We Finally talk about the Orishas! With Ashley of the Ashe Shop

Ashley from the Ashe Shop

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[00:00:00] Ashley: Hi everybody, and welcome to Dine with the Divine. I'm Ashley, your host, and together we're going to be exploring the magical, the mystical, and everything in between. So on today's episode, we're going to have a big episode all about the Orishas. So I hope everyone's having a great day, and if not, I hope your day gets better soon.

[00:00:23] We have an absolutely fantastic guest on. We have Ashley from the Ashae Shop. The Aresha storyteller and the founder of the Ashe shop. She is an initiate of the Ifa and the Kumi traditions. She tells the stories of our ancestors that existed before we were enslaved. These stories connect. African roots while amplifying our American experience.

[00:00:47] She created the Ashae shop as a space for individuals to learn and ask questions about African traditional religions while navigating their spiritual journeys. She has a master's in psychology, as well as over [00:01:00] 10 years of experience working with individuals and families, coping with depression, anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and various other mental illnesses.

[00:01:10] Her mission is to end cycles of mental illness and generational trauma through the use of traditional spiritual practices And she believes connecting to our roots will help us heal from the effects of enslavement and racial justice So hey Ashley, how are you today?

[00:01:25] Ashley H: Hey, I'm good. That sounds so nice when you read it I need you to read it on my website.

[00:01:29] Just like it.

[00:01:34] Ashley: Anytime, I'll narrate you. It's so great, and you're a fellow Ashley, so this is very exciting for me. I know.

[00:01:42] Ashley H: Two Ashleys together, y'all know y'all better sit down, baby, and tie your edges down, cuz. Exactly. It's gonna get wild.

[00:01:51] Ashley: I like to always ask everybody, how did you, you have a lot going on but how did you start On like your [00:02:00] spiritual path and then I'll ask you later about how you match that with your job your master's in psychology.

[00:02:05] Ashley H: I Have been on a spiritual journey because baby I was going through it weren't y'all pulling me through it? I was experiencing a lot of traumas and it was like big traumas, so it was like I would come outta one and be like, okay, I'm good. I got this. And God would be like, I'm yanking you back in

[00:02:23] Oh no. I literally am going through trauma after trauma. So I am going to church a lot and I'm going to church regularly. I'm a mission of my, I'm a member of my Redeemer missionary Baptist church, and I'm going to church. And the pastor is looking at me cause every Sunday I'm looking like.

[00:02:40] It's time for them to get up and start. Here she go. Here she go with the hollering. Here she go with the fanning. Here the pastor go looking like he breaking a sweat. We know you been in that robe too long now cause you feeling the spirit. It started to really look like a show to me. And then trying to build a relationship with people in [00:03:00] the church.

[00:03:01] I've always had a tough time with community because of the way I present. My overall. can be influenced and it can be intimidating to people. Sometimes I don't want to be the smartest person in the room, but I can't help it. And that's the way people will see me like she thinks she did. She thinks she that I'm very humble for the most part, but

[00:03:29] ruin and my pastor tells me I needed to find God for myself. And naturally I am a scholar. I am a scholar practitioner, so I'm the type of person that as I'm learning about something, I like to put it into practice. So I literally started looking for everything I could, but some things weren't adding up.

[00:03:50] Cause as I'm looking through the Bible and Christian historical stuff, and then I'm looking into this and I'm looking into that, and then I'm looking into Egyptian Kemetic, it's something about [00:04:00] Kemetic practices and Egyptian practices that's very off putting for me. And... I ended up going to visit South Africa as I was doing all this research and looking stuff up.

[00:04:15] My ex fiancé at the time was like, I think you going to Africa would be a really good trip for you. We went down to Africa, y'all. He ended up proposing to me in Africa, but that didn't last long, so that's not the point. The point is that I got to experience. African culture in Africa and being able to speak to people born and raised in South Africa, their culture, their influence.

[00:04:41] And I heard this song, we went to your girl. And so we went to this party, girl. And I was scared cause I ain't never seen that many black people together. Black people get together like that. And I ain't had no gun, I ain't had no knife. I ain't had no pepper spray. I was feeling something but the [00:05:00] energy.

[00:05:00] , if you've been in America, you've been in an event where it's a bunch of black people. The energy says, watch your bank. But in South Africa, in Cape Town, the energy was, I felt safe. , I felt protected. I felt whole, I felt at home. And so when the song comes on, the song is sang and I, the one word I picked out of it was La Du.

[00:05:27] And I'm like, what is that? And our tour guide is like, it's just a religious song. They sing don't worry too much about it because I think he was very Americans are we don't understand that. Yeah. Yeah. So I get back to America. And I fall into a rabbit hole. This had to have been a this had to have been in 2018.

[00:05:51] This was in 2018, because my spiritual journey, it took a huge turn once I got back from Cape Town and I [00:06:00] had heard about Theresia, but seeing it and I really started to put two and two together. I really started to connect with it and I really started to dig. And at the time in 2018, there were books out, but not really that many books out.

[00:06:13] And a lot of the books out were written by Caucasians or, yeah. White passing Latinos, and I couldn't really relate to it. So a lot of my research, I would go into JSTOR, into the school libraries. I would get somebody password, go into their school library, into their JSTOR and start looking up articles on stuff.

[00:06:37] And that's really how I got started. And then I started finding books. Like one of the first books I found was the handbook of Yoruba. Religious concepts, blah, blah, blah, Karaday, and because I wasn't finding anything, and I felt some type of way about that. I felt some type of way about the fact that it was so hard for me to [00:07:00] find anything, not just about African spirituality, but about the Orishas, about anything.

[00:07:06] This information was very hard for me to find. No, it was 2017. We went to Cape Town 'cause it was in 2018 we went to Lagos, Nigeria. Okay. So it was that year and then going to Nigeria girl.

[00:07:32] And there's artwork of Sean Gould as soon as we get in, there's artwork of Eshoo that I'm seeing on the walls and I'm seeing this energy girl Legos was crazy. I got this video of these dudes rollerblading on the back of a truck, but what shocked me was how They're taught about the Orisha from more of a historic [00:08:00] standpoint.

[00:08:00] A lot of the people who I met were very apprehensive to talk about the Orisha. Very apprehensive to talk about African spirituality. If you ask them, they either practice Islam or they're Christians. That's what the old people do. We don't get into that. And again, that bothers me. Yeah. Yeah. Because that says that even on the continent, our history.

[00:08:23] Has been so far erased that even our people don't embrace it as a strength. They see practicing Ifa and they see honoring the Orishas as a weakness for many of them. And that bothered me. Cause this is ours. Yeah. And we grow up knowing nothing. So girl, I went down the rabbit hole and I ain't came back up ever since.

[00:08:50] I'm still down there.

[00:08:55] Yes, I love that. I have spilled in the way of people talking about y'all come down here with me, it's nice. [00:09:00] I know.

[00:09:04] Ashley: I, so I tell I've never been to Lagos, but I've been to Accra and my fiance's Nigerian. So he comes from Nigeria and Accra, he says that Lagos is like Accra times 10. Cause even in Accra, I tell everybody like. If you go there, you've never seen anything like a West African city. You'll see shit that you're like, What the fuck is going on here?

[00:09:26] Like, it's just like, but everybody's just going about their day. Like, but it is in America. If you've grown up in the United States, you're like, this is why. And even like my dad's from Ghana. I've heard stories about this kind of stuff my whole life. But then when I go there, you're like, wow, these people are there.

[00:09:42] It's just a different vibe. And it's true. Like when I've been, my grandma's from Jamaica, so I've been to Jamaica. When I went to Ghana, me and my sister has never been to Jamaica, so she came to Ghana though with us, and she was like, it is weird to just be around black people. [00:10:00] Like, like, all black people.

[00:10:02] It's like a different feeling. There's no feeling of otherness. There's no feeling of like, Oh, people are looking at me or I'm walking into a store and people are going to be, I got to keep my hands outside my pockets. People are going to think I'm going to do something wrong. Like it was just like, I'm just here, like I'm just being myself.

[00:10:22] It's completely, it's very freeing. So I completely understand what you mean. Like that feeling. It's

[00:10:27] Ashley H: different. I felt some type of way though when we went to the market and that man looked at me and pointed and said, American.

[00:10:37] We

[00:10:37] Ashley: can tell, as soon as you walk down the street, and even me, my dad was like, there was somewhere, we went to the slave fortress, and he's alright, there's gonna be lots of people there trying to sell you stuff. Like so we wore, completely traditional African clothes that day, and my sister looks way more Ghanaian than me, so she can like, kinda pass.

[00:10:56] But they looked at me and they're like, oh. They're like, do you wanna buy this [00:11:00] bracelet for $50? I'm like, no, thank you. Come on, man. ,

[00:11:04] Ashley H: New Orleans, we like little New Yorkers. You can't have it. It's not worth it, son. It's not heavy. I don't want that. I don't want it. Then I'm gonna turn around and try to sell you since you want me to buy it so bad.

[00:11:19] How much you gonna give me for you? Gonna give me 30. I'll take it for 30. Oh, you gonna give me 30. No, you gonna give me 30 and they impact.

[00:11:31] I ain't got the, that's a good, this guy gave me, but sometimes I put it on pause. Look, especially when I'm being haggled. I'm about to have a funky good time. Cause girl in Africa, I ain't gonna say they got me. They got me. They got me and they goes at this was monkey girl. I still, I got these beats.

[00:11:52] Sitting in a drone or what do with the bees? I ain't even want the bees with the fleas. And think about it because Oya, [00:12:00] the, and people think about business as being a man's trade. But when you go to the market, it's all women, it's women who haggle, it's women who negotiate, it's women who set the price.

[00:12:11] And learning about African traditional religions has really made me my perspective of myself. And black women a lot stronger because those of us who have traveled to the continent whether it's Nigeria or Ghana or Kenya or Tanzania? It's an experience and it's a connection there that once you reconnect with your roots ain't no going babe.

[00:12:34] Yeah No, oh my god, I worship the goddess Venus a lie Baby, I have been in the presence of Orisha. And once you do that, ain't no, Oh my God, Zeus is so powerful, girl. Zeus is a storyteller.

[00:12:55] Ashley: This one thing I love about, first of all, like you said, a lot of West Africa, [00:13:00] especially like a lot of traditionally it's matriarchal too. So like exactly what you're saying, you find a lot of stories of really strong women doing things. It's not only, and this guy, he conquered in this war.

[00:13:15] A lot of the time it was the women leading the men into war and leading and teaching women how to fight or teaching women how to protect the village while the men were gone in case they got attacked. It, a lot of it is... And the other thing, and I was talking about this on a different episode that I love about the Orishas is that they're very, they're like people.

