[Special Guest Article] Nuzo Onoh Reveals the Secret of “HOW TO MAKE A GOD”

[Editor's Note: As a Halloween horror treat for Daily Dead readers, we're thrilled to have Nuzo Onoh share with us the secret of HOW TO MAKE A GOD. Onoh's latest book, Futility, is out now from Titan Books, and is a "monstrous, gleeful, bitingly funny tale of murder, body-swapping and bloody vengeance" you won't want to miss.]

HOW TO MAKE A GOD

From the second we exit our mothers’ wombs, we are consumed with a ravenous hunger, a gaping hole in our bodies and souls that can never be filled. It starts with the need for sustenance, warmth, sleep, clothes and loving nurture. As our circumstances and experiences change, our hungers evolve into countless other desires: the yearning for food, shelter, safety, peace, friendships, family, health, wealth, love, success, recognition, appreciation, beauty, intelligence, power, fame, creativity, romance, sex... the list is endless. This great hunger is behind the human need for religion, that desperate seeking of the holy grail, the Ark of the Covenant, basically, a supernatural power to quench this huge hunger and fulfil our deepest desires. Some go beyond religion into secret cults (Illuminati), nature (Wiccans), or the supernatural like sorcerers/shamans/medicine-men etc. 

Whatever route we choose, it all boils down to one thing – the search for a god, an omnipotent entity to grant all our wishes, just like Aladdin’s genie or the fabled monkey’s paw. Well, here’s me finally granting your wishes! Using my upcoming book, FUTILITY, as a reference on how it is done, I’ll reveal to you the secret of how to make your own gift-granting god! Happy reading!

There are 7 components to the making of a god:

1. NEED: You must have a reason for needing a god, a goal, an unfulfilled desire, a great need, a strong yearning, basically, an overriding, all-consuming WANT that causes you to seek something outside your reality, beyond your own abilities and the capability of humanity and all its resources. Try not to come to your god with too many needs. Choose one overriding desire at a time and then focus your entire energy on it when seeking your god. My character in FUTILITY, had an overriding need – a British visa to help her achieve her vengeance.
2. CHOICE: You must make an informed choice of who or what you will choose as your god. This is because gods can be anything and anyone; living, dead or the undead entities. Gods can be found anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes, if you’re lucky (or unlucky), a god will find you, choose you and bless you with your deepest desires, just as happened in FUTILITY, when my character discovered her god living inside a secret room in her new restaurant. Otherwise, it mostly lies within our hands to choose a god. I chose two of my ancestors as my gods. I created a shrine to them in my house and pray to them daily. And they’ve continued to answer me in many stupendous ways.
3. NAME: You must give your god a worthy name. Without a name, you can’t summon your god to your aid. You need a name to give your god authenticity, a powerful name your god will be proud to possess, a name that will please your god and give you confidence when you call it. In FUTILITY, my character named her god Oke-Mmuo, meaning Great and Formidable Spirit; and her god did great and formidable things for her!
4. SHRINE/TEMPLE/HOME: Gods need a home in the human realm where they can reside while amongst their supplicants and devotees. Be it a temple, a church, a mosque, a shrine or other sites of worship, a god must have its own sacred space. So, once you choose your god, create a sacred home for them. It can be in your living room, your kitchen or a separate room in your house. Wherever it is, it must be a hallowed space dedicated solely to your god where you can commune with them in solitude.
5. FAITH: Without unquestioning faith in your god, you might as well be playing a game of make-believe, acting out a charade that is meaningless and worthless. You must have unshakeable faith in your god; otherwise, your bond is a futile one and your dreams will never be fulfilled. Faith is what attracts the powers of a god. People who have made Big-Pharma their god, for instance, have complete faith in the miracles of Ozempic, GLP-1 or the myriad of powerful gifts offered by their god to help fulfil their particular desires for body-perfect. My characters in FUTILITY, two truly unpleasant women with very bad cases of body dysmorphia, sought and obtained their own Ozempic-miracle from a different god. They had unshakeable faith in their god’s ability to deliver and it didn’t let them down. So, remember, Faith is King! 
6. SACRIFICE: You need a sacrifice to create a tight bond between you and your god. This sacrifice is the ink that seals the contract between you and your god, an ultimate act of fealty from you. In every religion, the most powerful sacrifice is the sacrifice of blood; think of the blood of Jesus! Blood is the flowing fountain of life, the sacred fluid of existence. A blood bond is an unbreakable one and blood calls to the divine and the supernatural. As my late brother used to say, “If you get an ordinary rock and sprinkle it with blood daily whilst praying to it, in no time, that rock will assume powers and start to answer your prayers.” My character in FUTLITY fed her god with a bucketful of blood. Hopefully, you won’t go down her ghastly route and instead, opt for non-human blood if you must offer blood. Otherwise, just like Abel in the Bible offered God the best of his harvest and Abraham offered a ram, you can opt for a non-blood sacrifice of fruits, gifts, meat etc. What matters is your intention and the faith you have in your god.
7. WORSHIP: Finally, you must worship and praise your god with dedication. Your worship can take the form of a formal ceremonial act like Sunday services or a quick daily act of devotion in your home shrine/temple. You can even worship them whilst driving, walking, cooking, exercising, lying on your bed; basically anywhere. You just need to call them by that special name you’ve given them and they’ll awaken to your call. A god needs to know that it is remembered and appreciated; that it is not forgotten and abandoned. Just like plants left un-watered wilt, gods die when they’re forgotten. When we worship them with gratitude for their blessings, they bless us with more.

This is it; the 7 ways to make a god. But before you go rushing off to create your god, here is a word of caution: BEWARE! There are many malevolent entities out there seeking unwary souls to latch onto and they will happily become your god should you create with the wrong intention, the wrong sacrifice and the wrong goal. Like Aladdin’s powerful, wish-granting genie, these evil entities will indeed fulfil your desires, but at a great cost. Just like the monkey’s paw, the lesson here is, “Beware what you summon and what you ask for! They just might come true!” My characters in FUTILITY entered into a pact with the wrong god and reaped the devastating consequences of their greed.

Here’s wishing you all a happy Halloween month!

(For entertainment purposes only)

[Editor's Note: Futility is now available to purchase and you can learn more at: https://titanbooks.com/72646-futility/]

Crackling with wit, this is a monstrous, gleeful, bitingly funny tale of murder, body-swapping and bloody vengeance from the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award ® for Lifetime Achievement and ‘Queen of African Horror’.

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