important, to a point even more important than the offerings mentioned before.
You need to use any form of protection the dead can give you. Sacrifice to your ancestors. Light candles and incense to them, give them Hades Money, etc… don’t be stingy. And if you don’t already have an ancestor shrine to them, now is the time to make it happen. Because our primary protection comes from the dead.
And also our non human spiritual guides such as Angels, Nature Spirits, etc..we need all of their protections. So when you have a chance give offerings at a cemetery to Oya.
– Nine Purple Grapes
– 9 Red Roses
– Nine Pennies
– A Bottle of Red Wine
For her and for all the dead. You don’t have to enter the cemetery. Oya brings the dead to the front gates. Leave the offerings there and she will share it with the dead. Ask them and her for protection and blessing.
And for mass purification in all its forms. And dedicate that entire cemetery to her and the Gods of the Dead. You should feel different. As if something negative left your body when you pray to her. When you are done, leave a candy offering to Elegua in his Eshu form.
And ask him to send these offerings to Oya and the dead. And then leave without looking back.
Now it’s important to also work within your own religion. If you don’t believe in Santeria but want protection, research these Deities and find someone in your own religion who matches them. For instance, if you’re Christian, the Archangel Gabriel is the Messenger of God (Elegua is the Messenger of the Gods) and he’s one of the Angels of Death.
So he’s perfect for this. And instead of a crossroads or all these offerings, you make a massive donation to your church for him in Jesus name. And Jesus died and rose again. So any offering to him works. And he’s the intercessor between humanity and God which makes him a messenger as well.
Any offering you give to him, give with an open heart and perfect love. If you’re Hindu, do this with Ganesha. And look up who the God of the Dead is. One you are comfortable with and work with them instead. If you are Celtic, work with Morrigan.
She hangs out at the crossroads and she’s associated with the dead. There’s so many options out there. Protect yourself well. But most importantly of all is this.
– Personal offerings to your spirit guides
Whoever your guide is. A God. An Angel. A Faerie. A Ghost. As well as all of your ancestors.
Whoever it is, divine with them and ask what they want and keep giving it to them all year long. By feeding your spirit guide, you are keeping yourself safe. And sacrifice to your loved ones Spirit guides as well. Even do it for your pets. I am.
Finally, I leave you with this. These were special warding rituals I did when the pandemic hit. They kept me and my family safe at the height of the pandemic. We survived 2020 without getting the disease. Even though my Mom is a healthcare worker and she had to enter places that weren’t safe.
Meanwhile people around us were dropping dead. Even those who were supposed to be safe. This protected us. So please, read this old blog carefully. And adapt the rituals for what’s happening now.
Just like on that blog I will keep you updated on events with updates here. Do offerings to all those spirits and Gods. And make the same kinds of charms. Do the same things I did back then. Just adapt them to whatever fresh hell we are going to suffer this year.
Happy Late Christmas Sunday everyone! Originally this post was made yesterday. But WordPress is being an ass. And it posted my report as if it was an article from last year. So I had to duplicate it for today. My apologies!
That’s the first Sunday after Christmas. So New Year’s specifically finishes with a tone of ending things that need to be ended. Or endings as new beginnings. Which is the same thing we have experienced for the last few years. It seems the Gods and the spirit folk are tired of telling us to do things more than once.
Before going forward, if you haven’t read my New Years Rituals blog you should now. To get on the right path. To clear away all unwanted things. To bring good luck. And to be blessed for the new year.
So they’re going to keep pushing this until we get all our shit together. To emphasize this, our New Year’s Day is a Sunday. The last day of the last week of the old year. And it’s a Christmas Sunday. Now technically we are still in Yuletide.
There are several Christmas in January traditions. Even ranging to the Three Kings Parade we have here in Miami. Which celebrates the Pagan Magi who visited Jesus as a child. And no, they never converted to Christianity. They remained faithful Pagans to the end.
Although the Bible doesn’t say how many Pagan Magicians visited Jesus, there are three who are specifically called Kings. Many thought this meant they were actual Kings. But in reality they were great Mages so wise and so powerful that they were considered witch kings of a sort. Mages who were on another level of magic and thus royalty amongst their brethren.
But getting back to the point, Christmas Sunday isn’t normally a Christmas in January sort of thing. It normally happens while the old year is still in progress. This adds once again, to that tone that this is a year for ending things. And I keep thinking,
“How much more shit do we need to end? Gods, can’t you bring something else to fill the void from all of this loss and reaping of the old?”
And they keep responding the same way,
“We have, you just don’t see it yet,”
To make it stranger, I noticed that barely half an hour after midnight had passed. And everyone went to bed. I can usually tell if a year will be shitty or…..extra shitty based on how long the celebrations are. Everyone went to bed early. Just like in 2019’s New Year.
You remember that year right? It was fucked up and a prelude to 2020. Again I say, how much more shit needs to be “ended”. Unfortunately, I got my answer : People need to get off their asses to change things. That means
* Militant political action, not just voting for the same assholes in both parties who change nothing. Actually stand up and protest and demand fucking change. Until then, we’ll have more years like this.
* Stop dreaming so much and wishing and hoping and praying and go do something. Actually change your life.
* Step out of your comfort zone and grow
* Try new things
* Go on Adventures
* Organize, Unite, and share information and resources
* Reject the model of materialism and self enrichment, and focus on enriching the community and the people as a whole.
I know American Capitalism teaches people the BS about the “American Dream”. And how it’s supposed to be a utopia based on all of us making money and being rich. It’s pretty obvious by now that’s bullshit. If it was true, we’d all be rich by now.
Especially those of us who actually work. Wealth comes from stealing from others and stepping atop their corpses in this country. So we need to remove ourselves from that self destructive tendency. Here we have our current New Year’s Report with all the Gods and spirits I can find. I separated them based on culture and religions.
First, we explore the Chinese pantheon and astrology. We are entering the year of the Water Rabbit. Click on the article to find your Chinese zodiac animal and see the forecast for your year.
Now we explore the Tai Sui for the year 2023. A Tai Sui or Grand Duke of Jupiter is one of 60 Divine Generals under the Jade Emperor. Once a year, one of these Gods will become the Grand Duke in charge of the planet Jupiter. The Ruling planet. What this means is that, the chosen God is the ruler of that year.
In fact, the Grand Duke of Jupiter is so important that whatever direction in Feng Shui is sacred to him needs to be appeased. If you do anything to offend the Tai Sui, it can screw up your year. Even indirectly.
Quote from the article on General Pi Shi at wofs.com
Such as by having your Zodiac animal be in contradiction to him. Or accidentally making too much noise in the direction sacred to the Tai Sui. The Ruling Grand Duke of Jupiter for the year 2023 is General Pi Shi.
General Pi Shi
The year 2023 doesn’t really sound like it’s going to be a peach. But General Pi Shi was a skilled leader in life. Both militarily and politically. And he was able to find solutions to problems very easily. Because of this, the year 2023 will have the right leaders to aid with problems.
Just don’t expect those leaders to always be political. Search for the leader inside yourself. And keep your eyes open for other leaders to work with. In life, this General had military and political commendations since he was very young. He quelled both rebellions and invasions.
And was given key appointments by the Emperor. So appealing to him for improvement and advancements are very good. Especially in making yourself better.
In many cultures, number four has a negative aspect numerologicaly speaking. Even in Santeria we are told to never light four candles in a house. Because it symbolizes death and the dead. This is from the time before electricity was being used in Cuba. When funeral parlors were using candle sticks.
Two at the head of the casket and two at the foot of the casket. However, as in many things, four has positive aspects as well. In Chinese beliefs the number rules over relationships. Whether it’s romance or friendship. Or business partnerships.
The effects will really be felt on the 4th of February. That’s when the number 4 star becomes the dominant force for 2023. This brings both blessings but also curses for the year. Besides symbolizing death, the negative number four also symbolizes betrayal of a relationship. Married couples are in danger the most this year.
If you are in a relationship, you need to proactively resist temptation in all of it’s forms. Arguments. And all other things. This may also mean divisions and betrayals even in political and business alliances. The thing to remember about the negative of any number is look at the positive.
Use the positive force of that number to cancel out the negative. It can’t fight itself. But you can resist and shield yourself with the positive attributes of that number.
Focus on its energy
Focus on it’s powers and energies. And allow it to protect you. Call for it to immunize you against its own negative aspects. Call it’s good energy into every part of your being. You can burn a golden candle with a number 4 you etch into it.
Obatala, the King of the Yoruba Gods or Orishas. And his daughter Oshun. The Goddess of love, lust, prosperity, nature, rivers, and witchcraft among other things. The King of the Gods and the Goddess of love magnify and bless every single one of us. Normally I translate the entire letter of the year but I found out Ashe Pa mi Cuba does it themselves.
The letter of the year is the results of divination for the new year. It’s done by the Babalawos or high priests of Orula. The Orisha of Divination and Magic. They call upon him to see into the future of the year. Then they give all of their predictions on the coming year.
And prescribe rituals for it to get better. The Divination of the year can be found here. Now as beautiful as it is to have Obatala and Oshun rule this year, the predictions are not beautiful at all. Remember what I said about this year being used to finish more shit? Yeah it’s about that. The reigning text or sign of IFA used in this divination is Otura Niko (The Foreman of the Dead). There’s a whole story about how Orula defeated death himself.
And shape shifts into Otura Niko the Foreman of the Dead. In the next few days I will write about that story. But for now let’s get to the Ebbo.
The sacrifices asked for protection and blessing over the New Year
Curujey is a name for the twisted air plant. Usually found in Cuba. In addition to this, Oya in the early hours of midnight asked me for something. I performed a Spanish tradition of putting 12 grapes in my mouth to ask for good luck. I had both green and purple grapes.
I ate the green grapes. But there were 9 purple grapes left. Nine is Oya’s number. And darker colors like purple are usually for her as well. I had no idea this sign was going to come up.
I just did as she asked. I took the purple grapes to a shrine for the dead I have outside. And I found a half empty bottle of Merlot on the way. She likes red wine. So I gave her the grapes and the wine.
Then asked for her and the dead to intercede on my behalf against any dangers in the new year. And to bring many blessings. When I actually took the time to read what the sign was about it left me stunned. That actually speaks to another theme of this sign : listening to your spirit guides and also following instructions. You will find many blessings that way.
There is another Ebbo for protection during this sign that I found during the study of the Oddun. It’s as follows. Warning this is only for Santeros. Don’t try this one if you aren’t, or don’t have sufficient training yet. I added this portion for purely scholarly reasons.
Ebbo (Cleansing) of Otura Niko
So that good comes. (I’ll go Umbo)
Ingredients :
1) Three bottles of brandy
2) A white plate
3) Cascarilla or blessed eggshell powder
4) Otura Niko is tied and prayed
Instructions :
This Cascarilla is poured into one of the bottles of brandy, and given to the dead, the others without the powder, one for Orunmila and the other for Eshu (Elegba). And this is the cleansing offering to ensure protection. And then of course you despose of them in accordance to divination. I have shrines for the dead and the Orishas so I know what to do with them.