[00:13:36] They argue, they fight. This one doesn't like this one. This one's arguing with this one. But sometimes they all have to get together to fix something and they just do it. Like, even though they

[00:13:46] Ashley H: feel like each other. But my whole idea of that is like a whole bunch of Nigerian men and they work together with a lot of food.

[00:13:56] Trying to decide on one thing and the, [00:14:00] they like to speak in proverbs. It's a part of the culture. It denotes intelligence and it makes you think about what's being said because they speak in proverbs and riddles because it's, I'm asking you a question. Think about it. Use your brain. Yeah.

[00:14:15] You can't have a conversation with a native Nigerian or a native West African, period. And not have to use your, you gonna have to use your brain. A man once told me, they're not scammers, they just smarter than us. But I always imagine these meetups between them. It goes down, baby. I have a feeling it goes down in a very major way.

[00:14:35] They be in there arguing, fighting. What about this? You know what? Forget it. I'm not arguing with y'all no more. Just call Arumila.

[00:14:49] Ashley: I think it's so funny because I always think of like, I was born in the United States. So I've, but I live in an area that is more white than black. So when I am around like [00:15:00] African people they're the same as black people. Like we're not different. I know people will be like, Oh, Africans or black Americans.

[00:15:07] Honestly, if you get all us in a room and give us a subject to talk about, we'll argue, we'll laugh, we'll drink. It's all the same thing. We're

[00:15:15] Ashley H: just a boisterous. The only thing we talking about is food. What are we eating? And what seasoning you using in it? Because you're not using the right seasoning.

[00:15:24] Exactly. Right there. Everyone wants to

[00:15:29] Ashley: eat. That's it.

[00:15:32] Ashley H: We see the personification and manifestation of God through them. So the Orishas are the manifestations of God. So we're going to. See them not just in nature, but we're gonna see these aspects of God personified. Yeah. And it's with their personification that we get the pataki's, which are the stories of the Orisha, you get your odu, you get your verses, and that teaches us how to [00:16:00] navigate life because the teaches teachers, the Orishas basically teach us how to conquer our challenges.

[00:16:08] Ashley: Yeah, exactly. I love

[00:16:11] Ashley H: that from a West African. In African perspective, because I grew up in a predominantly white environment, which is why I chose to go to HBCU for college, growing up predominantly white environment. It's not that I didn't see myself as equal, but as an African American in a predominantly white environment, we have trouble.

[00:16:32] Establishing where our place is because in our mind subconsciously We're always seen as being inferior to whites and they subconsciously treat us that way yeah, they don't mean to it's just the way it is when we go somewhere You go somewhere with your white friends and oh, they're treating you different.

[00:16:52] Oh friend. It's okay. Just you know, do it The fuck you mean? I'm just supposed to just deal with it. You not gonna stand up for me? That it's wrong? We just supposed [00:17:00] to go in here and have a drink? Why are you handing me a beer, bitch? I don't want a beer. I want him to come out the head with this bottle because they being racist to me.

[00:17:08] Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And that's the experience growing up in a Caucasian a heavily Caucasian environment. We often don't understand or we don't have confidence in who we are. Yeah. And it's not that I respect my friends less. I have a greater perspective of myself and I've gained more understanding and fulfillment in myself because I know where I come from.

[00:17:33] I could look at all my friends, especially my white friends, and tell you my friend is French and Italian. My other friend is Acadian. My other friend is Irish. How I know she Irish cause they be cooking them potatoes, girl. And then my other friend, and that's the friend who I used to be at in high school, cause her mama could cook and my mama could cook and everybody think cause my mom was blessed.

[00:17:54] She could be my mama could not cook.[00:18:00]

[00:18:00] All of my friends, mamas could cook. But it helped me to get the confidence I needed to walk into those rooms and not doubt myself and not be afraid to speak up for myself because I know who I am and I have confidence in who I am and where I come from. And that bit of gaining that knowledge of my history was a great help.

[00:18:24] Ashley: Yes. Ah! I love that. I love that. Because you both,

[00:18:34] Ashley H: we don't, you had asked me earlier about my professional background and my spirituality. Yes. That

[00:18:41] Ashley: was my next question.

[00:18:43] Ashley H: Yes. You on the same page. I was like, let me get back to that. No problem.

[00:18:47] Ashley: I love it.

[00:18:47] Ashley H: You're doing great. My professional background is in mental health. I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in psychology.

[00:18:55] , after I got my master's degree, I said, I'm gonna take a minute and [00:19:00] i'm gonna before I go back for my phd. Actually, i'm so happy Because my 30s have been an entire roller coaster ride and i'm getting to the end of my 30s And my goal that I set at 32 When I finished up my master's was i'm gonna go back for my degree when I turned girl.

[00:19:19] I wasn't 32. I was 30 Rushing my 30 but I was like, okay, I'm going to go back to my PhD when I turn 40. Girl, I have gone throooooooough it.

[00:19:36] But I knew halfway through my master's degree that I did not want to be a therapist or a counselor. I am trained in it. I excel in it. I enjoy it to an extreme, but when I looked at it, I could [00:20:00] never say that this is the career path I want for my life. And I'm happy I have the experience that I do because I focus more, my expertise is in psychopathology, which is the diagnosis of psychological disorders and personality development.

[00:20:21] Okay. Personality development continues throughout life. And it's my theory that as African Americans not having knowledge of our ancestry strongly has a negative influence on our development, especially our self identity. So my background. I naturally have been able, I would do assessments and I would always be like, I don't want to take on no more clients, send me out to do assessments, just let me do what, whatever is I could do.

[00:20:54] Cause I don't like for work to feel like work. When it starts feeling like work, I quit.

[00:20:59] Ashley: Same.

[00:20:59] Ashley H: [00:21:00] Yeah. Yeah. I found that doing assessments and working with people is very easy. It's very natural for me. Just cause I'm good at it. Huh. Especially in assessments, I'd be sitting there doing an assessment and something would be like, Ask her if she's been to jail.

[00:21:17] Ask the mom. How many run ins she's had with DCFS and to tell you about these. It's something in my spirit, something in my spirit said to ask about it, because two months later, why I had to call DCFS, and I'm sitting over here having to deal with it, because I'm like, why would you punch your daughter in the face knowing I'm coming over here?

[00:21:33] After you punched her in the face, you're supposed to call me and tell me not to come to dates. So when I come over here and I see a fist sized mark on your daughter's face, what you think I was supposed, what you thought I was, you were supposed to tell, and I'm literally looking at her like you know I'm a mandated reporter.

[00:21:47] Yeah. For me not to come, but it's things like that, that spirit would, I would know. I would know, but I remember that day before I pulled up to her house, I'm like, it's about to be something. [00:22:00] And I would just know so years later when I started my journey, when I got my first reading with my godfather, he says, Ashley, do you know you're a medium?

[00:22:11] And I say, yes, I do wear a size medium in everything.

[00:22:21] He said no fool, a medium, like you speak with spirit. Ashley, so much clicked. There were so many things that I have been insecure about. I was thinking I was crazy. I was thinking, I'm not like most people, something wrong. Ain't nothing wrong with me. I was special. Absolutely. And finding that out has helped me really to gain confidence in myself because my, I took the route that I took professionally because me [00:23:00] helping people is natural.

[00:23:01] Me looking at people and being able to pick out, okay, I'm listening to you. This is the problem. These are the solutions. It's natural for me. Yeah. And that's something that professionally, it's like, I naturally aligned my spiritual gifts with my professional skills. And my professional skills have been strengthening my spiritual gifts since I was in undergrad.

[00:23:29] Not even realizing it's subconsciously honing these skills for me to be a divininer, for me to help people connect the spirit and to be the one to, because basically as a medium and as a divininer, my job isn't to give you my opinion. My job is to articulate the messages that are coming through. Yeah.

[00:23:50] And my work expertise has allowed me to do that at a level where I really excel at it. I'm really good at helping people to understand what is going on [00:24:00] with them, and helping them to see things that they don't want to see from a fresh perspective. I still don't want to be a therapist, though. They work too hard.

[00:24:07] I ain't dealing with all of that. I pray, I wish them the best. But I knew after working with a client who had, I worked at a psych ward when I was working on my master's degree. I worked at a behavioral health hospital. And after working on the trauma unit, I don't want to be a therapist. It's rough, right?

[00:24:30] You have to do it several weeks. Cause in three months, in 30 minutes! We have broken down what would have taken me three months in therapy. I'd have been sitting there in three months of listening, active listening, regurgitate, re rephrasing what people are saying and not really making much progress with therapeutic means.

[00:24:49] Whereas with spirituality, we see a lot of progress a lot quicker, but then we also see the uncovering of Certain disorders because I can [00:25:00] identify very quickly. I like that. Like I can help somebody but you're gonna need more help than me That's above my pay grade And it's having that background.

[00:25:09] I wish more Readers had experience in mental health or social work or even active listening

[00:25:17] Ashley: Yeah That's so important. I don't think a lot of readers Understand that like that You're not just there to just like Say stuff like just talk you really people are coming to you because they're like going through it And like you said you need to also know when this is above your pay grade like I am NOT I'm not the person you the only person you need to see about this.

[00:25:45] You probably need to talk to a licensed therapist and Deal with this underlying, maybe major issue that you have, and then if you want a reading later on or you want a reading, I can supplement,

[00:25:56] Ashley H: But sometimes the purpose of that reading is for them to come [00:26:00] to me and be like, I know you think this is something you can deal with on your own, but you can't because my job delivering the message, it's about how I deliver the message.

[00:26:09] Because some people, they have people around them who talk to them nice all day. Oh, you're so sweet. Oh, you're so this or you're so that. And they sit down in the meeting. I'll be like, the fuck are you doing?

[00:26:24] But people

[00:26:25] Ashley: need, so many people need somebody to literally say that. What is this?

[00:26:31] Ashley H: I don't know if my delivery is soft or whether it's rough. It's always in love. Yeah. I don't want to be the person, I'd be like, Damn, why y'all be coming to me with these love readers? Why I gotta be the one to tell you a man cheating on you?

[00:26:46] And I'd be like, you came here today because you know your man cheating on you. So what we doing? I wanted to know if my man's cheating on me. Do you think your man's cheating on you? Yes. Okay you have the filter. So the question [00:27:00] is what about the woman? Why is you worried about the woman he's cheating on you with?

