30 Apr Have Compassion for Yourself, Break Free, and Transform!

Bless up Family! Question: Are you too hard on yourself? Do you hold yourself hostage to the mistakes or not-so-great choices you’ve made? This week, Obatala comes through with a message for us to stop it! The story I told at Orisa Prayer and Meditation comes from the odu Ifa oturupon owonrin and is the most famous story of Obatala. In it, he is commissioned by Olodumare (Almighty Creator) to make human  beings, becomes drunk on emu (palm wine), and makes some people with differently shaped bodies and different abilities than those originally intended.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity or shirking the responsibility, Obatala owned what he had done and took all such people with special needs into his personal care. He didn’t consider himself unworthy or say he could no longer bear the responsibility. He had compassion for himself. He dusted himself off, swore off drinking emu, and continued on with his task of crafting the bodies of human beings.

Lots to learn from this story! First is that we will all make mistakes in life. We will all take actions that we later realize were not the ideal ones to take. In order to remain in alignment, to remain peaceful like Obatala, we have to let go of the illusion of perfection — in ourselves and others — and accept and expect our missteps. Don’t hold yourself hostage to the times when you zigged when you should have zagged. Release guilt and shame and commit to doing things differently as you move forward.

Another important and typically unspoken factor is that Obatala had a lot of responsibility and was under a lot of pressure! He had been tasked with creating the dry land on the waters and then with crafting human bodies, both immense tasks. We are more inclined to engage in drinking, overeating, or any manner of other indulgence of vices when we are feeling stressed. While there’s nothing wrong with a lil libation here and there, if you find that you are overindulging in alcohol or  other substances — including food — it may be worth it to examine where you may be able to eliminate or transform your relationship with your stressors.

Hooo spirit knows how to emphasize these messages and The Devil, our card for the week, does that! The Devil encourages us to break free from the chains that bind us, whether those be substances, draining relationships, soul-sucking careers, past mistakes, or fear of failure. It tells us that our energy is being utilized in a way that doesn’t serve us and that only through radical honesty with ourselves are we able to identify and shift it.

Perfectly aligned with this, moldavite our crystal ally is a blockbuster that comes through demanding transformation. A powerful heart opener and energy activator, moldavite can assist us in moving around or busting through obstacles. It can also help us to move through past traumas and let go of things we’ve been holding onto for too long.

May these messages and lessons resonate with you whenever you connect with them! Ase!

~Iya Funlayo

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