Exu is about luck. Luck is a
state and it is a daimon. Luck
reveals itself in a state of affirmation of opportunity where you praise luck,
both others and your own. By praising the luck of others you are celebrating
the daimon of luck. The daimon of luck is perhaps better known
as ‘Chance’, from the Latin cadentia,
which means ‘what falls out’ in reference to the game of dice or other games of
chance and luck. Fortune is intimately tied in with the mystery of luck and her
wheel is given motion by accidental turns that favor people in a seemingly
random way. Hence the king of today might be the fool of tomorrow. Luck and chance is also related to the Latin ‘sors’ and by linguistic development ‘sorte’, which in the modern vernacular
means ‘luck’ and ‘chance’ – but ‘sors/sorte’
is also the root of sortilege, to cast lots – and here intimately related to
fate and ways of twisting and turning Fate. Sortilege was also one of the
activities of witches that were punishable by death – because no one should
meddle with Fate and Fortune – and it is this field Exu dances around in.
It so follows that ‘Sorte’, better known as Fortuna, which
we find in classical astrology being of the nature of Jupiter and Saturn and in
mythologies seen as a daughter of both Saturn and Jupiter is the spirit that
informs the daimonic host of luck. This is why Quimbanda holds this air of the
forbidden – because indeed we are here trespassing into realms that can alter
the Fates and potentially bring grace or disgrace…
Luck is not about being
deserving of her grace, it is more often about being in the right place at the
right time – and preferably with the right attitude to make use of one’s luck.
When we work the spirit of luck we need to be in a constant state of acceptance
and appreciation for the ways wherein she works. Luck speaks loudly to those
who are content and equally loud to the bitter ones that see themselves stalked
by misfortune. She tends to represent increase – and if what you have is
bitterness, more bitterness will come. We see putrid shitheads gaining
political elections, we see our enemy cured from cancer and we see billionaires
gaining the lottery. There is a tendency of feeling that such people might be “undeserving”
of their luck – but luck is like any game of chance – the dice thrown in a
given moment… If we feel resented with other peoples luck we scorn Luck herself.
By celebrating luck wherever she manifests will bring her benevolent rays upon
our life – and increase will be your lot.
This is what makes Quimbanda
such a delicate cult. Since we manipulate Fate and Chance it also comes with
certain demands to ones character, literally, whatever your soul is full of is
the energetic form that causes results. If hatred and resentment is dominating
the soul this will cause a friction with the spirit of Luck and Fortune can
easily turn into misfortune.
The cheap tavern, the boteco as it is called in Brazil, is an
extension of the marketplace. In the past it was to the tavern people took
their sorrows and victories, it was here the market took human form under the
rose and veiled in beer and wine. At the tavern no nobility were to be found –
and if they were they would probably be like the Earl of Rochester, more than a
Marcus Aurelius – or would they?
The tavern is like death –
because here everyone is the same – it is the Kingdom of the Harp and Lyre
where pimps shake hands with saints, where differences is given to the growls
of booze for the sake of unity or fight. Intoxication is the mistress of truth
– but she also indulges all shades of self deception that apes the truth – the intoxication
of spiritus is like the soul itself in fact… it is the atmosphere of luck, a
gathering of possibilities. In the
tavern the tarnished soul can be brought to ease and frustration can find
release. It is also a field of opportunity and of luck, which is why Zé
Pelintra loves the tavern. It was through the tavern the lucky stars started to
shine upon him and it is in the tavern we find some of the more devious and
oracular of Exus. It is here we find Fortune holding the cup of Jupiter and
Saturn – and it is because of this luck can hit in this marketplace of
intoxication.
Now, the boteco or the tavern tend to be a place of male dominance, a place
where any female is a potential whore and the talk is often about tits and ass,
usually with a generous debunk of spouses. This debunking of marital partners does
speak of their choices and their character. In debunking their spouses -
Fortunes loved ones – they are also debunking themselves in degrading the one
they chose to grow with, their mirrors as it were. These males rarely consider
this, because the booze is oil for the tongue and the tongue gives to the
tavern all lies that torment the hearts’ truth. In the tavern men pose moments
of greatness they never had. They cry out their hearts in rivers of pride and
failures and it is all dramatized on the drunken stage of the tavern – the
marketplace of Exu. Drunkenness can be
of illusion and revelation, truth and lie. We can be drunk on wine, love,
insanity – and it is all good as long as we are aware that Fortune seeks the
tavern, the contradiction – because in such climate the dices are constantly
thrown and fortune and misfortune spreads out…
It is all up to Luck – and Luck
is something we attract, not by debunking other peoples luck or finding our
choices not reaping rewards – but we embrace all things in a spirit of joy,
interest and ecstasy – which is the spirit of Fortune - when we accept the good
and the bad, the blessings and the lessons.
The tavern is a fire in the
night and the drunkenness of the tavern fuels this fire. Here we are in the
Kingdoms of Streets, Harp and Crossroads – it is a constant sequence of choice
and chance. It is like the world itself given expression in a limited space –
but under the influence of Bacchic revelry, you might be born anew or you might
be ripped apart…
Exu & the Quimbanda of Night and Fire can be ordered by a click.