[00:27:03] Don't worry. Because in this day and age, he assumes it's more than one. And he don't love her. He barely, he don't even like you. Do

[00:27:12] Ashley: you know how many times, people come, like, I've gotten love readings and They'll just, they tell me that he's cheating on him, but they just, they'll be like, yeah, we got in a fight and he didn't come home for three days. And when he did come home, he like was wearing different clothes and then he left for another couple of days.

[00:27:31] And there's all these weird messages on his phone and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, so you're telling me he's cheating on you. And I was telling them like, okay, so if I confirm it, that he's cheating on you. What is your next step? Like, you tell me what you think we want to do here because I feel like you, you came here to hurt your own feelings or you came here for me to tell you to get him back.

[00:27:54] I'm not gonna tell you that., that's up to

[00:27:56] Ashley H: you. I had a reading that literally spelled out [00:28:00] I was like, he's cheating on you. We went further. This not his first time cheating on you. And it's not going to be the last. She's like, what do you mean? It's not going to be the last. You're not leaving him.

[00:28:10] You're not going nowhere. So I need to get your mind wrapped around the fact that as long as you continue to stay with him, he's going to cheat. So it's like, you got first wife status. And the way this message came out three months later, she was like, I left him. I was like, I knew it.

[00:28:32] Because the way the message came out, it painted a picture for her of what her life would look like if she stayed in that relationship. So her not wanting to hear the message. And I definitely left that reading thinking like, damn, she ain't hear nothing I said. Like I'm afraid that she finds happiness because I can tell she's not happy in this relationship.

[00:28:52] And three months later, she was like, you know what Ash? I literally started to see everything that you said going down like him [00:29:00] cheating and every time he cheats he cares less And it's realizing sometimes that I may want to take a softer approach, but the spirit is coming through hot and I'm like, I'm about to be up here having nightmares tonight because I'm trying to be soft to you.

[00:29:18] We about to get this message out the way spirit said to get the message out.

[00:29:25] And we going to work with it from there. That's the thing about being a medium. It's not about my feelings. It's not about me. And that's one thing I learned in mental health is to remove my bias. And that's one of the biggest problems we see with some readers who may not have the qualifications that they need because they come in and with an attitude, what you got an attitude for?

[00:29:48] This ain't about you. This is not about me. I am being used.

[00:29:53] Ashley: Exactly. You're a vessel at that point. You're just a vessel. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:59] Ashley H: It's [00:30:00] crazy though, because even, there's so many different ways to connect the spirit, but everybody really wants to connect to the Orisha, and that's not something we can do in our living room.

[00:30:10] Ashley: Yeah. Yeah. It's a thing. You know what? Actually, this goes perfectly into our next section, because this is all we're going to talk about today. Because you are the Orisha storyteller, basically. I was like, what are we going to talk about? Orishas, of course. We do our dish of the week and our tea time, but this week we have it all together because we're going to go through you'll see how we'll do it, everybody, don't worry.

[00:30:33] We're going to talk about the Orishas now. We have to start at the beginning, so you understand what's going on here. Where is the belief in the Orishas come from, right? Okay, so we're going, we're all getting on our plane. Get your passports, get your luggage. We're going to Lagos with with Ashley and me.

[00:30:47] So we're going and we're there. So Lagos is part of Yoruba land, the land of Yoruba people, and Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Western Africa. [00:31:00] So the collective Yoruba land, it's mostly most Yoruba people are in Nigeria, but it's southwestern Nigeria and parts of eastern Benin.

[00:31:11] And there's also parts of Togo where there's large populations of Yoruba people. So they actually make up 21 percent of the population in Nigeria. And this is the country where there's the most Yoruba people. So this is the group where the belief in the Orisha started. So the Arishas are hold on, let me explain this also.

[00:31:30] If you guys are like me and Ashley and really like to do a lot of research, you might think to yourself, or you might already know, you're gonna say doesn't this, aren't these kind of like, a little bit related to I always say it wrong, but it's like, Luwa, like, the Haitian voodoo. They are closely related, but they are different.

[00:31:48] Like, Ifa is different than Haitian voodoo, but there are a lot of, like, similarities in different entities and different deities that they do rituals with and worship. And a lot of this is because the Ewa [00:32:00] people and the Fon people are two other tribes that were really close to the Yerba people, so they have a lot of similar spiritual practices.

[00:32:07] And there's also a religion from the Edo people and the Igala people who also have similar practices too. So when people talk about Ifa, Ifa is a religion, but it's also the type of divination system that they use. This has to do with sometimes people use stones and shells, different things. And this is usually performed by a Babalao.

[00:32:31] And I forget how to say the female

[00:32:33] Ashley H: version. Iyanifa. Iyanifa. Iyanifa.

[00:32:38] Ashley: Okay. Yes, that is the female version. And they are like. Ifa priests and priestesses. So many Yoruba people were kidnapped during the transatlantic slave trade. And everybody remember we talked about this in our first episode. We talked about how later in this slave trade in the 17 1800s, I guess all the awful people got sick of going to Central Africa.

[00:32:59] So they [00:33:00] went to Western Africa and they took a lot of people from Nigeria. And you can tell because in a lot of countries, especially in parts of Brazil, There's literally whole towns in Brazil where they speak Yoruba, they do all practice, like, Ifa practices. Places in Guyana, Trinidad, Cuba different parts of the Caribbean, and there are major influences there.

[00:33:23] So the Yoruba religion, or Ifa, or they're part of a bigger bigger group of, like, ATRs, African traditional religions, or people call them DTR. Diasporic traditional religions. So Ifek is, has turned into a bunch of different manifestations depending on the country, mostly. So we have Candomblé, Quimbanda, Tamar de Mina, and Umbanda, which are in Brazil.

[00:33:50] Kele, which is in St. Lucia, Santeria in Cuba or Puerto Rico, and that's just a few of the different names. And then there's also Lukumi. There's a [00:34:00] bunch of different names for it. Generally the same, it just depended where the people ended up. So because of, because, so one thing that the kidnappers did when they tried to take slaves, is they tried to take them from different areas and put them together.

[00:34:21] Because if you have a bunch of people who can't speak the same language, it's way harder to organize and kill people, right? They made a couple mistakes because they started taking people from certain groups and landing them all in the same places and it also had to do with which places those countries owned, right?

[00:34:41] The British had Ghana, they sent a lot of Ashanti people to Jamaica and everybody ended up being Ashanti. They had a lot, the British people had Yoruba people and ended up sending them to certain places. That's why in Haiti, you have Togo and Benin. That's where most of Haitian, most Haitian people come from.

[00:34:56] So they did this with Yoruba people and there's just so [00:35:00] many Yoruba people that they couldn't really spread them too much. So they ended up being in concentrated areas and then they ended up being able to preserve their culture a little bit. Then that turns into things like Santeria and a lot of people.

[00:35:15] Like in the Northeast, about Santeria, . And okay, so that's that. That's the historical part. So let's get into the more spiritual part now. So the one thing now, Ashley runs the Ashae shop.

[00:35:26] So you might be like, I've heard of Ashae, but what's that? Okay, so this is the definition. I love a Wikipedia article. Ashe is a Yoruba philosophy that is defined to represent the power that makes things happen and produces change in the Yoruba religion. It is believed to be given by Odunmari to everything, to gods, ancestors, spirits, humans.

[00:35:50] animals, plants, rocks, rivers, and voiced words such as songs, prayers, spirits, curses, and even everyday conversation. Existence, [00:36:00] according to Yoruba thought, is dependent on ashe. So it is literally like, it's more than the life force because it's what makes everything in the world happen and move and change and all of that kind of stuff.

[00:36:14] And here, and actually you can tell me, but I was reading other stories where I think Odumari, it says here, Odumari gives out a shea, but then I read stories where it says Eshu gives out a shea.

[00:36:27] Ashley H: Think of it this way, I'm going to teach you how to pronounce Olodumari.

[00:36:30] Ashley: Yeah, teach me, because I'm not good at some of these, I'm sorry.

[00:36:34] Ashley H: It takes practice, baby. I don't even pronounce my name right. So we pronunciation, but it takes practice. And understand that the Yoruba language is much more complex than English. . So in English, how we'll run things together and break them down. In Yoruba, you're not gonna see that because everything means something.

[00:36:56] Olo. Yeah. O l o means owner. . Dore [00:37:00] means of creation. He is the, this is the owner of creation. And we all know that when the owner of Creation started creating Ain't stop with us. . Yes. So Olo, Dore. Olo do

[00:37:17] Ashley: see Down. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. .

[00:37:21] Ashley H: Olo du Mare comes down and creates everything, right? But then in creating everything, Olo du Mare creates the Orisha. . , the Orisha are manifestations of God, the way God manifests, right? . Eshu is a divine messenger, is a divine trickster. Obatala is the king of the Orisha. Aya is the mother of the Orisha. So we see Aha be, can be bestowed by every Orisha, and Orisha will bless you with their aha.

[00:37:53] , right? That breath you have. Every breath you take [00:38:00] That first breath you took was God's breath. That was a gift from God so even though God is distant and I've got to ask you a question. I'm gonna test you. Okay What's your reason is it? That's there when you take your first breath and it's not issue

[00:38:19] Ashley: It's not because that's what the first thing I was gonna say okay.

[00:38:22] Let me not look at my notes because I don't think I wrote that down anyway. It doesn't matter. I don't know. You have to tell me because I don't

[00:38:29] Ashley H: know. It's Oya. Okay. Alright. Okay. A witch Aresha is with you when you take your last breath. It's Oya. Oya. Yes. Energy is the energy of change and you're changing when you're born from being a spiritual to being a physical being and then when you die you're changing again from being a physical being to go back into the spiritual.

[00:38:57] So all of the Orisha [00:39:00] have and will bestow their Ashe and they're all present in your life. But Eshu. Eshu. Eshu. is Eshu and Eshu is Ilegua and Ilegua is Eshu and you can try to understand it but you're gonna end up with a headache and that's yeah Eshu is the one Orisha that can do whatever he wants Eshu can make a woman fertile he can make her barren Eshu can help people to listen and build them up and make them kings and Eshu can destroy your whole life Eshu is the path.

[00:39:40] Eshu isn't just the guardian of the gate. Eshu is the gate. So it's like in order for you to get to what you need to get to, for you to get to that Ashe, you need Eshu there anyway.

[00:39:52] Ashley: Yes. It makes perfect sense. And actually, we're gonna, actually our story when we, [00:40:00] later on, our story is about Eshu.

[00:40:01] So I'm glad that we picked him. I picked him because I, from everything I've read, it's like, he is the entrance, like you said, to everything. So if people want to learn, let's talk about him. Before we get into our story, we're going to go through some of the more popular Okay, the other thing about Orishas is technically, there's thousands of Orishas.

