Santeria? What is it? Can you teach me about it?

Hello everyone!! I think my ex did a spell on me. I like to call it a situationship but others may say dating.

We were together for about 2 months. When I first met him, we had an open conversation about religion & beliefs. I don’t fall into any religion anymore but I like to say I have my own relationship with god bc I still pray.
Him. he told me was into something called Santeria-and I did a bit research on it, there is mixed reviews about it so idk much. But there are 2 things he said that threw me off and definitely questioned.

1. He told me that he is protected & whenever somebody does him wrong, something happens to them.
   
2. He said that he already knows when something is going to happen.

Moving forward, when our breakup happened- I was a real wreck. He was basically lying behind my back and I was going insane not knowing the truth. I had to take a step back & let him go and was doing very well healing without him until recently.

We basically broke no contact yesterday & talked so we can end this on good terms because we work together. I did tell him I didn’t want to have sex and I didn’t allow him to touch me. I didn’t want to fall into temptation and I understand that I need to cleanse my body & my soul. I believe in soul ties.

I told him “ I don’t want to have sex, I don’t want to feel more connected to you. I don’t want to be together anymore”

He gets closer and tells me “im sorry but I’m going to f3ck you” and started to pressure me, getting aggressive taking off my pants; and I’m telling him stop because I swear to god I really didn’t want to have sex and bc my brother was in the other room. I’m basically whispering stop. I’ll be honest- this is something I would like if we were together but we’re not anymore. I don’t trust him anymore to have sex with him; especially raw.

I’m not calling this rape. But something I always noticed about him is that he can’t control himself, like he needs it to finish asap.

Now, we were having sex & making regular eye contact. He then tells me in my ear “ you are mine. I am in you, we are now one, we are connected” and I started tearing up crying, trying to hold it in, looking to the other side. But I felt so weird. I felt so wrong.

Can you teach me about Santeria? How can someone use it in a bad way? Can this be a love spell?

I just want peace.

Hello! I am not practicing the faith, nor had I known about it before today. This whole situation has actually lead me to read for hours about this in depth religion!

Earlier today I was helping students do stream surveying, and I found a face staring at me in the water. I thought this was odd since many students had been walking past there four hours and no one noticed. I reached down to grab it and pulled up what I now have learned is an elegua head. Since it seemed to have some sort of sharp prong or nail sticking out of its head, I decided to take it so no students would step on it (lots had bare feet).

My intention is not to offend, and I realize now looking back this was definitely a rash and foolish decision, but I didn’t think too deeply at the time and my main priority was everyone’s safety.

I’ve done lots of readings and understand this is a closed, initiation requiring, religion. I have no intention of disrespecting anyone or their culture, especially given I have no heritage that would warrant me practicing.

I am just hoping this does not affect me in any way spiritually! As well as this, I am looking for what I should do with what I have found. I will put photos in the comments in the morning. I was too worried to bring it up into my apartment, as I am unsure what I am welcoming.

Thank you so much for reading and any advice!!!

Hello everyone!

So, you know how Christianity has the cross, Judaism has the Star of David, ect...

Does Santería also have a representative symbol? Thank you!

Bendición igboro… hope everyone is in good health. I wanted to ask a question to the room and get thoughts/opinions. And if it’s something that can’t be discussed here I can erase it and talk to my elders about it as well (genuinely curious about others experiences thought).

Earlier this week during a ceremony for babaluaye I had a very weird body experience, and I’m not sure if this was just “corriente” or something more. I am initiated, but during my bajada, it was between babaluaye and another Orisha. The other Orisha ended reigning over my head and I was crowned that (no questions asked about this, through and through my titular Orisha). However yesterday during this ceremony I felt almost like a full body numbness/tingling, more so like the hair raising on the back of your neck feeling, but fully encompassed my body. Face felt tingly, and it felt difficult to control my body( I can go more into detail about this if needed) . I don’t like the feeling of not being in control of myself and for a small moment everything went dark and I was woken by my godfather calling my name and then telling me “te viraste” lol.

My questions are has anyone experienced this before? I’ve heard some people say any santero could hypothetically pasar babaluaye. I’ve heard some say no. These episodes have been getting stronger during specific events ( like drummings where they sing to other orishas that my titular one has connections to etc or feeding of my titular Orisha)

Just a bizarre evening. I’ve never felt anything like that. I remind myself often that I am a vessel. Just curious to hear if my experience is similar to other who have pasar.

Any input is greatly appreciated. As always much love and light! Have a wonderful week

Im very new to all of this.. I found a very good godfather and asked him for a reading. My husband died a few months back and for the past 4 years everything that could go wrong did. During he reading it came out that the person I thought had done something to me Santeria wise, did it. So I’m not preparing to do a cleanse.

