Can't You Start With Just One?

No.

I need OrishaBeads88 because I am a spiritual beader, and I need thegoblinmarket1888 because I am an artistic beader. It comes down to a matter of Respect. My Santeria beading follows forms as exact and rigid as a sonnet, with the sonnet's infinite space for beauty of expression within its narrow frame; and my artistic beading is boundless and organic, with little regard for rules or norms. Both are necessary to my creative process.

There is a lot more artistic beadwork than Orisha beadwork, but that is simply because the beads for the Orisha beadwork are expensive. I live under a vow of poverty, as a Pagan Monk, and I purchase my supplies out of my pocket. When I lost my ability to bead due to Parkinson's disease, I gave up my bead stash. I have no 'war chest' of beads, I only have what I can afford to buy, and I only buy the best.

My beads are the finest in the world: Japanese Delicas, Miyukis, and Tohos, and Czech Preciosas. Those words might be gibberish to you, but they equate to bright-colored, long-wearing, even-toned, all glass, highest quality beads on this whole magical planet. And they run to money in a hurry. So I literally spend each month deciding what colors and finishes of beads to buy. This month will be all OrishaBeads88 beads.

I work on the beadwork after dinner, after work. It is my second job. During the day, I do the office work, get the mail, do the daily tasks that are my day job. I work on the beads from 6-11:00 pm. I have time, during the day to do all this other blogging and social media for the beads right now, but during the Season, I will have to do it all on my own time.

But, getting back to the matter of running two of everything, it is the only reasonable way to move forward. I will not sell the Orisha's jewelry as 'fashion pieces;' those things need to be kept separate so they are sold for the right purposes. And also, the Santeria Community does not need to sift through non-Orisha beadwork to find what they need. They need to trust that the Orisha pieces will be convenient and all together. Believe me, other sites do not give this consideration, and it is miserable. I do not want to treat my family like that.

I also want my family who are interested in art beadwork to be able to find just that. Santeria beadwork, while beautiful and classic, does not show the full scope of what I am capable of doing with a pile of beads!

It is not easy to do it once, let alone twice. I'm a social media dinosaur, and I don't know what half these platforms are intended for, anyway, but I'm determined to do this, so I wade in. I have read a lot of wiki-how, and watched a lot of YouTube videos, and I am slowly learning my way. I'm not sure I believe that anybody will actually see all these pins, and posts, and tags. It seems like a lot of bragging, but I trust that it is how things are done in the modern world. I'm not tweeting, tumbling, and I'm too tender for reddit, fergeddit.

When you become a Santera, you have a reading called an Ita. It is the reading of your Destiny. My Ita did not say I would become a great Madrina, as nice as that would be. It did not say I would be a great Diviner, which is fine, because Diloggun is so accurate and precise it scares me! My Ita said I was to have a business with the beads, and that Oya, my Mother, would help me. So, my knees are knocking, but I am walking toward my Destiny. With two bead businesses. Two.

Maferefun Obatala Ayaguna!

Five years ago, I lost the use of my hands to Parkinson's Disease. The tremors in my hands were so bad that I had trouble dressing and feeding myself. I couldn't type, or embroider, or bead. My life has little meaning, and I was sick in body, mind, and spirit. Beadwork is not what I do, it is who I am. Without it, I grew sick and depressed and withdrawn.

I was not seeking a reading with a Babal'awo when I happened across Baba Fernando, but a reading suddenly seemed like the only course available to a true believer, so I sat and waited. Baba Fernando is a gifted young Baba; I know someone who calls him the young genius.

It was only Baba Fernando when the reading opened in Osogbo (with difficulty). I was unsurprised by this. Baba Fernando moved smoothly to determine the sort of Osogbo; we didn't have long to wait. "Osogbo Iku?" he asked. Always the Baba's first question- is it the difficulty of Death?

I didn't have to be psychic to predict the next answer.

And it was a yes. Then Baba Fernando asked if Ifa foretold my death. Again the chain answered in the affirmative.

Then Baba Fernando got into the meat of the reading, and other Babas began showing up, and putting in their comments as well. The upshot of the reading was that I had to make Ocha (become a Santera) in order to save my life.

Now, that seems simple enough on the face of it, but it isn't.

Ocha costs nearly ten thousand dollars, and the main ceremony takes a week, then the follow-up takes an additional year, plus additional ceremonies that add up to another few thousand dollars. I was sick, broke, and incurious.

But the Orisha are miracle workers. And so are the members of my House.

My Ocha was a gift. This is a miracle unheard-of in and of itself, and I won't embarrass people by naming names, but Orisha know them.

I was crowned a Daughter of Obatala Ayaguna on August 8 of 2018. The miracle did not take place in an instant, but began with my Asiento, (ceremony to become a Santera) and unfolded throughout my Iyawo year. (The 'year in white' that is required to absorb the energies and mysteries of Ocha)

Slowly, and with a lot of human and spiritual help , I began to take less and less prescriptions, and my head got clearer and clearer. Then I got a new neurologist who "got it" that the use of my hands was critical to my well-being.

He put me on a 'cocktail' of two prescriptions and medical marijuana. With this combination, I can type, feed myself, embroider, and, yes, obviously, I can bead. It is a miracle. A delicate balance of Orisha, plant life, and chemistry, and my own stubborn Ori. (consciousness)

I bead slower than I did before the Parkinson's, but the work is more careful and precise. The pieces don't get done any slower because I don't have to spend much time ripping out mistakes. So it balances out.

It's been nearly five years since I got that reading from Baba Fernando. I haven't run into him since then, but I know I will see him again at some point, and I certainly owe him my thanks.

Ocha changes your life forever. In my case, Ocha is the only reason for my life, so I say Maferefun, Obatala Ayaguna! (Obatala Ayaguna, help me weave White Cloth!)