For the love of Richard

The client was a young woman about 35 years of age. It was her first visit to my office, and her first visit ever to a Babalawo. She had been referred by a friend of hers who found this unusual approach to insoluble problems valuable. Like all first time visitors, she sat slightly forward on her chair, a mixture of anticipation and nervousness emanating from her.

She had come to see me for the same reasons many woman come.failed, or non-existent - relationships. She would leave thunderstruck by the genuine reason responsible for the situation.

Almost 40 years ago, when my oldest daughter was a baby, I became friends with her pediatrician. It is a friendship that has lasted four decades. In part this is based on a genuine wisdom that transcended his medical training. One thing he pointed out to me when, as a young twenty year old father, I asked him about the problems he faced each day in his practice, has always stuck with me. "Phil, " he replied, " being a Pediatrician is a funny profession. 98% of the time our job is to reassure the parents and make sure we do no harm while allowing the child to get better by themselves. The trick is to never forget the 2% of the time where the child is really ill, where some immediate, and sometimes heroic, intervention will be necessary to help them. You can't afford to be complacent. You must always be vigilant for that 2%"

Years later, when I became a Babalawo, I remembered his advice. In our profession , 98% of the individuals we see, face energy imbalances that are relatively easily corrected. Even serious health, legal, emotional or monetary issues can usually be addressed and remedied through ebbo. Even though a disproportionate amount of people would like to believe a "spell" or " evil energy" had been directed at them, the truth is that for those 98%, the imbalance is usually self-created. 2% of the time it's more. It turned out to be more for this young lady.

Her readings was strange, and it lead me to quickly see that the energy of a departed individual, or individuals, was interfering with her ability to create and sustain relationships.

" Has anyone close to you died recently?," I asked.

"No,", came her reply.

" No relative, friend, business associate or anything like that,?" I pressed on.

"No."

I cast a few more times., but each and every avenue led me to the same conclusion: Here was an individual that clearly fell in that 2% category.but apparently hadn't a clue about it.

Frustrated, and somewhat desperate, I asked: " look, maybe it isn't recent, maybe it happened a while ago. Is there anyone close to you that died?"

She paused, reflected, and then proceeded to unveil the following tale:

" Well, when I was in College, that's almost 16 years ago, I was in love with a man and we were engaged to be married. One afternoon, in the Spring semester, he went sky diving. I was back on campus at the time, but do remember that I was suddenly seized with a sadness and terror.and I just 'knew' something had happened to him. A few hours later I found out he had died when his parachute failed to open. But, that's so long ago, and I did get over it"

Two quick casts showed me that far from "getting over it," that this young lady was still literally attached to the energy of her departed fiancé.

"Look," I began, " I know this will sound a little strange to a rational Westerner.it actually always sounds a little strange to me.but the truth is that the energy of your fiancé, as he was plunging to his death, reached out to the thing he loved most.you. You, in turn, have clung to, and kept the energy attached to your energy, for the last 16 years. I'm not talking West Coast psychobabble, I am speaking about literal Truth. Our ase', or eternal energy, does not die when our body dies. It goes on to be reborn in our blood line. But, once in a great while, the energy gets trapped here, and in order to free it, and the person it is affecting, a certain cleansing ceremony must be performed. Are you willing to go through this?"

She agreed. I told her she would need to come to my office dressed in some old clothes which would be discarded after the ceremony.

"That's no problem," she replied, I will wear one of Richard's shirts that I have in my closet."

"You mean you have kept the clothing of your deceased fiancé in your closet for 16 years?"

" Well, yes," she replied.

" I'm glad you had gotten over it," I somewhat sarcastically replied.

Three days later I performed the ceremony. Among many things, the basis of the ceremony is to pass a live roster over the body of the individual affected. If the ceremony is appropriate, and successful, the rooster, without ay help from the Babalawo, should die as a result of being overloaded with the energy that is being removed. Once this happens, the rooster, and the energy it contains, is carefully buried. The energy is allowed.finally, to go on its' way. The individual, is finally free to go on theirs as well.

The ceremony was a success. The rooster died. The young woman was finally able to really live. 18 months later she was married.

You have to be alert for the 2%

Blessings,

Oluwo Philip Neimark

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