Being Crowned Is Destiny | My $35,000 Santería Crowning and Itá

00:00I have a story for you today. It's going to include talking about getting crowned, and crowning is destiny. Everybody who has been crowned, they know that their crowning was divine timing. It didn't happen by happenstance or chance. It didn't happen because somebody tripped and fell and made a mistake. Crowning is not a mistake. It's never a mistake. It doesn't matter if you have bad godparents, people who led you the wrong way, overcharged you, tricked you, manipulated you. You know, people have very bad experiences, and it's usually because, or due to people, not due to the Orisha. And the Orisha guide and come for you when you need them the most. And we find our way into Santeria, not by chance, but by divine intervention and destiny. I'm going to tell you today about my journey into Santeria, and my relationship with Orisha, and how it spawned and how it came to be. This is very personal to me, but I

00:01know will help a lot of people moving forward in their journey, their religious and spiritual enlightenment. Divine timing is not our timing. We want everything done today, now, yesterday. Why didn't it happen yet? Five years later, why didn't it happen yet? And it's not supposed to happen until the time is supposed to happen. Backtrack a little bit. I learned about Ochun. I did a candle. It showed my little daughter on the candle with the AD behind her. That was the last video that I talked about my experience learning about the Orisha. A little summary. After my initial experiences with Orisha, I purchased the statues, one of Chango, one of Ochun. They're still very dear to me. I have them, and I used to pray to them and treat them as if they were the deities a little bit. But I knew it wasn't the statues necessarily. It was the energy the statue was representing. We start off with statues. At the end of the day, Ochun, Santeria,

00:02Orisha is shells and stones. All the glamorous crowns, and fabrics, and crystals, and beads, and ceremonies. At the end of the day, it's shells and stones. But in the beginning, it's statues. I prayed for Ochun and Chango to accept me into Santeria because I thought that you had to be chosen. I thought that only the best of us, the very special people, get chosen to be crowned. So I begged. I said, please accept me. I'll represent you with honor, integrity. This would be a great blessing for me and an honor, a privilege. Please accept me. They did. They did accept me. A lot of people get crowned. Maybe there was a crowning mill, and people get crowned. As long as you have a certain amount of money, you could get crowned. For whatever reason, people get crowned in different ways. Regardless of the way that you got crowned or somebody else got crowned, it's destiny. It's always destiny. It's meant to be. There's no tricks.

00:03There's no deceitfulness from the Orisha. It's only through people that's trickery. If you had a bad godparent, you had a bad experience, and you broke up with your godparent, or you spent too much money, or you got tricked into buying this next Orisha, and then you spent triple the money that you should have, or whatever it is. You had a falling out, disagreement, argument. Whatever happened, everything happens for a reason. When you got crowned, when you received that Orisha, everything that happened was the way it was supposed to happen. It makes sense in hindsight. While we're going through it, it's painful. It's challenging. It's concerning. Why is this happening to me? Why do I feel this way? Why did you let this happen to me? That person took advantage of me. I'm a good person. Why did you let that happen to me? Everything makes sense in hindsight. We all go through it, because at the end of the day, like I said, when I first learned about Orisha, I thought to myself, wow, people are crowned. That's divinity. That's amazing. I wish that would happen to me. And then you meet people who are crowned,

00:04and you realize after a while, first you give them this aura, like, oh my god, that's amazing. You're crowned. Orisha chose you. Child of Ho-Chun, child of Chang-O, child of Ila-Gua. But then you realize that the people themselves are flawed, and they're not Orisha. Just because you get crowned by an Orisha doesn't make you an Orisha. We're children of Orisha, but we still have the human flaws. We don't change into divinity and greater-than -thou and spiritual evolution overnight. It takes time, it takes learning, it takes dedication, it takes commitment. What I've learned is, just because a person is crowned doesn't mean that they're the best person in the world. And what happens is, Orisha comes to save those who need them the most. And so they're not crowning the best of us. They're coming to save sometimes the worst of us, the people with the most flaws, the people who have been hurt and traumatized by