[00:40:26] I'm going to talk about the more the ones that are More popular, like we'll say it like that, but there's thousands of them that represent every little thing in life. One of the

[00:40:36] Ashley H: influences of the transatlantic slave trade and the cattle slavery is that we lost, and not just the Yoruba people, but you have entire civilizations of African cultures that are gone.

[00:40:53] Entire religious makeups that are gone, entire cultures that are gone because of [00:41:00] cattle slavery. And while the Yoruba people took a huge hit, they, and you're right, there was a log that there were thousands of Orisha logs before colonialism came in. There are said to be officially 401 Orisha, and the other offspring that you get are Paths of the Major Orisha, but people I was talking to a West African Babalao And he was saying literally it's about 30 that people still honor and can name off top But you really don't hear many outside of your big tent.

[00:41:33] Yeah, so I will see who you about to name off But I want to throw that low

[00:41:39] Ashley: No, that's good to know. That's good to know. So the first ones, I'm just going to describe them and of course, Ashley, you tell me everything you want to input. I'll add a little to

[00:41:50] Ashley H: it.

[00:41:51] Ashley: Yeah. The first one is Eshoo. Eshoo also referred to as Eshoo Aligua.

[00:41:57] Or just some people just say Aligua. [00:42:00] He's the owner of the roads. In most Cultures around the world. We have this crossroads image. There's always somebody who's at the crossroads. is at the crossroads. He's like Ashley said earlier, he's the keeper. He is the gate between this world and this spirit world.

[00:42:16] That's literally his job. He can choose, like she said, to bless you. And you'll see in our story later we talk about that to bless you to he's a trickster. But the thing about tricksters, at least like I noticed with and. But even in Nancy too, their tricksterism is not like, it's, he's just, this is just their job.

[00:42:38] They're not trying to be like evil and a lot, and we talk about this too, a lot of stuff in West, different West African cultures I've found is that there's not this big thing between like, this is bad and this is good. Everything is gray and everything is both like, it's a very non binary system. Every god, [00:43:00] goddess, deity has a great side when they're great and has a side of them that you don't want to piss off.

[00:43:06] That's just, even, and we'll talk about it, even Oshun, everybody loves Oshun. Oshun can get mad too. , if you piss her off, if you break a promise, she's not messing with you anymore. So anyway, we'll

[00:43:16] Ashley H: get to Oshun if you forgot to put Eshu up on your altar. If you done been off to Oshun and you didn't put Eshu nowhere on there, what you doing?

[00:43:27] Ashley: You can't get to anybody Exactly. Without su That is the, that's the fact that

[00:43:32] Ashley H: out, the thing you've gonna notice about SU geographically is you'll see UA is used more in American based practices. Whereas if you see shehe, which is an E five based, Nigerian based E five practice. , they use Schu more.

[00:43:50] You and I noticed that with a lot of stories I come across but while we talking about it You know, I gotta say it Papa Legba. It's not an Orisha y'all. Papa [00:44:00] Legba is a Lwa That is a different energy. Eshu and Elegwa are the same But they're also different. And when we talk about good and evil, think about the fact that everything you do in a legwise issue teaches us that we have a choice in everything that we do.

[00:44:19] So imagine a colonizer coming and they making a decision to do something that's wrong. So to take accountability all for themselves to say I didn't do it. The devil made me do it. Yes. I don't have to be accountable for my behavior. I'm just gonna say the devil tempted me into... doing stuff I ain't had no business doing.

[00:44:38] . But that's where SU's energy gets twisted because SU says, these are the paths, this is the choice. You gotta be accountable for the choice that you make. ? I'm

[00:44:49] Ashley: sorry, I interrupted you. I couldn't. No, you can always interrupt. This is for, this is our talk. Okay. . We have his colors are red, black, white, and [00:45:00] black.

[00:45:00] And they, that part of that is codifying his contradictory nature because he is, he can choose to bless you, he can choose to not do that, whatever he feels like because he's that powerful. He stands at the crossroads, he's a messenger to Olorun who is the god who answers your prayers and stuff.

[00:45:20] He brings the prayers

[00:45:21] Ashley H: up. Olo Dumare and Olo Rune are often used interchangeably. Olo Dumare meaning the owner of creation and Olo Rune because Olo Rune means what? Heaven. So Olo Rune, the owner of heaven. And a lot of times people use that interchangeably and a lot of Americans we use Olo Rune because it's hard for us to pronounce Olo Dumare.

[00:45:41] Ashley: Absolutely. Yeah. That's 100 percent true. So also so that we. Eligwa can be honored is with offerings, tobacco, rum, candy, toys spicy foods, which are believed to police him. Also, some numbers that are associated with him with [00:46:00] issue are 3 and 21. And he is always called, like Ashley said, he must be called before you call other Orishas because he's the one who opens the gate.

[00:46:10] So if nobody's opened the gate, they can't talk to you. So he has to be honored first.

[00:46:15] Ashley H: I remember when I first learned about the Orisha girl and I didn't know how to make offers to Eshoo, I went to Popeye's and got a two piece spicy with a biscuit.

[00:46:28] And I went to the crossroads and I was like, Eshoo, I don't know what I'm doing. Please take this offer because they sent me spicy food. I left this for that two piece spicy with their red beans with a bottle of rum. I don't know if Eshoo got it, but I know that homeless man who be on the block was.

[00:46:51] Ashley: He ate well that day.

[00:46:53] Ashley H: The energy of children, we see Eshoo in the energy of the elderly, and we especially see [00:47:00] Eshoo's energy in the energy of the homeless. The people who help, who are vagrant and vagabonds. That's where we see his energy shining nowadays. Cause especially with the number of homeless people running around here.

[00:47:15] Maybe they got cities. They got cities. I know.

[00:47:19] Ashley: Okay. So the next one we got Ogun. This is another one I think again, people think a lot in the binary. And now that I've I'm learning so much about different cultures, I've learned to not think in the binary so much. People think Ogun, and we'll get to Shango too, are like, bad, mean.

[00:47:39] Like for some reason, like, oh, they're mean. Ogun doesn't mean he's just not worried about dumb shit because he's like, things need to get done. Like, I am the god of literally working. Like, I work all the time. He's the god of iron, the god of war, and again, because he's the god of war, it doesn't mean he's bad.

[00:47:59] It's war [00:48:00] happens. It's not his fault it happens, but he's the god of war and he's also the god of labor, literally work. So he's constantly working. They also now with technology, they say he's the god of technology because he's the one who propagates it and like brings it forth. He's always working.

[00:48:16] He's always doing he uses he clears the road with his machete. His numbers are seven and his colors are green and black. He gets offerings of red wine, palm oil. He also really loves dogs. So they also say if you give offerings to Dogs, you're also giving offerings to Ogun.

[00:48:35] Ashley H: And... Ogun actually likes offerings of dog.

[00:48:39] He actually... Oh, okay. Dog, like, cut the, get the... Do what you do with the dog. It calms Ogun's energy down. So if Ogun is coming through with you really hot, they gonna tell you to sacrifice a dog. So I'm sorry, Fifi. Y'all know you're gonna have to go. If it comes down, if Ogun asks for it, I ain't gonna hesitate.

[00:48:57] Peter, come get me. Not [00:49:00] Fifi.

[00:49:00] Ashley: Not

[00:49:01] Ashley H: Fifi. I'm sorry. I'm petty. My ex got a dog baby. Fifi not sacrifice a dog baby. Fifi got a goat. Oh no, not

[00:49:11] Ashley: Fifi. Poor Fifi.

[00:49:15] Ashley H: But Ogun gets a really bad rap. But people don't talk about the fact that Ogun is the foundation of civilization. He is the Orisha of Iron. He is the Orisha of Innovation.

[00:49:28] Without Ogun, civilization wouldn't have happened. They don't talk about the fact that Ogun is king. And they always, y'all, Ogun is the energy that controls our heart chakra. Because we, what, you doing a job that you hate. You miserable, but when you doing a job that you love, you take pride in it.

[00:49:46] You put honor in it. It doesn't feel like work. And that's the energy of Ogun working tirelessly, not to pay bills, but to bring honor to yourself and to your family because Ogun [00:50:00] really reminds us what work is really for. Yeah. I love Ogun y'all. Y'all don't need to understand that energy right there.

[00:50:11] Because I literally, I resonate with Ogun so much because I'm the broken hearted girl. I'm the girl that literally, if you baby, if it's a way to get cheated on, I done been cheated on that week. And we see that energy with Ogun where he's always loving so hard just to end up. Alone, but y'all know go ahead.

[00:50:34] Like what? A thousand wives and like 1400 children. He was mad. We want to know.

[00:50:42] Ashley: I like in my, so I don't, I'm not an initiate of any ATRs or

[00:50:47] Ashley O: DTRs, but in my like shamanic practice, we, I work with a lot of different spirits. I love working with Ogun because he usually comes in when I need to break some bad shit up.

[00:50:59] He [00:51:00] doesn't have a problem doing it. We get along. I adore him. Like, I think he's fantastic at his job. And he's, I don't know. I like Ogun. So I feel like he gets a bad rap. I like Ogun a lot. I work with him and I, we always have successful results. Like, I'm having a

[00:51:16] Ashley H: good time. But think about the person who, when it's an ugly job, it's a dirty job.

[00:51:21] It's a job where, I'm not doing that because I'm pretty. Yeah, those moments. That's when you need the energy of Ogun. When it's the ugly job, it's the dirty job. Oh, Goon lives in the energy of the mechanic. He lives the energy of the guys who ride around on the back of the jump truck. Who I be like, y'all want a Heineken?

[00:51:42] He nice to the men on the back of y'all trash truck. Because my people thrusting people out. We couldn't find our trash can for a week. And that's there. Energy, that's the energy of the police officer, the energy of the security guard, the energy of the blue collar worker. [00:52:00] That's Ogun. Like, his energy, without Ogun's energy, and people be wanting to forget about Ogun, maybe without Ogun's energy, we wouldn't have nothing.

[00:52:09] Ashley O: Yeah, exactly. Not even

[00:52:12] Ashley H: my favorite water bottle.

[00:52:16] Ashley O: Someone's gotta do it. So then next we have, and this is, I'm going to say, this is a Orisha that I was not very familiar with at all. Except from your stories that I hear when you tell them on Instagram. Ochosi? Am I saying that right?

[00:52:32] Ashley H: I you have to do Ochosi after Ogun, why? They brothers, they live together.