It has a mix of good and bad omens for us all. This one I had to translate into English for everyone here. Or rather translate the aspects of it. Not the word for word text.
This sign is the foreman of the Eggun (dead). For which it is written on the tile when sacrifice is going to be made. Wisdom is the most refined beauty of the Babalawo.
* The agitation of the sea
* Corn
* The nervous system in the body
* That death is frightened and respects the living.
* And the Oparaldó
* The disfigurement of the human being at death.
* Eggún’s communication with Olófin
* Good and evil threaten the awó
* Send to prepare things on time
* Speak: kutone
* The country or land of Eggun where Otura Niko is the foreman
* It is an extension ifá
What does this mean?
* Orunmila lived in the Iyesá land
* In Otura Niko you do not eat caimito, zapote, octopus, or squid
* No ants or insects are killed
* It speaks of the human races
* It is an ifá of weariness and loneliness
* The son cried in the mother’s womb
* It was where Orunmila’s jars were hit
It symbolizes
* Oshun hid the money under the caimito bush and Shango his treasure
* Shango stole a thing from Olofin and hid it
* It is forbidden to go to the river
* Elegbá is for good and for bad
* There is a tendency to vices
* The most important thing is the spirit of the father
(This last one is interesting because the Letter of the Year mentions that Godsons and Godfathers should be closer to each other this year)
* It was where the king threw the raffle and Otura Niko took it out
Recommendations of the sign Otura Niko:
The children of this Oddun must be generous, because in this way they will be enriched. They will have to comply with everything, so as not to be accused of being irresponsible. For three days, bring a bottle of brandy and money to your Godfather’s Ifá. The secret of this Oddun is to feed his father’s spirit or his spiritual guide. He is given a white rooster.
The pregnant woman must make sacrifices to ensure a healthy child. Place food with syrup in the corners of the house so that the ants come and with them luck. Bathe with canutillo and other times with French macaw, red fig, and Iworiyeyé.
(Remember these are the rituals of the Yoruba people. No one is actually telling you to do this. The prescribed rituals are the ones in the screen shots I took. This is all part of the Oddun).
Another interesting thing is we are told to not kill ants. Ants are the lucky animal this year. They must be treated well. I will give an offering to the ants where I live for good luck. Also, Ants are an animal associated with Elegua.
Which I found curious. But that curiosity was later answered when looking up the Orixa Regente of 2023.
Sayings of Otura Niko
The iron wanted to fight with the candle. The Sun rises for everyone but you. He who does good in droves, will receive it in droves. The broken jar will never be filled. The broken jar will never be called justice.
The father says: If you are not happy in your house, you better come with me. Good and evil threatened the Babalawo. In the land of the dead, I am foreman. He who wept in the womb is blessed.
Prohibitions of the sign of Ifa Otura Niko
It is forbidden to eat pork. For this is offered to Eggun. No ants or insects are killed. It is forbidden to go to the river.
Ifa Otura Niko says:
“You will do a favor that you will not appreciate. In her house there is a person who has a cast womb, there is also another who is pregnant, and the child who is going to give birth is a boy and will be called a Know-it-all, because that child is going to be a Babalawo. They will send you to find a place forever, take care of your child. Where they live they have had money and today they have nothing to eat. Thank you Shangó. Feed your father’s spirit so that luck comes. If you don’t feed him, he will go where he is,”
It has a bit of Mayombe, be careful, because that slows it down. Don’t put pins in your mouth. Be careful where you eat, don’t get sick. Don’t ask for so much money, as it can be used for your burial. He cannot be stubborn and beware of treason where he can be poisoned.
Be obedient to your elders so that you can live happily. You can’t bathe in the river. You have to beg for your head. In his house there was a brunette woman with a red blanket, if he returns, he immediately gives Shango a ram and two roosters, which will then come with three very large lots.
She left her house in search of money and was introduced by three lovers, clinging to her guardian angel. In order for him to get such money, he must have an apron and buy lottery tickets, which others despised. The day you feed the saints, don’t work. He doesn’t have a son because God is angry with his behavior. Thank you, Oshun and Orunmila You can not get wet in rainwater, let alone bathe in a downpour.
While all three batches don’t arrive, be satisfied with what you have, you have to cover the holes of the mice, for your ashe,”
Characteristics of the sign Otura Niko (Ogbe)
This sign speaks of the person’s lack of awareness because he or she has suffered loss. This is where corn came down into the world, it was born. In this Ifá was born the communication of the Eggún (dead) with Olófin (God) through Oniko, who is the messenger. So Otura Niko represents the messenger of the dead or the foreman of the Eggun. This Oddun marks, the power of evil in the people of lights.
It is an Ifá of evolution for the Awó. They speak:
“The journeys of dualities to ask Ifá for recourse. Evolution to spirits, and evil threatens the Awó. This Oddun says to prepare things with time, because it is an Ifá that does not allow delay. The children of this Oddun must be generous, because in this way they will be enriched, they will have to comply with everything, so as not to be accused of being irresponsible,”
The turmoil of the sea was born. Speak: Kutoné.
“The country of the land of the dead (Eggun). This is an Oddun of life and death. Here was born the Oparaldó, which means (kill behind the body),”
This ceremony called theOparaldó is used to cast out or remove a particular dead person from “behind a person”. It’s a ritual for removing an attachment by a spirit in other words. Especially a dark ghost (eggun buruku). This may also be a sign that we need to protect ourselves from darker energies more so than usual this year. As we may see more attachments than normal.
Diseases that afflict this Oddun (sign/text) but also remedies we may be seeing this in 2023
* Diseases of the throat (tonsdolopathy), spine, nervous system, blood pressure.
* It speaks of the human race. The person lives with the opposite race (racial unity as a cure). This Oddun must receive Odduduwa, for a health problem.
Odduduwa one of the Primordial Creator Gods, one of the sons of GOD.
“There is someone in the family who hanged himself, just as there is someone who was educated in a convent or boarding school for nuns.
Otura NIko is an Odu from Ifá who speaks of boredom. The person gets tired of living. This Oddun is where the child cried in the womb. Bring a gift from nature.
This Ifá sends to bathe with canutillo and other times with French macaw, red fig and Iworiyeyé. This is the Ifá of the schoolchildren, the person grew up together with other children or lived near a school.
Ifá says:
That wisdom is the most refined beauty that Babalawo has. This is where Orunmila’s jars were actually beaten,”
As you can see, the text speaks of a great many things. There’s a mishmash of good and bad things. It feels like it’s saying this year will be a conflict between the positive and the negative.
“This Oddun is where the child cried in the womb. Bring a gift from nature. This Ifá sends to bathe with canutillo and other times with French macaw, red fig and Iworiyeyé. This is the Ifá of the schoolchildren, the person grew up together with other children or lived near a school.
Ifá says:
That wisdom is the most refined beauty that Babalawo has. This is where Orunmila’s jars were actually beaten. Here he was born: He who sometimes dies (Iku) is frightened and respects the living. The Great Power of the Awó. Here death is transformed into bone and shadow that nobody knows, and that is why the human being is disfigured when he dies and transforms,”
So we see another dynamic here : Iku and possibly the Eggun fear the living under this sign. Which means we have some power in our corner after all.
Secrets of Otura Niko
“This was where Oshún hid her money under the caimito bush and Shango hid his treasure that was: ero, obbi, kolá and ozún naború, under the canutillo. That is why the Awó Otura Niko should not miss a caimito branch behind the door and put Shangó erú, obbi, kolá, ozún naború, and cover it with canutillo. Here Shango stole a thing from Olofin from (our) religion and hid it,”
It goes on to mention again that you need to give honor to your religious Masters. With emphasis to a male religious figure. And the importance of a connection between the Godson and Godfather. And giving offerings to The Godfather’s house. The text in relation to love is very bad.
It says that finding love is a pain in the ass under this sign. Because betrayal is right around every corner. You are not to go near rivers. Or get wet by rain. And dogs are seen as special protectors.
But they should also be protected.
Many offerings should be made to your spirit guides for protection. Especially your Guardian Deities and any Eggun you have like the ancestors (thanks for watching out for me Oya). The importance of Ebbos and other special offerings and rituals for protection and blessing.
There’s another missed up story about a farmer, who gave his guardian spirit an offering so that he could gain blessings. But at the end of the story, even though he got his blessings, a sack of money fell from the air on top of him and he died.
“There was a farmer almost ruined because of the great drought that hit the region in which he lived. The plants and their animals were dying. But his guardian angel offered him a chance and said:
‘Give me a goat, but do not work or get wet with rainwater that day,’
The day that the farmer, gave the guardian angel what he asked, soon it began to rain. And the farmer forgot the warning of his guardian angel and left happy to stir the earth, (that is, he worked) at that moment came the luck of Heaven, that is, sacks of money, which fell on him and killed him,”
I’m going to say something that isn’t in that text. Okay? Don’t crucify me now. It’s an observation. He challenged the Osogbos and his own arrogance felled him. An Osogbo isn’t just bad luck.
It’s bad energy. Specifically it’s an Ajogun or demonic spirit. So it’s believed when you are resisting bad luck, you’re literally resisting an evil spirit who embodies that bad luck. So when your patron or matron Deity (guardian angel) is giving you a specific instruction to follow, do not deviate from that instruction. All this man had to do was not work for one day and stay dry.
Easiest thing in the world to do. And by the next day his crops would have been full and his Osogbos gone. What was so hard about following these instructions? Again, obey your spirit guides and Gods. That’s why death comes from disobedience this year. So there’s three things to take from that story :
1) The importance of Apotropaic Magic
Protection from evil spirits. As well as well as properly following rituals and instructions. Don’t fuck around. Follow what you are told. And do not deviate from instructions.
2) The importance of giving offerings to your spiritual guides. Following their instructions to the letter.
3) Be wary of the Osogbos
Just because you are doing a ritual to protect yourself, doesn’t mean it can’t backfire on you. And that the negative forces out there can’t hurt you.
When Orunmila went to see Olordumare
On this road, Orunmila needed to see Olordumare to resolve the situation that existed on Earth. But he could not get to where he was. Because he did not know the way or the enchantment. Faced with this situation, Orunmila divined seeing this Oddun (text, the one for this year), which Ebbó (offering cleansing) marked him with:
A rooster, needles, colored threads, fabrics, a basket, colored ribbons, eggs, little balls of faces etc. and that after he did the Ebbó he went for a walk. Shortly after walking, he met Eshu, who was disguised in torn clothes, Orunmila gave him fabrics, needles and threads to sew his clothes. Then Eshu directed him to a place where they met an old woman, who was Orishanla (Obatala in his Goddess aspect).
