What is a Palero in Santería or Brujería?

There are different beliefs of people in terms of religions, as well as the practice of various rites of different types, among these are Santeria, spiritism, paleros; among others. In this article we invite the reader to know what a palero is in Santeria .

What is a palero in Santeria ?

As for what is a drainer in Santeria, we must say that it is an activity that is linked to black magic or witchcraft. This is also known by the name of Palo Mayombe or Palo Monte. Its origin is in the Bantu tribes of the Congo, for this reason the name is also known as Palo Congo or Paleros. In Haiti it is called Voodoo.

In these rituals it is observed that the main figure or sorcerer uses the «allies» to obtain power, related to hallucinogenic drugs including the practice of invoking dead spirits.

In relation to this we can say that a magician usually has thoughts of being able to create a phenomenon or situation by representing it previously, this is done with dolls made of wax, cloth, clothes, hair, nails, bones, graveyard dirt, among others. All this as a magic rite of homeopathic type.

Why do paleros steal bones from the cemetery?

Regarding this topic we can say that this type of beliefs, make a series of rites of the type often satanic, witchcraft and even black magic; Among some of these we can mention the following:

• The «NGANGA»: this is a preparation made with some pieces of bones of dead people, the most common is that they are people who are recently buried, later the bones are mixed in a pot to which some coins are placed, Likewise, graveyard soil, the corpse of a small black dog, herbs, onion and garlic are used.

Then proceeds to bury for three Fridays in the cemetery and three in the forest. It is then moved into the house and used for hex work.

• The NDOKI, or infernal work: This is another of the rituals of the drainers, for this a black cat is boiled alive and buried for twenty-four hours. Subsequently, some bones of the cat are removed and agglomerated with seven little fingers that belong to seven corpses and grave soil. Rum is used, which is sprayed and also the smoke of the cigar is used.
• THE EVIL EYE: The santeros think that people have the power to do evil through their eyes. The feeling of envy is given in the form of arrows that are poisoned and loaded with evil, they think that through this people get sick.

As for the children, the santeros place on them, as everyone knows, a small hand as well as a piece of coral in order to remove the evil eye.

Santeria, Paleros, Spiritism

When you have a cold faith or the intensity of it declines in terms of its authenticity; practices of spiritual, deformed, superstition type can be born, which are usually in an absolutely negative way, since they do absolutely no good to any individual, society and real religion. Such practices are very widespread in Latin America and Africa, from where most of such rites and practices start.

In Spain it is entering in terms of some environments that are linked to immigration. At present, the growth of people who cast cards, fortune tellers, who access homes through television as well as youth sectors, sponsoring the practice of the Ouija board, esotericism and diabolical rites, and in more children of spiritualism.

We want to give the reader as much information as possible about the subject in question and the intention is also to clarify ideas and warn people who may be interested in this type of rites and practices.

In ancient times we see in the Bible, the moment in which the devil takes Jesus to a large mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their great proportions, saying: “I will give you all this if you bow down and you adore me”; to which Jesus replied:

“Go away, Satan. Since it is written: The Lord your God, you will worship him only you will worship “. After this the devil withdrew and several angels came to serve him. (This is outlined in Saint Matthew 4, 8, 11).

1. What is Santeria?

In relation to this we can say that it is a polytheistic religion (meaning that it has many gods or divinities), it had its origin in Nigeria and was developed in the kingdom of Benin in the twelfth century and is led to America by the Yoruba ethnic group during colonial times.

2. Is Santeria contrary to faith in Jesus Christ?

Santeria can be considered to be contrary to Faith in Jesus Christ Our Lord, since as we all know, the Bible itself shows us the existence of a single God, characterized as a spiritual being without a body and infinitely powerful and Creator of the entire Universe. We call that good and intelligent God Father.

We can say that in terms of the Yoruba religion, in its origin, several divinities called Orishas are worshiped, which make up the Yoruba pantheon. In America, eighty names of the aforementioned divinities are protected. As for these, the most popular are: the seven powers, Elegua, Obatala, Shangó, Yemaya, Oshun, Orula, Oggún, Babalu-Aye, Ochumare, Ochosi, Dada, Ifa, Oya, among others.

This deals with a mythology similar to the myths of Greece (Zeus, Neptune, Aphrodite, among others). Such myths treat false gods with human descriptions that are often negative. For this reason it is said that they are religions called anthropomorphic (which means gods in human form) or idolatry.

An example of this is the Yoruba legend of the God Orisha Agayu and his sister Yemaya, they procreated a son named Orungan, with very beautiful and talented gifts. His father Aganju fell ill with envy towards him and this caused his death. Orungan raped his mother Yemaya and from this fourteen orisha gods were born, known as: Shangó, Oba (Shangó’s wife), Oshosi, Dada, Oshun (Chango’s lover), Oke and Oshun.

As a second example we can see: Chango, son of Yemaya and Orungan, this one is a womanizing orisha; his wife was Oba (sister) and his lovers were Oshun and Oya. Chango falls prisoner due to his enemies and Oya frees him from jail by making him pass for a woman with special clothes and braids. According to the santeros this is usually the reason why the figure of Chango is seen with women’s attire on some occasions.