[00:52:39] Ashley O: Yeah. They're besties, and I didn't know all of this. Ochoa is the third member of the group at least in this group that I wrote down, and he's known as the warrior, oh, a third member of the group known as the warriors, I'm sorry, and is received along with Eshu, Ogun, and Oshun in order to

[00:52:58] Ashley H: protect Osun, [00:53:00] Osun is the staff of Orumila, Oshun is the Oh, okay, I'm sorry.

[00:53:06] Os, the because we don't get a lot of the African pronunciation, they spell it almost the same, but it's Osun.

[00:53:14] Ashley O: Okay, yes, I'm sorry about that. No, it's real good. That's why

[00:53:17] Ashley H: I'm

[00:53:18] Ashley O: here to teach. I know, thank you. In order to protect the warrior's initiates and to open and clear their roads, Otusi is a hunter and the scout of the Orishas, and assumes the role of translator for Abatala, with whom he has a very close relationship.

[00:53:34] His colors are blue and yellow, and he likes offerings of, wow, I spelled that wrong pomegranates, smoked fust, I think I spelled that wrong, everybody, so I apologize, I'm not sure what that is but pomegranates, we have that one spelled right, okay, so that's Ochosi. And we have Obatala?

[00:53:52] Ashley H: Wait, with Ochosi, Oh yeah, go ahead.

[00:53:55] In shamanic practices, you're gonna see Ochosi's energy [00:54:00] very heavily with a lot of your Native American deities, because Ochosi The archer and the hunter. Oh, Chelsea is the bodyguard. You remember when Beyonce bodyguard got mad and started snitching and telling all of her business. And I said, damn it.

[00:54:12] Yeah, we'll see. Oh,

[00:54:16] energy of Oh, Chelsea. Oh, Chelsea is the bodyguard. Oh, Chelsea is the person who doesn't have no problem saying I'll go first. I'll do it. And with that energy, you get the energy of protection. So Chelsea and Ogun are very close. Because, baby, that one right there don't forget don't, y'all, when y'all praying for, and think of the warriors this way, Enegwa opens the way and lets you know that it's a path there, Ochoosee finds the path, and Ogun clears the way.

[00:54:52] And then after Ogun clears the way, it's the big mouth white rooster named Osun, who gonna come through and be like, y'all, they got a panther over [00:55:00] here.

[00:55:00] Ashley O: Yes.

[00:55:08] Ashley H: So you were going to go to Obatala next? Yes.

[00:55:12] Ashley O: So my quick story about Obatala is I did this. Ritual when I was doing my shamanic training and we all had to do this journey and it was very intense like it's a Shamanic journey is like a really intense trance. So we did this trance and I didn't know anything about what Batsala at this point.

[00:55:30] I Woke up in a field. All right in a field and it was dark and then I look up and there's this very older looking black man all dressed in white and he's like Beckoning me to follow him. I don't know who this guy is, but I'm in spirit right now, so whatever. Like, I'm just doing whatever they tell me to do.

[00:55:51] I get up, and wherever this man walks, he's, we're in a field, and it's dark, but wherever he walks, all the [00:56:00] flowers around him turn like a bright, vibrant, neon blue. And I'm like, I don't know who this dude is, but he's important. Because he's like... Walk in and then I see people around us bowing down to him.

[00:56:13] I don't know who he is, but I'm like, all I guess I'm following this My new uncle, because everybody seems to like him a lot. I was like, he seems really nice. And then later on, I learned about a lot of other things happened. But then later on, I learned about Obatalon. I was like, Oh, I think that's who

[00:56:32] Ashley H: that was.

[00:56:33] Yes! My uncle told me that, and it made sense to me in order for us to call down Orishas as an initiate, we learn that there's a lot going on for these Orishas to be called down. Whereas in our dreams... It's not always the Orisha, but it's a spirit resembling the Orisha because that's what we need.[00:57:00]

[00:57:00] We need the energy of Yemaya. We need that energy of Obatala. So our Agun, our Egbe come through with that energy and bring that to us. Cause they're like the only way for a Orisha really to come down is for them to be called down during rituals. And that made a lot of sense to me. And I'm like, so you mean I'm not dreaming about Oshun for real?

[00:57:21] Because I really think that's what my dreams. And we be doing the money dance with the money raining on us in the dreams. And my elder, she was like, no, Ashley, no.

[00:57:34] Ashley O: It's not like that. And I

[00:57:36] Ashley H: was just like... Obatala is another one of those really important

[00:57:41] Ashley O: Orisha. Absolutely. So he's the father of all of Eurasia and all of people. So like Ashley had said earlier, ogun makes things, but Batula made humanity. He was like, I'm gonna make the world because [00:58:00] I'm that creative.

[00:58:00] So he did it. With Uluruun's blessing, he was like, Go make the universe and stuff. And he's like, Great. So he did. He's the source of all that's pure, wise, and peaceful. Compassionate. He has a warrior side. His color is white. He is the only Orisha that has both male and female paths. His favorite offerings are things that are white, like milk, sugar, powdered eggshells rice, white flour, shea butter, and things that are also seen that are used for cleansing or purification, like soaps and things like that.

[00:58:36] Ashley H: The white shea butter, y'all, not the yellow shea

[00:58:38] Ashley O: butter. Yes white, absolutely. Like I said, everything is white with him. And it's important to note that alcohol should never be offered to a Basila as he is Not, he doesn't drink alcohol.

[00:58:50] Ashley H: He doesn't take that. That's why he ended up with them two children.

[00:58:53] Ashley O: Yes, I know that. I think I know that from you. I think I was watching one of your videos

[00:58:58] Ashley H: and you were talking about that. [00:59:00] How'd you end up with them two

[00:59:02] Ashley O: children? Yeah, that's his thing. So he was like, actually I'm gonna stay away from alcohol. That's not my thinking anymore. He be messing up his life.

[00:59:10] He's like,

[00:59:11] Ashley H: he's

[00:59:14] the one who's supposed to drink.

[00:59:19] I know now.

[00:59:21] Ashley O: Child support,

[00:59:24] Exactly. So then we got we got Oya who we started to talk about before. The, she's a ruler of the winds of storms and gates of the cemetery. Her number is nine and she's also referred to as the mother of nine. And she rules over the realm of the dead. She is, her color is maroon, and she is, okay, that's not right, but that's fine.

[00:59:47] She's a fierce warrior, and she rides into war with Shango, who we'll talk about later. And she was once the wife of Ogun. One note about marriages when it comes to Orisha's and Ashley knows a lot more about this [01:00:00] than me. It gets complicated about who's married to who, or who sometimes is just, dating who.

[01:00:06] Or who is just sleeping with who? That's

[01:00:08] Ashley H: because y'all nosy. And y'all... And y'all be trying to create some type of drama. But think of it this way. The Orisha are immortal. And not immortal being that they live they live lives and they don't die, but immortal being that they live multiple human experiences.

[01:00:29] So the same Yemaya who was Ogun's mother is not the same Yemaya who was Ogun's wife. Yeah. The same Oshun that was married to Orumila is not the same Oshun that's married to Shango. You

[01:00:44] Ashley O: see what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:00:46] Ashley H: And when it comes to this Orisha Oya, Oya is the guardian of the cemetery. She guards the cemetery making sure that the people who go in there are actually dead.[01:01:00]

[01:01:01] Cause you got me. Don't ask me why a lot of people is trying to go into the world of the dead, but. I'm just

[01:01:09] Ashley O: imagining her just be like looking at them be like. Are you breathing? Get out of here, man. Get

[01:01:14] Ashley H: out of here. You Ikku, and once you see Death, once you see Ikku, you run off, just like Shango. But, you have three major Orishas who really work in a cemetery.

[01:01:27] Oya being the main one, you have Yewa who watches over the bodies and makes sure they get buried right. And if they don't get buried right, she eat them. And then you got your little Ruku.

[01:01:41] I don't know how to put that without you being like, what do you mean she eats them?

[01:01:46] Ashley O: Watch Ashley's Instagram and you'll learn more.

[01:01:51] Ashley H: And then you have Nana Barouk who controls the Eggoons, Nana Barouk who has control over the Eggoons, meaning the dead and the ancestors, which means that [01:02:00] she could look at you and be like, I ain't feeling you, y'all sicker.

[01:02:04] Oya is actually the owner of the marketplace and think about how women haggle and we set the price and we make our goods. That's her true home. She was Shango's wife, but there's never any record of her actually living with him. Yeah. She always she was together but she always had her own place.

[01:02:28] She always had her own house. Oya is known for being married to a few Orisha, including Ochosi. She had a little fling with Eshoo. She was with a few Orisha. She's a

[01:02:40] Ashley O: free woman. She's a free strong

[01:02:43] Ashley H: woman. I can talk about that because we all have experience. There's

[01:02:48] Ashley O: nothing wrong with it. It's fine.

[01:02:50] She's just living her best life. I'm proud of her. But Oya's colors are

[01:02:54] Ashley H: all the colors of the rainbow, and she wears nine colors for the nine children [01:03:00] that she lost. You'll see a strong similarity between the story of Oya and the story of Erzulie Dantour, the Voodoo Loa. Okay. Like, literally, look at that story.

[01:03:12] You gonna think it's the same energy.

[01:03:14] Ashley O: Okay. Alright, yeah. I gotta check that out. Some of her offerings were, are flowers, fruits, wine, eggplants, because it's like one of her colors. And she is really powerful and she's known as like a warrior woman kind of god, like very powerful.

[01:03:34] Very, and a different, the different energy to Oh Shun. Now, everybody, a lot of people know Oh Shun because of Beyonce, right? Because she did that performance and she dressed all in yellow with a crown and people were like, Oh my god, Beyonce is Oh Shun. Yeah, so people really like Oshun especially because she's like, which I love Oshun, Oshun is like my girl for real, but like I also, and Oshun and Oya, they don't really get along, but like I just want [01:04:00] everybody to also like Oya, because she's like super strong and she's like her own you don't only have to like them more, and let's also get into the fact that Oshun is not only just like soft and like feminine, like she's very powerful in her own right, and she uses

[01:04:13] Ashley H: her sensuality.

[01:04:14] Yeah. Yeah, Oshun is a warrior in her own right. And Oshun and Oya, it's not that they don't get along. You have this introduction of this beef between Oshun and Oya that comes about when Christianity starts getting introduced to Africa. We have to be aware of Christian colonization. colonizers influence on Western, on African traditions and African beliefs.