00:05life, people who have been cursed at birth, like myself, people who are in difficult situations, in poverty, have been taken advantage, have been manipulated, have been ridiculed by society. And then Orisha comes, and they always understand that that's what makes them so divine. That's what makes them so special. They love us unconditionally, and they come to save those people. And that's why, when you have people that are crowned, they're not necessarily the best people, because they've been through the worst. Now that they're lifted and elevated and given a little bit of power and capacity, it's not always the good parts of them that come out. I'm not saying all people are bad, or they don't learn to be good, or they don't heal, because we all heal, we all get better, but we still all have our faults. And everybody does things for different reasons, and sometimes power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts ultimately. So when being crowned and having Orisha have

00:06your back and protect you, and then giving you a capacity to help others and lift others and be their godparent, you know, essentially become a parent of somebody, you know, spiritually. So there's a lot of power in that. And people who never had power before, that can get intoxicating, and people can take advantage of it incorrectly. And everybody gets judged for their choices in this life. So it's really important to pay attention to those choices, because people don't get punished today, but they do get punished eventually, one way or the other. So we have to be very careful in the choices that we make. Never take advantage of other people, even though people take niceness as a sign of weakness. Maintain your kindness, you know, because we have a greater power always watching over us, judging us, analyzing us. So be cognizant of that, and it will always lead you down the right path, because people might take advantage of you, but Orisha will always find a way to make it even, to bring balance back into your life. Always give you abundance and blessings when you deserve it. I know that firsthand because it's happened to

00:07me. I'm a very nice person. People love to take advantage. They try to take niceness as a sign of weakness, and there's no weakness, but I still prefer to be kind. And whenever I have somebody that takes advantage, and I end up on the losing end, I always end up winning. So I'm not concerned about maintaining kindness. I notice a lot of people who don't maintain kindness and try to take advantage of people, they might get ahead quickly in that race, but the car sputters out and ends up seizing in the engine, not doing too well. Don't let that be you. Back to the story. So I wanted to get crowned so much, and I begged, I pleaded, and then a lady, I won't name names, but she became my godmother. Long story short, I'm marked for Ogun, there was no doubt about it, and the crowning ceremony was $28,000. I didn't know anything from anything. I didn't know anything about anything. I didn't know about Etad, I didn't know anything. I just read a little bit about the different Orishas, and I just knew instantly that Ogun was me, like that's my personality. It just matched, and all the other Orishas

00:08didn't really match like that. Anyway, the Oba came, threw the shells, and I was marked for Ogun instantly. There was no doubt about it, and that's just the way that is. Wanted to get crowned, she tells me it's $28,000. Later on I learned it's about $15,000 to get crowned a warrior, so almost double. With everything included that I paid, it was like $35,000. So I didn't have $5, to be honest. I didn't have any money. But I wanted to get crowned. Long story short, I might tell it in the next story, but I could tell you exactly how the $35,000 came to me, almost exactly the cost for my crowning. And I had a choice to make when I received that money. I could have spent it, I could have used it, I could have bought a new car, we could have went on vacations, we could have paid down the mortgage, but I didn't, and I used it all for crowning. And that's also a choice that gets taken into consideration and judged by Orisha. Anyway, I'll tell that at the end of this. So I meet with Ababalau, and Ababalau gives me a reading, and he's like, well, can't get any worse than this. Basically I'm cursed, and I have to do

00:09Peraltos, which is basically exorcism. I had to do several of those. I have very bad malignant energies or entities on me. I went through a really big transformation, not easy, very difficult, actually. And I just knew I wanted to be crowned. And so Ababalau tells me, no, this lady's overcharging you, don't do it, let me speak to her. He had a conversation with her. He tells me, don't do it, you need to start all the way from the beginning. And something in my brain said, start from the beginning. I already had Alekis, I had my warriors, and I was all ready to get crowned. And something inside me just knew to get crowned now. And I didn't want to wait, but I took his, you know, he's 20-something years in the religion, Ababalau, very respected, knowledgeable. And people around him were also telling me not to do it. Something inside me was telling me to do it, but I knew that I was being overcharged. So I had to make a decision. I was at a crossroads. And one day I'm sitting with somebody who

