Exu.moonfruit newsletter 31 March 2008

As every year, our house also performed a divination session for the year 2008 on the first day of the year. It is normally not our intention to publish the information of the reading, but in retrospect of the readings and work we have already undertaken this year, I feel it is necessary to share and encourage:

The message of Exu and Pomba Gira for this year has been very clear:

1.) learn from your mistakes and don’t make the same mistakes again

2.) fight for what is yours!

I am currently in the process of finishing a book on Umbanda and Afro-Brazilian spirituality, and have come across many aspects of our religion which cross-reference to many New-Age and Self-help techniques which are so very popular in our time. But I also had to closely look at some of the self-decept with which we poison ourselves.

Positive thinking alone will not fix people’s very real problems, neither will one single spiritual reading or one easily digestible magical formula!

Only a combination of spiritual advice and guidance, combined with our own desire to achieve our highest potential can help us achieve peace and happiness in our lives! Peace is what should lead us, guide us and attract us. So many people have come this year already, hoping for quick help and over-night resolutions to problems which have pilled up for months, years, sometimes decades! But we can only achieve a state of happiness if we “put feet to our prayers” as the saying goes, and work for what we want! Sometimes this means walking away from problems, leaving people behind and ridding ourselves of unnecessary baggage. How can we expect to move forward in life, if we layer ourselves with baggage? If you know that you have made mistakes, then don’t continue as if nothing has happened! If you know that something is wrong, then fix it!

Take a stand for yourself this year! Work for what is yours! If you are not responsible for how your lives turn out, who is? Have you turned your life over to someone else, someone who doesn't even know or care? Are you waiting to take a gigantic leap in your life; waiting for the day you feel good about it? What if you will never feel good about it? What if taking that leap feels uncomfortable, scary, foreign, or disorienting? Then what?

I’m not sending this email out as an advertisement for my own spiritual services, but I need you know that I am here to help! What does it mean to “work for what is yours”? Can you just set yourself a goal and work towards it? Yes, you can! We are all on this earth to live our bit of happiness! But remember….sometimes what we want is not what’s truly ours! That one and only man, job, relationship – and no matter what it costs, it has to be mine! No, that’s not what spirituality and fighting for what’s yours means! But looking for health, wealth (financial stability) and happiness is another story! Search your soul this year and ask the spits to show you how you can find the peace and happiness you want!

One of the most important ceremonies in our tradition is concerned with “taking care of your head”. It’s called Bori in the Brazilian traditions and "Relacion de Cabeza" in the Afro-Cuban traditions. Only by maintaining alignment with our spiritual, higher self, can we ensure to continually follow the path which will bring us true satisfaction in this lifetime! If you never had a B'Ori or "Relacion de Cabeza" before – now is the time to have it done! Find a trustworthy priest or take care of your own head/destiny as you have been instructed according to your tradition! And remember…self-help is not always the way to go, sometimes you need a priest or spiritual worker to help! Especially ceremonies such as Bori or "Relacion de Cabeza" can not simple be done if you never had one and have not been instructed on how to perform them!

Learn from your mistakes and don’t make the same mistakes again! Fight for what is yours!

Mario dos Ventos