Orunmila, seeing her, gave her ten chicken eggs and the old woman was very happy. Because the hens had not laid there for a long time. After this, Orishanla showed him the way that would lead him to Olordumare’s house. When Orunmila arrived at the door of Olordumare’s house, he found it closed and through the bars of a window, he saw some boys, called them and fed them the buns he was carrying. Then he said to the boys,
‘Open the door for me, so you can distribute all the little balls I have in this basket.’
The boys opened the door and Orunmila was able to enter Olordumare’s house and managed to see him and ask for advice to solve the problems on Earth,”
This aspect of the text shows us that by acting honestly and in good faith, no task is impossible. Because the Gods and ultimately fate itself will help us. It again highlights the importance of doing proper magical rituals and making sure we do things correctly.
Who are the Ruling Orixas of 2023?
Oxum and Exu
This information comes from Astro Center .com I just wrote the cliff notes version in English. Umbanda and Quimbanda are both religions based on Yoruba religion. Just like Santeria. They also have Orishas (Portuguese Orixa). But their divinations and some of their rituals are different.
Mostly because Santeria and Umbanda and Quimbanda where influenced by different European cultures. So what the Yoruba practitioners lost or gained during slavery in ritual and culture depended mostly on that. It’s fascinating to see how similar they both are and yet different. That’s why I always pay attention to what all these groups say. I usually find a common theme in both divinations.
According to Umbanda and Quimbanda the Orixa Regente (Ruling Orisha) of the year 2023 are : Exu (Elegua or Eshu). Exu or Eshu is the God of the Crossroads. A messenger of the Gods, and a master of business and negotiation. A bringer of good commerce. Very similar to Hermes in the Greek pantheon.
And the other Orixa in power is, you guessed it Oxum or Oshun. Who is also one of the rulers of the year according to Santeria. As a Goddess of Prosperity as well as love, fertility, and also of good commerce, she adds to this influence. However, here’s the rub : I doubt sincerely that means you and I are going to benefit from all this prosperity. I don’t mean to be so cynical.
I believe the Gods want what is best for us. But prosperity for them and prosperity for us could have totally different definitions. That’s one, two I also sense that most of the prosperity is going to be sucked up by businesses. Not the common person. That’s what I feel.
Not because I believe the Gods favor them more than us. But because blessings are easier to get when you are already blessed. I believe that for the rest of us, we are going to have to fight like hell for those blessings. It’s not impossible. We can do it.
But be prepared to work your ass off.
From a Yoruba Priestess in the Article,
“What you can do to align with the energy of Exu, the lord of the order, is to organize yourself. The organization, discipline and good character will be necessary for you to attract the energy of the movement”, says the expert.
“Now to connect to Oxum’s energy she explains that you need to be kind to people, connect with your emotions and the emotions others, have the patience to understand the life of other people as much as yours,”
The expert adds that
“this will make all the difference in the final result so that you can connect and have a better year”.
In other words, the same thing mentioned above. If you are honest and generous you will ultimately thrive this year. The priestess also adds special baths and magic to achieve this end.
“For Exu, if you want to connect and get closer, the tip is to take prosperity baths. Try plants like Road Opener, leaf of fortune, and pitanga“, says the expert. “If you want to attract defense, take a bath of aroeira to be able to get closer to Exu’s energy and let this movement manifest itself into your life.”
“For Oxum, if you wish to manifest her sweetness and bring kindness to yourself, make a bath of fresh basil. This is a bath in which you will macerate herbs, prepare them, and wash from head to toe with them whenever you want to connect to Oxum’s energy, preferably on Saturdays”, concludes Priestess Iyá Tolomi.
Now, every Greek Temple has their own way of doing things. Our religion is not centralized like Yoruba practice. But I thought I would share what my temple believes are the Ruling Gods and Hero of the year. The two ruling Gods are Hephaestus the Black Smith and builder of the Gods. And his wife Aphrodite, a Goddess of love, wealth, fertility, bringer of good fortunes and things.
You can see some of the similarities. A Goddess of love is the common factor in the Yoruba and Greek Divinations. And the presence of Obatala, Eshu, General Pi Shi, and now Hephaestus all speak to the need for hard work for prosperity to truly come. None of us are getting shit on a silver plate. I think that’s been fairly established by now.
And Herakles was the performer of the 12 Labors. And a master of solving problems using his intellect as well as his strength. Someone similar General Pi Shi. Ultimately those are the themes of this year. I hope this will aid you in going forward this year.
– M
PS : As of 6:30pm EST my friend got into a car accident. So far they don’t know what happened to the breaks. But he crashed with a stop sign and a wall. So………the Babalawos were right as usual
There’s all manner of rituals and magic for protection and cleansing in the New Year. There’s some amazing things in tradition that one should consider adding to their practice. My witch sister (as in my actual sister) has been practicing magic here with me. Preparing for the New Year’s as well. These traditions come from different groups.
Also known as a Growth Cleansing or a New Year’s Bath, this is a bath with flowers. It opens up the spiritual channels in a person’s body. This is to allow them to release negative or unnecessary energy. While also allowing good energy to enter. The following is a formula we use in Spanish folk magic.
One prescribed by mediums for the new year.
Ingredients :
Note* ingredients must be natural and freshly harvested
1) 5 Sunflower petals
2) 5 Red rose petals
3) 5 White rose petals
4) 5 Pink rose petals
5) 1 Rue branch
6) 5 Jasmine branches
7) 2 yellow candles
8) 2 Rosemary branches
9) 5 Daisy petals
Instructions :
To start doing the bath, heat six liters of water in a pot or saucepan. You’ll have to leave the water heating about 10-20 minutes. Until it starts to boil. Once bubbles begin to appear in the water it means that it has reached the ideal temperature. Remove the pot from the heat and carefully put all the materials in the water.
Once this is done, place the pot back to heat. But this time you only raise the temperature a bit and stir the materials. After another 15 minutes, put the pot to cool. When the water cools put it in the bathtub with the other ingredients. If that water is not enough to bathe, you can put a little more water without any problem.
Essentially the water you prepared, will bless and charge the regular water.
Once everything is ready, light the two yellow candles and take a bathe. Imagine yourself illuminated by the energies of the flowers. Allow the souls of those flowers to enter you. All things are alive. And when you bathe in flowers, the souls of those beings enter you.
So this isn’t just a normal cleansing. It’s a soul cleansing. It washes through you and over you by using pure souls. Those of the flowers themselves. That’s how this works.
Embrace them. Feel the negative energy disintegrate inside you. And then be flushed out naturally from your energy pathways. Allow the calm, nourishing, energy to enter your pathways. Feeding them.
Renewing them. Once you finish the bath, dry with a white towel. This is because white is a color associated with purity. If you have a special color that empowers you, you can use that instead. Then do a regular shower.
And scrub with soap as you normally would.
As my Druid Master recently told me : in our tradition, any form of washing with water is a cleansing. And this is true in more ways than one. In Jewish mysticism, it’s said that water loves bad or impure things. It was made that way by God to absorb the impurity out of things and people. That’s why most cleansings use water as a basic ingredient.
How my sister does it
My sister’s special batch
My sister uses the same traditional flowering formula as described above. The only difference is that she uses Christian Magic to empower it further. In conjunction with the new moon prior to the new year. She also used my balcony shrine which is filled with various plants and astrological idols to empower it. She also adds a few secret ingredients to make hers stronger.
She also added some power to it from a portable altar she brought with her.
But because they are a secret taught to her by her teacher, I can’t reveal that. What I will say is that she combines it with Catholic Masses. She does a mini mass in the bathroom with a specific Gregorian chant playing on her phone. The combination of the potion with the holy music adds to the power of the cleansing. She uses special rites associated with the Catholic Church.
As well as the new moon, and Saints to empower the water. New moons are good for new beginnings.
I do it also not only with Christian Magic but with Santero magic as well. I appeal to Ossian the Orisha of nature and plants, Aroni his faithful servant, and Inle the Orisha of Medicine. I do special Santeria prayers with them. And I charge the potion on my balcony shrine as well. It’s a shrine to both nature and the astrological signs and celestial bodies.
I ask for them to charge it with their powers over night. And once I do this, I leave the potion in a plastic container for the night and allow them to fill it with their Ashe (divine grace). It’s pronounced Ahhh-sheh. Sometimes it’s spelled Ache by Cubans. Which confuses the hell out of English speakers.
I also add Cascarilla and some secret ingredients to the brew like my sister does. Though mine are different. Once charged, I wait until New Year’s Day to bathe. Like literally a few minutes after midnight. Then I try to dress in light colors.
I have a specific color I use to be empowered.
Santeria Cleansings & New Year’s Traditions
Orisha shrines to Yemaya and Oshun
These are cleansings taught to me by my Godmother in Santeria. The traditions here I also learned from my Babalawo. First up is the feeding of the Earth.
This one was taught to me by my Babalawo Warning! Do not do this ritual. Only a Babalawo or high priest of Orula cando this. I am just outlining the basic ritual and the origin. Doing this the wrong way can actually kill you. This isn’t a joke.
You’ve been warned.
According to our sacred texts, it’s said that when the daughter of God ile Oguere reincarnated, she became the planet Earth. Orula the God of Divination and Magic told her she needed to do a special cleansing called an Ebo. This is sort of like a karmic cleansing to change your fate. She did not. As a result, her children (humans) abuse and hurt her.
The Ebo would have prevented that.
Mother Earth herself
A few years later after humanity had populated the Earth, the Orishas (Gods) had invented death itself. This was to prevent overpopulation. They assigned Iku to be the Orisha of Death. And everyone hated Iku. They all wanted to live forever.
What was worse is that back then when people died, their bodies just lay around. Burying a body hadn’t become a custom yet. Imagine seeing your loved one’s body just laying on the ground. And it looks as if it’s still them. Just sleeping.
One day ile Oguere and Iku were spending time together. She complained that her human children abused her. And he complained that her children hated him for doing his job. So she had an idea. She made a pact with Iku.
“If you kill as many of my children as you can, I will absorb their bodies into my body,”
The problem was, it was going to be difficult for him to do it on his own. So he said,
“My wife Arun (disease) will have to do this work with us. She must be given power over everyone equally. The rich and the poor, the young and old, kings and their vassals, the wise and prideful, thieves and honest people. Everyone equally,”
She thought about it, and finally said,
“I accept, however I demand that all people grant me tribute of whatever food they eat. And if anyone does not do this, you will be in charge of collecting their debts,”
From that day forward, Iku sends natural disasters and all manner of unnatural death to fall on humans. And in exchange, ile Oguere will suck down human bodies into her own body. When this happened, human bodies began to decompose. Because the Earth began to call them home. Now since then, many rituals to appease the Earth have been made.
As well as many rituals to ward off Iku. And some ceremonies like this one, do both. The Jorojoro is a hole, representing the mouth of the Earth. Usually, a group of Yoruba practitioners led by a Babalawo go into a barren land. They open the Jorojoro, and perform a ritual which has many prayers and components.
