The presence of Santeria or Umbanda is very tangible in the Brazilian culture, is part of the common folklore; you can hear references in normal conversations, songs and literature.Interested in seeing more from this practices I contacted a friend that was going to attend to some sort of possession ritual. He explained that there are people called Materia (“material”) that can invoke certain spirits, which by possessing their bodies talk to the spectators as an oracle. He invited me to join him on a ritual where a materia person would get possessed and answer question about love and life to a group of people.Of course I said yes!The ritual was held in the house of a woman that wanted to know about her future after going through a rough divorce. A little back room, set up with candles in circular shape, a little chair and many bottles of hard liquor. According to Santeria, liquor is the lubricant between this world and the spirits.
The Oracle
Imagine whatever movie, painting or imagine you have seen about oracles, then shred it and forget about it. He was a short, kind of chubby, super flamboyant hairstylist, which came in with a diva entrance that made the experience even freakier.With a very soft and feminine accent he introduced himself to me, and explained that he is allowed to invoke three spirits, this is called a Court, from this court he can contact any of the three spirits, each one of them has a different character and hierarchy. To make the bond stronger and carry out the questioning during the ritual, these spirits will ask for material things from the crowd: a hat, canes, knifes, collars and even guns.At the moment is hard to get scared from the situation when it was told by this fancy guy. He was extroverted and friendly, very kind when explaining what to expect from the visual part. After the introductory talk he started to get undressed, remaining just with a pair of shorts and proceed it with his prayers.
The Ritual
The oracle was inside of a circle made of candles and next to him a woman that assists him during the ritual, the task of the assistant is to impregnate the body of the materia with smoke of cigars, and give alcohol to the spirits when demanded.The ritual is initiated by prayers from the oracle, drinking straight from the bottle like it was water (And trust me, I was sure of the alcoholic level of that liquid), shaking and praying louder and louder he spits part of the alcohol, he also spits some animal blood given to him by the assistant, the smoky environment makes everything more mystic.You then slowly start to see his chubby body getting up to the tip of his toes like a ballerina. Still trembling, spitting red thick bloody saliva, he opened his eyes that were complete black. For a few seconds it seems like a horror movie type of scene. The black of his eyes start to come to normal to leave behind a super dilated pupil and a sore voice asking for more alcohol.
The Old Man
The oracle transformed, holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand and a machete in the other, a hoarsely voice spoke to the group:“Where is my hat? I need a hat!”Like I mentioned, the spirits need to feel connected to the physical body by some nostalgia memorabilia.A hunchbacked figure presented to us as an Old Man from the countryside, with a hat and machete, nostalgic to see the fields and animals in theHacienda. He was like a tough grandpa with wise words to advice his children. All kind of questions were asked, and more than a crystal ball to see the future he was more like an adviser, saying what he “thinks” of a person or situation. Sometimes he even replied with: “That’s dumb, don’t ask me that”. Tough grandpa.
Next Spirit, The Killer
After some shaking and much more alcohol session, the next spirit that possessed the body of our Oracle was a Sicario from another life. A more menacing posture, not pleased by the machete, intermediately after a long drink from the bottle asked for a gun. And as a first act of paranormal activity, The Killer appointed to the only person that could have a gun, asking specific details from his gun and life.
Beyond the clairvoyance skills or not, I was amazed by how different each time this person could appear to be. Each spirit took form of the Oracle’s body in way that didn’t seem as a lent body, the movements and postures were unique to the characters, it felt like their own.
Everything Back To Normal
By the end of the almost 4 hours session, I saw at least 3 big buckets of blood-like vomits from the possessing parts of the ritual, and more than 10 bottles of hard liquor were drank just by the Oracle. When the last spirit left, the body of the Oracle just stumbled to the floor, hard breathing, like waking up from a long nap.In a second, like nothing happened, the soft voice came back and with a sobriety that I could not imagine how it was possible. He looked normal, he even described how he felt: feeling sore muscles and tired like after being sleeping for too long.
I Do Not Know What To Believe After This, I Just Want to Say: Respect.
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