[01:04:41] You don't see these stories of these two beefing come out until you start seeing them colonized. That's why most of the stories of them arguing come from lakoumi, a santeria, which are American based ifa practices. That's where you see the deepest of those stories. And a lot of the stories in Isheshe, [01:05:00] it was actually Oya who saved Oshun's son.

[01:05:04] If it was even like that, why she ain't just let her child die? Yeah. That these two are actually sisters. And the conflict between them, one is either one over a man or two because they both strong willed. Yeah. But, even though, no, you cannot, that don't mean, do not put them on the altar together.

[01:05:25] But don't be so quick to view them as enemies because sometimes we're just different. The girl who's more laid back and chill is not going to get along with the bougie girl who drinks her tea with her pinky up. It's not happening.

[01:05:45] Ashley O: Exactly. And she is said to be the youngest or the smallest of the Orisha, but she has saved The people, many a time. Like, she's gone down there and been like I'll handle this shit. Like, everyone else [01:06:00] is, I'm gonna be the one to

[01:06:02] Ashley H: do it too. You always found her out, they always like, Oh, Shun, what are you gonna do?

[01:06:05] No, Shun's like, I'm gonna fly to heaven and save all of you. Yeah. And they like, okay, we'll be here when you get back. Exactly.

[01:06:15] Ashley O: And she does it all the time. She's really great. Her colors are yellow, gold, her number's five, she has peacocks, and vultures are hers. And she likes orange or yellow things, like orange fruits, pumpkins, she really likes honey.

[01:06:29] Honey, bees, she loves that stuff. So we love her. She has, once she, once, guys, literally, Oshun used her sensuality to save the world. Because one day, we're not going to go into this story, watch Ashley's channel. One day, Ogun got tired of everybody and he said I'm going to stop working. So Oshun had to go in the woods and just be cute.

[01:06:49] And he's like, what's going on there? And she had to lure him out of the woods just by being cute.

[01:06:56] Ashley H: The version of that story they give is very PG [01:07:00] 13. Oh, I do too. When I read that story, and you know me, I'm going to read the same story from different perspectives to try to get a greater understanding of it.

[01:07:10] So she went in there. So she went in there with this sheer gold fabric over her. And nothing but a jar of honey. Yeah, she sure did. You know what I'm saying? You can move out the woods real quick. Yeah. We love her for it. But don't talk about the fact that Ogun and Oshun was married.

[01:07:31] Ashley O: Yes. And then also, like you mentioned before, that Oshun was married to Shango, and then Ogun and Shango had like a problem.

[01:07:41] And like, again, this is what I'm talking about. There's a lot of relational stuff going on here. It's not important guys, but it is and it's just fun. Honestly

[01:07:51] Ashley H: One story because everybody talked about how shango stole ogun wife, but don't know everybody skips over that pataki, [01:08:00] which I found Because i'm nosy Why ogun and ochosi decided they was gonna steal shango wife And they ended up stealing their man wife and then they gonna sit back and act like I don't know why Shango doesn't like us.

[01:08:17] Y'all know exactly why Shango don't like we could've ignored this, that, that. But then I dig deeper. Especially when it comes to the Patakis because it's the Patakis and it's the stories that help us to understand the Orisha and how they live through us. But like I said, they stole that, they plotted together to steal that man's wife.

[01:08:39] So everybody talk about how Shango stole Oya from Ogun. Him and his brother or chose he said, man, I'm trying to get with his wife. He was like, shit, bro. Are you too? All right, dog. All right, dog. I got you. We don't talk about that. [01:09:00] Kind Ogun.

[01:09:06] Did we mention the fact that she was probably naked when she walked up in

[01:09:12] Ashley O: here? Completely naked, just honey.

[01:09:15] Ashley H: Baby, if y'all are healthy and you're healthy and balanced how you supposed to be as women, yeah honey. It's not a problem, but I'm would sit there, right there because if y'all like what she talking about, honey, I need you to balance your pH and we can finish this conversation later.

[01:09:33] Baby . You know when you, your pH is balanced and you hydrated stray honey, talking about she went up in there with a jar of honey and some scarves on. That must be lingerie. It was.

[01:09:48] Ashley O: There was, and they were like, sometimes we tell these stories in front of the kids. So let's just be, let's calm it down a little bit.

[01:09:57] We can't be really saying what we're trying to say. [01:10:00] Before

[01:10:00] Ashley H: I tell stories in front of kids, I let parents know it's your responsibility to explain certain concepts to your children. I'm not a mother. I

[01:10:11] know. It's true. You knew when you came over here with me. Cause I'm sitting here looking at you and looking at your child, and looking at you and looking at your child, and I'm like, I'm gonna have to take these last four stories off the list. And

[01:10:24] Ashley O: We

[01:10:24] Ashley H: can't tell that one. It's a whole bunch of, it's a whole gang of them that like, y'all kids, whoo,

[01:10:33] Jesus.

[01:10:35] Ashley O: Oh, I forgot also, I forgot to mention, Oshun is the, I don't think I said this, and she is the, also the ruler of sweet water, so this is like, not salt water, so we got rivers streams, and waterfalls. I didn't want to forget because I was like, wait, I didn't mention that important thing. A good

[01:10:52] Ashley H: way to channel Oshun's energy before you get off, out the shower, turn the hot water down.[01:11:00]

[01:11:00] Your spiritual bath should not be piping hot. Especially if you're doing an Oshun bath, you doing an Oshun bath, she cools she heals with her cool, sweet water.

[01:11:17] Ashley O: It's all looking at her.

[01:11:21] Ashley H: I'm just turning down. The ink is streaming. It is bubbling. If I get in there, I'm going to be a cook. I'm going to say this one more time, Oshun Hills, with her cool, sweet waters.

[01:11:40] Ashley O: Oh God, don't make me laugh. Speaking of another water goddess, we got Yemaya. She is the mom. To all and she is the ruler over the seas And her name literally means a mother whose children are the fish and One [01:12:00] thing I read and I didn't realize this and it makes so much sense. So For all the life started in the sea And the amniotic fluid inside the mother's womb is a form of C, where the embryo must transform and evolve through the form of a fish, yeah, kinda, before it becoming a human baby.

[01:12:17] In this way, Yemaya displays herself as truly the mother of everyone. Like, which is so cool. I love that. She's seven skirts of blue, and white, and she's, like, Sometimes you see her depicted literally as like a mermaid figure that you would normally see, but sometimes you just see her in blue and white skirts, and she's always very beautiful and very, she looks like a woman, like very feminine.

[01:12:42] She really loves perfume, shells, fish, jewelry and she's always usually depicted in the water. Then we got the two. I'm going to get the two because I do want to get to this story. I'm so sorry. I'm taking

[01:12:55] Ashley H: long. No, you're my eyes. One of the only female Arecius you really don't hear about getting [01:13:00] cheated on.

[01:13:01] Ashley O: Yeah, it's almost like to me. She's more of like an auntie energy like That's how I look at her more of an auntie energy so people really like respect her a little bit more. I don't know.

[01:13:11] Ashley H: It was Yemaya who gave birth to the 16 major Orishas. It was Yemaya who raised Oshun's kids. When she didn't want them.

[01:13:22] It was Yemaya when Nana Baruku decided that Babaluwaye was too ugly to raise. It was Yemaya who raised him. So she gives that rich auntie energy, but she also gives that caring maternal energy. Cause while Yemaya is the amniotic fluid, Oshun is the womb, and Oya is the air when you catch your first breath.

[01:13:44] Ashley O: Wow, I love how they all work together like that. That's so cool. I love that. So then we got Shango. Again, Shango is like, and I wrote it here. He's one of like the more popular ones. Everybody seems to love Shango. Like, when you ask people [01:14:00] about Orishas, they're like, yeah, Shango. This seems to be the one everybody knows.

[01:14:03] That's fine.

[01:14:04] Ashley H: It's all fun and games until he's cheating on you. Everybody thinks you're the knight in shining armor cause he's the Kawo Kabayesi, the Alaki. If you look in your history, look in Nigerian history, Nigerian deities are some of the only that you actually see in the historical records.

[01:14:21] However, The way Shango is painted as this knight in shining armor and he's so amazing and he's the king and like I said, it's all fun and games until he's cheating on you.

[01:14:34] Ashley O: Shango to me is the guy you meet and like, yeah, he's super handsome and the day you meet him, he's like, I want to marry you.

[01:14:41] Like, I do. You would look so good in a wedding dress. Like, you're so beautiful. And you're like, yeah, thanks. Like, great. But like, he's telling everybody that.

[01:14:51] Ashley H: Yeah, I was gonna say I tried that once and after like two years of therapy, I'm fine. I know.

[01:14:58] Ashley O: Exactly. See? [01:15:00] That's Shogo. He's like, is he a bad dude really deep down?

[01:15:05] No. But is he just gonna go do his own thing? Yeah. There's no point

[01:15:09] Ashley H: with any person, whether you're just gauging off of zodiac signs or which Orisha holds your head, if you're in an imbalanced, impure energy, You want demon time anyway, like a child of Ogun can be your savior. Or a child of Ogun can be the reason you're checking yourself into a psych hospital because he won't get you there.

[01:15:33] Like, y'all be talking about Obatala because Obatala hold y'all head. Y'all ever seen an angry child of Obatala? Don't do it. Don't do it. You will understand why Obatala's children are special. Okay?

[01:15:53] Shango? When Shango, when they, when children of Shango are balanced, you see really great things coming from them. But [01:16:00] when you have an unbalanced child of Shango...

[01:16:04] Ashley O: Yeah, it doesn't seem great.

[01:16:07] Ashley H: Go ahead and call the psychiatrist, the psychologist, and the therapist. You're not, you're going to need a treatment team.

[01:16:20] Ashley O: He's so he rules over lightning, thunder, fire, dancing, drums. So he's a party, he's a good time. He's

[01:16:26] Ashley H: a busy guy too. He rules over business in the aspects of, corporate business. Okay,

[01:16:32] Ashley O: that makes sense. That makes sense. He's really smart. He's, but he's got a quick temper. And he's the epitome, and this is another reason I think he's popular, he's like the epitome of like masculinity and virility, like people associate that with him.

[01:16:47] He's, again, there's a lot of the marriage stuff going on. We talked a lot about that. I'm not going to keep going on about it. He's also Extremely hot blooded. Extremely like, quick, like I said, quick to anger if that's what's going on. But [01:17:00] he also enjoys all the pleasures in life, like we were just talking about.

[01:17:04] Ladies, drumming, partying, eating, music. He usually, he can be super good friends with Eshu. Him and him, they get along well. Or, I

[01:17:16] Ashley H: don't know, cause I saw this story where Shango Eshoo was asking for help and Shango was like, I'll help you, and never came back.

