Chapter 5: Magical Aspects for Creating Baths & Fumigations

CHAPTER 1

Ossain: The Doctor of Body & Soul in African Magic

African 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:

Ossain used to keep his leaves in a gourd and didn’t teach anyone his secrets. The Orishas, when they wanted a leaf, had to ask him. Oshossi, then, complained to Oya that whenever he needed a leaf he had to beg Ossain. Oya, feeling sorry for him, said she would do something and started to shake her skirts, making a gale. The wind knocked over Ossain’s gourd, making the leaves scatter everywhere. Then, the Orishas ran to get the leaves, and each one of them took their own.8

It is important to highlight, however, that even though each Orisha picked up his or her leaves and took possession of them, none of them knew the correct way to enchant them and activate their power. Oya’s winds scattered the leaves over the earth, but all of them remained dormant. How to awaken them is Ossain’s great secret, as is the use of plants in magical rituals— and this secret, he doesn’t give it away to anyone. Another itan of Ossain’s tells us how Ossain and Orunmila, the god of wisdom, became close:

When Orunmila came into the world, he asked for a slave to plow his field; one was bought in the market: it was Ossain. When it was time to begin his work, Ossain realized that he was going to cut the herb that would cure the fever. And then he shouted: “It is impossible to cut this herb, as it is very useful.” The second one cured headaches. He also refused to destroy it. The third treated colic. “Indeed,” he said, “I can’t pull out such necessary herbs.” Orunmila, learning of his slave’s conduct, expressed a desire to see these herbs, which he then refused to have cut and which were deemed of great value, as they

8. Barros, A Floresta Sagrada de Ossain.

contributed to keeping the body in good health. He then decided that Ossain should stay close to him to explain the virtues of plants, leaves, and herbs, keeping him always by his side at the time of consultations.9

For this reason, to this day it is necessary to praise Ossain before performing any Orisha herbal rituals and, through the correct incantations, to awaken the plants so that they have ashé—the magical force for them to fulfill the wishes and objectives of those who manipulate them. This story is also important because it emphasizes Ossain’s playful and mischievous character, very similar to Orisha Eshu: even after having lost absolute dominion over the leaves to other Orishas, he still remained indispensable, because he was the only one who knew the magic that they carry within them.

9. Pierre Fatumbi Verger, Orishas: Deuses Iorubas na África e no Novo

Mundo, 6th ed., trans. Cida Nóbrega (Salvador: Corrupio, 2002), 123. Translated from the Portuguese.

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Diego de Oxóssi is a priest of Kimbanda and Babalosha of Candomblé. For more than twenty years, he has been researching and presenting courses, lectures, and workshops on Pagan and African-Brazilian religions.

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