Also on the topic of divination, I highly recommend checking out my recent experience having a shell reading (dilogun) done for me by a Santero, or priest of Santeria. An excerpt:
Spread out on the table was a straw mat with eight white lines drawn on it and a cross marked in cascarilla. Next to that sat a small head representing the Orisha Eleggua, trickster god of the crossroads, mediator between humans and the divine. Also on the table were a multi-colored seven-day candle, a bowl of water containing the sixteen cowrie shells, and two other implements shaped like small heads, one white and one brown which I would use later in the reading.
After giving us a basic overview of what would happen, the santero began the ritual. He started by sprinkling Florida Water (an old perfume which became popular as a tool in Santeria) on the mat, in order to “sweeten the reading.” He encouraged us to apply a little to ourselves as well. Then began a long prayer in the Yoruba language. One by one, he pulled the cowrie shells from the bowl, dowsing each one with water from the bowl, and calling down the blessings of the Orishas, of spirit guides, of our ancestors, of all those who have died, of priests both living and dead. The list went on and on rhythmically. I began to feel myself fall into the rhythm of it all, my head nodding slightly almost of its own accord. I felt the distinct sensation too of a heaviness pushing slightly but not uncomfortably down on the top of my head, perhaps the beginning of a trance.
And can be read in full here.
No comments
Comments feed for this article