Would this go over well and not piss the Lwa or Orishas off? Papa Legba said it’d be okay and that a lot of the Lwa and Orishas are masks for each other. What does BALG think? Would the same work with the Congo pantheon?
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You should be fine
The simple answer is no. The long answer goes into tradition, the temprament of individual spirits, and tribal ancestry. Not all lwa or orisha can be served together in their own respective traditions, much less mixing the two together. Find one spirit and serve it right, and be rightly served by it. Try to make sure it’s one your culture and ancestors know. It makes it easier to navigate the spirit when your not concurrently learning new languages and customs that you have no connection to.
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I’m white as snow and I find that I have no trouble in working with the Lwa. Ultimately they are the ones who dictate the practice, not old laws and not you or I. I’ve ultimately decided against working with both pantheons.
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I worked with orishas first starting. I was always told those entities do get upset and you dont want to piss them off. I dont have bad experiences, just relaying what i was told by a priest of their practice.
Well, papa Legba is right, some lwa and orishas are indeed masks of each other.
Basically the same spirit moving form one culture to another and having to adapt to the people of each.
Take Erzulie and Oshun for example, one might say they are two masks for the same spirit.
La siren and yemaya is another example of this
Thing is though, some orishas don’t get along with one another at all. This isnt some religious rivalry or whatever really they just don’t really mix.
Take Oba and Oshun for example, it’s very unwise to work with them on the same altars as their energies are very _conflicting _ you can read the myths surrounding them to understand why.
Tbh, it isn’t working with the lwa and orishas that you should be worried about, the issue isn’t between those two it’s between the orishas themselves. And it’s not really a major issue, besides Oba and Oshun I don’t think there’s any other thing you should look out for.
But you should be fine really, a thing that the orishas can really help with is divination. Especially using the ifa if you’re into that.
So yeah feel free to work with the loas and the orishas you’re good!
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I work with all three and have had no issues. Just work with the Lea in a vodoun way, the Orisha in a Santerian way and the spirits of Palo in a Palo way.