The Initiation - The Day I Became Apetebi

He was a very kind and gentle soul, the day we met in the parking lot of Border's Books.  A rotund, older gentleman, with a kind smile and wearing LOTS of beads.  The one's I recognized were the green and brown eleke of Ifa.

{Olufela Solawande 1902-1987, and Aururela John Turpin  state quite avidly that, wearing a lot of eleke, and calling one's self pompous names does not a Babalawo make.} 

After sharing stories, and seeing each others beads, the Baba and my husband, Hakim, realize that each was interested in Ifa; soon the matter arose that there was to be an initiation of some boys from Chicago, right here in Phoenix.  But it seems they were "one person short" of the required number of participants, so Hakim was invited to participate as an initiate by this "Baba" from the aforementioned parking lot.The night before the initiation, Hakim asked merindinlogun about the initiation, the unequivocal response, in his own interpretation was "no". He ignored the oracle. 

Shortly after arriving at the home where the initiation was to take place, I was introduced to the Iyanifa who was to "oversee" the initiation.  I'm thinking that an Iyanifa who is about to endure a three-day event which will require most of her internal energies, should be in meditation or repose. No, this Iyanifa is in the middle of a big argument with one of the initiates from Chicago, regarding some matter of history! This little tirade was consuming a huge amount of the group energy as the time and attention spent in keeping the two apart was significant.  Her behavior was so erratic, before the end of the weekend, this Iyanifa would be on my last nerve as well.  One of the attributes that is required to make spiritual progress is the ability to observe boundaries, and the ability to set boundaries within one's self. 

One of the most important elements to divination is the ability to depend upon one's own instinct, intuition, common sense, and Extrasensory Perception.  If I already REALLY know the answer to the question, I should not be divining about it.  Like, If I have to go Pee, am I going to ask the four cowries "Can I go Pee?" Not likely.  Every time I observed Iyanifa Fajoke, she was bent over those cowries like they were going to expel gold any moment. 

I actually initially respected the Baba from Mexico who came to conduct the initiation.  He spoke Yoruba like he had heard it before, and could go on for hours reading verses of Ifa in Yoruba.  We learned some call and response types of oriki - those would be songs.  He spoke a lot about taking control of one's own life by altering the way one thinks about things.  He talked about being able to manifest anything that one wants; a test of the system really did work - within 6 months I was the proud mortgagee of a rather elderly home on a beautiful golf course.  I visualized a home with a water feature in the back yard, I got a home with access to a golf course with a nearby lake!

I learned how curses work.  There was a rumor, called to the Baba from Phoenix who was hosting the initiation.  Someone told him that the Ile in Chicago was throwing hexes at this initiation and that these women were very Pissed off with him.   He proceeded to whine, cry and carry-on about those women in Chicago, until I was quite frankly sick and tired of hearing about them.  He was so preoccupied with his focus on those women in Chicago, that he left the stacks of trays containing the herbs and medicines out in the yard over night..The first in over 100 very arid nights, that it finally RAINED!  He caused his own curse to work against himself.  If he would have shut up, and focused on his present responsibilities, the herbs would have never been left outside over night. 

The sacrificial meal was prepared, which took many people most of the night and part of the next day.  When it was time to serve the sacred meal, this Baba from Mexico took off in someone's car and went to eat at McDonalds! How Rude!

What I most disliked about all three of them were their manners. Pompous and rather arrogant.  Treating me like I was their servant girl, and not even kind enough to know my name, after three solid sun ups to sun downs together.  Kind of like several of the Babas who I have met in California, "Mr. 'You can find the answer to your question on my web site'".

I don't wish to detract from the knowledge of Ifa that is held by this Baba from Mexico, he has written many books on the practice of divination based on his learning from Ode Remo Nigeria.

{Baba Turpin cautions me to choose with care who I listen to}

So at the end of the three day ceremonies, readings, oriki, and ritual, all of the initiates had brand new, pretty ikin, and a beautifully carved divining tray, and a bunch of new beads, and big, long, flowing pompous names.

{Baba Turpin says that is not what it is all about.}

Oh, and the money, it's not about the money either.  This practice of charging upwards of thousands dollars for an initiation in the United States by a self-purported Babalawo, who then leaves behind minions of Ifa Orphans, with no where to learn, and no one to teach them.  Young men are initiated with not such as a clue about the Odu or the Ese that go along with it.  I believe that if a Babalawo agrees to the responsibility of initiating an Awo into tefa, they are responsible for teaching them also.  Not just taking their money and giving them trinkets, beads and long flowing names, so they think that their money was worth it.  They still don't have any real knowledge of Ifa, or connection to the spirit through Ifa, and no one to learn from. 

In the diaspora, I have met two, maybe three honest to goodness, learned, sage and wise Babalawos - Baba Turpin and another Baba I met in California, who taught me about Otura and Irete, and about astrology, and the importance of having a current passport! Oluwo I - another amazing wise, kind and learned Man, I think he is in Texas. His wisdom is deep and freely shared. I know that there are other good and wise Babalawos, and Iyanifas  in the diaspora.  They are coming together.  The wisdom and the knowledge are free, the room and board and necessary costs must be compensated - the learning requires many years - the commitment, a lifetime.  The Priest who initiates is held accountable for the development of the student. No Initiation should take place outside of these circumstances.

There is good and bad in every system, every group, organization, political party, religion.  Sometimes it seems that the evil ones who a fakers, are the very ones who people are flocking to give their money to.  Can Love and goodness possibly overcome these who would use the teachings to line their own pockets?  Can the shift of resources occur toward the expression of the Love, Mercy and the Compassionate teachings of the humble and knowledgeable spiritual leaders?