What Our Choices Reflect

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Tower; from the Diloggun Cards, Nine Mouths (Osa):

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. —Nelson Mandela

The Tarot Lukumi takes a different approach on this card than the RWS. Rather than living in an ivory tower, it shows slaves being freed from captivity by Chango (the Orisha of thunder and justice) along with other Orishas. This card heavily emphasizes the breaking of mental, physical and spiritual chains that hold us. It may be that we've made unskillful choices, allowed others to make our choices, or didn't choose at all. Sometimes, as Mandela points out, we let our fear or anger make decisions. Whatever the cause, the result is that we find ourselves with a choke collar and leash around our necks. Both the ethic and proverb for Osa (Nine Mouths) is worth reflecting on:

Ifa: One must cease leading themselves to misfortune. One must cease bringing harm upon themselves.

Proverb: Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

We have an opportunity to escape that collar and leash by making some new decisions and acting on them.

Accepting Help

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Queen of Coins; from the Diloggun Cards, Osa (nine mouths):

But then it occurred to him that any progress he had made on his quest so far, he had made by accepting the help that had been offered to him. – Neil Gaiman

We'd all like to have a little more stability and financial security for when life pulls the rug out from under our feet. Yet some of our ideas - like playing the lottery - will be unlikely to help. Oshun is an orisha associated with love, fertility, wealthy and prosperity. She was the only female primordial spirit sent with Shango to create the world, but the other male spirits excluded her. When their attempt failed, Shango forced them to respect her, as she was essential to creating not only the world, but all the life on it. Osa (nine mouths) also warns that rigidly following our own narrow ideas is not profitable:

Ifa: One must cease leading themselves to misfortune. One must cease bringing harm upon themselves.

Proverb: Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

Wise friends can help us see where we slip and how we sabotage ourselves. It's in our best interest to sincerely listen and heed their advice. 

Return of Sanity

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Four of Swords; from the Diloggun Oracle, Osa (nine mouths):

When Oggun was a human, he killed subjects who failed to show him respect (note the heads on the wrong end of the bodies that are attached to the trees). Yet he also killed himself with his own sword. As an Orisha, Oggun cleared a pathway from heaven to earth, promising to protect and defend his people. Did he take time to reflect on his actions and realize he had been impulsive in his anger? The sayings of Osa suggest this would be wise:

Ifa: One must cease leading themselves to misfortune. One must cease bringing harm upon themselves.

Proverb: Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

Sanity returns when we realize it's useless to continue to do the same thing and expect different or better results than we've previously gotten.

Look Where You Slipped

From the Lukumi Tarot, the Queen of Wands; from the Diloggun, Osa (nine mouths):

          This Queen is represented by Oya, Orisha of Wind and Tempests. She believes in blowing down old, dead wood to make way for new growth. The Queen of Wands has the passion and charisma to make great changes, yet she must be wary that her agenda doesn't become so aggressive that she ends up 'salting the earth.' Nothing thrives in that kind of environment. The ethic and proverb for Osa reads:

Ifa: One must cease leading themselves to misfortune. One must cease bringing harm upon themselves.

Proverb: Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

If this Queen does find the people she serves less than willing or stubborn, she must not automatically assume they are lazy or ignorant. If she looks at her behavior, she might find that she didn't listen to anyone else's ideas about the changes she wanted. And while her big stick might force someone to do her bidding, she might find it creates more upheaval and chaos than for which she bargained.