But part of it is a technique called Sarayeye. Basically, this is cleansing your body or a place with a ritually charged object. This can be an idol. Food. Or even the body part of an animal like feathers.
In this case, everyone carries a plate full of food and perform Sarayeye with that food. The cleansing absorbs all the bad energy. Bad luck, death, disease, curses, obstacles in the New Year etc…then one by one, the food is dumped into the JoroJoro to feed the Earth. The Jorojoro has to be deep so that it can absorb all of the food. Then, the ritual is closed, by sealing the Jorojoro shut.
The Earth Mother will be appeased and she will give you powerful blessings. At the same time she is draining all the osorbos or bad energy away from you. Including Iku or death. This is done every new year by Babalawos. The ritual is expensive but well worth it.
But I must warn you that only a Babalawo has the authority to perform this ritual. If anyone tells you they can do it without being a Babalawo, run away. Because doing it incorrectly angers ile Oguere. And it results in death. This is because the Earth is hungry.
And the worst thing you can do, is to leave the hole open. She will devour the energy of the person who didn’t perform the ritual the right way. Pull their soul down into death.
This cleansing was taught to me by my Godmother in Santeria. Oshun and Yemaya are the Goddesses who symbolize cleansing and prosperity the most. Inle does too. But a lot of people leave Inle out. What you do is take a bottle of melao or sugar cane syrup to the beach.
And once there, you pour some in your hair. And the rest into the water. Obviously you have to be in the water when you are doing this. This is an offering to Yemaya, the Goddess of the Seas and Oceans. Really all water everywhere belongs to her.
She is the Mother of the Earth in our tradition. Because without water, no planet can survive. Now, when you do this, it’s an even more powerful cleansing than the flowering ritual mentioned above. Yemaya can open your roads to greatness and bestow blessing so powerful than no force or enemy can stop you. It may take a while with the flowering bath to disintegrate the bad energy.
As well as renew your strength. But this cleansing with the beach is faster. It’s also more powerful because this is a loci specific ritual. A ritual that uses the power of a location to help you.
A variation of this ritual, uses a honey comb or honey. Personally, I prefer to use a honey comb. You can buy those in the supermarket. It’s like a bar of soap made out of honey. You can scrub yourself with it.
They’re usually in square plastic containers like this. Though if you can’t find honey combs, just rub regular honey on yourself. Then pour the rest in your hair. Like the offerings of the sugar cane syrup. Oshun is the one you call with this cleansing.
And you are asking her to pull all the impure energy out of you. All bad luck, everything out of your energy field. Then, you toss the honey comb into the water as far as you can. That will be the offering for Oshun. But I would recommend you bring a change a clothes with you.
Bring shorts or a bikini to enter the water. Because regular clothing in sea water smells like a rotten animal. Better to remove the wet clothing and change back into your normal clothes afterwards. Bring a bag with you for your wet clothing to seal it up until you can wash it. Likewise you can do something with Inle as well.
She is the Doctor of the Orishas. And has great power to heal. What I normally use for her are vines and leaves which symbolize healing. I ask the Earth to charge it with great power. Then when I go to the Ocean, I ask Inle to drain all that is bad from me, to the vines.
And all the good energy from the earth and water to enter me. Then I toss the vines into the water far away from me. And that will be Inle’s offering.
We have already discussed the powers of the Sarayeye technique. And how ritually charged objects can be used in cleansings. This is such a cleansing. My Godmother taught me this one too. The one and only ingredient here is an egg.
If you want you can bless the egg to make it stronger. That’s up to you. On the first Monday of the new year, in the morning, rub an egg from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. And pray to Elegua. Ask him to take all the bad energy out of you from the old year.
You will wait until you feel lighter. As if everything that was on and in you will be devoured by that egg. Eggs are living objects. They have living organisms inside them. So they are the best things to use for a sacrifice.
Once everything has been pulled from you, you throw it backwards so that it will break. Do not look behind you. Because if you do, whatever negativity you had removed, will return to you. And worse than before. Now you cannot eat eggs for seven days.
Because if you eat the same food you cleansed yourself with, it will also return the negativity to you. Seven days is the cut off point. After the egg fast the day after the seventh day, you will be able to eat them again. You can wash the egg with holy water to give it an added charge. Or anoint it with a holy oil or powder.
If you can’t do this in the morning then do it at night or the afternoon. The point is doing it while it is still Monday. Elegua is the God of the Crossroads in Yoruba religion. He opens all roads and brings success in all things. No ritual or prayer can be done without giving the first and last offerings to him.
He is the Lord of the New Year and Old Year and will open and close all doors. Doing this ritual with Elegua will be sure to remove all obstacles. He is the divine child God and Prince of our religion.
Throwing Water out the front door, the Window, or the Balcony on New Year’s Day
In Latin America and Spain, people throw out a bucket of water at the very moment of midnight of New Year’s Day. Others like the people of Uruguay, do it from December 31st. The water absorbs the old energy of the old Year. So when you cast out the water from your home, you are casting out the old year. Santeros have our own variant of the ritual.
My Godmother puts Cascarilla into the bucket so that the positive energies of the new year can be invited in. Some use a bucket of Catholic holy water.
Puerto Rican women of the older generations also did the same thing. But they would follow that up by burning church incense inside the house to bring blessings. They’d be doing this and praying deep into the early hours of the night. And to ward off evil. I burn Gold Rain incense that I dedicate to the laughing Buddha to bring in money.
The Christian Magicians in the Ozarks in Arkansas have similar beliefs. They believe in sending out the old year. And bringing in the new year. But instead of using a bucket of holy water, they open their windows. Just a crack, not open all the way.
The old year slips out through the same small opening. And at the same time the new year slips in. There are other beliefs concerning the New Year’s in the Ozarks. Namely that a visit from strangers isn’t very good. But especially not from a woman.
Why that is, has never been explained, at least not to me. Only that your year is supposed to be crap if a woman is your first New Year’s visitor. That actually happened to me once. And it wasn’t just any woman, it was an extremely neurotic neighbor. One that drove her family crazy.
Like literally every once in a while there were cops or some other trouble in that apartment. She visited us to wish us happy new year just as I was about to throw the water out the front door. I actually debated tossing the water at her.
“Maybe if I throw the water at her crazy ass it’ll exorcise the bad year or cancel it out,”
I didn’t. And man did I regret that decision. Because it really was a shitty fucking year. I don’t know if it was the power of suggestion or not. But at least that time it was right.
I know in the Ozarks it usually is right. On New Year’s Day they tend to stay home. Almost in lockdown pattern. Until the next day. They also seem to have a taboo against taking something out of their home.
They seem to believe removing anything from their houses on New Year’s Day will bring poverty. For a visitor to be allowed in, that person has to bring something inside with them. Even if it’s a twig. This symbolizes prosperity. Now with me it’s the opposite.
I throw shit out as quickly as possible. I like my energy uncluttered. But every place has its own set of rules. All of this information comes from a Folklorist known as Vance Randolph. His research on the Christian faith healers and magic users of the Ozarks is considered Gospel.
Even by the faith healers themselves. He did everything he could to properly catalog, analyze, and preserve Ozark culture. Especially the magical and mystical aspects of their folk religion. He’s in essence, the Eliphas Levi of Ozark and folklore and folk magic. His second wife was a premier folklorist named Mary Celestia Parler.
And together they created the Arkansas Folklore Society. Unfortunately the society which was started in 1950, ended in 1960. But any books or papers you can get from them are good. For they are necessary if you really want to understand the culture and faith of these amazing mountain people. I became fascinated by Ozark magic and folk religion years ago.
I thought this entry would be incomplete without mentioning them.
Chalking of the Doors : Blessing your home for the whole year with Baby Jesus and the Three Kings
The blessing formula drawn over the inside or outside of the front door to bless the home
It was once believed by Christian denominations from Europe, that Satan temporarily losses his powers. Every year around the time of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Some believe it’s on Christmas Day. Still, it’s important to perform special wardings and blessings. The most common blessing during this time is the Catholic Epiphany blessing.
In fact, practitioners of Hoodoo also perform this blessing themselves. While traditional Catholics only allow a Priest or the head of the family to do it. Anyone who practices the root can do this. When a Priest does this, they do it as a representation of Christ. This is commonly referred to as in persona Christi(in the person of Christ).
This is a fascinating concept. It essentially means that the Priest is making themselves empty of their personal nature. And they ritually “become” Christ. They allow themselves to be filled with his authority. Like a form of divine possession almost.
In Christianity, divine possession doesn’t always mean that a spirit takes you over. Sometimes it refers to inspiration. Gaining prophetic visions and such. In this case it’s the actual authority of Christ being transferred to the Priest temporarily. When this happens, any blessing performed by the Priest, is the same as if Jesus himself were doing it.
Traditionally, a Priest does this. But the father of the family can also do it. I find that kind of sexist because the head of the family could be a woman. So really any head of the family can do it. As long as they are baptized.
Because then they are, they’re included in the “universal priesthood” (belief that all Christians are priests of Christ). In addition to this, practitioners of both Voodoo and Hoodoo can also perform this ritual. In fact this was an old tradition for many years. I was going to write about this. However, there are some amazing articles I found that I decided were better than anything I could write.
* Worship of Jesus in his child form (Divine Child) a theme you can find in many religions
* Worshipping him through a household ceremony as if the house was his house
* Calling on the Three Pagan Kings to aid in the warding and blessing of the home for the whole year until next year by chalking the door.
Using the Blessed Chalk to make the inscriptions
Then
* Blessing the home with Epiphany Water and special prayers.
Again this is me dumbing down the ritual for you. The actual ritual is a ceremony the whole family just participate in. And you are giving cultus to the Christ child by using an image of him. Now, the Catholic Church explains that the formula for blessing the house is Latin. And that the initials mean, Christusmansionem benedicat – (Christ bless this house).
However, these are also the initials of the Three Kings. Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar. And as I said, this is an old tradition done even by Rootworkers in the old days. Granted when we do it, it’s normally just the initials C.M.B., the plus signs are crosses and the numbers are the year the blessing is taking place in. For instance, the formula for this new year will be 2023 so the formula will be,
20+C+M+B+23
Rootworkers also believe that this chalk blessing offerings protection against witchcraft. It calls on the power of Christ and the three kings to block any malevolent influence. Be it magic or evil spirits.
How I do it
I do follow this formula almost identically to the way it’s performed by the church. I find that the chalking formula they use is better than just writing CMB. However, I don’t just write what is there. I add some things to the blessed incantation. For one, there was a Fourth Mage King known as Artaban.
He followed Jesus all his life. There are stories of heroic deeds and even people whose lives he saved along the way. But he never did catch up to Jesus. Finally he died almost at the same time Christ was crucified. And Christ himself crossed him over.
