Read the snails

By Edmée Pardo

Who wouldn't want a glimpse into the future to adjust the decisions of the present? Who wouldn't want to go down the right path instead of wandering through shortcuts that only exhaust? Who wouldn't want to sleep soundly without worrying about the uncertainty of tomorrow? I imagine these are the reasons why the divinatory arts are so successful. A promise that sounds like a soft bed and heaven assured. In all cultures there are these practices with different elements: cards, magic balls, engraved tablets, candles, water, stones, coins... Perhaps one of the most striking is the reading of snails, which is current in several cultures.

Caracolomancy is a practice with African roots that dates back thousands of years, according to experts, particularly from the Yoruba religion, in which priests communicated with the orishas, the deities of their pantheon. When the African diaspora arrived in the Caribbean and America, the tradition traveled with it, adapting to new cultural influences such as the Afro-Caribbean Santeria that calls dilogun to the snails used for divination: seashells of the species Cypraea moneta or Cypraea annulus: white, with a smooth side and an open side; the kind used for the jipiteca jewelry of Coyoacan. 

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