The story of Babalorisa Marcelo de Moura (Pai Odé)
Born in São Paulo in 1961
His childhood and the introduction to the orixás.
Pai Odé was introduced to the orixá by his maternal grandmother as soon as he left the hospital on the very first day of his life.
He spent his childhood and youth at his grandmother´s “terreiro” (the temple), dedicating himself to the cult of the Sacred.
The grandmother
She was a German woman who arrived in Brazil as a war refugee; she had been chosen by the orixás to found the Terreiro de Umbanda by Tio Benedito and Caboclo Ubirajara in the city of São Paulo. In 1980 Pai Odé was initiated by the great Babalorisa Kaobakessy de Ayra to the orixá Oxossi (also called Odé: the hunter) in the Angola Nation of Candomblé. In the same month of his initiation into Candomblé, his beloved grandmother, who contributed so much to his spiritual formation, died. In her will, she identified him as her spiritual heir, giving him the mandate to continue what she loved most in life: the cult of entities and orixás.
Education and training
Marcelo then moved to the Ketu do Candomblé Nation, leaving the Angola Nation, where he had been initiated. In the Ketu Nation, he completed his seven-year training cycle after initiation. In the meantime, he graduated in history and philosophy at the University of São Paulo, teaching these subjects until 1998. His academic background and teaching experience would later contribute significantly to shaping his mission as a spiritual guide and candomblé priest.
ILÉ ALAKETU ODÉ TOLÁ – ASÈ ODÉ ERINLÉ
As he fulfilled all the obligations of the seventh year, Baba Kaobakessy conferred him the title of Babalorisa (Father of the Orixás, the deities). In 1989, at the will of the orixás, Pai Odé again inaugurated the Terreiro he had inherited from his grandmother, calling it
ILÉ ALAKETU ODÉ TOLÁ – ASÈ ODÉ ERINLÉ learn more about the meaning of the name here