Saying that in everything he did, including saving the lives of the innocent, it was as if he had done those things for him. And There was also a Roman Witch the Magi Kings were friends with. We don’t know her true name. But she is known as La Befana in Italy. So over there it’s a Christmas Witch and not Santa Klaus who delivers gifts.
She was to join them to see Jesus as a child. However, she said she couldn’t because she was too old to make the journey. Later she regretted it. And tried to catch up to them, but it was already too late. So the sack of gifts she intended for the Child Christ, was instead given to the needy children of Rome.
So my formula is :
20+C+M+B+A+LB+23
To invoke all of their protections.
Other Traditions
There are a bunch of other New Years traditions to mention but they are all too numerous to write about here. So instead I brought you links and pictures from Atlas Obscura.
The Ancient Hebrews performing a sacrifice. Burning a goat or ram (can’t tell from this image) to Adonai. You see Adonai depicted as Zeus at the very top riding the smoke. It’s said the smell of his animal sacrifices when burned attracts him. The fire is how he eats. Burnt offerings are done for a variety of reasons. Including expiation of sins.
For those who don’t know, we had a combination of a New Moon, with a solar eclipse in Scorpio last Sunday. It lasted until Wednesday. Wednesday was when the solar eclipse happened. New Moons naturally belong to the dead and to dark spirits. And so are Solar Eclipses.
The Sun Gods enter their chthonic aspecks as Gods of the dead. This is the perfect time for the removal of negative energy. Or sending it out. I call these dark cleansings because we are working with dark energy to take the bad energy away. Like the Bloodmoon, a Scorpio based Eclipse (and really eclipses in general) force you to face that which you fear the most.
They force you to confront problems and burdens you’ve been holding onto for a long time. They also end a chapter of your life to start another. In my case, I had a very personal journey to make.
Dealing with the Sins of the Past
Lost in the darkness, seeking the light
I got into an argument with someone from my past. And this person reminded me of a time when I wasn’t so spiritual. And in fact I didn’t care who I hurt as long as I got mine. Even people who loved me. And who I should have loved back.
When I was younger, and far more foolish, I was a misogynist. I didn’t think I was a misogynist back then. In fact I thought I was a feminist. What I was, was one of those wanna be “woke” assholes thinking I believed in equality. It wasn’t all fake.
I truly believed I was a feminist. Part of the reason I turned against Christianity was due to the way most churches treat women. Especially my church. I was raised to believe that men are above women by divine right. Or some other horseshit like that.
Because Adam was born before Eve etc.. even though the original Hebrew Bible says that Lilith was created at the same time as Adam. And she was his equal in all respects. I was a womanizer. A compulsive liar. I constantly cheated, and I didn’t fully understand that I was controlling.
I learned this abusive behavior mostly from my dad. But also from the church, and the culture of toxic masculinity that pervades the West. And even when the person I was with was a genuinely good person, I couldn’t be faithful. Sometimes when I cheated I convinced myself that I was “loyal” and that this other person was just a side person. Someone to satisfy me when my regular partner wasn’t around.
I look back on that now and feel disgusted with myself. I wasn’t the best big brother growing up either. I was a teenager and I was so caught up in my own bullshit that I didn’t see that my sister needed me. And my Mother and Paternal grandmother were at odds with me as well. For different reasons.
How could this have ever been me? I’m 36 years old now. Not some young, cocky, asshole. After opening my eyes to several truths, I began to change. To remold myself and cast aside the bad things in my heart and mind. To become a better person.
After becoming a Pagan and a Magician that quest took off to even greater levels. I learned about the Mother Goddesses. I formed an especially close link to Hera, Nemesis, Demeter, and Gaia to name just a few. To Inle and Oshun, and to Chang’e and Kwan Yin. I learned I had a lot of work to do.
And they had no issue kicking my ass from left to right in my mid 20’s to get me to learn. My relationship with my mother and grandmother was better. I made amends with my sister eventually. And I am still changing. Still learning.
But I no longer cheat, no longer lie, no longer think I am some big “woke” feminist ally. I pursue the goal of just being a good and decent person. When I can achieve that, truly achieve it, then maybe I can be called a feminist. Until then I feel that it’s an empty title. The Cuban Exiles tend to be homophobic.
Tend to be womanizers and liars. This isn’t me hating my own culture. I’m just being honest. For years I had decided to turn my back on all religion and spirituality. I went headlong into hedonism.
And I stopped caring about people. Which led to a lot of heart ache both for myself and the girls I dated in my youth. After the nasty experience I had last Saturday, I realized I was deluding myself. I had a reading done by a friend of mine in Utah. And she told me that until I apologize to the women I have hurt, I haven’t made any amends.
Little did I know, that all of this was playing out for a reason. Because Scorpio’s influence on the New Moon and the Solar Eclipse was moving karma around. This has been a burden on my soul for a very long time. And I had kept it deep within myself. I buried this part of my past because I didn’t want to admit I had ever been this ignorant.
I began calling up women from my past and apologizing. I sent more than a dozen emails. I even wrote letters by snail mail. Some didn’t care anymore. Others forgave me.
Some said they don’t know if they can forgive me, but my apologies gave them closure. And others I am still waiting to hear from via the letters. I had begone to make amends. I was ready to begin the dark cleansing with Scorpio.
Priest burning the body of a sacrificed animal to Adonai
I had to draw on my training to figure out how to perform this cleansing. A cleansing that would be strong enough to do this. To channel the power of the Scorpio fueled new moon and solar eclipse. I decided to do a burnt offering. Thing is, I have no intentions of ever hurting an animal.
An artistic representation of the Pharmakos
The Pharmakos is the human version of a scapegoat. Humans would be chosen (or sometimes volunteer) to represent all the bad energy in a town or city. And then they would be thrown off a cliff after having weights of some sort attached. I know this is just an over simplification. So I linked an article from Harvard on this practice.
With the death of the Pharmakos, the bad energy was killed as well. In modern times, we use dolls or some other idol to be our Pharmakos in Greek expiation rituals. So I decided to incorporate the burnt offering practice with a Pharmakos.
My Pharmakos paper at the Hearth
My spirits reminded me of the power of burning magical papers and petitions to get things done. So I took a piece of Bible paper from my old catechism Bible. I collect Bible paper. It’s an old Bible so the pages started falling apart little by little. I mostly use them as paper talismans.
I drew the Triangle of Solomon on it. Now this is normally used for conjuring, trapping, and controlling a demon. The triangle protects the conjuring sorcerer. And the circle forces the entity inside and binds them. I summoned the sinful and bad parts of my soul into the circle.
And the triangle was keeping me safe so that as it burned, the bad energy couldn’t return or spread to anyone. I didn’t film it or take a picture. The last thing I needed was an image captured of negative energy burning. The paper was only beginning to be blessed by the Hearth in those images. So those images are safe.
I performed a technique in Yoruba religion called Sarayeye. This means you ceremonially use a spiritually charged item like an idol, herbs or flowers, food offering, stones or sticks, etc.. to absorb all the bad energy from your body. You take the chosen object and rub it from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. And you say words of power calling upon all bad things to leave your body. This can be anything, including bad luck and disease.
“May any harm or thing that causes harm, be displaced from my body and soul and bound into this offering,”
– Simple charm taught to me by an Elder in Santeria
In this case I did an hour long prayer. I poured my heart and soul into it. I even started shaking and crying at some point. Broke out into a cold sweat as if I had a fever. I felt nauseous.
The Gods spoke in divination later and told me I had “shed my sinful soul,”. As if I had separated from an evil twin. When the last of my wicked soul had left my body (well, as much as a normal human can shed) my body slowly went back to normal. I finished 10 mins before sunset. And I took the paper and burned it outside on a crossroads.
The smell of Bible paper was sweet. It almost smelled like Palo Santo to me. When the paper burned I felt a strange sort of relief. And the feeling of something that broke in me. And I felt what can only be described as spiritual pus leave my body.
The next day, I felt like shit. I was sore all over my body as if I had lifted a thousand pound truck. The holy fire of the hearth match and the paper’s own inherent holiness channeling the celestial fire. It felt as if the holy flames had burned what was evil inside me. This isn’t a magic bullet that makes my old selfish ways okay.
But it’s a starting point towards the path of redemption I hope. I also prayed to Zeus Meilichios for purification. Confessing my sins before his idol, and allowing him to take as much miasma away as possible. It’s a harder process than I thought. Each time it’s harder to talk to someone I hurt.
I wish the universe could have given me a warning ahead of time.
Karmic Structures and their destruction
My Buddhist Shrine
After I had performed the ritual, I prayed to the Laughing Buddha. He’s always been a Buddha who has walked with me. A Patron and protector. I asked forgiveness for what I had done years before. And to find a way to be redeemed. I spoke to him out loud about everything.
An then I stopped suddenly. Suddenly I felt this disturbance. Like a rock thrown into water. And I felt him in my heart. Almost like having a conversation but without words.
He told me that my rituals and my attempt at amends weren’t enough. I needed more.
The Journey of Jetsun Milarepa
Milarepa’s Cave where he lived surrounded by his animals and nature.
The story of Milarepa is a really messed up one. It starts like this. He came from a wealthy family. But when his father died, his aunt and uncle who were very greedy, stole all the property. As well as the money and left him and his mother nothing.
So his mother sent him away to learn the black arts.
Not Tibet, this is a depiction of Black Magic in China, but for the purpose of the story I thought I would use it. From this article
When he returned as a powerful dark magus, his aunt and uncle were throwing a party. Their son was about to get married. And many people had come to attend to feast. He used his power to summon a giant Scorpion monster to raise the house. And 35 people died.
The aunt and uncle lived however. When the villagers came to kill him, he summoned a hailstorm that destroyed their crops. Which forced them all to back down. After years of wandering the land as a black magician, his heart grew heavy. He began to hate himself.
And to regret his past sins. He decided to learn new ways. And he found a Lama or “chief”. This is the Buddhist version of a Guru in Hinduism. It’s a teacher of the Dharma.
Marpa the Translator
His Master would be Marpa the Translator. One of the greatest Buddhist masters of all time. Marpa was a hard Master to serve. The guy made him go through hell in order to prove himself worthy. I’ll spare you the long history lesson.
But he ordered Milarepa to build three towers and then destroy them. He later told Milarepa the reason for this. Each tower represented all of the bad karma and suffering he sent out into the world. The task had to be difficult because it was a sort of penance. Each time a tower was constructed, it was instantly imbued with all the bad spiritual energy.
And when it was destroyed, the karma was destroyed. That’s what the laughing Buddha told me to do. I have to create a karmic structure to destroy. In penance for my old ways. It was revealed to me by him what I had to do.
And how many times I had to do it. That part of my ceremony I won’t talk about. It’s just for me to know. I started on that already. And hopefully I can continue to make amends.
What I can say however is that it’s not a large structure. And it isn’t as many times as Milarepa. While my past self may not have been too enlightened, I never summoned a giant scorpion to kill people. Here’s hoping I can continue my path towards making amends.
