Sentry Page Protection
Lessons
Articles
Read Me

Apatakin = Important

Picture
How to Use This Site
First things first. It's essential to get crystal clear about what the Orisa Lifestyle member site is and what it is not. What do I mean by that? Consider, for example, that you have a map of Havana, Cuba. Unfortunately, however, you're in Montreal, Canada. No matter how good the map is and no matter how well you study it, you cannot use it to navigate your environment. Similarly, this website is meant to be a kind of road map to your personal priesthood. It's not meant to answer all of your questions about Ifa, or replace your godparents or define the meaning of life. Instead, the information you will find here is meant to help you discover Orisa Lifestyle from the inside-out. My primary concern is neither to teach you thousands of verses of Ifa, nor to show you how to perform hundreds of rituals. Those are very important aspects of the practice. But their efficacy is based upon your level of spiritual development, which is a direct reflection of your knowledge of self. 

So, with that in mind, the key to using this site is to learn how you personally go about becoming a better version of yourself on a day to day basis. Continuous improvement is integral to living the medicine. Every great priest I have ever known has had his own “routine” that worked best for him. And because the primary objective of this site is to help you to develop your own personal priesthood, I invite you to incorporate what you learn here into your own regimen. Use what you can and disregard the rest. For me, the best way to gauge the value of any teaching is to ask yourself, "How can this help me live the medicine that will heal my life and heal the lives of the people I serve?" 