00:10ends up actually getting mounted by a spirit. And it was the spirit of Obatala. It wasn't Obatala necessarily, but it was this old spirit, male spirit. And I was telling the story about the crossroads that I'm at. And the spirit said, when spirit speaks, they don't speak a lot. And when they speak, it's profound. That's how you know it's a real spirit. If they say a few words, and it means a book, that's divine energy, that's wisdom, that's knowledge, that's ancient knowledge. And it happened several times with, you know, from my experiences. And then there's other times when they babble, or don't say certain things, or they try to get to what you're trying to, and that's somebody just faking it. But this time it wasn't a fake. And I know the person too very well, and there's no faking with that. So anyway, the spirit said, just do it. And then he went on to say, and make me coconut rice and don't be stingy. And I was like, wow, that was interesting. And it felt real. So I took that very seriously. And I used to do coconut rice for

00:11my statue of Obatala. And so I guess it wasn't enough at times. And the next day, I made a big bowl of coconut rice, and I placed it in front of my Obatala statue that I still have. And I made the decision to get crowned. So like I say, crowning is destiny. So I get crowned, speed it up. The lady crowning me told the Oba that I was very, very sick, and that's the reason why I was getting crowned. And it was a no-frills type ceremony, even though I was being charged double. They did things wrong, you know, like I didn't even have a drum for my crowning. Went to the river, and she did things a little differently because she's telling me, oh, they want to curse the ceremony. We have to do things a little differently. We end up doing Ita on the same day as the river. We go through all the ceremony, everything needs to be done. Everybody who's crowned knows what that all is. And then I sit down at Ita, and I don't mind sharing my Ita because it's really, really good. So when I sat down with El, I didn't know anything about Ita, by the way. I didn't know anything. And the Oba is sitting there, I'm sitting there, and my godmother is behind me.

00:12And he starts off with Alaguas. And Alaguas, seven-five, Idaerico yale, perfect blessing. Innocent for lack of proof. You know, also, but they didn't tell me any of this. Actually, they spoke in Spanish. And I could speak a little bit of Spanish. I know a little bit of Spanish, but definitely not fluent in it. About 10 years of school, and I still don't learn Spanish. So it's one of my weak areas, language. My wife speaks fluent Spanish and, you know, half Puerto Rican, but language is not my strength at all. It's actually my biggest weakness. But anyway, so they were speaking Spanish, so I couldn't understand. They didn't really tell me much. And the things that are written in my Ita, some of it even cursing and stuff. So it wasn't very good. Later on, I studied. I know now what seven-five is. Long story short, it's innocent for lack of proof. So your forgiveness and whatever it is that you're forgiving for, don't ever do it again because you'll be judged more harshly next time. And then also you're surrounded by parasites or even have a parasite, which I actually did have a parasite at that time. Never told about it though. Long story short, take ivermectin, it gets rid of parasites.

00:13So surrounded by parasites also. So that was fascinating. Anyway, he speaks in Spanish, says a lot. I get told some of it and then moves on. Next is Ochoci. Ochoci comes after a ligua when you crown the warrior, you receive Ochoci. And then Ochoci said, seven-five. Idea requiele. The same exact reading that a ligua gave. Innocent for lack of proof. If you know, Ochoci is judgment and he's the law. So it means a lot for him to say that. Anyway, they were stunned. They didn't know what to say. They were like, we just said everything in the first one. I don't understand. Why is this coming again? My godmother who had Ochoci, it's the reason why I really wanted to get crowned by her because she had a spiritual gift. She had Egun. She had Ochoci. She was excellent. Might've been a little bit of a trickster, but she was very, very talented when it came to Ita and readings and the Diligun.

00:14She banged her hand on, I think, the floor and she said, Ogun is going to give you a son and he's going to play ball with you. And at the time, we already had four girls and a boy and my wife wasn't going to have any more children. She actually had an IUD. So after all the Ita and everything, I told her what was said and she's like, wait, I don't understand. What do you mean you're going to have another child? I'm not going to have another child. You know, we have already too many children. Are you going to be cheating on me? Like she started getting a little nervous about that. So anyway, months go by and she ended up getting a very large cyst in her uterus. So they had to take the IUD out. And then a couple of days later, the cyst went away. Miraculously, we did a little cleaning and the cyst went away. We all know how that works. And then a little while later, she got pregnant. And then we had a son and his name is Ares, named after Ogun, born on