[01:17:33] And so he just left. He was gone. But think of Sean Gould's energy, because we think of him as being quick tempered, but think of different aspects of our temper. He's not losing his temper for no reason. He's the key. He expects for people to do what they say and say what they're going to do. So it's not that he's a short tempered.

[01:17:51] He has a low tolerance for people not doing what they're expected to do.

[01:17:58] Ashley O: Yeah. Yeah. [01:18:00] No, that makes perfect sense. So though he, so he traded the table of Ifa to Orumila, who we're going to talk about is going to be our last but not least in exchange for the gift of dance. So his children have the innate ability for divination, have innate ability for divination.

[01:18:18] I'm sorry. He's a king. He was incarnated as a king at one time. And his favorite offerings can be like a sugar copper, red foods, spicy foods and things that like, make you hot blooded and make you ready to go. Five hour energy, I'm sure you would accept. So he's closely associated also with drumming and dancing and music and rituals and ceremonies.

[01:18:42] And then,

[01:18:43] Ashley H: it's very rare, and I want to add this because people will try to give Shango rum. Shango don't usually take alcohol or tobacco.

[01:18:51] Ashley O: Oh okay. Now I know. Because of Obatala,

[01:18:55] Ashley H: His origins, Shango's origins are a little, they got [01:19:00] questions. But he doesn't usually take... Alcohol or tobacco and it's the same how you see with 50 cent how 50 cent Sells liquor and he owns these liquor brands, but he don't

[01:19:10] Ashley O: drink Yeah, okay.

[01:19:12] It's a control thing Okay. Makes sense. It makes sense. Okay, then we got arumila Who is the god? Of the orisha of wisdom and divination. He's the only orisha allowed to witness He was the only orisha allowed to witness the creation of the universe by ola rune and bears witness to our Destinies in the making.

[01:19:33] His priests are the Babalaos and the, can you say it for me again? Cause I forgot to say it already. There we go. Those are his priests and his priestesses and they must devote themselves in entirety to divination. It takes, this is, it's like a intense thing to learn the divination process. It's very unique.

[01:19:53] His colors are green and yellow and they reflect his relationship with The [01:20:00] ocean oh soon.

[01:20:02] Ashley H: Oh saying who was the origin of the herbs and herbal medicines.

[01:20:06] Ashley O: And he has a very close relationship with oh soon and His offerings include kola nuts fish Goats where they have to be a lady goat hen and cassava and yam

[01:20:26] And he's also associated with palm nuts and Ifa beads, like those red beads you might see if you look up like people Yoruba tradition doing weddings and stuff and they wear a lot of like coral beads, he's associated with that. Okay. You

[01:20:42] Ashley H: mentioned Arumila and Oshun, and you know that arumila, for Arumila to be the Orisha of Wisdom, he is always sleeping with somebody else.

[01:20:54] Like, I thought we wasn't supposed to be doing adultery, and Arumila said, No, [01:21:00] we're not supposed to do adultery, so I'm gonna divine first.

[01:21:05] What the? And when I tell you he was sleeping with Who he was sleeping with? He was sleeping with Ajay Shaluga When she was married to Olokun No, she was sleeping with Olokun When Olokun was married to Aganju He was sleeping with Ajay Shaluga When she was married to somebody else He divorced Oshu And married Yemaya And went and cheated with Oh, shoot in a pumpkin patch while you're inside, honey.

[01:21:31] And I'm like, but the Arisha a divination, baby, he be doing some stuff. And people always be like I don't know that much about a roomie. And I'll be like, you don't need to know that much. He's very wise. Cause the one thing he haven't done is got caught sleeping with somebody's wife in a room he like always sleep with somebody's wife, honey.

[01:21:53] Always. Or tricking somebody into marrying him. This man stuck up in, in the roof of the palace and was [01:22:00] dropping beer and stuff down Oshun, down on Oshun to trick her into marrying him.

[01:22:06] Ashley O: Can I tell you that, on Instagram, It's just like Orisha reality show, when the way, first of all, the way you tell the stories are always funny, like, even when you're telling serious stories, you still make me laugh, like,

[01:22:26] like, and like, and I'm like, and it's like, when you see people online all the time, I'm like, I feel like you're calling me like, girl, you want to hear something? And I'm like, yes, tell me everything. My

[01:22:36] Ashley H: hypothesis behind that is people are going to remember things that either make them laugh or make them cry and I'm going to make you do both.

[01:22:44] Ashley O: Yeah. Yeah.

[01:22:46] Ashley H: At some point, you're going to get both from me because there are some stories we be like, we just all going to cry together. And then there's some stories where we are like, girl, did you just see what had happened? Then it goes out, hold on, Ashley, read [01:23:00] the last paragraph again, because even when I'm like reading stories out loud to people and I'm not just giving them my version of my rendition of it and like, no, I'm going to read it how they said it, it's still funny.

[01:23:13] Because my kids move away every time, like, I'm trying to be serious. I

[01:23:19] Ashley O: don't know how. It's so funny. Okay, so now we'll, I'm so glad we got to go. This is great, because this is our introduction to the Orishas, and we're going to tell more stories, but this is our first story, and it's not that long, everybody, so don't worry.

[01:23:35] So our story, like I said at the beginning, our story is about Eshu, and I'm so glad that we get to talk about him. And, okay, so Ashley talked about Patakis before. These are different stories about the Orishas, and there are different versions of different Patakis, but generally they're the same, and they're just, there's so many stories.

[01:23:51] There's a lot, and you'll always hear lots of different ones, and if you want to hear different Patakis, check out Ashley's page. She tells them all the time. So here's one story, and [01:24:00] this story is about Eshu. So let's get into it. At this point now, just imagine right now, picture it, we're at a point where all the Orishas are living in the Sky Kingdom, the world is a thing, it's already been created by Obatala but Eshu was like, I really actually don't want to live up there, it's boring, everything's fine all the time.

[01:24:18] So he was like, he's like, it's actually really boring, I don't want to live there. So he decides to live on Earth. But the thing about Earth is he realizes that like, when he was playing pranks, he's with a trickster god. When he was playing prank, pranks on the other Orishas, they didn't care that much.

[01:24:33] They got over it really quick. Why? Because they're gods. It's not a big deal to them, and they could all laugh about it. But Eshu realized when he played pranks on humans, they were always pissed off, and they always just, , were in chaos, and they'd get upset, and it would ruin their lives. And he's like, wow, that's not that fun, because they're not getting the joke.

[01:24:50] I'm telling a joke, right? So he doesn't know what to do. One day, He sees the area where the sun and the [01:25:00] moon live, and he's in this area. So he sees how the sun and the moon relate. So this particular day, the sun is coming down from being the sun all day. And he, let's just, in this story, we're just going to make the sun a he and the moon a she, because that's how I heard the story.

[01:25:16] The sun sees his best friend, who's the moon. They live on opposite sides of the road. And he's like, hey, moon, what's up, girl? And Moon is a little bit of a downer, but that's just her personality. She's just like, hey, what's up? What's good? And he's like, oh my god, it was so crazy.

[01:25:32] I was up in the sky all day. It was wild. The humans, they were just out there. And then Moon is like, oh my god, I wish I could be in the sky during the day and see what the humans do. Night is boring, they're all sleeping, it's really ridiculous. So Sun is like, oh no, it's okay, you're super important though, you control the tides and all that stuff, and Moon is, okay, whatever.

[01:25:54] So also, important to note, this will come up later, Sun's house is like a little shack, it's a little small, [01:26:00] but he doesn't care, it doesn't bother him. Moon has a big, beautiful, gorgeous house, right? It's fine, that'll come up later, remember. So anyway, Eshu is like noticing what's going on and he's like, I can cause trouble here I'm gonna do this.

[01:26:16] So he observes them for a couple days One day comes where once again, the sun's coming down and the moon's coming out and she's like, hey son He's like, hey, what's up? They're chit chatting and here goes Eshu walking down the road and he quickly turns away from them and they're like, who's that? It's just the two of them.

[01:26:34] So they're like, who's that? We've never seen this other person. Then, all of a sudden, he comes on the other side of the road and starts talking to them. And he's like hey. And they're like, hi, who are you? And he's like, I'm Eshoo. I'm the great Eshoo. Don't you know who I am? And they're like, no. Yeah, we don't know who you are.

[01:26:52] And they start laughing to themselves about a personal joke. And he's like, he starts to get pissed off because they're telling a joke about something. He [01:27:00] doesn't understand the inside joke. Now he's angry. He's like, they don't know who I am. They don't want to give me offerings They don't want to you know, do anything for me.

[01:27:08] They're laughing to themselves these assholes, right? So as she was pissed and he's like, I'm gonna ruin their lives now He's don't make me mad. All right. So next day he's like, this is what we're gonna do he's talking to himself. He goes and he gets some clothes. He looks crazy in these clothes He gets a hat he paints one half of the hat green He paints the other half of the hat red.

[01:27:33] He goes walking down the same road between the sun and the moon's house. Now the sun and the moon are out there talking, and they see a shoe walking, and they're like Oh, there goes that guy again! And she's like, yeah, but this time he has a red hat on, says moon, and the sun is like, no, the hat's green. And moon's like, no, it's red.

[01:27:55] And sun is like, no, it's green. First of all, stop talking to me like that. [01:28:00] So now they're fighting because they don't know who's wrong and who's right. Sun decides to offload how he's feeling lately. He's like, Moon, you talk shit to me all the time. I don't like it. I try to be positive and you're such a Debbie Downer and you're so rude to me.

[01:28:14] And Moon is like, Oh, for real? That's how you feel? I'm not speaking to you. Moon goes up into the sky and Sun goes in to go to sleep. Fine. Now, it's crazy. So now, Eshoo is laughing to himself like, ha! This is not the end of his plan, everybody. This is the beginning. So he's like, great. He goes over to Sun's house, knocks on the door.

[01:28:40] Sun's like, who the hell is that? He goes over to the door and Eshoo's like, hey, how you doing? And he's like, hi. And he's like, so how like how are you doing today? Is everything okay? He's like, if you really need to know I'm not talking to moon because moon is being a real meanie And I'm not dealing with this.

[01:28:59] She's like, oh my [01:29:00] god. He's like, you know what? I think that moon thinks that she's better than you and he's like what? Yeah, I think she thinks she's better than you Because she's got that big house and you've got this small house and Sun is I don't like my house and she's like okay But you do way more than Moon does.

