Case 9: Tom's girlfriend brought him for a Guardian reading

Because his girlfriend was a friend, as well as a client, we had spent a number of social evenings with them both. Tom was almost a page out of the past. He was polite, almost to a fault. There was never a door he didn't hold open, a cigarette he didn't offer to light, and an emptied coffee cup he didn't walk over to your sink and rinse out. His language and conversation were equally refined. He would always comment on how well someone looked, how attractive the new shoes, dress or hairdo appeared. And, when the going got a little rough ( as it did with his lady friend who was Tom's opposite- brash, aggressive and a propensity for drinking a tad too much ) he would always take the conciliatory path, avoiding confrontation.

So, when I sat across from him doing his Guardian Reading, it took all my trust in the absolute precision of Divination, to accept that this well mannered, refined, polite, soft spoken man, was a child of Ogun!

He found it hard to believe as well.

Where were the traits of aggression, anger, singleness of purpose?

"Look," I began, " the one thing I know for sure is the readings are never wrong. So let's look at how you ended up acting like the perfectly behaved Obatala rather than the forceful, dynamic, aggressive Ogun."

At first, he demurred. But, I wasn't about to let it go.

"As a child," I asked, " didn't you ever feel great anger?" Tom paused, reflected, looking back into chapters long closed in his own psyche, before answering.

"Well, yes. I was a rebellious little kid. I couldn't stand discipline or orders from my parents. But coming from an educated, upper class home, my Dad wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior."

"So," I pressed on, " what did he do?"

"He beat it out of me," Tom responded, in the same tone one might use to comment on lovely weather or a good book just read.

"And, when this was going on, how did you feel?"

"I felt like killing him."

Tom's disassociation with his primary orisa energy is actually quite typical. Particularly in those energies that are not as well accepted in our culture. If you're Mike Tyson, growing up in a neighborhood that requires physical domination to survive, the Ogun trait might serve you well. But, as the child of upper class, socially connected, Wasp parents, it won't work at all.

So, Tom learned to repress his natural energy, and behave in a more "acceptable" manner.

"So what," you might ask.

Well, the results for Tom, as for a host of Oya, Ogun or Esu women who have been socialized into acting like Osun's, the results are never good! In Tom's case it had resulted in a failed marriage, a Bankruptcy, a drinking problem that took him to AA, and a lifelong inability to really succeed in business or relationships. Sure, he could act like Obatala, but he couldn't BE Obatala. So the energy he chose, at conception, in order to effectively fulfill his Destiny during this lifetime, had been put in storage and replaced by one he was neither effective nor comfortable with.

So many people call or come to me for Guardian readings convinced they know who their Guardian is. Sometimes they are right. Often they are not. And, when they are not, it is a potentially cataclysmic mistake with dire results for their long term health, relationships and success.

The power and beauty of the Ifa philosophy is that it insures we can find our direction. We can identify and work with our chosen orisa energy. We can determine and walk our Path.

Blessings!...
Philip Neimark
Oluwo