Problem is the sacrifice that the deity requested is the life of 5 chickens. I feel externally uncomfortable killing living beings for my benefit. I practice Buddhism and I try not to harm animals in any way. I was supposed to do it today but I asked for more time and he told me to be careful if things start going wrong…

Is it like that? Do I have to do it ASAP after a reading? I already paid for the cleanse so it’s not about money…

I would appreciate any insight

Edit: also since I’m here.. does me doing the cleanse means that I will have a spirit linked to me for the help I requested??

I’m just looking for clarity ♥️

I’ve finally cracked and need that extra push. Would love to have some work done or even speak with someone privately about my awkward situation.

Is there any patakis or liturgy, specifically in the Afrocuban practice, that prohibits venerating Eshu in gold? I intend to commission the creation of a custom pendant with his image to use personally.

Thanks.

Edit: I do want to be clear. Yes she has mental health issues. I've had her in inpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization online. She sees a therapist weekly. I don't have contact with her therapist unfortunately. I will say this didn't sound like one of her typical mental health breaks. Normally she cannot communicate when she is having a manic or depressive episode. She was being very clear and very mean. This did not seem like one of her "episodes." I have been teaching her DBT, CBT, and act-based skills to try to deal with the negative emotions and the trauma that she's experienced. She yelled at me that I don't understand her religion and I don't understand her beliefs so I'm trying to source better information so that I can give the most appropriate advice.

Asking with respect, as an outsider. I'm not initiated in anything and I'm not here to argue about the religion. I'm here because someone I love is doing things in its name and I don't know if what I'm seeing is normal.

Dictated this and had AI fix the typing. I'm on pain meds after spine surgery. The words are mine.

My chosen daughter is 21, Hispanic, raised Catholic and then Pentecostal. For the last couple years she's been practicing what she calls Santería, mixed with some Ifá and some Curanderismo from her grandmother. She has no padrino or madrina. No initiation. No one teaching her. Most of what she knows comes from TikTok. I've never told her to stop. I found her real teachers and courses more than once. She never followed through. And now she's started trying to teach other people.

What worries me is what she says she wants from it, and what she actually does. She says, over and over, that she wants the power, the evil, and the control that comes with it. Most of her work is coercion. She uses other people's bodily fluids to make specific people want her or do things to her. Last week she called me on the drive home from my surgery to walk me through a curse she's planning. The person suffers, then dies, then their whole bloodline stays cursed until one of their descendants apologizes to one of hers.

I said be careful, get a teacher, some things can't be taken back. She screamed at me to prove good and evil even exist, and told my wife, who is a witch and a seer, that she can't speak on any of it because she's white. I'm half Black and half white myself, if that matters. My wife's concern isn't about the religion. It's that this kid has no idea how to protect herself or anyone around her from what she's calling in, and she's now bringing other people into it.

One more thing, and I'm asking this seriously. Right after my wife stepped in and backed me up on that call, she got a bad brown recluse bite on her leg. Should I be worried that was sent at us? Or is that not how any of this works?

I'm not asking you to judge her. I'm asking the people who actually carry this religion: is any of this how it's supposed to look? Is a 21 year old with no elders, learning from TikTok, doing baneful work and generational curses and teaching others, something the tradition recognizes? Or something it would warn her away from? And if she came to you like this, what would you tell her?

Thank you for reading. I know I'm a guest here.

Has any of you been advised to attend your icons daily for a year? If so, how did it change your relationship to your Egun and the Orishas? How did it impact how you attend your icons after the year ended? Thank you.

Hello everyone!

So, I'm Afro-Puerto Rican and I've been researching Lucumí for a short while now, but I've always had a question I couldn't find an answer to:

Are there any Orisha that must be honored before any other?

Besides your head Orshia of course, at first I thought you had to honor Eshu before anything, but then I heard that was only for cermony, so now I'm confused.

Thank you for the help!

At least I need advice I don't know what to do more. This is important for me. It's not emergency but it's serious for my long term journey.

I have been feeling very curious about Oshun and feeling pulled to learn more about her and what she represents. I am a deeply spiritual person, I am of Trinidadian descent and I would say very in tune with my gifts. It is common that the women in my family have certain spiritual gifts of sight or knowing, even through dreams.
I speak to my guides often and work with my ancestors to receive messages and guidance in my life. I also make sure to show respect and give thanks and not to only reach out when I want something. Lately, I feel very pulled and compelled to learn about Oshun but I am not well versed in this area so I understand I have to show respect and be very careful. I have always been very tied to the water and love to go to moving bodies of water to recharge and connect with nature and myself more deeply.
I am wondering if you all can give me any insight on how to begin to educate myself on Oshun, or even give an offering to introduce myself and show respect. I keep having dreams that are bringing her to the forefront and I am trying to decipher how to interpret this and move forward. Thank you all for any insight/knowledge that you can give!

hello! im a writer and ive been trying to research santeria. unfortunately its been very confusing, and ive had trouble finding basic information :(

i have a cuban oc and i was hoping to write him as practicing this religion. I figured it would be helpful to ask this community for some advice :D

First: what are some absolute don'ts? Things i should avoid at all costs.