[01:29:20] Moon just goes up there and chills You have to go up there every day and you have to make sure the crops grow and that people wake up on time And that things are happening

[01:29:36] Sun is like, you know what actually that's facts. I don't want to be treated like this anymore and the other thing about Sun that I forgot to mention is Sun is like Kind of wants to have big parties and he wants to like be really social, right? But he has this tiny house. So Eshoo is like guess what if you had a bigger house You could have more parties.

[01:29:59] You could [01:30:00] do more stuff. You could have more and he's like, that's true. He's like Actually, you know what? You should live in Moon's house, and Moon should live in your house. And he's like, you know what? Actually, that's true. So he's like, and she was like, this is what you should do. Go to Moon's house, and just go in there.

[01:30:19] Start setting up, start cooking. I'm inviting my friends over. Sun is like, bet? Okay. So he goes in there, and he's setting the table. He's getting ready. Now during this time, Moon is now coming down, because her shift is ending. So Moon gets there and as she was like, hey Moon, and she's like, hey stranger, what's up?

[01:30:41] It's you again. He's like, yeah, I just wanted to let you know that Sun broke into your house, and she's like,

[01:30:51] whaaat? Here goes Moon. She's in her house. She's stopping and she's like, what's going on? And Sun's like, what's going on is that I should have this house and she's like, but it's my house. He's like, I don't care. [01:31:00] So she's like, oh really? So you don't care? And he's like, yeah. And she's like, oh, so what are you going to do when you got to go back to work up in the sky?

[01:31:07] He's like, I'm not going. She's like, fine. I'm taking over your shift. I wanted to be there during the day anyway. So he's like, okay, fine, go. I'm not leaving your house because I'm not letting you back in this house. So he slams the door on Moon. Moon goes back up in the sky. This goes on for weeks. Okay, Moon, Sun is only up in the sky very short because he doesn't want Moon to go and take his house.

[01:31:29] Take, right? So Sun, It's going up there for maybe an hour or two, and Moon's up there most of the time. Now, because Moon doesn't know what it's actually like during the day, she's looking down, she's seeing that the humans are sleep deprived, because they're like, they're not waking up at the right time, and their like, cycle's all off, the crops are all soggy, they're not growing, people are angry now because they can't eat because there's no food the animals are all confused.

[01:31:59] The water is [01:32:00] everywhere because the tides are confused. She thinks this is normal human behavior. She has no idea. Sun is only up there for an hour or two, so the, he doesn't really know what's going on either. Finally the CEO, Olarun, calls every, calls in Eshu because she knows that this is his fault.

[01:32:19] He doesn't know how they don't know how, they don't know why, but they know that this is Eshu's fault. Olarun calls Eshu up. To the Sky Kingdom. And Older Rune is like, What the hell did you do? And at first he's like, Nothing. I don't know. Everybody is upset. And I am just watching it. And he's, Older Rune's like, Eshu, I'll give you one more time.

[01:32:42] Tell me what happened. So finally, he's like, fine. I was just joking. Once again, nobody gets to joke. I got Sun and Moon to hate each other. And like, it's not a big deal. Older Rune is like, actually it is a big deal, because the humans don't know what the fuck is going on, [01:33:00] and like, you're destroying everything.

[01:33:01] Older Rune is like, I'm calling Sun and Moon, Older Rune calls Sun and Moon, and they're like, okay, so what happened? And Sun is like, Moon is always talking shit about me. And Moon is like, you took my house, you broke into my house. And Older Rune is like, what? And so she explains what happened, what Eshu did.

[01:33:24] And Sun is like, what? And then, Older Rune also says, You guys have to fix yourselves, because the humans are freaking out. And Sun is like, What do you mean? And Older Rune starts explaining, Do you understand? Did you see all the crops are soggy? Did you see all the humans don't know when to go to bed? Did you see all the animals?

[01:33:41] And he's like, I didn't even notice, because I'm only up there for like an hour now. And Moon is like, I didn't even know that was a problem. I thought that's how humans acted all the time. And Sun is like, absolutely not! He's like, that's not how

[01:33:52] Ashley H: humans act!

[01:33:53] Ashley O: They're very productive. They don't do that. They don't sleep.

[01:33:56] They don't fight like that. So then Sun and Moon are [01:34:00] like, okay, actually, Sun is like, look, I just want you to be nicer to me. And Moon is like, that's fair. I could be nicer to you. And Moon is like, sometimes I'm a Debbie Downer and I'm sorry. And Sun's like, I'll be a little bit more chill. And Moon's like, I'll be a little bit nicer to you.

[01:34:17] And they hug and everything's fine. Yeah, they made up. But the story's not done, because Olorun's still mad. Olorun's like, Eshu, I don't know what I'm gonna do with you, but it's late. And they were like, let me figure it out. And Eshu's like, no. Let's go to bed. In the morning, clear heads will prevail.

[01:34:37] And Olorun's like, you're gonna try to trick me. And Eshu's like, absolutely not, Olorun. Just like, let's go to sleep, though. Because I'm so tired. We all, we made friends again with the Sun and the Moon. Let's go to bed. Fine all the rooms like okay, but don't piss me off. So they go to bed In the middle of the night as she was up because look [01:35:00] trickster classic trister doesn't want to get punished He's like, I know I did something wrong, but I actually don't want to deal with it.

[01:35:07] So Like I don't want any problem trouble. So she's like, what can we do? He's like, okay, I'm gonna Do something but hopefully nobody figures it out. Oh soon goes and takes Olarun's slippers to Olarun's garden. Olarun's garden is Olarun's favorite thing. Loves gardening. Mashes, like, puts the slippers everywhere.

[01:35:32] Olarun has big feet, so it's stamping all over the place with its slippers, takes Olarun's yams, and throws them off the side of the sky kingdom, so that Olarun won't be able to find them. In the morning, everybody wakes up, Olarun goes to their garden, and they flip out, because where the hell are all their yams, and why is everything a mess?

[01:35:53] Shango, Obatula, Ogun, they all come by and they're like, Oh shit, what happened [01:36:00] here? Uluruun is like, Eshu, what did you do? Eshu's like, but these are your footprints, not mine. What happened? I don't know, maybe you were sleepwalking. Uluruun is the god of all. You don't think that they know, they can't figure out what happened?

[01:36:16] So Olorun, oh, also Eshu's looking at Shango, like, aren't you guys going to defend me? No, they're not. They're not dumb. They're like, we're not in this fight. Don't bring us into it. So Eshu, Olorun looks at Eshu and is like, you know what? I see what your problem is. Your problem is that you don't have a purpose on earth.

[01:36:39] You're not doing anything. So you feel lost. And all of a sudden Eshu has a whole epiphany. He's like, you know what? Facts. I have nothing to do down there. I feel like I don't have a purpose. Ogun's got war and iron. Shango's got lightning. Obatala's got kindness and you create.

[01:36:58] What do I got? I got [01:37:00] nothing. So Olerun's like, no problem. This is what I'm going to do for you. Because I know you don't want to stay up here. That's no problem. You're going to be the only one who goes back and forth. And he's like, really? She's like, yes. You're going to be my messenger. I want you to go down every single day.

[01:37:17] And look at the humans, write your observations, and bring me a report. Every day. If they're praying for stuff, I want you to come tell me what they're praying for. I want you to tell me all the goings on. And you're gonna be the intermediary between me and the rest of the Orishas and the world. All of a sudden, Eshu was filled with a feeling he'd never had before.

[01:37:43] He was so filled with purpose. He's like, okay, this is my job because honestly, Eshu likes the humans. He messes with them all the time, but he likes them. So he's like, you know what? This is perfect for me. I can mess with the humans when I'm in the mood and when I'm not, I won't. [01:38:00] I'll just bring their, bring up their prayers like normal.

[01:38:03] But that's how Eshu became the keeper of the gate and the actual gate and the intermediary between the gods and people because he needed a job and he became employed. And that's why now you need to talk to him before you talk to anybody else. And that's the story of Eshu. One of the many stories.

[01:38:25] I

[01:38:25] Ashley H: definitely enjoyed that story and it just reminds me how we can hear the same story 20 different ways and they're good every single time.

[01:38:39] Ashley O: Exactly! I like that story, it made me like It was fun, but it also made me happy because I'm like, man, he really just didn't have a purpose and he found one. Is he still tricking people?

[01:38:49] Absolutely. Like, he didn't stop.

[01:38:53] Ashley H: In helping people to face to really look at the decisions they [01:39:00] have to make, is that tricking people. Cuz SU got a rap as being a trickster when the colonizers came in. Oh, he's trying to trick you He's not trying to trick you. He said you can do the right thing or the wrong thing The problem is you decided to do the wrong thing and think it was the right thing and now you feel like you got tricked You ain't get tricked.

[01:39:18] You just didn't want to do the right

[01:39:20] Ashley O: thing Exactly. That's true. That is

[01:39:22] Ashley H: very true As a practitioner, we learned that SU is never wrong. There's nothing SU ever does that's wrong. There's rationale and there's reason behind everything SU does. Even that time he decided to murk that whole family, it was a reason.

[01:39:39] It was a reason behind him murking that whole family. But that's the energy of SU. It's not, and I've learned this about the Orisha, the Patakis help us to understand, but we'll never really understand them.

[01:39:52] Ashley O: Oh, that makes sense, yeah. Okay that brings us to the end of the show. This has been so [01:40:00] freaking fun.

[01:40:01] Ashley, can you tell us where we can find you on the internet and all that good jazz? You

[01:40:08] Ashley H: can find me at theashayshop. com I spell ashay with the American spelling, A S H E theashayshop. com You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok Tik Tok Grids. I'm on pretty much every social media platform and you can find me at the same, The Ashae Shop.

[01:40:31] If you want to learn more about the Orishas, my favorite course to teach is Understanding the Orishas, which is available on demand. And I do offer, I will be offering another live. Understanding the Aresha course, look next month already here baby, it's September already. And we'll be offering another class in September.

[01:40:50] Ashley O: Okay, yay! This is awesome. So everyone, thank you so much Ashley for being here. And once again, if you don't know what you're listening to, this is Dine with the [01:41:00] Divine. And you can find us on Instagram, on Facebook. If you really like the show, it always helps if you give us a... Reading or a review on Apple podcast or Spotify and you can subscribe to whatever platform you listen to We're here every Thursday.

[01:41:15] And if you have any suggestions for episodes questions comments Please email me at dine with the divine pod at gmail. com. And if you want to follow me Ashley, I'm SankofaHS That's S A N K O F A H S and Sankofa Healing Sanctuary on Facebook thank you so much for being here Ashley. This is awesome And thank you all for listening, and I'll see you next week.

[01:41:37] Bye!