Diego de Oxóssi - Afro-Brazilian Numerology: Awakening Your Better Self with the Wisdom of the Orishas

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, wakes up.

CARL JUNG (18951961)

Contents

Special Thanks

Afro-Brazilian Numerology is dedicated to my mother, Marines, and my sister, Camila, who even from a distance have always found ways to allow me to dream and realize, and especially to my grandmother Nelza Brito Flores, who first introduced me to spirituality and who made her return to Orun in the month of its first edition release in Portuguese.

To Priestess Ieda de Ogun, for all the affection and companionship in these more than ten years together and for the simplicity of her words, full of great life and priesthood lessons. To the warrior Anderson de Ogun, who supports me in every battle of life and believes in the mission that the Orishas assigned us. And to dear Alusio, who says he learns daily with me but cannot imagine how much he teaches me.

To Eshu 7 Facadasmy friend, my drunken Rascal, and my eternal guardianand Oshossi, the hunter of a single arrow, master of the jungle and of my life, for everything: for the Kingdom, for the world, for existing! And to everyone who encouraged or doubted me, both are my daily fuel!

If You Dont Know Where Youre Going, Any Road Can Take You There

First of all, welcome and congratulations! If you are reading these words, it is because you have made one of the most important decisions of your life: to look inside yourself, understand what makes you exactly the way you are, and, especially, to dive deeply into the mysteries of your soul to unveil what prevents you from achieving happiness! Talking like that may seem magical or easy, but believe me: it takes a lot of courage to truly take this step, and I believe you have that courage, even though it may feel like its asleep.

From now on, I will guide you on a journey of self-knowledge, and in the end, you will certainly not be the same person who is reading these words now. However, you need to make two lifetime commitments to yourself.

THE FIRST AGREEMENT

Our first agreement is that you will never again believe the biggest lie that exists and that, I am sure, you have been saying repeatedly throughout your life: Things happen to me because the world or someone did (or said or felt or thought) something.

Other versions are: I am not lucky in life because the world or someone did (or said or felt or thought) something. Things in my life go wrong because the world or someone did (or said or felt or thought) something.

Never again allow yourself to believe any lying phrase that shifts responsibility for what happens in your life to anyone other than you.

You are solely responsible for the life youve been living!

Im not saying there are no external factors that influence our lives, whether they are of a practical nature, such as moving to another city or losing or getting a job, or subtle and subjective issues, such as jealousy or envy of others or even the effect of negative spells against us. But even if in many situations we have no control over what happens to us, in absolutely every situation we have numerous alternatives about what we do and how we feel about what happened.

Let me tell you a real story: About five years ago, a woman came to see me for a consultation with cowrie shell divination. She had assumed a leadership position at work and complained that every day her colleagues and subordinates would not accept her position and persecuted and humiliated her. During the divination, the Odus Oshe and Owarinboth in their negative aspectconfirmed her complaint, indicating exactly the situation she described. Furthermore, she had Odu Ossa as a regent Odu in the two main positions of her Orisha birth chart: Odu Ori and Osogbo Ori (dont worry, youll learn what this means later). This indicated a perfect scenario for having conflicts and power struggles with other women in all areas of her life.

Once the problem was identified, which in this case had an external origin, we waited a few days and later did the necessary rituals to neutralize the negative influence of the Odus, which the divination had shown. The conflicts at work calmed down, her authority was once again recognized by her colleagues, and her life got back on track.

From then on, every three or four months the same woman came to see me for a new consultation. Each time she came with complaints similar to the original one but with new characters and plots. On her next consultation, she reported that she was dating the director of the company and now, in addition to professional issues, she added persecutions and disputes caused by coworkers and subordinates jealousy of her relationship with the director. In these new divinations, no Odu appeared to provide spiritual care; instead, all the advice offered was for emotional matters, guiding her on how to respond to the adverse events happening to her.

Almost a year and a half after the first consultation, Eshuthrough Odu Obara, the path of prosperity and happinessindicated that she should leave her job for new opportunities that had risen, among them to be a project consultant in her area of expertise. This time, we conducted a huge ritual to Odu Obara to enhance the professional growth indicated by the cowrie shell divination.

For the next two years I didnt hear from her. Then she appeared, wanting to consult the cowries again with familiar complaints about the same people from the same job. The relationship with the director had ended, and the persecutions and humiliations were happening again. The situation had actually worsened. We started the consultation, but no cowrie shell opened. Eshu had nothing to say about the situation!

How can that be? she asked indignantly, caught between anger and tears. I am having a serious problem! I cant take another day being so humiliated, and the Orishas dont say anything? I asked Eshu for permission to pose a new question, despite His initial negative response, and Eshu bluntly answered: What I have to say has already been said. What had to be done (spiritually) has already been done. What has she done with everything I have given her?

Even considering the bad character of some of her coworkers... Even considering the womans Birth Odus, which really brought constant persecution in all areas of her life since childhood... And even considering that, in this period of almost five years between the first and the last consultation, numerous positive and negative situations happened to her Who, after all, chose to continue living a toxic and destructive reality?

Can you see how, despite outer influences, ultimately, we are solely responsible for everything that happens to us? Its like my father used to say: Not to make any decision is, also, to make one!

The truth is that the events of our day-to-day lives are not fatalities or coincidences of fate: they are more or less positive results of the decisions we makeor fail to makeand this whole process has a name: self-responsibility!

Maybe I shouldnt say it like that, so openly at the beginning of the book, but its for your sake: Ive been exactly where you are today, with the same anxieties and the same bunch of questions that you have at this very moment. I also doubted it when I first heard that I am responsible for everything that happens to me. And I also hoped that working with the birth Odus and the Orisha birth chart would magically solve my problems without me having to consciously examine who I was until I could become who I am.