What gods are those who fall prisoner, feel jealous, cheat, fornicate, kill and hate?

As for the question, we can say that it is a deformed vision of the divinity which the Bible itself calls idolatry. What example do the gods give to men?

3. What does the Bible say about Divinity? How many Gods exist?

Regarding these two questions, we can mention to the reader that the Bible indicates in Deuteronomy 6,4 the following:

Listen Israel! The Lord our GOD is the only God; You shall love the Lord your GOD with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Likewise, in Exodus 20,2 it determines: «I am the Lord your God who brings you out of Egypt, you will have no other gods besides Me».

You will not make images or figures of what is in heaven or on earth. You will not bow down to them or worship them.

In Matthew 4:8, Jesus Christ himself says to the devil: “Go Satan, for it is written: you will worship the Lord your God, you will only worship him.

4. Do santeros believe in Jesus Christ?

The answer is definitely No! The santeros only accept that Jesus is one more orisha, an example of this is that one of the men who compares the images of Jesus Christ “Olofi” and also the image of the baby Jesus inside the manger is called “Orungan”.

Practitioners of Santeria do not equally venerate Christian saints who are usually real and historical men, considered friends of God; but on the contrary they use the images of the catholic saints for the representation of their orishas. All this causes confusion in Christians who do not have enough information.

That can cause confusion for untrained Christians. An example of this is the representative image of Santa Bárbara, a Christian Roman woman of the fourth century, who represents Chango for them. Other images also represent other figures in Santeria such as: the image of the Child Jesus of Atocha, represents Elegua; that of San Lázaro to Babalu Aye; the one from San José to Aganju and Our Lady of Mercy, represents Obatala.

5. How to become a santero?

To this end, the ceremony is known as “Making the Saint” or “Baptizing the Saint.” It has a variety of costs, until 2007 it cost between eight and ten million bolívares. According to the specialist Migene González, it ranges between three and four thousand dollars in any part of America.

The purpose of the ritual is to “condition” the mind of the new believer so that he receives the saint and is possessed by him. The truth is that it is a whole process of suggestion, with mental procedures, which culminates in a true “Brainwashing”. Among the steps that are carried out for this purpose, we can mention:

1. The ceremony takes place in an “igbodu” or sanctuary and only the initiate (yaguo), the godmother (oyugbona), the babalawo and other santeros are present.
2. later the seat of one of the orishas is made, which are chosen using their peculiar colors. They make animal sacrifices such as: goats, sheep, chickens, pigeons and roosters. There is a necklace ceremony. The one who starts in the process becomes the horse of the saint or the son of that orisha.
3. When he falls into a trance in the «Parada» the initiate receives the «ache», which is nothing more than the blessing of the saint.
4. The godmother removes the head of a rooster and gives the warm blood to the initiate who must drink it immediately.
5. What does the Bible say about animal sacrifices?

Sacred Scripture rejects the ingestion of animal blood for magical or macabre purposes. This can be considered foolish and besides it ruins the conscience of man. In the first letter to the Corinthians 10,20 the Bible states: «He who sacrifices to idols sacrifices to Demons».

7. What do they fly from? Does Santeria bring good luck or avoid dangers?

Regarding this we must say that it is totally useless. Only the ignorance or fear of a weak-minded individual can think that he gets a benefit. It is nothing more than an autosuggestion that ends in a real obsession and even in a cognitive neurosis or dissociation.

8. What superstitions does Santeria have?

Some of them can be reflected in the following way:

Use of a type of necklaces called “elekes” and bracelets “ildes”, which they think are magical.

Divination through the Ifá tabal by means of sea snails.

The divination offering coconut to the saint.

9. How can one get out of Santeria?

The best advice we can give the reader in this regard is that people do not delve into Santeria out of curiosity or weakness of mind. However, if we talk about leaving in some specific way, we can say that it is usually through reflection and awareness that there is only one God, who is good, Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth: whom we call Father.

That pure, good, noble spirit and of great love for its children is a Unique GOD, it is Triune in Persons, it is a family, it is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit or as it is known: the Holy Trinity. God the Father sent his only son into the world to save us from error and sin, sharing our life and human nature. God and true man, Jesus Christ is the son of God and King of the Universe.

Jesus Christ shows us the way to the Father and tells us in his teachings: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (All this is determined in John 14:6).

Conclusion:

In the article already described we have seen several of the rituals and practices of the religion of Santeria and what is practiced by the so-called paleros and spiritualists. Likewise, we see how their works are mostly rites or practices with malevolent purposes and dark type works, which have nothing to do with religion where they believe in one and only God but practice the belief of several Gods, according to the Yoruba religion.

People must avoid this type of negative practices and that many times they only seek to do harm to other people, without seeing that this harms since God the Father is totally against this type of practice. Therefore, let us move away from these rites and return to the path of the one true God, Creator of Heaven and Earth.