Luisah Teish described Oshun as the beautiful Goddess of love and sexuality. Santeria is very Catholic, and it comes up under Christianity. Luisah's first exposure to Spirituality was in New Orleans where she grew up. New Orleans was more a sister to the Caribbean than the United States with a rich cultural mix. African religion mostly existed under ground without disturbance. Connection to nature is at the very core of the African religion. The forces of nature are seen and felt alive with personality and power. While the black codes dictated that people be immediately converted to Christianity, the Catholic Church was absorbed by the deities of paganism. As a result, the similarities between Catholicism and the African Religion became closer and closer. Everyone practices the African religion one way or the other; some practice it for practicing purposes and others do it out of fear. A mother holding a baby is a phenomenal nature in the African religion.
             In the African religion, when people live closer to nature, the thought of good and evil has no validity. In the African spirituality, there is reference and worship. Reference means to respect irrespective of the behavior, for example, ocean, fire, and wind. One has to look towards the ancestors to know how to behave and to understand what it is like to preserve a behavior. Shango is thought of as a child of thunder and lightning and he is the fourth king of Oyo to embody that power. The Priestess of Oshun has to do everything. She has to be trained in divination, which is like a contract with creation. Her work involves healing which is a function of balance. She has the rites of passage, which is the rituals for fertility to bring ancestors back in this world. She arranges peace negotiations, funerals, and celebration of ancestors of the seasons. She also helps the village to orchestrate its life in balance with the forces of nature. ...