Umbanda

...

Umbanda or in, I don't know, Shinto, [laughs] you know, whatever.

So, you know, you have, you have the w- you have the world, the popular online world, you know, um, teeming, or the, the, the, the consumer world teeming with people claiming to be initiates, to be magicians, to be occultists, to be whatever, animist, um, uh, shamans and whatnot, you know.

And just of course all by their own design.

And can you tell us a little bit about your background as well as your business' background? How did be- how did it become a reality for you?

Well, I have a background in a lot of different realms of spirituality, from Umbanda to 21 divisional magic, folk magic, Christianic magic, and I have an affinity for the occult, for things that aren't seen by the eyes of the flesh.

I'll put it that way.

So I have a background in, in what I experience, what I am experienced in so much with people is removal of generational curses, witchcraft, black magic, things of that nature.

To understand why exactly Osvaldo caught Diogenes' attention, we need to explain first the mystical world of Macumba in Brazil.

Osvaldo was what was known as Pai-de-Santo, a type of spiritual leader involved in the Afro-Brazilian religions of Umbanda and Candomblé.

Known collectively, and not always kindly, as Macumba, these practices emerged hundreds of years ago after the colonial Portuguese rulers forcibly converted African slaves to Catholicism.

While these religions have their roots in Nigerian Yoruba spiritualism, they're mixed with some elements of Catholic faith and worship that make them uniquely Brazilian.

Yeah.

Having said that, a lot of these religions have an unfairly bad reputation in Brazil due to their association with black magic and voodoo.

A lot of that stigma is rooted in racism, even though not everyone who practices Umbanda or Candomblé is necessarily Black.

And the rest of it could be thanks to a generalized suspicion of any religion other than the dominant Christianity, and that is true.

So that was my first experience.

And during this, not only this first year, I was with that group for almost four years before I moved to a more shamanic type of religion in Brazil called Umbanda.

And yet during the time my mediumship started to open and yeah, I could see things I could, uh, not only during the channeling, but, um, yeah, sometimes when I allow it to was really good cause, um, then I could also, um, sort of not be open when I shouldn't be open per se.

I learned how to do that.

Night visitations followed, a presence in the bedroom, then the sensation of a male body covering her.

A spiritist sent her to an Umbanda center with a statue.

The director called it a trabajo, a working aimed at her because she had taken the image.

Paint remaining on the figure matched the injured parts of her body.

Malaria struck.

A psychic said someone had closed all his paths.

Another friend heard a warning at an Umbanda session.

A third named Edna.