Negative Forces are around us since before the end of last year
I didn’t want to comment on this. Largely because as someone who believed in the Paranormal, I am trained to debunk everything. I thought it was just me seeing something that wasn’t there. But I have since changed my mind. Last year, my dog Sheldon was attacked by an American Bulldog.
He’s saved my mother from that dog. Fought like a champion to save her life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just him. There has been an epidemic of attacks on dogs and dog owners since then. When I translated the Letter of the Year of the IFA Priests, I noticed something.
They said “dogs would bring good luck,” this year. And after that I have seen that all over Florida dogs and dog owners are getting attacked. As my mother and dog had been attacked. I began to see a pattern there. And I divined to ask the spirits for guidance.
Near as I can tell, the Ajogún (warriors of evil) which is what the Yoruba people call demons, are all over the place. Feeding off of the chaos of humanity. Most people believe that human activity is all caused by spirits. But sometimes the reverse is also true. What humans do in our world causes spiritual activity.
Like a massive tremor in the spiritual world. The conflicts in different countries, global food prices going up, inflation and political division. All of this is food for the Ajogún. Negative spirits feed off of negativity. It’s like food and steroids for them.
It increases their powers and gives them a larger foot hold in our world. The Ajogún consist of corrupted spirits. Some were once human.
The Ajogún in their world
And others are forces of nature that have become perverted. So these demons are not like the devils with horns you would see in movies. Not saying there aren’t horned versions of them. But they are living forces, or sometimes even nature spirits that have become bad.
Imagine gravity if it were evil. Imagine a force like the Devil, in a million forms at once. And just having this force visit you is enough to bring bad luck and death. One of the ways in which the Ajogún visit is when you have a “bad head”. If you are angry or depressed or generally have a negative attitude, that’s an invitation for them.
The Ajogún can actually see your negative mental energy from their shadowy world. It’s like a beacon to them
And it’s also food for them and other negative spirits. They will feed off of your energy. Increasing the bad luck and making things worse for yourself. It acts as an invitation for them to come visit you and run amok with your life. And because these negative spirits are forces of nature that are so massive, you wouldn’t know you had a spirit messing with your life. It certainly wouldn’t come out in most divinations. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn’t know what was going on.
These forces are also called Osorbos, Osobos, or Bears. Due to their aggressive and predatory nature. And those words are also synonymous with bad luck. It’s my opinion that based on this violent wave, and other factors, these entities are running amok this year. And one of the ways it’s doing this is by targeting people’s dogs.
This may sound ridiculous. But remember, they are trying to strike down the sources of our luck. That which protects us. And it won’t just be dogs either. Anyone or thing that protects you is up for grabs.
A person in your life who keeps you safe. Charms that protect you. More than likely any other animal that acts as your guardian which would substitute a dog. The Osorbos are on the attack and we must be ready and prepare to strike them down. Now you must be thinking, What the hell can we do? These aren’t even normal demons.
You’d be right. This is the equivalent of trying to use holy water and prayer to attack the Leviathan. It might effect a small portion of his skin cells, but he’ll barely feel it. No. You need to call in someone who can defeat them. These are the specific Osorbos I believe are involved in all of this :
1) Ofó (Loss)
The living embodiment of loss of loved ones, missed opportunities and so fourth.
2) Iku (Death himself)
Not a God of the dead, though he is a Deity of the Dead. He is the embodiment of death. Like Thanatos in Ancient Greece. It is he who is being used the most.
3) Arún (Disease)
Self explanatory.
4) Oran (Problems)
Again, self explanatory. A force that is the embodiment of problems and obstacles.
5) Ijá (hatred and war, conflict in general)
6) Eyo (tragedy) though I think this one is more a by-product or companion to the others mentioned before.
Now I am not a Babalawo. I am not even a full Santero yet. I’m just an apprentice in training. I have used what I do know to identify these things. I see patterns and I try to identify how to alter or stop certain things.
The only way to stop the Osorbos is with their opposite. The Orishas. So I would give a sort of feast to Elegua the Orisha of the Crossroads. A massive feast asking him to get all of the other Orishas involved to fight the Osorbos. It doesn’t have to be anything too ceremonial.
Elegua, the God of the Crossroads, Magic, Guardian of all dimensions. He is the Master of the Keys and Gatekeeper of all.
Just get a lot of food and drink. And offer it to him. And he’ll ensure the assistance of the Orishas in your general area and especially to you. And then your normal ways of protecting yourself should be empowered by them. Made stronger.
The Babalawos usually do their own ceremonies with tons of food and other offerings. But since not everyone can afford those services, I am giving you a simpler version you can use. Elegua loves lots of food. He also loves fruits like mangos and bananas, and he enjoys rum. His number is three.
He eats everything except pigeon. He will not touch that. And while Coconut is sacred to him, I don’t offer it to him because Coconut is supposed to be his head.
Offerings for Elegua
Elegua’s younger, child-like Avatars usually get candies and toys. But the older Avatars love hard candies, toasted corn or popcorn. Eleggua also eats goat, rooster and bushrat, as well as smoked fish. Now you don’t have to kill any animals. You can serve a cooked chicken dinner to him.
Smoked fish is easy to offer. That should be enough. Make sure you put all of these offerings at the crossroads or on a railroad track. Whichever is closer. Start the offering with a libation of rum, and finish with three pennies.
The Orishas
Three of each offering is good. And at your house, you can burn three candles and offer up three Abre Camino (road opener) incense sticks. Ask him fervently in prayer for help. To bring down the other Orishas to battle the Ajogún. And then finish with three pennies.
Then cleanse and bless your home as you normally would. Keep your head down, and your eyes open. And try your best to avoid conflict, negative attitude, or anything else that could screw you up. That sounds like a tall order. But it can be done.
Especially with prayer, focus, fasting, and meditation. May the Divine Powers protect us all.
I was supposed to have written this account last year. But I was so busy with everything that I couldn’t write a single word. So here I am finally committing words to blog. This happened to my baby cousin. And I was called in to help her.
What I am going to talk about is probably one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had. It even tops the Witch Bird case from a few years back.
Let me start by saying that the term Mourning Women is an umbrella term for a special type of spirit. They are the opposites of the Llorona or Wailing Women, they can be good or bad, human and non-human. The good or at least neutral ones, are always human souls.
Women who for whatever reason have decided to stay behind because they are mourning another person. And they decide they have to perform funerary vigils for that soul even when they themselves are dead. There’s one famous Mourning Woman in Mexico called La Dama Enlutada from San Luis de Potosi, who visits several churches just to pray for the souls of the dead. This class of Mourner are obviously good spirits, and they may even be psychopomps (guides of the dead) who cross them over.
A Mourning Woman ready for a soul. From the fake “Spirit Photography” of William Hope. Still cool though.
However, there’s a second class of Mourning Woman who are demonic. Either human souls that have been demonized in death, or pure demons that have never been human beings. For whatever reason, they enjoy the motif of a mourning woman.
They take this form as a way to mock their victims. These tend to be what Paranormal Investigators call “Soul Collectors”, evil spirits that capture the souls of the dead who have not crossed over, and enslave them. These poor souls from that point on, are bound to the soul collector until someone is able to bind the entity and free the souls. Unfortunately, this was the type of Mourner that was haunting my cousin.
For a few weeks, I started to get a bad feeling about my cousin. The dread slowly began to build. Until I finally decided to text her. I figured I was being silly right?;
“Hola Mama, ¿Cómo estás?”
(Hey Mama how are you?)
“Eh more or less. Hanging in there,”
“What’s wrong?”
“I keep seeing this woman dressed in black. I don’t know if it’s for real or if I’m going crazy. But I can barely sleep. She’s in my nightmares too,”
Now obviously when she said that, I said screw the texting and called her. I asked her why the hell didn’t she pick up the phone and call me. She said she wanted to but couldn’t seem to find the time for some reason.
It should be noted, these beings can manipulate humans into forgetting. Making us too tired to seek help, or making us second guess ourselves. I have no doubt that’s what was happening here. Especially with how fatigued she sounded over the phone.
I got all the details surrounding this spirit. Which wasn’t much. It was just that it appeared seemingly out of no where and didn’t leave. Then my Mom, who doesn’t practice, but has the gift said the name of a deceased family member. A nasty family member.
“It’s Leona, she’s there for some reason,”. Now this family member was a witch in life. A bad one. She was my great aunt. Despite all her claims of being an Evangelical Christian, she was well known in our neighborhood and in our family as being a black witch. My mother’s side of the family are full of practitioners. So they don’t go around calling people “devil worshippers” unless they mean it.
They really meant it with her.
In pretty much every culture, when an evil witch dies, they can become these demonic or semi demonic spirits in death, then haunt the living. Some hurt the living by feeding off of their vital energy. Others just seem to be happy tormenting and killing people in strange ways.
They gave her a Christian burial thinking that would be enough to put her to rest. But even before she was buried, she had been causing trouble. Her spirit returned to haunt my cousin’s mother. It had violently pushed her to the ground.
It kept making trouble in her house with Poltergeist activity, all this before she was even buried. My older cousin suspected it was Aunt Leona. But she pretended it wasn’t real. It wasn’t until I told her that the strange activity was was due to Leona’s presence that she finally admitted she wasn’t imagining it. Leona had raised her.
So she loved her, but she also wasn’t a fool. She knew what kind of person Leona really was. Still she had no idea why Leona was attacking her in death. I had to do a major reading and call some of my strongest spirits. In life I’d never dared gone against her.
In death she would be twice as powerful. I didn’t want to face her with just my normal spirits. I conjured some extra help. The spirits told me that Leona had made a pact with something nasty. It was never officially revealed to me what that was.
Faust selling his soul to Mephisto
Not a demon per say, but something else. Maybe something that serves demons. Maybe some kind of mutated spirit. But whatever it was, it demanded one thing in exchange for the powers she sought. It wanted my cousin and her daughter.
At first, because she was my relative, my cousin asked me not to banish her. But to do special funerary prayers for her. Try to pacify her in death. For a few months it worked. But then she came back.
And this time she didn’t come back alone.
She had completely infested the house with scores of evil spirits. Some former humans and others were clearly never human to begin with. It was one room in my cousin’s house. A room, filled with Leona’s old things. It was shrouded in a dark field of energy.
As thick as pea soup even for my sight. I could not see through whatever was in that room. My cousin and her family was physically sickened just by being near it. Something attached itself to a teenage friend of my little cousin, and before you knew it she was being spiritually oppressed.
Again, it was fucking Leona whom I had seen there. With that nasty, smug, smile. Victory was practically written over her face. In death, she looked like she was in her twenties. Not the 80 yr old whom we buried months before.
The spirit was too strong to enter her friend’s body. But via oppression, it gave her enhanced strength. I had to call on the Hindu Gods and the Ancestors to force this entity to release her. She was finally freed. I told them they needed to dump all of Leona’s stuff on a crossroads far, far away from there.
