“The road to death is paved with disobedience.” Taken from a sacred story within the book: Teachings of the Santeria Gods: the Spirit of the Odu by Ócháni Lele.
“ . . . . Everything we abandon before we can bring it to a conclusion continues to live until it is played out, until the story is finished. All strains will be played out.” –Andrei Codrescu, The Blood Countess
Your life is an unfolding story. You are living a story right now.– Is it your own? Is it the one you want to be living?
People come in to see me for help and what they share are their stories. They want to transform their pain-story and live their authentic-story. Throughout our day we are constantly interacting with each other’s stories. To know someone’s stories is to be intimate with them. The most personal closeness with others, where revelation occurs, is through the exchange of stories.
Without story the world would be dead. The teachers would be without their teaching sticks. The grandmothers who hold the sacred stories in many traditions would be silent. There would be no movement because there would be no beginning, no middle, and no end. And if you have one story about to end you best get busy creating your next story. You can use patakís (sacred stories) and other stories to do this.
Our spiritual parables and sacred stories show us the way out of danger and give us real means to confront the patterns that keep us habitual, stuck or ill. Truth (both relative and universal) is best taught through parables, myths, stories and legends. It is through story that our spiritual teachers reveal hidden and relevant truth to us. Every religion relies on their stories to pass on their message and to teach their congregation. Parker Palmer, educator and author of A Hidden Wholeness refers to the use of stories to heal and teach us as “The Third Thing.” Instead of just smacking someone with advice, give a story. That’s what the Gods do.
“Storytelling seems to be a dying art, and people are starved for this knowledge. I believe that if we don’t start writing down the stories we know about the orishas, the odu, and the people who lived and died following the orishas, one day these things will be lost. The death of each elder priest or priestess represents the destruction of an entire folkloric library that simply cannot be rebuilt if these stories are not shared.” Ócháni Lele, author of Teachings of the Santeria Gods
In the sacred divination system of the Santeria are the sacred stories known as patakís. When I came across this culture of orisha worship, I knew I found something purposeful. At the core of the diloggún–the sacred divination system of the religion Santeria–are the sacred stories known as the patakís, narratives whose themes are as powerful and relevant as they were in the minds and lives of the ancient Yoruba who safeguarded them. Since it is likely that the human race originated in the same place these patakís originated (Africa) to have at least one diloggún divination in your lifetime would be valuable. “With this oracle,” Ócháni writes, “a diviner accesses the knowledge and ashé (spiritual powers) of all creation. When Ócháni Lele does a divination he casts the diloggún and patterns are revealed that point to a patakís that applies to the client. “By casting the diloggún, a diviner accesses one of these ‘chapters’ on behalf of his client.”
One does not have to be an adherent of this faith to appreciate and benefit from this divination tool. In his recent book: Teachings of the Santeria Gods, Ócháni Lele gives the reader access to some of these core sacred stories. These are parables that teach and guide and can be used outside the diloggún of which they originate.
And as we all know, every good story has an element of sacrifice.
One feature of the patakís and its divination system is that of sacrifice. They ask you what are you willing to give back (to life, to the gods, to the world) in exchange for their help? In my work, initiation can only take place if someone is willing to do whatever it takes to free themselves from what binds them to the false self and to their pain-story. So, in any divination or spiritual effort be willing to give up something in order to generate the desired movement you want.
In closing I ask Ócháni Lele himself to share a few words with you in this topic of divination and sacred stories:
“At the core of the Lucumí (Santeria) faith are thousands of sacred stories that we know as patakís. They are myths, histories, yarns, tall tales, fables and short stories dealing with life in all its exquisite mystery. Instead of being random tales told with no connection to each other, each of our patakís are told in conjunction with one of 256 signs in the diloggún known as the odu, sacred energies that we believe guide creation. They are neither static nor unchanging; they are in a state of movement and constant renewal. When one has divination with the orishas, one’s place in those energies is identified: Using the sacred cowries of an orisha an odu is discovered that resonates with that individual, and inside that odu are hundreds of stories that might apply to the client. The work of the diviner is to mark which of those stories engulfs his client, and by interpreting the client’s place in that patakí, evolution unfolds. For most of the world divination might seem a parlor trick or a mindless entertainment; however, to the Lucumí divination is a sacred act, a ritual, that helps us find our place in the world and overcome it for a better existence. It is a time where stories unfold and are told, a sacred moment in which we, if we listen, can understand our place in the world.” bstuartmyers@gmail.com
Prompts off and on the Page
Contact Ócháni Lele at bstuartmyers@gmail.com to receive your reading and your own sacred story. It cost only $31 for a divination session. Let it assist you in the insight and movement you want. Journal your experience and witness how this patakís reveals needed information for you to use.
Read his book and discover the stories from the Santeria that are relevant to you today. Take one of the stories and use it to teach someone else or to guide a child. Instead of giving feedback to others practice sharing a personal or sacred story.
http://www.innertraditions.com
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Write about what needs sacrificing in order for you to move forward in your life.
When we carry our history and our pain stories, they can become too heavy for us to bear alone. When we unveil our past and tell our stories, we are less alone. In the simplest way, we just need to be heard. But much opens and unravels as we go into our lives stories. Our pain stories can be released, and the story of our soul, our authentic story, becomes revealed, like a secret garden buried after years of neglect. Taken from my new release, The Wheel of Initiation: Practices for Releasing Your Inner Light.
“The shamanic concepts of taking ourselves apart and resembling the pieces, coupled with a story-based approach; life is a story that we weave, and healing requires an understanding of the story, the plot, and the characters and how to change them.”
–Lewis Mehl–Madrona, M.D., Ph.D., Coyote Healing
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