and the rain fell down like a blessing from Olorun

My mind is thinking back to that dance production about Oshun I saw last month. The story was a bit of a different spin on the story of Oshun and Ogun. In the play, Ogun and his warriors were wreaking havoc on the earth, spreading destruction and terror in their midst. In one scene, the drummers started playing a slow mournful beat and the singer sang a song of praise to Olofi, the Supreme Creator. Normally most orisha music sounds joyous but there was something different about the way he was singing it. It was so slight but it sounded more like a cry for help although sounding like praise still. Two women entered on the stage. One was an old woman in a white gown with long white hair. She fluttered in and looked like she was suffering. Her body contorted in anguish. A younger girl in a red dress came out and clung to her. They looked like a mother and daughter clinging to each other in sorrow, distraught by the suffering caused by tragedy and war. They leave the stage and Obatala enters declaring that Ogun's raw brutality must be kept in check and there will be peace. Much later the girl becomes one of Oshun's handmaidens.
Oshun and her handmaidens enchant Ogun and his warriors and the drums of war become the sensuous Ijesha rythmns of Oshun. Love conquers War and peace and civilization are allowed to continue. The old woman who in my mind represents the human soul burdened by suffering now glides on stage and her daughter leads her to Obatala. She kneels before the King of the White Cloth and prepares to enter the next world. In Candomble, Obatala is sometimes associated with death, the final ending that brings peace and a ceasing of suffering.
This play brings to mind another story of when Oshun in the form of a peacock flies up to the throne of Olofi to beg the Creator to send rain. The sun blackens her feathers and she becomes a vulture. Once again she saves the world from extinction.

Sometimes I feel like that scene in the play where humanity cries out to the Creator for an explanation. But sometimes the explanation is there is NO explanation. Our human minds were not meant always to grasp these mysteries. Sometimes the only answer the orishas can give me is We love you. Sometimes I pray and the rain falls down like a blessing from Olofi.
I'm not always sure what path to take. I know what I have to do in this life. I may have to do it alone or perhaps may have someone at my side to love me. In either case, the only strength I can rely on is my own. I thank all of you here, whom I have mentioned and those not mentioned for giving me such love, good advice, and friendship.
In the words of a fellow priest, Omi Leti "The chains are broken and my waters will engulf the world." I say let the rain fall, whether its tears of joy or tears are sorrow, both are equally sacred. Whether a smooth flowing sweet water of love or an angry tidal wave in the end all that is negative, all that is not of the divine is washed away. Ashe.

The mission is what matters

Greetings dear readers,
I have been absent from here as of late. I still don't have a new computer so I must be content to use the ones at the public library. Thank God my phone has internet access or I would be totally cut off.
Spiritually things have been moving in a good direction. From tambors of the orisha I've attended to Pagan celebrations of Beltane, the Universe indicates things are moving smoothly with a few bumps here and there of course.
I am currently dating someone and I hope it works out :)
I have discovered a new patron saint for myself. She peeked out at me at a Haitian botanica. I've known about her all my life but never really connected with her until now. It is Saint Theresa of the Little Flower, a French Carmelite nun who lived at the end of the 19th century. She is the patron saint of people with AIDS, aviators, florists, and missions. She is kind of like a female St. Jude because she deals with cases of emergency and the impossible. After readings a few of her writings, I liked her style because she tended to be more spiritual and mystical rather than dogmatic. Also homegirl wanted to be a female priest and that was pretty forward thinking of her time. Her writings seem so spiritually affirmative. Well maybe she can help me on my "mission" since she is the patroness of missions. My goal is to go back to school and get a degree in Theology. As an initiate of an African Traditional Religion, I realize that very few of our priests and priestesses have clergy status in this country. I think this has to change. After all do we not perform the same functions as our counterparts of other religions?
Mother's Day and my birthday I saw a play about Oshun with my mom at the National Black Theater in Harlem. It was beautiful and it was a great experience to see the stories of our tradition visually enacted.
I spent the day today listening to various Candomble songs and writing the Yoruba words out phonetically. I think I am starting to learn them better.

Well I'm off to Brooklyn today to see Capicu Open Mic event.
Te Amo mis amgigos y amigos. Bendicion!

Cielo Azul

One giant step closer, three baby steps back. I've been focused lately on just moving ahead. Each day seems like a minor victory in the major war that I'm waging. The sun is shining today and I see the blue vault of Heaven. Even when it was cloudy this morning, there was a luminescence about that made the clouds glow. It reminded me of Obatala and the odu of Ofun.
I gave thanks to the friends and family who have stood by and gave counsel and kind words.
I bought one of my friends at work some roses of various hues last week. I saw that she was down about things and I decided to remedy that with some flowers. I figured I have to do my part to shine a bit of light in this world and every bit helps.
My mind is constantly focused on a certain someone who I don't really see that often because of time constraints. I try to not let it upset me. My poetic mind conjures images of banishment and loneliness but I realize it's just fear talking. Whatever outcomes will occur in Life, I know that it will turn out ok. I just have to arm myself with the shield of Faith, the sword of Justice, the arrows of Truth, and leap into that chariot of Victory. One thing I forgot and the most important element and intangible element, Love.

Goddess of Love

On this New Moon, I ask the Universe for Love in its many beautiful forms, family love, friendship, romantic love and self-love.

"Come to me once more, and abate my torment;
Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me
All I long for; Lady, in all my battles
Fight as my comrade."
-Sappho: Hymn to Aphrodite