Worship Workshop
How do you perform proper worship*?
If you're like most devotees, you don't know exactly what goes into traditional worship. Our worship workshop is a handy tool that will make planning your worship a breeze. We'll guide you through NINE steps of Orisa worship. For example, what will your 'Call to Worship' be? Amongst Ifa devotees, the chant "Eriwo ya!" is what we call a 'Call to Worship'. Why not learn how to call your worship services into focus according to the orisa who governs your shrine?
Worship Progress
In addition to the Call to Worship, we will teach you nine stages of devotion:
Orisa Included:
Egungun
Ori
Esu
Ifa Osun
If you're like most devotees, you don't know exactly what goes into traditional worship. Our worship workshop is a handy tool that will make planning your worship a breeze. We'll guide you through NINE steps of Orisa worship. For example, what will your 'Call to Worship' be? Amongst Ifa devotees, the chant "Eriwo ya!" is what we call a 'Call to Worship'. Why not learn how to call your worship services into focus according to the orisa who governs your shrine?
Worship Progress
In addition to the Call to Worship, we will teach you nine stages of devotion:
- Stage 1 - Theme: How do you select a theme that will guide the worship? What are the benefits and challenges of using divination, personal choice or current events to select a worship theme?
- Stage 2 - Greeting: These are special words - in print and spoken - that welcome all participants and orientate them in a particular way. The greeting is actually where worship begins.
- Stage 3 - Devotional Songs: Which songs are best for creating sacred space? How can you use songs to create harmony and shared experience between the worshippers? How do you introduce new songs in Yoruba language to new participants?
- Stage 4 - Sacred Text & Spiritual Discourse: No worship is complete without guidance from the sacred texts, which include oriki, verses of Erindinlogun or Ifa. Likewise, it is important to introduce the sacred text with some cultural context. It can be a proverb, historical account or even a personal anecdote.
- Stage 5 - Practical Extension: How do you identify and share resources that will help the worshippers to think more about the worship theme and practice them once they have left the worship services?
- Stage 6 - Offertory: How do we select words and ideas which might go with giving, volunteerism and service? Likewise, how do we share the traditional offerings, which include omi tutu, oti, obi, orogbo, atare and epo pupa?
- Stage 7 - Agreements: In this stage of worship we think of what we have heard and done and use some words or actions to help us practice Orisa Lifestyle at home, at work and in the community. Here, we share some words to help us to remember why we worship or the values that are important to us. These words help us to remember what the worship meant to us. They also link our worship with our work and play through the rest of the day.
- Stage 8 - Affirmation: These are songs and sayings that help to affirm our worship and invoke the heavenly spirits to accept our prayers.
- Stage 9 - These are special words or songs to go with shaking hands or other action of sharing the peace.
Orisa Included:
Egungun
Ori
Esu
Ifa Osun
ABOUT US
|
Imodoye Shabazz
|
Obafemi Origunwa, MA: I have been a student of Orisa Lifestyle since 1992. In addition, I am a professionally-trained counselor, with a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Counseling from San Diego State University. I am particularly interested inJungian psychology. And with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language & Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, I also enjoy total Spanish fluency. This particular combination of ancient wisdom and modern approach allows me to offer you a unique and refreshing blend of Western and Indigenous healing practices. For over 15 years I have been working as a personal sustainability consultant. Through this experience I have learned strategies & techniques that generate extraordinary results for people from a broad range of backgrounds & philosophies. To date, I have helped over 50 thousand people develop personal rituals that energize their highest aspirations and inspire others to do the same. I invite you to contact me now to put my expertise to work for you.
|
*In Orisa Lifestyle, the worship system is called esin ibile. It includes festivals, ceremonies and rituals. The most essential rituals are the worship days, which are called called ojo ose. For Ifa devotees, there are three intervals of worship days:
- Orun: Every 4th Day we worship Ifa at home, with our families
- Isan: Every 8th Day [Four Days After The Orun] we worship at the Araba's shrine with chiefs and priests
- Itadogun: The 16th [Eight Days After Isan] we worship at the Araba's shrine with chiefs and priests. This is when the priests will perform divination for the entire community.
