Religious Conditioning

Up until a few days ago, my ancestral shrine had been sorely neglected. No candles, no flowers, no rum, no new water for them…just no attention at all! Changes in my schedule and a lack of time management was the cause, added to the apprehension I had to every day that went by without intentionally acknowledging my egun…how disappointed and angry they must be! Even though I knew I needed to at least go and say thanks, I kept putting it off because I felt like they’d be pissed which, of course, just makes things worse.

I’m Two Already?

I realized yesterday that I my two year birthday as a priestess of Oshun came and went and I didn’t even write about it! I honestly cannot believe it’s been two years.  Sometimes it seems longer; my godfather, while throwing obi to my orisas, accidentally said I was four years old!  But on other days, [...]

Working Orisa

Right now, as I write this, I am so in awe of the work of the ancestors and the orisas in my life. This past weekend and week I participated in my first initiation ceremony in the role of ojigbona, or the second godparent in the Yoruba/Lukumi tradition.  Not only did the entire experience take [...]

Calling all Babas and Iyas: Remember When You Were an Iyawo?

I have recently been thinking a lot about my iyawo year.  For those not familiar with the term, in the Lucumi tradition, after one is initiated, one lives the following year and a week as an “iyawo;” a bride to the orisa.  You are like a newborn baby and must observe a number of rules [...]

Clarifications on “The ATR Experience: How Should We Live?”

A few weeks ago I wrote a post reflecting on some of the issues I have heard from practitioners of the Lucumi tradition, and some issues I have personally experienced, regarding a lack of intentional teaching on the expectations of how one should live as a 21st century practitioner of an ancient African tradition.  In [...]

The ATR Experience: How Should We Live?

I have recently had conversations with women who claim the Orisa tradition as their spiritual path about how they have integrated this ancient African path to spiritual develop into their modern, fast-paced, American lives.  One common complaint I have often heard from newcomers to this path, and a feeling I have also experienced personally, is [...]

ATR Experiences: Ancestral Worship

I am currently writing my final paper for my graduate religion class and my topic of choice is the examination of the process of sacredness in the daily lives of Yoruba practitioners, looking closely at the body as site of the sacred and memory, as seen in ancestral worship, the gender and sexual fluidity that [...]

The ATR Experience: Ceremony of the Drums

This weekend I was invited to a Santeria/Lukumi* drumming ceremony by a neighbor of mine.  In many African traditions, the drum is considered sacred as it is the instrument that invites the spirits to partake in the celebration.  In the Yoruba tradition, the bata drum is the sacred drum and both drummer and drum go [...]