I received the following question at the Ifa College early this week. It is an excellent question, and my answer has great relevance to your own Orisa practice….

Blessings

I have been in the Santeria religion for the majority of my life and have recently re-embraced it. I received the Hand of Orula, but my question is how can you receive your Icofa without actually being present in the ceremony? I know that there are different sects of the Yoruba religion, but I feel that there are certain initiations that one must be present. I've read "The Way of the Orisas", which I think was a very good book, so I feel that Mr. Neimark does know what he's talking about, but can you or anyone explain receiving your Icofa via mail is as effective as being a part of the ceremony?

Excellent question! Let me explain. First, hundreds or thousands of years ago, there was no option as to how a Priest would relate to the client. It HAD to be in person. There was no other way of communicating. No Telegraph, no telephone, no mail, no Internet. Like so many unexamined things in life, once something has been done a certain way for long periods of time it is automatically assumed to be the “right” way. Strangely, this attitude does not extend to scientific advances. People had no trouble driving a car as opposed to a rig with horses. People had no trouble using the telephone, electricity, plumbing, television and the Internet rather then their previous, and less efficient, ways of dealing with the various issues. But in the area of spirituality it was quite different. Why? Because Western Religion had created a dichotomy between your left brain (logical mind) and your right brain (spiritual/emotive mind). The rule was: “You can be either spiritual OR logical, but you can't be both!” On what basis the reached this conclusion I cannot fathom. Certainly they did not reach it logically.

In reality the Creative Force created us with not only the ability, but the necessity, of using our logical mind. Unlike ALL other living things, man has no instinct for survival. Our survival depends upon learning…and learning depends upon using our logic. The small child will always poke their finger in the pretty flame. Hopefully, they learn from the pain not to do it again. An animal instinctively avoids the fire without ever being taught.

Specifically, the Priest deals with Energy. The Priests ability to work with this energy should be virtually limitless. In reality, it is limited by the ability, development and world-view of the Priest themselves. For example, a Santeria/Lucumi Priest divining for a woman who sees an Odu calling for Ifa initiation, will never consider it…because in their world view women cannot be Ifa priests. They have self-limited themselves. A Priest who believes (rather than logically examines) that Divination must be done in person, is limiting their own ability to access energy and information to only a few feet. Why? Simply because that is the way it was done for hundreds of years. Not because that is the only way to do it.

The same applies to the Icofa. This, like most ceremonies, is a matter of a skilled Priest triangulating energy. The Client (recipient) really has nothing to do with the act of consecrating the Ikin for them. Unlike other ceremonies where the physical client becomes active in the triangulation (Initiation into Priesthood, Ifa, and Ori etc) where blood/energy is placed directly on the client, no such thing is part of an African Icofa ceremony. By the way, if you think sucking the brains out of a Chicken Head, or keeping the bones of a hen in your Ikin container have anything to do with your connection with the energy of Orunmila, you are wrong. These are simply the artifacts of the Catholic view that “things” (relics) have power. Africa has never used such objects, just as they have always given a minimum of 16 Ikin to BOTH men and women (you see how the Santeria/Lucumi world view begins to muddy the waters?). Or how about the demeaning sexist practices of having blindfolded women suck the neck of a decapitated hen while macho Babalawo watch. Do you believe this is essential to receiving the genuine energy of Orunmila? At any rate, the bottom line is that the energy we are dealing with is not confined to a few foot space anymore than a conversation can only take place face to face as it did for thousands of years. A skilled Priest is quite able to triangulate the energy of the sacrifice with the energy of the individual without having that individual standing next to them. The unskilled priest cannot and should not. The Priest blinded by the past cannot… and should not. Indeed, logic would dictate that the effectiveness of the work will be in direct proportion to the skill and ability of the Priest that performs it. If that skill in working with energy is limited to, and defined only, by direct contact within a few feet, then the object itself will express those same limitations.

Energy is a living, constantly adapting force. In our world we see changes socially, economically, scientifically, politically and technologically continually manifesting themselves…and it is inconceivable ( and illogical) that the Creative Force would have failed to create Energy ( Orisa) that would not adapt and be totally able to interact with these changes. To think otherwise is to place yourself in the position of trying to fill the gas tank of your car with a bale of hay for fuel.

Addendum: Following the posting of my answer to the original question, a very interesting thing took place. Normally the Ifa Foundation is subjected to 5 - 10 attempts daily to destroy our computer systems through various viruses attached to e-mails etc. These come from disgruntled individuals of bad character who have neither the facts to defend their positions nor the courage to discuss them. Instead they simply attack in an attempt to harm or destroy. Well, the above answer must really have struck a nerve, for within hours, the Foundation was barraged with over 200 virus laden e-mails. Of course, all are detected and deleted before they can do their mischief, but the very number and ferocity of the attack made it clear that a nerve had been struck. My father, a very wise man, used to say to me: " Phil, people get angry in direct proportion to how wrong they are."

Genuinely spiritual men and women may strongly disagree with one another, but they do it through dialogue not destruction. Those who attempt to destroy, rather than act with good character, simply add credence to our warnings about them and their world view.