What is the Purpose of Life, and How is it Connected to the Orishas?
After Christmas, my husband and I stood by the door between the kitchen and the backyard, reflecting on the deeper meaning of the season amidst the seasonal chaos. He said, "We did it! Christmas checked!"
Just because there’s so much to manage in this season, with all the things we have to arrange and deal with at the same time alongside the consumerist spirit... Sorry, I mean Christmas spirit.
After it was all done, we were there, chilling by the door, when this thought came to my lips:
"So this is the purpose of life:"
We came here to develop and evolve by learning from the experiences, challenges, and blessings life provides, all with the ultimate goal of achieving happiness and fulfillment. This framework of family and personal growth offers strength, instills values, and carries traumas and ancestral entanglements—all bundled together as part of the experience of life on this planet. It is our personal homework.
No matter where or with whom you share this existence on the planet, challenges will ALWAYS be there. Whether it’s a child born into the top 1% of the wealthiest families or one of the millions living in poverty worldwide, challenges come to teach us how to live in a community and share this planet healthily.
And this fantastic language of the Orishas and the whole new dimension it brought to my life is what I want to share here.
It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact moment I first came into contact with Umbanda. It’s nestled somewhere within my family’s beliefs and upbringing, woven into the fabric of our cultural and spiritual path.
In Brazil during the 1980s, everyone was presumed to be Catholic. Nevertheless, there was always a neighbor, an aunt, or even a grandparent who could heal us from ailments that modern medicine couldn’t diagnose. There’s an intriguing term: “quebranto.” It is believed to affect mostly young babies, manifesting as symptoms like excessive crying, disturbing nightmares, insomnia, uneasiness, or general discomfort. Often understood as a spiritual or energetic imbalance, "quebranto" reflects a concept present in many cultures, where traditional healing practices address ailments beyond the scope of conventional medicine.
This is where the Benzedeiras (or Benzedores for men) come in! They would arrive, sometimes with an object in hand, sometimes with nothing at all, and whisper a few words—maybe a prayer. They might trace symbols in the air above or around the querent’s head. Out of the blue, the baby would feel better, ready to return to their life… until the next issue arose, of course.
It’s hard to say what came first into my life: Umbanda, Candomblé, Spiritism, or perhaps all of them together, intertwined in a way that reflects the rich spiritual patchwork quilt of Brazil. Each tradition seems to have contributed a thread to my understanding of spirituality, shaping my journey in unique and profound ways.
At the time, I was too caught up in Hollywood-inspired notions of ghosts and too conditioned by skepticism to embrace this "kind of thing." But this journey has transformed my life into a fantastic path of self-discovery, braided with spirituality and a deep appreciation for this epic event called LIFE.
It has reconnected me with all my bodies—physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional. Through compassionate understanding, it has healed my relationships with my core framework.
But the very first time I experienced this spiritual medicine, my most vivid remembrance is the feeling of gratitude that bathed my whole being. I had been so lost in my challenges that I had never truly experienced GRATITUDE—for being alive, for being in touch with something so transformative.
My idea here is to bring Orisha science as a practical language, enabling us to interact with life through nature and ancient knowledge. This beautiful framework provides tools such as rituals, meditations, and symbolic interpretations to guide personal growth and foster our evolution on this planet. I hope to share this self-study with as many people as possible.
My dream is to see 8 billion people understanding their presence on this planet in a meaningful way. My mission is to bring people to the study of spiritual autonomy alongside community life by offering tools, insights, and practices rooted in ancient wisdom. Through workshops, discussions, and shared experiences, I aim to inspire values such as love, compassion, humility, and patience, integrating them into daily life as practical steps toward a more harmonious existence. These values—love, compassion, confidence, humility, generosity, honesty, kindness, temperance, patience, and diligence—can become gifts we share in our everyday lives, precious jewels that light the way for a better world.