Ogun, the Yoruba deity of war and iron is much more than people perceive him to be. There are a lot of stories that portray him as being a fearless warrior. He is a deity that is stringent, bold, and powerful and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. However, the most powerful warrior in the Yoruba religion has a dirty little secret. He has a heart, a big one.

I mentioned in previous articles that Ogun is associated with the manipura chakra. This chakra works as a storage unit, housing our judgments, opinions, and beliefs that we have gathered about the world and ourselves. The third chakra is also a source of cognition, where virtually all thought forms are produced.

Our power center also works as an energetic field that surrounds our body. It protects us from external influences and it ensures that we receive information that is necessary for our survival. Just imagine a huge fort surrounded by a fleet of soldiers with machine guns. Their job is to keep the riffraff out, and only let in the people who are going to bring happiness, love, and piece into your life. Then, it happens, someone sneaks pass your guards and invades your fort. You get angry and vow to never let anyone into your fort ever again.

However, there is one small problem. You need food, provisions, and resources to survive. So then, you start making judgments about who to let in and who to keep out. You start to form opinions based on previous experiences. You understand that your soul needs love in order to survive. But, you just can't get passed the last person who snuck into your fort. Then, you start to get hungry, you're guards revolt because they are not getting paid, and the fort that you created to protect yourself from the outside begins to implode and kills you from within.

Judgments are forts that destroy us from within. As humans, we all have judgments and opinions. However, we need to have compassion and be willing to forgive to grow spiritually. We must understand that the people, who hurt us, were operating from a bad place. Perhaps they were at their weakest point. Or maybe they were struggling with one of life's lessons. People need to understand that the power of forgiveness is not about amnesty. It is about growth. The power of forgiveness and growth is explored in the fiction book When The Shadows Began To Dance. It speaks about the healing powers of African deities and Orishas.