Iyalosa Omialadora Ajamu
Ekuaro, I awoke this morning and needed to pay some bills online. Got on my computer immediately and the first screen that comes up says “orisa project” podcast and a large image of Elegba with all of his condiments is looking at me from my computer screen. I said “this is deep, it’s Monday morning, elegba’s day and this is the first thing that greets me upon arising. So, of course, I turned on the “listen” button and heard the podcast. Ekuse!!(means I greet you on your good work you are doing, young man). I think your program is just what we need . I have known Luisah Teish for at least 30+ years. I am a priestess of Yemoja and priestess of Egbe(society) Egungun for some 34 years now. I came into cultural awareness close to 40 years ago and later was initiated at Oyotunji African Village in Sheldon, S.C. in 1978. Lived in Oyotunji for 9 years and then my husband and children moved back into the world and have successfully maintained a cultural temple where we teach, educate and actually initiate and train our african descendants in the culture and religious beliefs of our ancestors, the Yorubas of southwestern Nigeria. I am proud to say that all of our 9 children have been initiated into the necessary rites of passage and trained extensively by us and our society of priests and priestesses and are at this time capable, knowledgeable priests and priestesses in their own rights. We have now, for the past 7 years or so, started initiations and training for our grandchildren. We feel that it is so very important to instill in our children a foundation that will help them to understand themselves and know who they are and where they came from so that when they pass Esu in the morning to enter into the portals of aiye(the world) they will be entering with balance, clarity and the ability to operate in this marketplace called the world. Africans have a way that they are born into this world, our birth rituals, ikamojade (naming ceremonies) so we can properly welcome the ancestral spirit back to our family and know how to properly take care of these children. We have rituals for womanhood and manhood, so we can restore the true meaning of african woman and female mystique and african man and male mystique. We have right of passage rituals for marriage, the coming together of two ancestral clans. That is a whole family affair. We have right of passage rituals for the” final initiation” death. We have to prepare the spirit for the next journey back to Ile Orun(heaven)
Our mission is to teach and educate, through our own example, the culture and tradition of our ancestors. It is a perfect solution to the confusion and chaos that african people find themselves in today. Dysfunctional families, schizophrenia, slave mentality, simply not understanding and acknowledging who we are. We had a life before slavery. We truly did. We had wisdom, morals, ethics, extended families, social customs and a beautiful interaction between our world, heaven, and afterlife. We had our own deities, our own gods and goddesses and our own understandings. A ki(pay homage to) Elegba, who woke me up this morning and showed me this post : A ki yin baba mi Esu papa wara, onibode , oni ilekun, baba ire, si ilekun ati si ona fun ire, owo,alafia,agbara ati ona dada. (I greet you father elegba, the owner of money, owner of the crossroads, owner of the door, the father of blessings. Please open the doors and the roads for luck, money, strength,and clear head and clear roads for travel on this destiny.) Ko si ku, kosi arun, kosi eyo, kosi ofo, kosi ona, kosi aselu, kosi egun buruku, kosi jagun jagun, kosi ofun (please don’t let me see death, sickness, breaking laws,bad mouth from anyone, bad roads, blows to the head,negative spirits,wars or battles,curses) Adupe Elegba jowo, toju mi ati edile temi (Thank you Elegba, please watch over me and my family)
Keep up the good work Eku se!!!
