Oxóssi Energy and Embodied Hope During Spiritual Crisis

Oxóssi energy and the application of embodied hope is a powerful means of support throughout the difficulties of spiritual crisis. At the end of the blog, please find information on our upcoming event offering Oxóssi healing in Boulder, Colorado.

Embodied hope is not about neglecting your own pain, reality, or the difficulties in today's world. It is direct experience of a deeper layer of reality in which you know that every moment is a phase, that all things are made and re-made, and that every loss, change, or death of the self is followed by a rebirth of the self, however big or small.

So what does embodied hope feel like?

The energy of hope presents differently for everybody with overarching themes of lightness, curiosity, optimism, and liberation. The quality of hope is associated with the air element and the male Orixa Oxossi: with birds, feathers, rising, and springtime.

During spiritual crisis, large amounts of uncomfortable emotional and physical releases occur on a daily basis. As pockets of repressed material open up for healing, these emotions are dislodged and then felt in the body. This process is overwhelming, heavy, and fatiguing. A natural balance to the emergence of repressed emotions during a spiritual awakening is to hold simultaneously the energy of hope in the body. The true power of hope is as an energy felt in the body as opposed to merely a positive way of thinking.

The problem with feeling hope throughout a spiritual journey is that spiritual journeys are not linear, and it is easy to feel victimized by the path. One month there is improvement, a decrease in symptoms and more ease. Then the next month there is a new and often deeper and more painful layer of wounds to process. This is a normal but not easy progression. As a person’s window of tolerance widens, new emotions will present themselves for healing. This is partly what makes spiritual awakenings such a tall order.

It’s not uncommon for a person who has suffered a lot to deny themselves hope. Surprisingly, I have seen that hope can be a shadow energy just as easily as hatred or grief. One way to describe the shadow is as the heavy bag we drag behind us full of the things we aren’t allowed to feel or be. When I was once shown my shadow in a meditation, I was surprised to see that it wasn’t a bag on the ground, but a transparent balloon floating in the air. This vision showed that I was repressing the air element’s action in certain areas of my life to provide hope and lightness. To feel hope was as scary a process as working with any “dark” shadow component like rage.

It’s also easy to get lost in mental concepts of hope. We live in a very thinky culture and there is a lot of spiritual escapism and fantasy-based thinking not grounded in reality. There is also the rainbows and unicorns approach to spirituality that denies everything that isn’t “light” and results in pseudo hope-based actions like forced optimism and cheeriness. Working through the mental layers of healing, the set of beliefs and looping thoughts created out of trauma, is incredibly important on the spiritual path, but is not the focus of this blog. While hope, Oxossi energy, and the air element do have a strong mental component, the goal is to hold hope in the body. Embodied hope brings a feeling of optimism very much needed during a crisis or spiritual awakening. And like any other feeling, it actually needs to be felt in the body.

The overall energetic outcome of hope is opening. This is a physical opening in the body that allows for better connection to top-down energies of divine strength but also of grounding deeply in the earth and much needed connection with friends, family, and community.

Would you like to experience directly the energy of Oxossi, of hope, springtime, and the air element?

On Monday January 27th at 7 PM at the Vali Soul Sanctuary in Boulder, we are holding our annual Festa/Celebration of the Orixa Oxossi and all this energy brings to our lives. Oxóssi is King of the Hunt, the Spiritual Father of the Forest. Oxóssi spiritual work uses feather healing and the sacred plants of the forest to bring the energy of springtime, optimism, and beauty.

Brazilian host for this event and Father-of-Saint Cyro Estevao is son of Oxóssi and his main guide is Pena Branca/White Feather, one of the most beloved spiritual teachers in Afro-Brazilian Umbanda. This beloved Orixá is Oshosi in West African Yoruba, Ochosí in Cuban Spanish, and Oxóssi in Portuguese. Join us to receive the gifts of Oxossi.

When: Monday January 27th 7-9 PM

Where: Vali Soul Sanctuary in Boulder

Details: $10-$20 donation at the door