Irúnmolè festival 2003 lecture by Orisagbemi Olosun

Initiation

What is the meaning of initiation?

According to the dictionary the word initiation is deriving from the Latin word initium, which means „ Entrance, beginning, introduction and consecration „

Initiation is a name for all rites of consecration, for moral and religious instructions, which will evoke a radical change in the social or religious standard of living.

Which kind of Initiations are existing?

In daily life we can experience initiations, like the instruction into certain areas of knowledge, in professions, in the computer world or for example in the knowledge of reproduction. But not all of them are done with rites. That is why e.g. the Freemason Pierre Ed. Calame, who is writing about initiation, thinks that one has principally to differentiate between the profane initiation and the sacred initiation

- In the profane understanding initiation means to him an introduction into something new, in a special knowledge, in science, like one is introduced into a profession.

- From the point of view of social science initiation means a „sacred act" of an ordination- a conveying of a consecration , a blessing.

www.freimaurer.ch/artikel/040299.html

I think one can divide it like this in our society, but during my researches I observed, that one can not easily divide it like that in the different kinds of societies and of the society here before. There are also rituals and so called sacred acts for the introduction in a profession.

A blacksmith for example is initiated in Nigeria with rituals. They are learning verses, incantations, in order to make the iron malleable, they are devotees from Ogun, the Irunmole of iron. The forge are like shrines for Ogun, where sacrifices are made for Ogun and where people are praying to Ogun. And e.g. in Britain today one is initiated somehow as a barrister in the Inns where rituals will take place, before one becomes a lawyer.

Then there are also the societal initiations, e.g. the initiations which are marking the beginning of certain life phases, the so called transition rites or rites of passage (birth, puberty, marriage, parenthood and death).

Some social scientists found out that in those societies where the transition rites are traditionally done, the people are having less problems in the period of transition, the transition is eased for them and the society is more stabilised. For instance Van Gennep and other social scientists believe generally, that rites of passage serve to preserve social stability by easing the transition of cohorts of individuals into new status and prestige roles; in part, they are a social acknowledgement of aging. As individuals are born and aging, their positions in society change. In the absence of rites of passage, society would be fraught with conflict as individuals either struggled to assert new social status or resisted these status.

The anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski expresses the social support individuals are getting in confronting the anxiety they may feel facing new social roles or major life changes, such as parenthood or the death of loved ones. Funeral rites, for instance, help those who are grieving by ritually introducing the deceased into the world of the afterlife.

http://www.feste-der-religionen.de/uebersichten/afrika.html

In the christianity, the baptism for instance is an initiation into the religions. The baptism means an admission into the christian religion and a promise of the love and blessing of God.

Furthermore other initiation rituals are taking place at the beginning of new periods of life, for instance in the catholic church the first communion, the confirmation, the marriage, the penance and forgiveness, the extreme unction and death. As the reputation of those rituals is slowly going down, the catholic church observed that because unpopular of confirmation which takes place in puberty, the youths are diverting their interests more and more into other initiations in diverse groups like punks, gruftie, and others.

Esoteric groups are also practising initiations with rituals. For instance Anja Heij, an Initiatee in Reiki is writing on the web site „ real magic" on initiation :

You may regard it as taking another step forward on the ladder of your life, or as taking off one of the many veils over your body of light. Energetically spoken an initiation is equal to the removal of certain energy blocks.

Initiations form a conscious Yes to alignment of your self with your self. It is an important stepping stone in your personal development.

http://realmagick.com/articles/36/2136.html

After talking about the different initiations in the world, in order to get a better understanding about initiation itself, we are now coming to the initiation in the traditional Yoruba Religion.

What means Initiation in the Traditional Yoruba Religion?

Every human being on the world is free to believe in the one or the other religion. So every human being is free to participate in the traditional Yoruba Religion, to believe in it , to follow it with or without initiation. Therefore one will contact the priests, who can do divination for every individual, who can give advice to everybody, to do rituals, to do sacrifice and spiritual medicine. Every non-initiated person can also participate at the monthly Ose ( Itadogun).

If somebody decided to be initiated, it means that he wants to progress inside the religion, to develop his personal life, to be close to Irunmole and to be in contact to them. The person is putting his life on Irunmoles and is working with them to make it better. It is a chosen step of the individual. The person will learn from the priest about the religion, about life and certain rituals and prayers, before he will be initiated, during the initiation and after the initiation.

Who decides , whether one will be initiated?

In the Yoruba religion one is not believing to get as many people as possible into the religion, to do missionary work. One is not looking for followers. First of all it is a very personal religion, because one is practising it because of personal reasons and second it is also better to have a small amount of loyal and devoted followers of the religion than those who do not value it and who will downgrade the religion and it is reputation, or who will even misuse it. And despite the attitude that majority is not important in the religion, that only the personal devotion counts, it is proved to be the 9th biggest religion in the world.

Every human being decides for himself, whether he wants to be initiated or not. For that he has to have a special knowledge about the religion and should be serious in it , what the priest, whose student and follower one is, will judge. If the priest will agree to the request of the student, everything is in God’s and Irunmoles’ hand. Then the destiny will decide, whether and when one will be initiated. Because an initiation needs time and means, which one has to raise and which according to my believe will be also there, if it is in the destiny of the person and if it is good for him.

