Ochani Lele

Ócháni Lele (1966 - ) was born in Richmond, Virginia, to an unwed, 16 year old teenage mother and an absent father. He spent the first five years of his life living in an extended household with his maternal grandparents, mother, and aunt. In 1972, his mother married; his biological father gave up parental rights, and within a year he was adopted by his step-father. The first year of their marriage was spent living in Colonial Beach, Virginia, after which his family moved back to rural King George, the entrance to Virginia's Northern Neck, where he spent the next 12 years of his childhood. Growing up rurally was anything but idyllic; it was a period filled with alcoholism and abuse. At age 17, after graduating from high school in 1984, he ran away with a local summer stock theater, The Fredericksburg Theater Company; and there he pursued his first love of acting and drama. When the season was over, he spent four semesters studying at Mary Washington College in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia, planning to pursue dual degrees in English Literature and Psychology; however, his desire to experience the exotic world of magic and alternative spirituality sent him on a journey that ended with his initiation in the Afro-Cuban world of Santería, a religion known to adherents as the Lucumí faith.

Over the years he has written a number of books about that faith: "The Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination" (Destiny Books, 2000); "Obi, Oracle of Cuban Santería" (Destiny Books, 2001); "The Diloggún" (Destiny Books, 2003); and, most recently, "Teachings of the Santería Gods" (Destiny Books, 2010). Currently he is studying at Seminole State College of Florida, pursuing dual degrees in Nursing and English Literature. In 2012 he plans to transfer to the University of Central Florida to finish his bachelor degrees in both fields of study. In addition to his academic work, Ócháni Lele soon releases another collection of short stories titled "Diloggun Tales from the Natural World: How the Moon Fooled the Sun and other Santeria Stories" (forthcoming from Destiny Books). Another book titled, tentatively, "Sacrificial Ceremonies of Cuban Santeria" is scheduled for a September 2012 release. He lives in Winter Park, Florida.