Vodou's Twenty Four Inch Gage.

Like a lot of retired service members I let myself go after separation and like a lot of service members I regret that laps of self discipline and have begun to take the long road back to being a soldier athlete. But it's Yawoɖa and the day belongs to Mami so how do I find balance?

TÔDELA is strength and health. MAMI ABLƆ, MAMI SHIKA, and MAMA ƐHO is Freedom, Wealth, and Resources.

MAMI LAKSHMI is Right Effort.

TOGBƐ MƆGLƆ and the Ancestors are Family and demands that we give time to them.

Even SAKPATA, the genius of Health and Wellness won't let us so much as pick up a broom after 6pm. That's the time you and your spouse are to stop labor and reconnect with your children and each other.

Work/Life balance is essential to a good Vodou so when I found myself in need of guidance the spirits reminded me of why I was not gifted with knowledge of the vodou before now. Much of what serves me, my Ƒome and my family are derived from my decades of searching. One particular line of spiritual inquiry led me into a fraternity (and sorority) of biblical esotericists that used peculiar imagery and euphemisms, one of which being an angled ruler contrived to, among other things, budget one's time.

So with that in mind, I look to the vodous to tell me to take time to manage my health, take time to focus on my profession, take time to observe my calling, take time to plan for success, take time to build and improve my relationships, take time to refresh myself and to sleep.

And through it all take time for MAWU SOGBO LISA, God, completing the eighth hour and whose design we all serve.