Joe Manganiello spent years battling a mystery autoimmune illness that almost killed him, lost part of his intestine, and lived with an ostomy bag. Desperate for answers beyond doctors, he flew to Cuba for a Santería ritual where he licked the pituitary gland from a goat’s skull and sat with a Babalao who became mounted by an African spirit. A shaman later told him the real cause was generational trauma from his ancestors. “I think Santería was responsible for a piece of it… this Babalao became mounted by an African spirit… After the first ritual, I woke up and it was gone… I became the physical embodiment of my god Chango.”