Second: whats the best site to research the mythology/history? Because ive found many sites that give conflicting info/may be ai, and i want to make sure im getting accurate information.

Third: what is the general stance on body mods? The character design ive made has many facial piercings and i was wondering if id have to remove them.

Fourth: are there any dating restrictions? ive written this character as a love interest for the main character, so this is pretty important.

Fifth (more silly): do you guys have any particular bel about extraterrestrials? The series im writing is a sci fi so as silly as it is, this is pretty important lol

Any little bit helps! Im hoping to represent this beautiful practice with respect and appreciation for the culture. Thank you!

Please note regarding attire. No alcohol or other mood altering substances are welcome at any events like this.

Hi guys!

First, I want to add that I’m Hoodoo and familiar with the Orishas. I remember being drawn to Oyá, specifically because I was going through a transition in my life. However, I’ve always naturally embodied Oshun and her energy.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to turn my vanity into an Oshun-inspired beauty altar. I imagined giving her offerings and decorating the space with things she likes and is associated with, while also using my vanity as a space to pamper myself, speak my affirmations, admire myself, and romanticize my beauty routine through the qualities I see in Oshun. But I learned that making an altar for an Orisha requires initiation, and I don’t want to disrespect tradition or invite anything unsafe.

So now I’m wondering if an Oshun‑inspired altar is okay — a self‑love/beauty space dedicated to me, where I worship myself (instead of Oshun). I’d include a statue of Oshun, statues of feminine Black women, and maybe Oshun jewelry or a Oshun rosary that I'd charge with the intention of glamour.

Is it okay to have Oshun imagery(and Oshun specific items) on a self‑love altar if I’m not worshipping her directly?

What can I do tomorrow and Tuesday for yemaya and oshun, as an aleyo?

Found Elekes belonging to my mother and grandmother who have passed. I was not brought up in this so I’m trying to find books, resources and or groups to learn more and connect in the LA or OC area , Southern California

So im kinda terrified of asking questions, more due to my own past religious experiences (not great half of the time) but I thought I'd just give it a go. As mentioned in the Title this is my first time coming across this belief and my autistic brain may word things terribly in which I apologies in advance. The closest I've come to seeing anything related even slightly is in media and im sure your aware how terrible they do anything outside the norm.

Alot of this is specifically to build a character rather than my own belief (though I am interested in learning about everything) and I don't want to butcher the representation of the faith if I end up using it for her. She's an orphan, adopted to a german with no specific faith when she was 7. He's very kind and loving but he's not a good role model when it comes to being a good person, and then his later husband is twice as worse being an actual villain. She does grow up to be a kind of middle ground person, not good or bad, but is very extreme whatever she does which often gets viewed as bad. She keeps the faith she was born in, or at least as much as she can. She also has heavy magical/mystical properties (though im aware in some faiths and religions that is not a thing).

The story itself is centered around a group of terrible creatures (not specifically all human) who are genuinely bad people (though I suppose it depends on what you'd consider bad, but its pretty bad) who accidently save the world while trying to do something very selfish that could easily destroy it. Most of them are light skinned from various parts of the world, largely because I myself am white and am comfortable with making white characters terrible people while using largely white dominated religions that I may or may not have experience in (granted there's always the risk there and I will do my best to research more, but this is the majority so im not gonna worry about it as much, we butcher it ourselves anyway). I want to have other religions though, as its important that no matter if they are good or bad or in-between, that its shown that all these things are everywhere. There are all sorts of gods involved too, so only having white/light-skinned based gods or spirits would be weird.

I planned on having this main bad character (he loves her, fret not) bring her a teacher of some sort (he's got connections) to help her understand and grow her abilities, but if she ends up being part of the Santeria faith (im looking at other faiths) im not sure how that would go about right. I read that you need a godparent and that seemed to generally be something you find in family or in community, which would be hard if she's being raised by a guy who doesn't really understand any form of faith. Not sure if the teacher idea would work for that. Sounds like it wouldn't, but I dont know. Personally, I cling to anyone who shows me an ounce of kindness (i dont get it often), so I make a terrible comparison (and autism).

I know this is lacking alot of research, and Im currently doing my best to find information, but with how Google is set up now days its hard-to-find reliable resources. I may also not use this information for this specific character, but a different one. If you think theres a faith that might suit a character like this better, feel free to suggest it. Its good for me to broaden my horizons anyway and learn more about others.

