5 Ways To Learn More About The Orisha
|
The Orisha are the Messengers of Oludumare, the God/dess of the Yoruba Traditional Spiritual Tradition known as Ifa. The Yoruba Spiritual Tradition is centered in West Africa in what is now called Nigeria. During the time of the enslavement of African people in the New World, known as the Maafa ( Kiswahilli for Great Disaster), Ifa came to the Americas and the Caribbean. Anyone caught practicing the religion was put to death.
Since Christianity was the only religion allowed to the enslaved Africans, the Orisha of Ifa were hidden behind the Catholic saints wherever similarities were seen between the two. For example, Shango, Orisha of Thunder and Transformation, carrier of the double headed ax, was served through Saint Barbara since she too was portrayed with the double headed ax. This assured that the Orisha would survive the transatlantic passage and live on.
Centuries later the Orisha are still being worshipped behind the masks of Saints...and openly by their original African names and images. People of all colors, genders, and nationalities now celebrate the Orisha in the privacy of their own home and along with their spiritual families, commonly called Houses or Iles.
Here are five suggestions to help you to connect with the beauty and harmony of the Orisha.
1. Attend lectures about traditional West African Spiritual Practice. Check with your local universities to learn of lectures in the Comparative Religions, Anthropology, and African Studies Departments.
2. Subscribe to reputable lists about Orisha and African Traditional Spirituality on the internet. You can find Orisha focused discussion listed by doing a search at Yahoogroups.com and at Google.com. Be prepared to state your intentions and to show respect to the guidelines of the list.
3. Attend lectures and view exhibits of West African Art at your local museums. Call them and ask to be added to their mailing lists for to learn of upcoming events
4. Check your local holistic newspaper for workshops, seminars, and lectures in your area given by initiates in the Ifa tradition or one of its adaptations in the New World, such as Santeria, Candomble, Shango Baptist, or Lucumi.
5. Attend conferences and workshops that are centered around Orisha practice. Check with local metaphysical bookstores and botanicas for a list of upcoming events.
Supplementing your reading about Ifa with hands-on contact with people who are involved in the Ifa tradition will give you a different perspective and enhance your experience of the Orisha immensely.
Meri Tahset is a rootworker, aborisha, spiritual counselor, and sistaservant of the spirits dedicated to helping people to heal themselves and to maintain their connection to spirit in their daily lives. Meri can be reached at http://www.sistahealer.com
|
|
|
Should Christians Drink Alcohol?
Tea-totalling Texans? Them's fightin' words!I live in a small Texas town which is probably not all that different from a small town anywhere else. Lately, much has been reported by the local media and debated at city council meetings regarding liquor licensing. When ever these types of issues are discussed, some self-appointed Christian representatives will speak up, supposedly on behalf of all the rest of us, and heatedly expound upon the awful vice of drin...(related: Spirituality)
Can You Live The Christ Life?
Were you lied to as newborn Christian? I was...let me explain.You are a Christian, right? So, Can you live the Christ life? Well I guess I want to get a little more involved than that. I want to ask you if you can live the Christ life by your own effort!If you're like me, you were probably brought up in a Church where the pastor told you every Sunday how you were supposed to act. He probably told you that you needed to do such and such in order to be a "good Christian".And what if that stuff was hard to do? If you had a problem with a certain sin, what was the advice that you received. How was it recommended that you go about the subject of "living the Christian life"? If your early Christian education was like mine you were lied to!
The Foundational Laws Of Spiritual Physics
Over the past years, I have undergone a life-altering transition from living on autopilot to recreating my life as a spiritual calling and a force for good. One aspect of this transition has been the acknowledgement of what I call the "Foundational Laws of Spiritual Physics", detailed below. Basically, these laws state that any action that does not promote the overall betterment of mankind (or soul-kind, for that matter) is a waste of energy at best, and a horrifically destructive force at worst. Any person, life-path, or civilization that tries to deny these laws suffers the same fate as any material object that tries to deny the laws of material physics - it will be inherently unstable, unsupportable and destructive to itself (and probably to anything around ...(related: Spirituality)
No Other Gods Before Me
The passenger had to be carried onto the plane and carefully strapped into a first-class seat. She said nothing. As the airliner achieved cruising altitude, perhaps the flight attendants came around. "Would you l...(related: Spirituality)
Ten Soul-tending Principles For Women
Feeling restless? Is part of you calling out for change, though you don't yet know what that looks like, or what you most need?
Well, maybe, just maybe, you need ...(related: Spirituality)
What Is True Freedom?
Freedom....The cherished goal of humanity throughout its history.No society has ever been happy under the rule of people of some other society. History, from one perspective, is nothing but a struggle between two groups-one attempting to enslav...(related: Spirituality)
Unfinished Woman
I'm at that place in life many refer to as "the dark night of the soul". My husband and I just finished and moved into our dream home. It was a life long dream come true for me. I thought my life would never be complete without it. Now here I am, one year later and I am going through the classic "what's next" question. I am bored and tremendously unchallenged by my career. And try as I might, I cannot think of another thing that interest or pulls me. I journal, I meditate, I read, I research and I analyze and still no answers come. I feel like I am going around and around the same old rut, the same old song. Wh...(related: Spirituality)
Spiritual Prosperity
You will become as great as your dominant aspiration...If you cherish a vision, a lofty ideal in your heart, you will realize it.~James Allen, As You ThinkTrue wealth is spiritual wealth.While it is fine to pursue material wealth to create positive living conditions for self and others, we should not neglect the true meaning of life: spiritual ascension.We come into the world with a certain spiritual calibration, and our task from birth to death is to raise our vibration to more subtle levels.Thus, we are here to gather a different currency other than money. Money, in fact, is a separate energy that is neutral and whose value depends on how it is used.We come into the world based on our spiritual consent.We co...(related: Spirituality)
Echos Transition
Echo was a flea-bitten gray horse, with brown speckles everywhere, and crystal clear hairs in her mane and tail. We met in October, 1976, when she was a broodmare on an Arabian farm in New York State. A beginner at riding doesn't usually start out with a novice horse, but I fell in love at fi...(related: Spirituality)
The Wisdom Of The River: Lessons Learned
Over the past few years I have watched the popularity of whitewater rafting grip the vacation market. "Strange", I thought. "Why would floating down a river become such a hotly contested vacation destination?" Today, I understand this phenomena completely. There is a wisdom and lesson that only the river can teach. It is a lesson that I intend to learn as often as possible.Whitewater rafting has become one of America's favorite recreational activities for many reasons. There are several theories on this but I think the majority of them miss the mark. The fans argue that what makes the whitewater experience so compelling, so satisfying, and so incredibly exhilarating is that it is REAL! This primal adventure is beyond comparison. "This ain't your daddy's video game adv...(related: Spirituality)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Spirituality