Which kind of initiations are existing in the YTR ?

When one is born into the traditional Yoruba Religion, a divination (Esentaye) will be done for the new born child. This divination is not only telling us, which kind of human being we are and what we have to observe in our life to make it good, it is also telling us, which Irunmole we have. Every human being is having one or more Irunmole. (Explanation: Irunmole are servants of God and they are helping every human being through their lives, protecting us, communicating with the people and functioning as medium to God. There are 401 Irunmole, who are taking care of special aspects of life and who are having different characters.)

When one is initiated, one is first initiated into one’s Irunmole. Every Irunmole is having it is own way of initiation. The rituals, the colours, the food, the prayers, the praises etc. are different, for each Irunmole. Then there is also a difference in being initiated as a person who is initiated into the religion, or into a priest or into a high priest.

If one is having more Irumnole one will first be initiated to the main one which one is having, later to other ones one by one. It is not left for coincidence or free will, in which Irunmole one will be initiated into, the destiny is determining which Irunmole one is having and it is also determining whether one will be a priest or not .

When it will appear in the divination for example, that one should become a priest or priestess, one will be initiated in one’s Irunmole first, then in other Irunmole and after a long study one will be initiated as priest in one’s Irunmole. Without initiation one can not become a priest or priestess. It is not bind to any time, it can be three years, five, ten or twenty years, it depends on the qualification one got and on the intuition of the priest when it is the right time for the person to become priest or priestess.

Before one will be initiated as priest or priestess one will learn as initiatee much from the priest, who also has to have the same Irunmole as oneself. If my Irunmole is for example Obatala and the priest is only having Ifa, Egbe and Osun, he can not initiate me in Obatala, he can only initiate people in Ifa, Egbe and Osun. As an initiated person in Obatala I can also not initiate people in Obatala or to function as Obatala priestess, what some followers of the religion are doing wrongly in the USA...and even take money for that.

In conclusion only a priest is allowed to initiate and only the Irunmole he is also having and only a priest can do the work of a priest.

There are many kinds of initiations which are existing, it depends on the Irunmole and on the grade of initiation.

What changes the initiation?

Through the initiation one is going deeper into the religion, one is learning more about his Irunmole, about prayers and rites.

-One is learning how to work with colanut, how to interprete it in the right way. After the initiation one is doing one’s private Ose every week. One will get to know whether one is on the right way and one will clear one’s way from bad forces.

-During the initiation one is getting one’s Irunmole in form of symbols, pots, which are filled with spiritual water (agbo) at times and one is learning on how to handle them, which kind of rituals will be done in order to fill them with spiritual power. Like that one is having one’s own shrine in which one is praying, doing spiritual work, doing one’s Ose and in front of it one will bow and praise the forces, to praise Irunmole for the support.

- The initiated person is also getting a symbol which he is carrying always with him, like a bead, or a bracelet in the colours of one’s Irunmole, from which one can also see to which Irunmole one belongs to. It also serves as protection for the initiated person. Beside those visible things, which are changing, there is also a change in the inner world of the person, the inner eyes will become more open, one will be more sensitive for the spiritual powers.

As example I want to read out what Ilona Hilliges, a German author, who is writing books about Africa said about initiation. She lived in Nigeria, married there and was initiated in the community there, but then because of the death of her great love she moved with her children to Germany again and digested her life story in her books. When asked what changed in her life after initiation, she answered:

"A lot. I got to know that everything is connected with each other. Like a stone in a domino line, when one is giving a small push it will let the whole line to fall down. I have learned how to use my senses more intensively. Because only through them one can experience life from all angles. I try to look at people with open eyes and from my feeling, because that is more important, then what the head is giving as information. I have also learned, that one can not buy luck. One can not own it and hold it. In Africa happiness and the laughing of the children is what is holding the society together. One of my most important discoveries of the initiation was that our life here is only a form of a different being. After I did the initiation, materialism, envy and resentment were strange to me. Especially today it is not easy for me to get power and to think of materialism. My position in a big firm made it clear to me that there are more important things in life than fighting for positions and richness. So I have enlightened my background and thought about my ancestors. Today I am convinced that there are other worlds beside our own, which I can go through with meditation and dreams. This discovery is helping me to go about my daily life

Furthermore Marta Moreno Vega, PhD., who did intensive research in the TYR and the resulting religions Santeria and Lucumi in diaspora and who engaged herself in many organisations concerning Spanish, Latin American and African cultures, in her book „ The Altar of My Soul"

"...Through initiation in my religion, one is reborn. It is a conscious act of letting go of negative influences that weigh down the spirit, allowing it to soar and embark on a new beginning. The energy that naturally flows from initiation opens up inner channels, granting the initiatee the ability to see, feel, smell, taste and sense more acutely, and to be more present in the world. By combining my knowledge of the spiritual and the secular worlds, I have found a universe that unveils all of its wisdom and beauty before me. Like the great Santería/Lucumí goddess of the ocean, Yemajá, who lives both in the ocean and on the earth, we must avail ourselves of all the natural treasures of both worlds..."

(Dr. Vega also held conferences in Ile Ife in Nigeria, in Salvodor de Bahia in Brazil and in New York)

Ifa says in Irete Meji: Okan the priest of Oluigbo divined for Orunmila/ They said that those whom Orunmila initiated would never die. Initiation protects one from death.

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