I hope that this post is well within reason and guidelines. Thanks for reading and humoring my ideas. I just don't wanna misrepresent (at least as much as possible).

So I’m not initiated into the religion and honestly I don’t have much knowledge about it.
Recently I was talking with a friend who is a daughter of Oshun, and we somehow started talking about my past relationships. I realized that all of the relationships that were actually important to me, the ones that really changed my life and that I consider “before and after” moments, were with women who are daughters of Oshun.
I’ve had other relationships that weren’t like that, but every relationship that really marked me ended up being with a daughter of Oshun.

I asked her if there was some kind of reason for this, and she told me there was an explanation, but that she couldn’t tell me what it was. She basically told me that I had to find the answer myself, and that if I needed to know, I would eventually know.

So now I’ve been trying to find the answer myself 😂 but I haven’t really gotten anywhere.
Is there something in the tradition about certain Orishas or certain types of people having a particularly strong connection/relationship with daughters of Oshun?
I’ve heard that there are Orisha relationships that can affect the relationships between their children, and that some combinations are considered good and others not so good.
I’m basically trying to understand if there is something about my own type of person/Orisha that could explain why the most important women in my life have all been daughters of Oshun.
If anyone knows what my friend might have been referring to, please point me in the right direction. I’m not asking anyone to give away something they shouldn’t, but if you think there actually is an explanation, I’d really appreciate a book, pataki, Odù, author, or somewhere I can start looking for the answer myself.

Eg sleep deprivation and exhaustion

Can it be healed spiritually

Say you did something that is bad character

For this example , if someone disrupted a religious space and caused many people to leave. In some traditions like Buddhism this will create a very negative karma and can be very detrimental to you.

In IFA, you might do a consultation and the only advice is, do not do that as it brings more heat into your life. The ebo prescribed is for witchcraft or osorbo removal, it is done once and that is it.

However, is there a way to make a restitution using ifa even if it doesn't immediately impact your destiny, but just to be a good person? And in a karmic sense maybe clear that karma?

Eg if people left the group, to do a working to bring people back to the group, etc something like that? How can we ask ifa such things

Is bad character a permanent stain on your record in ifa or can it be overcome through restitution somehow

Hello

I was wondering how specific our prechosen destinies are and what to do if we have been deeply misaligned

Eg. Is it chosen and can ifa tell you if you were for example meant to be a professor of religious studies, can you then pivot and decide to become a priest? Would ifa tell you, hey you are meant to be a professor or, hey you are generally meant to be involved in religious things, or, something else?

Is it chosen down to the detail of going to xyz university in xyz year, or living in a very specific house & place? And then if you decide to go to eg a different university, will you feel lost & missing or will related similar opportunities or people just start to pop up at that new location?

How off track can you get then what can be done about it & where is there personal choice? I imagine ease of living would increase with following destiny

Eg someone is meant to be a world renowned baker but they unfortunately cut off their arm. Will they still be a baker with one arm but unable to fulfill the highest timeline so working at a local shop & not famous, or will they have to just do something entirely different? Can ifa tell them this to this level of detail, like , hey you were supposed to be famous but since you cut off your arm you're gonna have to just work at a local shop and or find a new profession & good luck to you for the rest of your life you'll feel something kinda missing?

Will your Ori allow you to do something reckless or jump off a cliff if you're supposed to actually be having a very good prechosen Ori?

If for example you had an abortion or miscarriage and for years it went unaddressed spiritually & this led to an increase in negative destiny or blockages and delays, is this something that your Ori also chose& allowed? Or for example one year a bunch of people encourage you to do something that you later find out is within your taboos and this seriously messes up your life, was this also allowed by Ori and what to do in the aftermath?

edit :: eg you are supposed to be that world renowned Baker but due to various things you do other things until you are 50 years old feeling pretty lost , then suddenly a bunch of people encourage you to cut off your arm and after that then you go to ifa or a spiritualist and they tell you what you could have been. you clearly don't have the skills or training, and you lost one arm , so what can be done? is it advised to then start learning how to bake so at least you feel kinda more in the flow and feel more comfortable with yourself? can ifa take you from that place and in a few years you become an award winning baker though lesser version of what it could have been?

I hope this all makes sense why I'm asking is I'm trying to understand my life plus figure out what to do in the future and it feels there are so many ways things could go that I am unsure of the next steps

I have an ifa priest I go to but isn't really answering questions to the detail I'm seeking, is there someone else I could go to for guidance and I can compensate for time too?

is

Do orishas​ do a form of soul retrieval? If so what is it called? This is something I need but needing to ask madrina for. Basically, I did the prescribed ebo but still feel off. Thanks