My own daily approach to continuous improvement has always followed a pretty strict format, so let me share that with you first, and then you'll have a more intuitive sense of the specific topics and videos on the site to integrate into your practice.  Before you do anything else, take this Personal Survey to guide your development and help you optimize your journey into Orisa Lifestyle. 
RITUALIZE YOUR DAY
  1. Visionary Goal: I feel very strongly that every day must begin with a vision in mind. EVERYTHING in the world is competing for your attention at some point or another. If you've ever gone grocery shopping on an empty stomach, you know it's not a wise strategy. So it is super important that you are clear about at least one thing every single day of your life. Sometimes, it's not even a concrete "thing" that I focus on; it can be more of a sense of things. Either way, once I have a literal or conceptual fix on my day, then I can take it to the next level mentally, emotionally or physically. I examine my ideas, contemplate my surroundings and observe myself emerging into the moment. I don’t want to go so fast as to force any conclusion, but I want to seek out the edges of my mood and see how it relates to my bigger vision of life. Little by little this will increase my spiritual stamina. This may seem a bit esoteric at first glance, but this is stuff that divination is made of. Time is divination. Motion is divination. You have to allow yourself to be keenly aware of the subtleties of the moment, yet never lose sight of your spiritual core. 
  2. Technology:  Next, I make use of some variety of technological or material resources I have available. It might be a "medicinal" soap with its accompanying prayers. Or it might be work at an altar, including offerings, prayer and divination. It might involve writing inspirational words to share with an individual or the general public. But in any event, my intention is to improve the accuracy and clarity of my "voice" by filtering it through various channels of communication. Here, it's important to note that my fundamental understanding is that life is stories and what matters most is not the sequence of events, but the quality of each element and how a person is influenced by experience. So, my objective with the technology is to crystalize the mood of my day and punctuate it in definitive terms.  
  3. Planning: Here, I am not referring to basic time management.  Instead, I'm talking more about planning the structure and administration of my studies and practice. Will I be in the shrine, in nature, the library, the post office, kinko's or some combination thereof? Do I need to review certain songs, verses, ceremonies or recipes? Is it time to confer with my mentors and colleagues on a particular issue I am facing in my personal or professional life?  This is the time for me to organize what I'm going to do and when I'm going to do it in order to have maximum impact on my development. Well into my career, for example, Ifa directed me to focus on the weekly Ose ritual as a means of community worship. Consequently, I devoted lots of time to researching and practicing the ritual and all of its elements. Before that, I had been focused on making sacrifice and before that, memorizing a particular body of chants and songs in Yoruba. In other words, at every stage in my development as a devotee, part of my task has been to determine the appropriate body of knowledge for me to study and practice. 
  4. Execution: This translates to "Find out what needs to be done and then do it until it's done!" Follow through is, oftentimes, the only difference between success and failure. Water boils at 212° F. At that point, you get steam power, which can power a freight train! But at 211° you only have really hot water. That one degree makes a world of difference. So many people stop working at 211° and never experience the fullness of their efforts. When it comes to living the medicine that will heal your life and the lives of the people you serve, half measures just won't do. Finish what you start. Period.  
  5. Review: Keep score, basically. Did you do what you promised to do? What enabled your success or failure? What can you learn from both? How can you adjust to leverage your strengths and minimize your weaknesses? This is one of the most important practices I know of. In retrospect, it has had the greatest impact on my ability to grow. The more closely I evaluate my performance, the more focused I become because I have gradually come to accept the fact that I can only do a few things REALLY well. So, if I really want to improve to the point of achieving true excellence - measured by my ability to consistently deliver superior goods and services - I have to eliminate everything that detracts or distracts from my chosen mission. At the same time, I have to nurture everything that supports my ability to accomplish my chosen mission. It all boils down to my ability to recall what I had planned to do, what I actually did and evaluate what really happened. Ultimately, I have come to appreciate how important it is to identify everything according to its impact on my ability to improve. 
CULTIVATE YOUR STORIES
  1. Gather & Tell Stories: If you want to heal an individual, a family or a community, heal their stories.  As an Ifa priest, I cannot emphasize the importance of gathering stories. Everyday, I learn or tell a story. Stories are your most important communication tool. They help you to remember, express your values and teach other people in a way that does not provoke defensiveness. At the same time, my experience as a professionally-trained counselor has helped me to understand how listening to stories is equally beneficial.  Listening to stories increases your emotional capacity and your ability to relate to other people. When people know that you're really listening - not analyzing, debating or judging - they feel more confident and comfortable with you. Telling and listening to stories builds trust. So, it's really important to make story gathering and telling  one of your top priorities. 
  2. Patterns > Details: Ben Okri once said that "A story is not a beginning, a middle and an end. A story is much richer than that... A story is almost like an interval in the enchantment of living... There are invisible stories and there are visible stories... And so my writing is not really about what you read on the page. It's what it does to you in the taking you somewhere that it's about. It's not about 'This happened to this person.' The writing is intended to take you somewhere. It's in the taking you somewhere that matters... It's a journey." I don't spoil the journey trying to verify the facts. I accept the story, exactly as it is. Then, when I want to better understand what it means and how it functions, I can examine the story according to its creative patterns, which include symbols, sequences and motifs. This is how I approach my own stories and those of other people as well.  
  3. Emotion > Reason: Bob Marley sang, "Every man thinketh his burden is heaviest. But who feels it knows it all." Stories keep memories. So, when I tell my stories, I usually experience all the emotions associated with the original event. And as challenging as it may be, living the medicine requires that I embrace the full range of my feelings and learn to observe myself swimming in the sea of emotions. I have to ask myself, 'Where are you emotionally developed? How about your emotional immaturities?' This is important because, whereas data causes us draw conclusions, emotion inspires us to action.  Emotions provide the best pathway to understanding WHY we do what we do. For this reason, intense emotion is an excellent point of departure for recalling the stories that have shaped me into the person I have become.  And in order to grow into the person I am destined to be, it is obligatory that I not only manage strong emotions, but that I also LEARN from my emotions. 
  4. Define the Problem: For every thousand people hacking at the leaves, there is one hacking at the root of the problem. The first pitfall to problem solving is jumping to conclusions, which the result of impatience.  For example, in haste, I rush into action and it seems like I am getting a lot done. But in reality, all I have done was "rearrange the seats on the deck of the Titanic." As my patience grows, I learn how important it is to GET OUT OF MY OWN WAY by suspending my judgement and learning to wait. Instead of speaking I take a deep, cleansing breath. Instead of thinking of a response, I pose a mental question. Instead of acting I set aside ten minutes to take a walk or play a drum. Defining the problem means accepting the simple fact that life is like the proverbial iceberg. What you see is just a tiny part. The larger issue is beneath the surface. It will take time and tact to explore it fully. Be patient and let the story tell itself in its entirety. 
  5. What Kind of Person Has This Illness?: This is a perspective I learned very recently from a friend who is a respected psychologist, lawyer and orisa priest. Whereas diagnosis typically asks, "What kind of illness does this person have?" he asks "What kind of person has this illness?" This is all about context. So, once I have defined the problem, I want to understand its significance and potential impact. For example, a twenty year old man dreams of riding a stallion through a field. As it jumps a hedge, the young man falls down. A sixty year old man has the same dream. Although the story is the same, the message is completely different for each. The young man is being prepared to endure the risks life will soon bring him. The elder is being advised that he has outlived the age of adventure. And so, I do not subscribe to the one-size-fits-all approach to deciphering story symbolism. I look very seriously at the context in order to understand the meaning. 
APPLIED WISDOM
If you balance the activities in both columns above, you will set the stage for developing habits associated with applied wisdom. Now, as you explore the lessons presented here, you will be exposed to the raw materials necessary to build your personal priesthood.  
  1. As a rule, I suggest that you start with your strengths, and then use what you have to get what you need. 
  2. Tell your stories within one week of writing them down. 
  3. Remember, the objective is to learn from your experience. Punishment and shame are NOT part of the process, ever.