That time, I had consigned Leona to hell in the name of Lord Shiva. I told her to stay there and be judged by King Yama, the judge of the dead. That time, I saw her spirit sucked into a vortex of infinite darkness. Finally she was gone. Or so I thought.
I finally know now why ancient peoples went to such extremes to keep the dead, dead. Putting boulders on their corpses. Placing blades around their necks to decapitate themselves. The whole nine. It’s because of people like her.
The dead who won’t stay dead.
My banishing and binding had worked for a few months to a year. But then, my older cousin died under mysterious circumstances. Without going into detail, we think foul play was involved. But an autopsy showed nothing out of the ordinary.
It was still a strange death though. We think to this day that it was murder. But we could never prove it with forensic evidence. So it was officially labeled an “accidental overdose” and the case was closed.
But soon after, her daughter, my little cousin began seeing that a tall strange women dressed in black mourners clothes was in her house. This happened out of the blue. It was always around her, she was afraid to sleep. Because when she did, this thing was in her sleep.
And as stated above, it was my mother who revealed the entity’s true identity.
Leona herself. But she looked so different. So different in fact that when I saw her in this form I had no idea it was her. I would never have known this was her. She had changed so much, looked so different.
When I saw Leona the first time as a ghost, she was in her younger form. She was 20 years old, dressed in a short black dress, with long reddish brown hair. She would have been beautiful if not for that sinister smile.
But that had been back when I banished her. This time was different. I had sent her straight to Hell where she belonged. Now I could see that the time spent in the abyss had perverted even more than before.
She was taller than she was in life. Unnaturally tall. Her face was covered by a black mourners’ veil. Human no more. Now she was something else.
I kept seeing her in my mind. And I couldn’t shake this horrible feeling. The feeling that if she lifted her veil, the face underneath would be something so ugly. So deformed, that it could scarcely pass as human. But then I had an even worse thought.
What if there’s no face under there? Not all Mourners have a face. The ones who are faceless, are the worst ones. More powerful for some odd reason. I think the ones who are faceless are given a higher authority. Maybe the lack of a face symbolizes the lack of humanity or compassion.
I know this sounds like a horrible thing to say about a relative. But I just wanted her to go to Hell and stay there. Permanently. So I called my cousin and we did a remote ritual together. First I sent her images of my indigenous spirit.
A near identical replica of the statue I have. I won’t take a picture of mine because the spirit inside doesn’t like it. This one was made by Samuel Lightfoot
He’s inside a statue. His soul resides there, I don’t actually know if he’s a warrior or not. I can’t tell. What I do know is he has powerful magic. He must have done many great deeds in life because he has many feathers in his headdress.
Regardless, he has never failed me. I sent an image of him and of a Animal Spirit that he has with him, a separate statue. I told her to look into his eyes and enter and accept him there with her. Moments later, she felt him and his animal appear.
The Mourner formally known as Leona was very angry. She started trying to attack my cousin. Which was a mistake. Both my spirits took the opportunity to absorb her attack and turn it on her. Restraining her in the process, but Leona wouldn’t leave.
Some power was allowing her to stay. So I needed to upgrade to an even stronger guide. I had them restrain her while I called him down. For this I used a sort of Jewish-Christian and Muslim ritual that I devised. All three religions worship the same God.
So I called on my Guardian Angel in the name of Jesus, Enoch, and Muhammad. I drew the symbols of all three faiths with Cascarilla chalk on the floor. And did separate prayers to God for each faith. Then I just sat kneeling and asking Yahweh for help. Yes, Yahweh.
The God El’s incarnation as a God of war. That’s the version of El that Christians worship. Hence why he’s kind of bloody in the Bible. But I digress. I beheld my Angel, he was cold and hot at the same time.
A warm heat on a cold day. But also a refreshing arctic wind on a hot day, an aura that reminds me of the aurora borealis. I told him the cliff notes version of what was happening, and he instantly departed.
When he did I heard my cousin give a huge sigh of relief.
From Fine Art America
This is the closest representation I could get to what he looks like. But his body is weird, he looks like a giant, like a human with the giant disease. That gives them a bigger frame.
His wings are golden and emit a kind of solar energy. But the center of his body emits a white and cold light. When he turns down his bioluminescence for me, I have seen that he looks like a dark skinned middle eastern man. His black hair slicked to the back. His eyes also glow golden.
“I can feel him,” she said as she sighed. “I feel so good right now,”. The Mourner tried to run. But even if my two other guides weren’t restraining her, she didn’t stand a chance. My Angel is too powerful.
My cousin said she felt his presence like a warm wave of positivity wash throughout the house. Like all the trouble and problems she had just washed away under that warmth. He removed her at once. This time for good. That’s what I should have done in the first place.
But I believed my necromancy and my banishing was strong enough to keep Leona down. No matter how strong in life she was. This time she wouldn’t be allowed to return. Since she had such fun in Hell and clearly had a lot of friends, we sent her somewhere else. I asked him where else in the afterlife could she be sent.
He replied.
“Her demonization must be lifted first. That will take some long time. And when it’s done, we can send her into the void of reincarnation. Let her live life times with her karma as judge and jury,”
So that’s where he took her. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let her own sins become a burden to her when she comes back to Earth.
I also requested he stay with her for a week, healing her and removing all bad energy from her. She said she slept good for the first time in a long time. A few months had passed and she encountered another Mourner in her house. She thought it was Leona.
This one was weirder than Leona herself. But it wasn’t her. My guardian is too strong, and the place he sent her is sort of like Jewish Purgatory. Before she is to be reborn. See Jewish Reincarnation.
I interrogated the entity and discovered she was a familiar spirit to Leona. She told us Leona had worked with Mourner Spirits before. And that’s when they met. Shortly thereafter a pact was formed between witch and her new guide. But this guide like I said before, was strange.
Leona had ordered this familiar spirit to appear as her, to act like her, and to have all her memories. In case one day her spirit would be bound or banished somehow. It was interesting to hear this from her familiar.
That Leona had become so obsessed with immortality, that she ordered her Mourner to become a backup of her. Almost like a clone. Her mind and memories absorbed by another Mourner prior to death. And unleashed the moment Leona was taken out for good. I also learned that she kept setting her free every time I banished her.
Leona ordered her to hurt my cousin. To kill her in fulfillment of some pact. On the off chance that she didn’t finish it herself. I ordered her to tell me who the pact was made with and how to break it. And she told me the name of a Demon whose name I will not repeat.
But this entity is female and well known in Jewish lore. You probably already know just by that. She’s also a demon in ancient Sumer. So I called on the Angels Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf to empower my curse breaking ritual. It’s the same ritual for breaking generational curses that I wrote about here.
The curse was broken. But something still felt off. Turns out my cousin still had some of Leona’s belongings with her. A cross or a Bible that turned out to be cursed, can’t remember which. I told her to bury them in a separate crossroads.
After that, the hauntings had stopped. No more Mourners. Everything went back to normal. But that was one of the strongest entities I ever had to banish before and I hope to never see one again.
If you see a Mourner, know this; prayers and the normal stuff you use, won’t work. These are really nasty, and really powerful demons. Even protection spells can fall short here. Because these are the children of that demoness that I won’t mention here. But those three Angels can banish and bind her and her children.
The Mourners serve her, they are a type of hag or demon-witch hybrid like she is. So you’ll need to step up your game if you’re going to face off against one of these beings. That’s why since then I have tried to learn all that I can about fighting them back.
The names of those three Angels and also the names of Adam and Eve can be called to drive her out. Especially when written around a Star of David. Of all the Hags or demon witches I have studied, Mourners seem to be the top tier ones. I don’t know why, but they are.
I will keep you updated when I find better defenses against them. But for now, my cousin is better.
From Lonestar Cremation their article on scattering ashes. Notice that the Ash in this picture almost looks like a human with a vaporous lower body flying away.
Today I did a special ritual celebrating all the holidays. And leaving a special time just for Imbolc. Well my time to celebrate it. I try to get it as astronomically close as possible. When all was said and done.
When all my prayers were finished and I laid my Brídeóg or doll of Brighid to rest. This year I didn’t make one. I found a strange shaped stick and felt that it should be this years doll.
Laying the Brídeóg to sleep. As Brigid sleeps, she blesses the home.
Now I don’t have any corn husks where I live. So I make my dolls based in whatever so I can find in my own backyard.
It almost made me feel like it was a woman with four arms welcoming me. Hence, why I, or rather it choose me.
This year I was so exhausted I couldn’t do the traditional reading of the poetry. She loves poetry. I did however light seven candles in her honor. I walked around the outside of my home with a lighter to replace the torch that was once used. And I said,
“Bride! Bride! This is your home! Come to this place Bride!”
I couldn’t remember the exact phrasing. But I did the best I could to invite her into my home and into the Brídeóg. Normally I read “Candlemas” by Alice Brown just for her. But I have had so many problems since the end of last year that I haven’t had the time to do the fun stuff. I did the rituals and prayers for her and other Deities and spirits associated with Candlemas instead.
I prayed to Oya, and the Virgin of Candelaria (Candlemas) among them. And I asked for help. And I believe I got it. I had burned some incense for Brighid and another Goddess. In an eclectic ritual and asked for aid and guidance in a legal matter.
Normally the seventh candle I burn shows me the sign I desire through the wax, flame, and shadow. But this year I did it a little different. This is what the sticks left behind.
The Spiral Serpent
The Spiral Serpent is a motif found across many cultures. And it mostly symbolizes eternity and fertility. And this one had a special meaning I am not going to divulge. But essentially it means that victory is mine. That the Gods are with me.
As are their spirits. So I knew that the issue I asked help with was safe guarded. I could breathe some relief. I am also asking them for healing. And help regaining money.
I still have a long way to go, but at least I have their support.
So I have decided to take some more time off to enjoy the spring season. Well Spring in Florida. I am going to read more books. And try not to spend too much time online. Which is hard because I love to write.
And to read articles and post Pagan imagery and memes on Instagram. But I need to spend my time resting and growing my mind again, With that said, a happy Imbolc to you all.
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,”
From left to right Hestia, El, and Elegua. Just three of many Household Gods I worship
It’s been a while since I informed you of everything that was happening. Well, for those who don’t really know much about my personal life here it goes. I had to move back in with my mother because she needed the help to pay the bills. And well let’s just say I needed a lot more room than my modest bachelor accommodations. So we moved again.
God I hate moving. I really do. I hate the packing. The workload put into it. The unpacking.
The signing of new contracts etc.. Well actually the unpacking has some good to it. Hearing the voices of the Gods and your spirits. As they teach you where they would like their shrines placed. Poseidon is now blessing my bathroom. Zeus has his serpentine idol guarding my front door with charms wrapped in a red string for Haphaistos.
