His Own Petard

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Hanged Man; from the Diloggun Cards, Obara (six mouths):

For ’tis the sport to have the engineer

Hoist with his own petard;

—William Shakespeare (Hamlet)

The fourth king of Oya attempted to bring his divided kingdom together with sorcery but ended up burning everything to a crisp. Oba-kosa ("he sits on the flashes of lightning which are thrown") then hung himself. But his people liked the king in spite of his mistake and prayed for his return. He did in the form of Chango, the orisha of passion, fire, thunder and lightning. We might have to hang in limbo awhile, but people usually do forget our mistakes, especially if no harm was intended. The ifa and proverb of Obara (six mouths) read:

Ifa: One must be uplifted from poverty-stricken acceptance and state of mind. There is no virtue in being in poverty. Be industrious and accomplish your desires.

Proverb: Do not let what you cannot do tear from your hands what you can.

Self-pity and clinging to the hope that history will somehow change won't help anything. Instead, we can learn from our past missteps, making restitution and amends for any harm done while making more mindful choices.