HERE I GO! Isese Ifa

Here I Go! People talk of finding themselves. In our own way, we traverse many paths of spirituality until it feels just right. That's where I am now. Here I go. I am here. Isese/Ifa was my destination fifty-two years ago when a small voice spoke in my spirit, “Come out from among them.”

The curious have asked, “What drew me to Ifa?” It was an inner urging deep inside my soul. I kept sensing a yearning directing me to go home to Africa. To learn and adapt their cultural and spiritual ways. 

Not in a million years could I have orchestrated the events that unfolded before me. It all began with getting my maternal DNA tested at African Ancestry. Meanwhile, destiny befriended me with a Yoruba Babalawo born to a noble house of Orunmila and who would become the future worldwide leader of Isese. 

Here I am today, seventeen years later. I am an Ifa Chief of Eminence Araba Agbaye Makanwale, II, I am also an Honorary Member of His Eminence’s Awo Olodumerindinlogun. And my title is endorsed by HIM Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ọjájá II) the Ooni of Ife. This was my destiny.

Perhaps you, too, feel the African ancestral call rising like the sun in your DNA. Don't be afraid to say yes to the ancestors, and ask the Universe to lead the way. Who knows what your destiny will be? 

You will be taken out of your comfort zone. And if your experience mirrors mine, you’ll walk through a spiritual vortex uniquely meant for you as a descendant of enslaved and perished Africans. 

I guess what I am trying to say is that it is okay to take on a new cultural and spiritual identity without being ungrateful for the ship that brought you here. For many of us, that ship was Christianity.

Christianity or “Chuurch” as we say- was was all Big Ma, and dem knew. It was beaten into their backs and subconscious. And some Sundays, we, as kids reluctant to go to Sunday School and Church- got a strap across our backs too. 

It was the enslaver’s religion. In his view, it gave him power over us as animals and ordained our destiny as a race for servitude and chattel. This European Manifest Destiny mindset was beaten into generations of our people until we became docile like sheep. And we have been shouting and celebrating the masta’s religion in Church ever since. We shout harder until we are hoarse, sweaty and exhausted. The irony don't you say?

I'm not saying Jesus was wrong. But I have to wonder why didn't he stop the enslaved Black man named Simon of Cyrene from carrying his cross? Was this a silent nod by the Son of God to our being beast of burden? Or, as some Bible Scholars may say:” It was an honor for the Black man to be chosen to carry the cross for Jesus. That is our place in life.. The latter is what I was taught Evangelicalism.

I heard the Araba of the Obatala Temple in Ile- Ife say “the offspring of Obatala’s wife Oyi was ostracised by his many wives. To keep the peace he asked Olokun, Orisa of the deep ocean to raise him. When the child returned many years later, he was no longer Black. His skin turned pale white like a pearl from lack of sunlight. Obatala was upset that Oyi’s child was unappreciated and abused. Thus he uttered a divine proclamation that Oyi should be given obisiance. He further said Oyi’s child would subjugate all other races and plagerize their inventions.” I am paraphrasing of course.

The above pataki does not say we are to be slaves to the oyinbo. But we are to be aware of his nature and beliefs as they relate to people of color. Now we can go home freely. The old days are gone with the wind. And it's okay to turn our face toward the East Coast of West Africa and plan a pilgrimage home to begin our assimilation into the culture. The surprises that await you will forever transform your life. 

May Olduamare and the Ancestors be with you as you reclaim your identity, culture and heritage. Ase

Baba Oloye Ifamuyiwa Aworeni
Atunwase Awo Agbaye formerly known as Kenneth Fuller & professionally known as Dr. Christos Kioni, MSCD, h.c.
Oketase World Ifa Temple 🌴 Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Living in America

African Ancestry