Encouragement For Finding our Godparents

[Omowale]

So you are interested in Isese or another Ifa tradition but you do not have any family or friends who practice the tradition. You try to scrounge up information you can collect from the internet but you find out that sources are far and few inbetween.

Do not worry. Many of us have been there before.

As African spiritual traditions become popular there are many who thirst for knowledge and are in a hurry to find any elder to initiate them. While this is understandable, I would like to say one go about this journey one step at a time. As finding the wrong priest can have serious repercussions. Because at the end of the day we are all human, and so like other religions/organizations there are frauds and scammers. These fraudulent priests will be in a hurry to initiate you and in a hurry to go by any means to extract money from you. They will come to you seeing you as an easy victim. Some will even tell you that your ancestors told you to pay them. This is emotional and spiritual manipulation. It is unfortunate that this is a reality and can give African Religious Traditions (ATRs) a bad name. But frauds and scammers have been around since the dawn of humanity. In fact there are verses in Odu Ifa that warns us of these wicked people. I will take a short excerpt from Odi Meji:

Òdí Méjì
|  |
|| ||
|| ||
|  |

Alahanrangunkan awo ori ota
A difa fun Olokun lojo to omi okun o to bu boju, ti ko to bu sin se
Alahanrangunkan awo ori ota

From Odu Ifa, there is the story of Alahanrangunkan, who journeyed throughout Yorubaland pretending to be a clueless client in search of consultation with a legitimate priest. Alahanrangunkan came across many fraudulent "Ifa" priests who knew nothing of Ifa and charged a high fee. When Alahanrangunkan exposed a fraudulent priest:

Alahanrangunkan sọ ẹ̀yin ni ẹ̀ ń bá ayé olùfẹ́ jẹ́. Ó nàá nírònà. A dà wọ́n lorí jù sápò.

Alahanrangunkan beat him mercilessly and then beheaded him and threw it in a sack.

This verse tells us that the wicked will reap what they sow.

Though Ifa is not dogmatic, Ifa teaches us ethics when divined for us and Ifa does not condone fraud.

That being said, the seeker must know what he/she seeks. If you are in search of acquiring titles, then you will easily find "priests" who will happily give you those things for a price.

But if you are in search of a real babalawo/iyanifa to teach, enlighten and guide you through this life changing process of spiritual fulfillment, you may have to take the long bumpy journey. Many of us not born into these traditions have taken that road. One who has just started their journey into Isese should be at peace with this reality because Ifa also teaches us:

Sùúrù ni baba ìwà.

Patience is the father of good character.

And we should not only be looking for Godparents who exhibit that trait, but we should be exhibiting patience within ourselves.

May we surround ourselves with those who practice good character. Ase Edumare 🙏🏾