The Diloggun: The Orishas, Proverbs, Sacrifices, and Prohibitions of Cuban Santeria »

Author of The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination, Ócha'ni Lele has been immersed in the underground culture of Orisha worship since 1989. By 1995 he had received several initiations in both Santeria and the Congo faith Palo Mayombe and in 2000 he made Ocha and was crowned a Santeria priest. He lives in Florida.

The first book on Santería’s holiest divination system to thoroughly explore each family of odu and how their actions and reactions affect the spiritual development of the client.

• Includes the major considerations for sacrifice, providing the diviner with ways to placate and supplicate the Afro-Cuban deities known as orishas.

• Demonstrates how to properly end a reading so that negative vibrations are fully removed from the diviner's home.

• Provides a thoroughly detailed description of each of the 12 families of odu that exist in the diloggun--from Okana through Ejila Shebora.

The diloggun is more than a tool of divination. It is a powerful transformational process, and the forces that are set in motion when it is cast determine the future evolution of the adherent. The Diloggun is the first book to explore this Afro-Cuban oracle from the perspective of diaspora orisha worship. It is also the first book to explore the lore surrounding this mysterious oracle, which is the living Bible of one of the world's fastest growing faiths.

The twelve families of odu that are available to the diviner include 192 omo odu, the children of the odu, and each of these patterns or letters has its own proverbs, meanings, prohibitions, and sacrifices. Ócha'ni Lele provides the secret but essential information that the adept diviner needs to know to ensure that every element affecting a client's spiritual development is taken into consideration during a reading. His book is also the first to detail how to properly end a session so that negative vibrations are absorbed by the orishas and fully removed from the diviner's home. For those seeking the wisdom of ancient Africa, The Diloggun is an indispensable guide to the mysteries of the orishas.

Ócha'ni Lele has been immersed in the underground culture of orisha worship since 1989. He made Ocha in 2000 and was crowned a priest of Oya. His other books include The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination and Obi: Oracle of Cuban Santeria. He lives in Florida.

Library Journal

In the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, diviners cast the diloggun (cowrie shells) in order to discern the moods and attitudes of the orishas (spirit deities) toward the devotee and to advise the devotee on how to honor them and enter into their good graces. The present work is an expanded edition of Lele's 2000 work, The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination. Here, Lele offers more complete lists of the traditional proverbs associated with each possible casting, as well as extended expositions of each casting's significance. New to this edition are recipes for offerings to placate the orishas. On the whole, the expanded readings give a clearer sense of how the spirits interact with human life and make their concerns known. Nonetheless, the sacred legends (patak s), an important source of knowledge about the lives and characters of the deities, are still not included. This book will replace its earlier edition for Santeria devotees, but others will find the detail and vocabulary daunting. For larger public and academic libraries and special collections in religion and Caribbean culture.-Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Contents
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LUCUMÍ RELIGION
ONE MANIPULATING THE DILOGGÚN, THE ORACLE OF THE ORISHAS
TWO THE FAMILY OF OKANA
THREE THE FAMILY OF EJI OKO
FOUR THE FAMILY OF OGUNDÁ
FIVE THE FAMILY OF IROSUN
SIX THE FAMILY OF OCHÉ
SEVEN THE FAMILY OF OBARA
EIGHT THE FAMILY OF ODÍ
NINE THE FAMILY OF EJI OGBE
TEN THE FAMILY OF OSÁ
ELEVEN THE FAMILY OF OFÚN
TWELVE THE FAMILY OF OWANI
THIRTEEN THE FAMILY OF EJILA SHEBORA
APPENDIX: THE ODU BEYOND EJILA SHEBORA
GLOSSARY
SUGGESTED READING
INDEX