READING BY YORUBA AFRO-CUBAN PRIEST (HOLLYWOOD)
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Date: 2008-04-29, 2:57PM PDT
Charles Guelperin, AKA Baba Funke, is a priest of the Yoruba Afro-Cuban religion, also known as Santeria. Born in 1947 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the age of 7 he began to develop the conditions as a medium, channeler, hearing, clairvoyance and automatic writing. His mother, aunt and grandmother were also mediums and clairvoyants. At the age of 7 his parents took him to a spiritual center in Argentina called Escuela Cientifica Basilio. He was one of the youngest members of the institution, at that time. He began his studies in spiritualism in the conditions of channeling and clairvoyance, soon after that he began at the age of 9 to perform readings for people with Spanish cards and through his early years of adolescence he helped guide people, through those particular readings, but at the time he did not perform any type of ceremonies, he just gave the readings.
At the age of 16 he left Argentina to begin traveling around the world, initially to Europe and Western Europe. He began in Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Holland Scandinavia, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, England and most of the western European countries. Later on he moved to India and studied in an Ashram in Northern India. Then to Northern Israel he lived on a Kibbutz and studied Torah and Kabala of the Jewish tradition. He then crossed over to Egypt and Jordania to learn some of the early writings and knowledge of the religion of the Pharaohs of Egypt. He traveled to other countries of the Middle East, Iraq, Turkey and Iran and got more involved to learn about the Koran and the Muslim tradition. He also went to Russia, Finland and the eastern countries of Europe and to Australia and most of the countries of Asia. In Japan he studied some of the Shinto tradition of Japan and in countries like Thailand and Korea he studied some Buddhism and the early religions of the East.
Later on he moved to live in the United States of America originally in New York City, and Miami. January 1, 1980 he moved to Los Angeles and was able to meet the person who became his Godfather in the Yoruba tradition his name was Sephorino Miguel Martinez AKA Aluya, a child of Chango. Aluya was the one who initiated him in the rites of Obatala and he became a priest of Obatala. At that point in time he was working in Night Clubs, but at the end of his first year of his iyaworahe or initiation, his spiritual guides, specifically Manuel, the African Congo spirit, who has been working with him since birth, indicated that he needed to walk away from the night club business and dedicate his life entirely to the religion and he began his life as a practitioner, Santero and Godfather. Today after almost 25 years of being a Santero and over 50 years as a spiritualist, he is located in the city of Los Angeles, in Hollywood in a botanica or a spiritual shop where he takes care of daily visitors who come to him for readings, spiritual advice or to know more about the religion.
In 1990 he began to travel to Cuba to get involve with the Cuban practitioners, since then he has built a temple in the city of Havana and the temple is named Babalu Aye and El Congo Manuel, an unofficial temple as most other religions in Cuba are not organized or allowed to erect temples. More than a temple this is called a "casa de ocha" or "ile ocha" or a house of the orishas. Since then he has traveled to see the progress and difference of the tradition and was able to visit practitioners in Brazil, specifically Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, which is the center of Candomble and Macumba. He also traveled to Haiti in Port O Prince and was involved with priests of the tradition called Vodum. Vodum is the cousin of the Yoruba tradition, and was built in the Diaspora of the race of blacks who came from Dijame, to Haiti. In 2003 he went to Nigeria where he visited the Legas in the city of Ife and was introduced to the Araba or Pope or king of the Yoruba tradition and was able to celebrate and witness the festival of Aca Te Se, which is the opening of the year, according to the Yoruba tradition, in the month of June during the harvest of the yams in Nigeria.
In the years of practice he has crowned 50 children to many of the Orishas of the pantheon, Yemaya, Obatala, Chango, Argayu, Ellegua, Ogun, Ochosi, Inle, Ochun. He also has 3 god children who later on became babalows or fathers of the mystery or priests of Ifa. Ifa is the umbrella religion which covers all the other traditions that were originated in Africa. He also got involved in UCLA with professor Donald Constantino, who at the time was the chairman of the department of Folklore at UCLA and he was collaborating in his classes of Santeria and Espiritismo. Professor Constantino has been directly involved with him since 1989, taping conversations of the spirit of Manuel which Charles channels. In 2005 Constantino was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship to write a book about the relationship of Charles and the African spirit of Manuel and how the new Santeria or Yoruba tradition is working in our days after the African Diaspora and the new beginnings of the religion in the American continent and how the tradition has changed since its beginning and how it is retained with out change and is still practiced today.
He has had the opportunity to collaborate with different shows on MPR and public radio in reference to the Yoruba tradition and has also had several interviews with American and Spanish television networks. Charles continues to perform his duties as a Santero, doing readings and guidance to regular clients that come daily to the botanica and he also gives classes to the newly initiated or people who are interested to learn more about the tradition and to be able to demystify the misconceptions that exist about the religion, such as, that it is only an "African black religion" or the animal sacrifices. Through these classes he has been able to teach the people, especially Americans that the sacrificing of animals is done in a ritualistic form, for the purpose of the religion.
If that isn't enough information for you, Google name CHARLES GUELPERIN.
www.elcongomanuel.com
323-463-5736
- Location: HOLLYWOOD
- it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 661305150
