I view the act of a female Babalawo receiving the Calabash of Existence as a betrayal of conscience and instinct, resulting from her neglect of deep listening and her failed ability to accept the inherent energy of her highest achievement. I am referring to ‘Our Mothers’, the most powerful feminine energy wholly accessible to the female Babalawo.

There is not much out there in the way of teaching about ‘Our Mothers’, but never mind this. Access to energy cannot be confined by the inattention of scholars; rather by the stillness of mystics it is unleashed. To work with ‘Our Mothers’, which are both a spiritual force and a physical manifestation in the powerful women of our communities, the female priest need only pray for understanding, listen, and observe. This energy will peek out from hiding, or maybe it is the priest who will peek out from the blindfold.

The Yoruba understand both the spiritual and physical manifestations of ‘Our mothers’ and in many areas of cultural and artistic life the people are educated and reminded of the importance of this energy such as the annual Gelede masquerades that honor the women in the community and beseech them to use their influence in beneficially ways. Curiously, many of the Babalawo divining boards are carved with motifs that portray the multi-dimensionality of ‘Our Mothers’. I own two divining boards from Nigeria that are adorned with carvings that depict a snake swallowing a porcupine and a tortoise. Two Yoruba axioms are ‘nobody eats a tortoise along with its shell’ and nobody eats a porcupine along with its quills’ because this will ultimately cause death. This reflects the limitations and relativity of power both temporal and spiritual. On the spiritual level, this refers to the negative aje, which are particles of pathologically distorted sacred force that spring disoriented from the dark world of ‘Our Mothers’, but from which ordinary mortals can be protected. The women priests in the community administer Many times the protection, the cleansings, and the ebbos to correct negative energy. So the women are central players in healing and balance. The snake motif also reminds the others in the community of the downfall that awaits any abuse of power. Another Yoruba belief is that every creature, no matter how small or seemingly harmless, is invested with certain defense mechanisms with which to protect itself. This is a warning against oppression and the use of force against what would seem a weaker opponent. The divining board also sports an Osibata, the Yoruba water lily, which is a plant symbol of Iyemowo, the feminine aspect of Obatala, and one of the totemic features of ‘Our Mothers’. The stalk of the Osibata that grows through the water impersonates the umbilical cord. Obatala can be thought of as the summation of all the colors of light, which is white. Obatala is therefore all the ethical aspects of reality and all that is ethical in Ifa. Yemowo’s umbilical cord is like the light fibers that connect all that is living.

Why did the ancient Yoruba discover separate channels for men and women to realize spiritual acumen? Can this ever change? It is my belief that as long as men are still men and women are still women, there is no transformation of energy here. I think this is a fairly simple concept and one need not examine it any further to find deviations. What is not simple is for our society to envision a world where the feminine has a striking and powerful position and even if we have not been cultured to see it, it still exists! It is now up to the women priests in America to bring this energy into focus, develop a vocabulary to disseminate awareness, and open channels of communicating with these energies.

Why should a female Babalawo in today’s world insist on receiving an instrument that first of all she cannot use, and second of all distracts her from her true purpose? If a female bird decided not to sit on her nest of eggs and take on some other task instead, the natural balance of her cellular longevity would come into question. Now, the feminist in my white-lady-soul would say, “Whoa – not the barefoot and pregnant thing!” But that is not what I am writing about.

Certainly the female is a gifted vessel for creating life, but this concept extends into the entire matrix of our Universe, and is understood by the Yoruba as Iya Moopo. According to Susanne Wenger, “Iya Moopo represents the ancient supreme trinity of ‘The Female’. She bears totemic features that give her Iyemowo, Iya Loode, and NanaBuukun dimensions. . . Iya Moopo is said to be a potter woman. Her technique is to mold from a pre-existent hole or space.”

What I gather here is that the hole or space represents the ability of imagination. Of all living creatures, we humans are endowed with this gift. It speaks of creativity to solve problems, perhaps the greatest tool for healing. It describes the sacredness of what cannot be seen, but can be imagined – what gives meaning to that which can be seen. An archway made of stones and mortar is an archway because of the space beneath it. Both are equal and valuable, but the latter is not usually considered. This reminds me of a conversation I had with my Pakistani mother-in-law, who happens to be a Medicine Woman and a powerful woman in her community. We were talking about negative energy and she agreed that there are always hints and a message exposing the presence of negative energy and this gives us time to respond with cleansings and offerings before the ultimate damage is complete.

Iya Loode, also called the mother of outer spaces, is especially concerned with ‘abiku’, which are spirit children born to humans and ‘born to die’. The effects of abiku are often underestimated in our society. I believe that an abiku child, in recent lineage, or in its immediate members, touches every family. The ramifications of these phenomena reach deep into the psyche of the family, producing a ripple that reverberates in countless ways upon each individual.

Nana Buuken in the form of the virus is a kind of glue that holds all species and ecosystems in balance, so that life may flourish. I have written about this in another section and will not repeat that information, but I will say that the women at the Ifa Foundation have connected up with this energy and in so doing, have opened themselves to the entire complex of ‘Our Mothers’.

There is so much to be rediscovered. This will take years of research, observations, and practice. I am looking forward to this journey with other like-minded women.