I am teaching a class this morning about Ori. If you would like to join the class, please register here. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/gwngbGsGRDSixknfzhFaKA One of the Ile’s I am studying under has started hosting a weekly call on Sunday, Nd I am assisting. Today, I am leading the call and discussing Ori. The registration link for the zoom is above. We begin at 11am. Come with your camera on and represent our growing temple. This is a sign of respect and an appreciated energy exchange. Hope to see y’all this morning!

Today we honor Obatala, one of the eldest and most revered Orisa in the Yoruba cosmology. Òsé Ọbàtálá is a sacred pause. A day to soften the mind, slow the body, and return to right order. Who is Ọbàtálá?Ọbàtálá is the Orisa of clarity, wisdom, patience, ethics, and divine order. He is credited with shaping human bodies and is deeply connected to purity of thought and intention. Where chaos clouds judgment, Ọbàtálá restores calm. Where confusion lives, he brings clarity. He teaches us that power does not always roar. Sometimes it whispers. Sometimes it sits quietly, waiting for you to listen. Key attributes of Ọbàtálá - Color: White - Energy: Cool, calm, deliberate - Domain: The head (Ori), wisdom, justice, moral clarity - Symbols: White cloth, snails, chalk, cool water - Nature: Mountains, high places, stillness How Ọbàtálá is honored on ÒséThis is a gentle day. Many refrain from alcohol, excess, or heated emotions. It is a day for: - Wearing white or light colors - Cooling the head with prayer or water - Speaking thoughtfully - Choosing peace over reaction - Reflecting before acting Ọbàtálá reminds us that integrity is spiritual work. How you think. How you choose. How you treat yourself and others when no one is watching. Reflection for today: Where in your life are you being asked to slow down and choose clarity over impulse? What would it look like to respond from wisdom instead of urgency? May Ọbàtálá cool your mind, steady your spirit, and align your Ori with your highest path today 🤍

What Shadow Work Is (and What It Is Not) Shadow work is the practice of turning toward the parts of ourselves we were taught to hide, silence, shame, or survive through. It is where truth lives without performance. It is not about fixing yourself it is about meeting yourself honestly. What Shadow Work Is Shadow work is: - The conscious examination of patterns, behaviors, reactions, wounds, beliefs, and coping mechanisms that live beneath the surface - A space where grief, anger, resentment, fear, desire, and unmet needs are allowed to speak - The process of understanding why you do what you do, not just trying to change it - A tool for breaking cycles, reclaiming power, and integrating the parts of you that were exiled for survival Shadow work does not rush healing it builds self-trust through truth telling. What Shadow Work Is Not Shadow work is not: - Trauma dumping without support or containment - Self-punishment, self-shaming, or replaying wounds for spiritual points - Forcing forgiveness before you’re ready - Bypassing pain with affirmations, gratitude, or positivity - Reliving trauma without intention, grounding, or care Shadow work is not about staying in darkness. It is about understanding it so it no longer controls you. Why Winter Is the Season for Shadow Work Winter strips away distraction.Nature rests. Roots deepen. Truth surfaces. This is the season where:Reflection replaces performanceStillness replaces urgencyHonesty replaces illusion Shadow work in winter allows lessons to settle into wisdom instead of wounds. A Gentle Reminder You are not broken for having a shadow. You are human. And when you face your shadow with compassion, it stops whispering from the dark and starts speaking in your own voice.Winter is the season of truth. The leaves are gone. The noise has settled. What remains cannot hide.Before we rush toward a new year, we sit with what actually happened. 🕯️ Shadow Work Prompts 1. What part of me did 2025 break open that I had been protecting, avoiding, or pretending was healed? 2. Which patterns repeated this year despite my prayers, intentions, or spiritual tools, and what responsibility do I now claim for their persistence? 3. What lesson came disguised as loss, rejection, or exhaustion, and how did it quietly change the way I see myself?

Today is Ose Shango and Oya, a sacred honoring day within Isese and Orisa-centered traditions. Ose days are moments of alignment. They invite us to pause, remember, and consciously engage the forces that govern both nature and human character. This is basic Orisa knowledge, the kind that grounds your practice before you ever light a candle or speak a prayer. 🔥 Shango Shango is the Orisa of thunder, lightning, justice, passion, rhythm, and leadership. He governs truth spoken aloud and consequences that follow misuse of power. Shango energy is bold, expressive, and uncompromising. When Shango is honored, we reflect on: - How we use our voice - Whether our anger is righteous or reckless - Our relationship to integrity, accountability, and pride Shango teaches that power without discipline becomes destruction. Power with character becomes legacy. 🌪️ Oya Oya is the Orisa of wind, storms, sudden change, death, rebirth, and transformation. She rules the marketplace between worlds, the threshold where things end so something truer can begin. Oya is movement itself. When Oya is honored, we reflect on: - What needs to be released - Where we are resisting inevitable change - How we honor grief, endings, and ancestral transitions Oya teaches that stagnation is spiritual death. Motion is survival. ⚡ Their Union Shango and Oya together represent storm energy. Not chaos for chaos’ sake, but necessary disruption. They clear lies, burn away stagnation, and move us into alignment whether we feel ready or not. This pairing reminds us that: - Truth often arrives loud - Change rarely asks permission - Liberation can feel like loss before it feels like freedom 🕯️ What Ose Is (and Is Not) Ose is not about doing elaborate rituals every time. Ose is about remembrance, reverence, and right relationship. On Ose days you may: - Offer cool water - Speak prayers aloud - Sit in reflection - Clean your space or your thoughts - Simply acknowledge the Orisa governing the day

Ibase Egungun, Ibase Baba, Ibase Yeye. We honor the ones who came before. We pour the cool water, we light the flame, we whisper names that live beyond the veil. Before there was religion, there was remembrance. Before there was prayer, there was the calling of names. Ancestral veneration is the oldest practice of our people, the foundation of every sacred path across the African Diaspora. From the shrines of Ifá to the candles in a Hoodoo kitchen, from the veves drawn in Haitian soil to the offerings of Lukumí altars, we all reach back to the same truth: we are the continuation of those who came before. Why We Venerate Our ancestors are not gone; they have transitioned into wisdom. They are the invisible hands guiding us through storms and silence alike. To venerate them is to build relationship, a bridge between the living and the realm of spirit. In Ifá, we call them Egungun, those who have become powerful in spirit. In Hoodoo, we keep them close, housed in photographs, pipes, and perfume bottles that still hold their scent. In Vodou, they are the Gede, laughing at death and teaching us to live fully. Through veneration, we remember who we are. Every prayer, every libation, every candle flame reawakens our lineage’s Asé, the living current of power that connects us to Creator and creation. Levels of Veneration There are four main ways we commune with our ancestors: Remembering: speaking their names, keeping their photos, telling their stories. Honoring: offering food, drink, flowers, or song in gratitude. Elevating: praying for those who were troubled, assisting their spirits to rise in peace. Invoking: calling on the elevated ones for guidance, protection, and clarity in our daily lives. Not everyone will do all these levels at once, and that’s okay. Begin where your heart feels steady. Relationship takes time: even across worlds. Daily Practice Each day, I greet my ancestors before I greet the world.I ]whisper my gratitude, and listen in the stillness. My altar holds a white cloth for purity, a bowl of water to cool and cleanse, a candle to illuminate their path, and offerings that remind them of home, coffee, tobacco, rum, or a small plate of food.