Whose Ice is Colder:
Initiations and Rituals in Relation to New Afrikans
and their Connection to the Afrikan Continent

Thoughts and considerations...

Strange stories (sometimes horror stories) relayed to me over the years by people initiated to various priesthoods in Afrika (particularly Nigeria) have prompted me to ask us to take a look at a “new” paradigm in relation to the approach we take in obtaining our spiritual rituals. I often hear of people say “If you want initiation done RIGHT, you gotta go to Afrika; the most sacred herbs are in Afrika and if you want to do this ritual right then…; you know you gotta finish your initiation up in Afrika…don’t you?”. This prompts me to want to ask these people “Do you think the ice in Afrika is colder than the New Afrikan’s ice (Afrikans in the Yepete – Akan for “diaspora”)?” Of course, the answer is an infallible NO!

Long before we returned to the full practice of our Afrikan traditions, New Afrikans have not only survived, but they have duly found and EMPLOYED the sacredness of the earth around them. One cannot discount the historical value of the Root Doctor and the Hoodoo Man/Woman represented mainly in the amerikkkan south. In their Ancestral DNA, they knew that sacredness did not and does not stop on one continent. This is not biblical religion. There are sacred herbs and new rituals in relation to those herbs. Our experiences in the Maafa necessitate this. How can one lie dependent on Afrika and claim to be spiritual? What if and WHEN the oyinbo levies the harshest sanctions against Nigeria and Afrika in general (and believe me it is coming) that won’t allow us to retrieve certain herbs, get certain initiations, kwk? Will we be so dependent on Afrika that we will have to stop our practice of indigenous culture until sanctions are lifted? I hope not. But if one can see that reality why not act now in a manner of spiritual freedom and sovereignty? Why wait until that time?

Message to New Afrikan people: It is high time that we stop being the cultural children of ANYONE. For instance, why is it that I have heard more than enough people, “seasoned” in our traditions, state that they did not think one could be initiated to Ifá in amerikkka because THERE IS NO SACRED GROVE HERE? What?! However, they must be ignorant of the fact that the Holy Odù Ifá Otura Obara says that the whole world is Ifa’s grove. However, such statements are indicative of the state that we are STILLL in. It is a statement from a cultural/spiritual child wrapped in the garb of spiritual and cultural independence.

I hear validated stories of New Afrikans going all the way to Afrika to be initiated only to have paid christians chant and participate in their rituals – people who disdain the deities but will cash in on opportunity. This must stop immediately. We must stop going to Afrika with our hands out. Learn the language. Don’t let these types pull the wool over your eyes under the guise of language barriers. Realize the fact that many continental Afrikans are enjoying great benefits from the commercialization of our culture. They cash in on our innocent ignorance.

Let us remember OUR responsibility in this too. Take the necessary PREREQUISITE ritual and study steps before letting somebody tell you that you NEED to go to Afrika (or anywhere else) quickly to get initiated. Let us re-examine our reasons for coming to this tradition. Are we coming simply to get initiated? To gain some pseudo-sense of power? If so, you are setting yourself for all of the above and more. And we must admit that some of the stuff that happens is ALLOWED. Your ORI may have told you all the time that something was not quite right. At the same time we must hold the continentals (this article is mainly about them) who indulge in such behaviors highly accountable and call those to the table on this (contact me to obtain a copy of the letter I sent to the Ifá Council).

Word to the sisters…Oluwos (people who are overall responsible for your initiation and spiritual needs in the Ìsèsè Ifá tradition) and Adjubonas (the main people who do the work at your initiations and responsible for teaching you) are not supposed to sleep with their initiates in this culture. If they do this, they violate a big part of the pact they make with Ifá. They violate Odù the entity. Word to the Brothers…If you are spiritually in charge of a woman, there are certain rituals you simply need to find a woman to do in your stead. We are not in a time where we need to be giving women spiritual baths. In fact, from a New Afrikan perspective, there is no need for either of us (men in relation to women and vice versa) to have to see each other naked or with exposed private body parts.

Let’s be honest family. Many continentals, whether they stay here in amerikkka or in Afrika, see owo (money) when they see us coming. They often get over because many, whether knowingly or not, go to them as cultural children with their hands out only to receive fists full of wasps! There are too many well-intending New Afrikans going over there to the continent only to receive partial (if any of) service in relation to what they are paying for. And often when they do get what they are supposed to get, they catch hell and high water trying to get taught something. Somehow, this turns into extra money that needs to be paid. Thus, they are left in a strange quagmire: caught between honestly thinking that the continental Afrikans’ ice is colder than ours, while finding themselves having to get their PERTINENT information from the New Afrikan. Though we are here to help ALL New Afrikan (BLACK ONLY) people, we do ask that due respect is given to our Ancestors for the work they do THROUGH us.

Every group of people has a clanic Ancestral pool that is close to them and from where they operate from often. We must honor and respect our Ancestral pool that has honestly been here for us BEFORE ANY continental Afrikan thought it a good idea to come over here to try to validate us and/or what we are doing. Let us love and respect them thoroughly. Let us go to them so they can tell us about the sacred herbs and areas of THIS land. Is not the Mississippi River as sacred as the Ôsun or Oya rivers in Nigeria? Are there not areas of rivers in South Carolina as sacred and powerful as the rivers in Ghana where Nana Asuogebi and Nana Tigare dwell? What about the NEW deities that have manifested in the sacred forests, rivers, COTTON FIELDS, mountains, kwk here in amerikkka simply due to our presence? It would behoove us to go to our oracles and our direct Ancestral pools so they can inform us on such things; lest we become spiritually stagnant and our culture loses validity for us in our historical and geographical circumstances. This process is no different than what we see in the sacred Odù Ifá in its Itans (stories). There are new itan and verses that evolved throughout the history of the West Afrikans as new circumstances came up. Certain towns would develop and they would cast Odù to see what Odù governs that town. At that point, that town, the people, and some story associated with its founding would become permanently a part of that Odù. This only shows that Odù and Afrikan spirituality in general is dynamic; it does not stop like the false religions of the bible and quran. At what point to we take control of our spiritual direction and divinity of self?

Unapologetically submitted to the New Afrikan community. To be continued…
Áwotúndé Dòsúnmú Fáséèyin Ágbôsi