CHAPTER 1
Ossain: The Doctor of Body & Soul in African Magic
A
frican religious beliefs and practices, established for many years in Brazil under various forms of expression, are based on the spirits known as Orishas—forces of nature that concentrate and represent in themselves everything that makes up the Universe. Each Orisha has its field of action, its characteristic elements, its representative form, and its correct ways to be praised and given offerings—or, better said, gifts. Ossain—known in Afro-Caribbean traditions as Agwe—is the Orisha responsible for all existing leaves, fruits, and vegetables. He is the great healer and sorcerer of the African pantheon, showing even then the intrinsic relationship between medicine and magic. Of all the Orishas, he is the one who knows the deepest secrets of plants and how to use them correctly for one purpose or another; after all, even the strongest of poisons can, in the right dosage, serve as a cure. From a magical point of view, every malaise, physical or spiritual, is considered a disease, and it is therefore necessary to find healing through magical rituals called ebós. Thus, we must turn to Ossain whenever we wish to use plants and their parts in the composition of magical works, asking him for authorization for the ritual and calling on him to allow that element’s magical power to be activated and achieve its objective. A traditional African itan—the name given to the legends and myths of the Orishas—explains how even though every Orisha rules his or her own plants, all of the plants belong to Ossain: 9
