You can find your *connection* to the Orisa in nature, but the *wisdom* is within their priests.
Ifa & Orisa is not a solitude practice but one that depends on community and apprenticeship.
When you further your studies and finally step into an ile which is a temple or spiritual house—the Oluwo and/or the Iyalode are your main elders.
They will have the right to not disclose certain information of the tradition with you until you’re ready for it.
This why books are seldom in the religion. It’s a practice that relies on mentorship & oral study.
The true traditional way of learning Ifa & Orisa is by living with your elders and helping them around their compound to then level up to help them with spiritual work.
This is how children who grew up in the tradition become fluent in all the Odus when they’re a teenager.
You retain more information when it’s being taught you hands-on and orally, rather than being expected to read a few chapters and show up for a quiz.
So when you get into all these classes, seminars, and docs—please know that it can’t replace true mentorship with elders you trust.
You are trained to recognize certain elements & cues to know what to do next, not necessarily memorize them.
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There’s someone out there that thinks they’re lazy when they just have undiagnosed ADHD.
I think about this person a lot, because I was this person.
The abuse you tolerate from others because there are things that are difficult for you, leads you to a life where you think there’s something wrong with you.
Your brain works differently. And that’s okay.
People with ADHD have a deficit in activation (which is the opposite of procrastination). It’s *extremely* difficult to get tasks started.
To someone who doesn’t have ADHD it seems like laziness or being unproductive. But what is productivity anyway?
In Ifa, menstruation is not considered dirty or unclean. It’s actually seen as something very energetically potent.
There are many Odus (Odus refer to the cosmic algorithm of the universe) like Iwori Ogbe, Iwori Osa, etc that speak about menstruation being a sign of blessings.
Particularly ire omo (blessing of child).
That being said, those who menstruate are running energetically hot against hot spirits. The menstruation cycle (and the blood itself) can be powerful enough to render medicines and Ifa shrines impotent and unworkable.
The Ifa & Orisa tradition is a journey of loving yourself first. Depending on yourself first. Learning to hold yourself accountable first.
If you’re in the tradition and you are the same person that you were going into it, investigate that.
Before all the orisa, akose (spiritual medicine), and ebo (sacrifice)—all you have is yourself (your ori) and your character (iwa pele).
It’s self-action before devotion.
When it comes to devotion, it’s devoting your life to what resonates to what works with your ori (higher self). It’s doing things that align with your elevated self, that align with the destiny that you chose to live.
Codependency on the Ifa Divination System or Orisa is not it.
You’re not gonna be able to pray away cognitive disorders or choose to not believe them.
A loved one could be silently suffering without the access to get help & the support. It will benefit the entire community to advocate for everybody in it.
Here in this thread, I have time again to talk about the 3 types of ADHD. And how emotional regulation and rejection sensitivity are one of many defining components you could probably recognize in an ADHD person