Elegua has his coconut. But I am waiting to set up a proper shrine for him behind the front door. And soon Hestia will have her fire altars in the kitchen as before. El (Yahweh) will have his own Judeo-Christian Altar soon with his Bible. As the Gods settle into their new temple, many blessings will follow.
A depiction of Zeus Meilichius, one of the Giant Serpent forms of Zeus. Also a household version of the God.
The Gods have already begone the harmonization process. I can feel the new home starting to take shape.
First Stage : Cleansing
Elegua, the Yoruba God of the Crossroads, protector of home and threshold, and messenger of the Gods. Also a master of magic. He often appears as a small boy. He is the Prince of the Yoruba religion.
First I had to spend a week doing a healing and a cleansing of the space. The people who lived here before were a bunch of dicks. All their negative energy was still around. I had hoped to be able to clean the house with one big smudging with Quita Maldicion (Take Away Curses). And some Church incense to bring in good energy afterwards.
But by the time these people finally left I had run out. They made their own move as inconvenient as possible for us. So, I improvised. My Godmother in Santeria had spoken to me a long ago of the importance of Sarayeye. This is a cleansing with a magical or spiritually charged object.
Such as a bundle of plants, an egg, a stone, or something else. It’s used to absorb something negative from a person. While also replacing the bad energy with positive, holy energy to restore balance to mind, body, and soul. Other spiritual groups have used a similar technique on objects. Like using Crystals or salt to clean other objects.
In this case I was cleaning a place.
I used a coconut which I charged with holy water and cascarilla. Then I walked around the house, from the very back room to the front door. I rolled it on the walls and then on the floor. Then I placed it behind the front door and asked Elegua to absorb everything bad that had ever happened in that place. The cleansing took place for seven days.
I could sometimes feel waves of energy, being drawn to that coconut. A nasty sickly energy. And I even had vague impressions of arguments. I learned later that the couple who lived here had gotten a divorce. And the guy who was supposed to have moved out since last month kept breaking his promise to leave.
He tried to stay here by finding a roommate. Even though he was supposed to have left. He didn’t care that he was screwing over a family. Which is why it took three months to finally move. I tried not to let it bother me.
I prayed to Nemesis and asked her for one favor : If this cocksucker reneges on his promise for the third time, may he also lose the apartment and have no where to go. He did it for the third time. And while I wasn’t sure if we were to have this home or not, he was forced out. He couldn’t find a roommate. He left the place dirty on purpose.
And his soon to be ex wife was even ruder. When my mother tried to use the gate access code, apparently the machine was still tied to this woman’s phone. My Mom apologized and asked if she could be let in that she had just moved to their old apartment. This lady hanged up on her. Like she was not worth speaking to.
Yeah, that was one of the best and strongest intuitions I had about people ever. I knew they were nasty without even having to see them. That never happens to me. Usually I have to meet people to get a sense of them. But these two really were so negative and disrespectful that even before I set foot in this apartment I could feel them in the ether.
But I digress.
I performed the sarayeye on myself and dog as well as my mother before I used it on the house. And I asked for all bad vibrations and energies from the previous months of the year to go. Two birds with one stone. After the seven days, I burnt incense to Elegua. And I threw the coconut into the crossroads.
Sacrificing the bad energy to the spirits there. Now I was really ready to get to work.
Second Stage : Dedication
Hestia (Ἑστία) the Goddess of Home, Hearthe, and Fire. The intercessor of the Greek Gods and humans in worship and offering.
Next, was my weeklong dedication ceremony. Now there is a big difference between blessing a house and dedicating it to the Gods. When you bless a house, how long it stays blessed depends on you. You have to constantly keep it blessed. With holy waters and oils or even smudging at least once a month for good measure.
Because if you don’t, the blessing will eventually erode away. Leaving the house as it was before it was blessed. Also, a blessing is nothing more than a protection and a positive charge for the home. Something to bring in good luck. And sometimes it can be a dedication for lay people and regular worshipers.
I know all of you at some point have heard of “holy ground”. Or even the older way of saying it which is “hallowed ground,”. Essentially this is ground that is blessed. Now you’re probably thinking,
“But M, blessing the ground of your house isn’t the same as a dedication. You said so yourself, so what gives?”
And you’d be right. Blessed grounds can be done by anyone. But, truly hallowed ground is something only a Priest or Priestess can do. Now I am not going to dazzle you with bullshit nor claim that I have fifty initiations and a priest title. I was part of a group, a Guild of Gnostic believers.
We were folk magicians and students of the occult. And the main tenant of our group was this : all believers are empowered to be priests of the Gods. And more importantly, that being a “high” priest or priestess wasn’t something limited to a small elect. All people have this as a natural right given to us by our Gods. The only limitation is whether we are moral and responsible enough to rise to the task.
We were all of the same rank. And we worked as a council to make decisions. Of course we mostly used divination. Whatever the Gods and spirits told us to do, we did. Sort of takes a lot of the decision making process out.
When you hear your Gods, there’s no reason to have so many debates. The few times we had to make decisions was due to things that directly had to do with the human side of religion. Like what types of rites we should use to draw power from the Gods. Of specific timings and place of gatherings. But anyways, we studied and covered the differences in consecration by level as well.
A dedication is a type of consecration for a temple or church. It means that it’s being specifically dedicated to a God, Goddess, Saint, or powerful spirits that a religious order serves. And the ritual is an invitation for that being or group of beings you serve to live there. That it is in effect the home of those spiritual entities. And that you are a partner, not only working with them, but keeping their home nice and tidy.
This is in no way servitude. Spiritual beings either can’t or simply won’t come down in physical form to clean a house. That doesn’t happen in real life. But the human ally lives here and has direct access. Conversely, there are things our entities can do for us on the other side that we can’t do.
But it’s as much their home as it is ours. And therefore, they do that work for us. It’s a symbiotic relationship. And contrary to the monotheistic notion of religion, it’s a partnership rather than a master-servant relationship. My mentors have taught me long ago that the Gods and their children do not seek for us to be their slaves.
In fact depending on the religion or culture, they may even want us to be equal with them. A good parent wants their child to grow up to become independent and free. If a parent tries to keep you co-dependent to them forever, they’re not good people. They have some serious character flaws. You share in the gifts of your spirit family.
The possessions and wealth of that house. In ways what you actually become is a caretaker of the property. And in exchange the spiritual beings who care for you will protect you and offer you anything they can.
You get to reap the benefits of the temple because you are caring for it on behalf of a spiritual being. And so you are paid in blessings and splendor to do the work of that God, Saint, or spirit. So, the dedication brings holy beings to a place to live in. Gods are the sources of all holiness and energy. And Saints and spirits radiate that energy in greater quantities than most people do or can.
So when their household avatars enter a house it’s like a small holy bomb going off in all directions. Everything is soaked in divine energy. And it never goes away for as long as you live there. Obviously, you still need to do your upkeep of the place and daily worship or veneration. But overall they stay there.
And their presence keeps the place well charged with their divinity. Without you needing to renew the dedication the way you would have to renew blessings of a home. I will say that at least in the case of the Catholic Church, when they dedicate a church, they usually celebrate the anniversary of when it was dedicated. As a way to give thanks. And I suspect that also adds greater divinity to the place.
That is the best spiritual security system you could ever have. Because it means that the divinities bring down their own guards. Their own attendants. Their own magical traps to protect the place you dedicate. Independent of what you do to ward it afterwards.
Now, in the old days I did an overly ceremonial dedication with magical charms. It was complicated as hell and lasted a week. Now it still lasts a week, but I have trimmed down all the ceremony. I rely on household offerings to call the Gods, Saints, and spirits I work with to enter. I entice them here.
Sort of like leaving food to lure a dove. I make sure that I verbalize, visualize, and set my intention that the ritual offerings are to bring the divine beings forth. To invite them to come down and eat. To stay, to drink, even to sleep in the home. Little by little I invite them even to decorate the area.
Usually by telling me how I am to set up a shrine. And on the last day I do a more simple offering which seals the deal. A sort of agreement for them to stay. One where I promise to attend to them. Something like the contracts I had to do with my landlord where I signed.
And once done the power floods the house briefly, I just know it’s hallowed ground now. Not merely blessed grounds. Whatever you use to ward the place yourself, is empowered by them. So your guides now have extra help. Which is what I did.
Now I was ready for the next step.
Third Stage : Calling your Guardians Home
The spirits of nature
I was guided by my guardians to do this. Guardians can go anywhere. And they automatically live in the home with you when you move in. However, this is a way of firmly entrenching them in the home. Making them the guardians of the place.
There are several reasons for doing this. One, it gives them total domination over the household and its affairs. They are able to help you keep unwanted spirits out. Because they can control the small, spiritual universe of your home. They wouldn’t even have to fight.
They keep out an enemy spirit by sheer force of will alone. From that point on, they become a part of the Genius Loci or spirit of a place. So appealing to your spirits also means you can ask them for favors regarding your home. Like a type of household saint almost. If you move, they will simply detach themselves.
Or even say “As I pack my things, you are to leave this place behind with me,”. And the place will release the bond as well. Once that happens, your guardians will rule over the place.
One thing I learned the first time I moved by myself was that the Gods and spirits guide you psychically. Through intuition they tell you where they want their images to be placed. Where each shrine should go. Where altars should be erected. And finally, where the talismans and amulets and other magically charged items are to go.
Sometimes they do this through feelings. Other times through thoughts or outright visions. And sometimes you will even hear voices in your mind guiding you. Or it could be all of the above. Including dreams.
I remember one time I had left some items on a crossroads as a decoration. To honor Elegua and his spirits. But they sent me a dream that let me know : they wanted my junk off of their property 😂. So the next day I went there and cleaned it all off. And that’s where I am at right now.
Setting up my shrines. So far the most complete shrines are the bathroom shrine of Poseidon.
Some of the household guardians
Household Spirits of the Home and Hearth
On the left, I use that wooden carving of vegetables to be vessels for my plant spirits. Some of my guardians are actually plants. On the right, I use that pig to represent the Sow Goddess Hen Wen (old white). I couldn’t find a white pig image, so I made due with this one. From left to right : The Laughing Buddha, hanging from him is a red string of prosperity that has a tea pot representing Home and Hearth Gods, a Tibetan Buddhist Bell with the face of the Buddha engraved in its hilt, a fancy clock to represent the Goddess Anna Perenna, two palm trees to represent the Goddess Asherah and the Goddess Sophia, my sister left images of the Virgin Mary along with a candle burning, and finally, a candle snuffer with the image of the divine lotus engraved in it. The Staff I use isn’t just a typical Witch Staff, it’s an idol to the Serpentine and Household avatars of Zeus Meilichius and Zeus Ktesios. The red string with charms represents his son, Haphaistos the Black Smith of the Gods. They guard our front door and bring in only good.
We’re still unpacking and getting everything done. But so far, life is good. I’m even doing my rituals again. It’s time to unwind, relax, but then get back to work. So, see you everyone.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 