00:15the Harvest Moon, which is Ogun's moon. And yeah, he was born very healthy and perfect. Actually, very perfect. So perfect. I did actually a belly rugation when my wife was pregnant as a Yawo. And he was the Ache that I had. And yeah, he's very special. And then it turns out that he was marked for Ogun. Ogun claimed him and he got crowned Ogun when he was two years old. And a little while later, well, not much later, he was always been very, very smart. He taught himself how to read when he was three. He memorized the periodic table when he was four. And what I mean, memorized the periodic table, meaning he taught himself the periodic table. He can pronounce all the elements and he has them memorized. You can ask him without an open book or anything, and he can recite any which

00:16one of the periodic table elements just by the number. Or if you say copper, he could tell you exactly what that is. When he was four, he memorized all the countries in the world. And he's just phenomenal. He's very, very, very intelligent. And his gift is learning. He has the ability to learn anything. And that's the blessing of Arisha. It's the blessing of Arisha. And that's why when you get crowned, it's your destiny. That moment in time, if I didn't get crowned at that moment, it's most likely he wouldn't exist. And that's why trust your intuition and go with, you know, don't listen to what other people say and trust your instinct and do what you feel is right. And let your conscience and your intuition guide

00:17you. And when you got crowned in the past, it might not have actualized yet for you. Maybe there's zebble to be made. Don't miss on your ebble. Follow your eta. Do what you're supposed to do. Arisha tells you exactly what you need to do to be successful. If you decide not to listen, that's your choice. But don't complain when you're not successful. You know, don't complain that Arisha did it or somebody messed you up if you're not doing what the work that you've been told to do. Arisha gives very specific advice. And it might seem simple or nonsensical. Why am I putting a fruit on my head? Or why am I putting my face in the river? Or whatever it is that you told to do, some abstract thing of wear a knapsack or whatever it is, I don't even know, you know, rub this plant on your on your face, whatever it is, do it.

00:18If Arisha tells you to do it, do it. It doesn't make sense in the physical world sometimes, but in the spiritual world, it makes a lot of sense. And divine timing, divine intuition, divine knowledge is beyond our capacity to understand. We just have to have faith and trust that Arisha guides us in the right way. And people who know Arisha, people who have been crowned, they will tell you, Arisha never led me in the wrong direction. And I've heard that so many times without prompts, without asking. Everybody who sits down at an etah, they all cry. Because Arisha always speaks divinely, and they know exactly who that person is and exactly what they need to hear. I have so many stories to share. That's why I'm sharing these stories one at a time. And I did promise that I would talk about how I got the $35,000. So my godmother, she was very talented, and I used to go to her every week to get a reading, because I want to know, oh my god, I was so invested. This is amazing. You could throw these shells down, they could

00:19tell me what's going on. I need to know, I need to know. And she tells me, you know, that the crowning is, you know, $28,000, plus you got to buy sopetas and everything. Okay, I don't have $1,000, I don't have $100 for it. So she tells me, you're going to go to on your birthday, you're going to light all these candles, you're going to bang on your you're going to speak to and you're going to say, oh yeah, please bring me the money, bring me the money to be crowned, I will use it to get crowned. Bring me the money to be crowned, I'll use it to be crowned. Now, when you pray at the Boveda, it's the dead, right? It's your ego. So I don't know if it was a week later, but make it make sense. Maybe about a week later, I get a letter in the mail, and it says, because my parents were disabled, my mother was disabled when I was six months old, and that's why we never had any money or nothing. And it said, Social Security Disability didn't pay your mom a certain amount of money over

00:20the time period that she had you, so we have a refund that's due to you. And it was $35,000. Yeah. And that's what happened. The dead people, my parents were dead at that time, they're dead. And the dead delivered to a centenarian, the money came to me and I got crowned. And that's how I got crowned Ogun. And Ares was born. So, hope this makes sense for you, I hope it's helping people. You know, I think more people need to share their intimate stories with Aresha in the public. Don't be ashamed, don't be afraid. This is not a dirty religion, this is not a low-life religion, this is not a demonic religion, this is actually a blessed religion of highly divine intermediaries who act on behalf of God, Olodumare, whichever name you want

00:21to give, and they're real, and they make miracles happen. And I'm blessed to be able to share their message with you. Thank you for watching, and come back next time, let's talk more. Well, like and subscribe too, darn it.