Oxum: frustration and resilience.

Much has been said about the past year, about the challenges it has brought to all of us, as individuals, as families and as a society.

It was a year of pain and fear, in which we all experienced the anxiety that comes from the unpredictable and the sense of powerlessness.

However, I have not read any comments that have observed 2020 from the point of view of a feeling in particular: that of frustration.

Frustration is lack of fulfillment.

In psychology, this term indicates a psychic state of deep depression or defeat, which arises in the face of difficulties felt as insurmountable.

In life we are called as children to face this feeling and learning to manage it is an important step in the psychic development of the person.

I would like to ask all of you how much the sense of frustration has dominated 2020 and is still present at this beginning of the New Year.

 I am sure that we have all experienced or are experiencing that pain, sometimes even physical - a narrowing of the chest, a knot in the throat, a strong headache - that comes from the lack of satisfaction of a need.

 It doesn’t have to be something that everyone considers fundamental, but if it is for us, for example, to be able to go to the terreiro for the rituals of thanksgiving to orixás, The fact that people have to give up repeatedly because of travel restrictions or for other reasons of prudence caused by the pandemic is a source of pain and anxiety.

What to do when frustration becomes unbearable?

The candomblé, the wisdom of the ancestors and the answer to the question.

The path in the candomblé is a path within oneself.

The spiritual rebirth starts from the rediscovery of one’s own inner strength (that is, one’s own orixá).

Most people approach this path in moments of great difficulty in life.

 The proposal of candomblé and orixá is to observe every obstacle that arises in our life as an energy block that depends, often, by not being in line with our destiny and with the goal of life to be achieved.

Once we discover our Odu (destiny), contact with the orixá and with our own inner strength is what turns difficulty into opportunity.

 It is not a miracle that comes from outside, but a change that starts from inside.

 All orixás help us, but Oxum, which is the regent orixá in 2021, knows how to take advantage of the difficulties and it is therefore to her that we must turn confident to turn frustration into a stimulus to move forward.

 Let’s ask Oxum to show us the other side of the coin: the beautiful, the good and the advantageous that are the real energetic reason why a certain thing, that we want so much to happen in a certain way, is not happening as we planned.

 Oxum teaches us to experience hardship as an opportunity.

 We are not always able to see immediately the new and the beautiful that are hiding in difficulty and in the unexpected.

Oxum suggests that we try to find out and "turn 17 into 71"!

The message is in this myth:

 It is said that one day Oxala, traveling, was headed towards the palace of Oxum.

Exu, hearing about it, ran to warn Oxum to prepare to welcome the great orixá funfun.

Oxum immediately set to work so that everything in her palace would be equal to the visitor but, in the hurry of the organization, forgot to invite the powerful witches Iya-mi to the reception.

The sorcerers then decided to humiliate her in front of everyone for revenge.

On the day of the reception, Oxoronga snuck into the palace of Oxum and sprinkled a magical dust on the throne on which she would sit to receive Oxala and who would yield to Oxala in honor and respect.

When Oxala entered the palace, everything was white, immaculate, and perfect.

Oxum waited for him on the throne and as soon as he entered the hall, she rose to give him his place.

 But no matter how hard she tried, she was stuck on the throne.

Using all her strength, she managed to overcome the magic and to get up but in doing so she was wounded and marked with blood the immaculate throne prepared for Oxala.

When he saw the blood on his throne, he was outraged and left.

Oxum could not understand what had happened and consulted the oracle, finding that it was Oxoronga’s revenge.

So Oxum asked Exu to go and beg Oxala to come back to his palace.

When Oxala entered again, he found Oxum squatting in front of the blood-stained throne as a sign of contrition, but as soon as Oxala entered, Oxum began to wave her fan over the bloodstains, turning them into a shower of red ekodide feathers.

Oxala was so admired for Oxum’s ability to come out of trouble, that he gave her permission from then on to place an ekodide red pen on the forehead of each initiate.

 Axé.

Lotus flower expresses resilience