This image is used here in evoking Iya Agba,the aged, venerable woman, mother of the orisa Obatala, Oduduwa, Babaluaye and Ogun, deities from Orisa cosmology originating from Yorubaland, as depicted in a great ese ifa, a literary work of the spiritual and oracular discipline Ifa, the contemplative serenity of the figure radiating meaning projected through the Congo cosmogram on the back wall.The circular path around the four quadrants is employed in this context in encapsulating the quaternary division and unification of time, space, cosmic order and hermeneutic progression evoked by the quaternary and circular structure of Igba Iwa, the Calabash of Existence in Orisa cosmology, and its two dimensional affiliates.These affiliates are the intersecting vertical and horizontal axes and their quaternary realization in the Africana cosmological forms represented by Opon Ifa, Benin Olokun Igha Ede and Vodun veves.Beyond Africana cultures, these affiliates are evident in all quaternary cosmological and hermeneuticstructures where the circle and the square are conjoined as the seeker makes their way round the circle, immersing themselves in the units that make up the quaternary constitution and its multiples.
The Need for Greater Public Exposure for Practices
Practitioners of modern Western magic, which is highly theoretical, as well as practical, though, discuss their techniques, theories, and results with anyone who cares to listen, thereby generating a high publication industry, with its practitioners, schools and theories well known, activity spawning the creation of a vigorous, new academic discipline to study it, the discipline of Western Esotericism. African magical systems need similar modernizing in order to fully actualize their potential for developing knowledge as demonstrations of humanity's efforts to understand and engage with the cosmos, whatever might be factual or not or capable of creating consensus about their effectiveness in what they claim to be able to achieve.
What is Witchcraft ?
My focus in this essay is on witchcraft, not only because it is an aspect of African magical systems my personal experience seems to relate to but on account of its being perhaps the most mystery shrouded and superstition laden zone in African spiritualities, accusations of witchcraft ostracizing many women and children, among the most vulnerable members of society, in a situation in which conceptions of witchcraft often operate at the level of sheer irrationality reminiscent of, though not as virulent and influential, as the attitudes that inspired the
What marks a spirituality as witchcraft? What is the name for that spirituality among those who practice it, or in the communities where it is believed to exist? In what way do African-American magical practices such as Hoodoo, rootwork and conjure, if I am getting the names right, differ from witchcraft in its modern Western form and from related practices in Africa?
Witchcraft, or its equivalent all over the world, although the notion of an 'equivalence' of what is a European term that has undergone change from before and in the 20th century is controversial, is, in many countries, one of humanity's most mysterious and dreaded forms of spirituality. It was only in the 20th century, with the efforts of Englishman Gerald Gardner, that witchcraft became the very visible, highly philosophized system it has become in the West. African-American involvement in witchcraft in the public sense as developed by Gardner is also gathering momentum, as demonstrated by the Dawtas of the Moon: Black Witch Convention announced on the online event organizing site Eventrite for October 29, 2016, in Baltimore, the United States of America and the African American Wiccans Facebook group.
With regard to what may be understood as African witchcraft conceptions, the work of Iyalaje Mercedes Morgana Bonilla (Priestess of Aje) is deeply moving, as demonstrated by her Facebook pages evidencing her spiritual journey, which seems to integrate spiritualities from various cultures in developing her understanding of Yoruba
The Iyami and aje conceptions in their place of origin, Yorubaland, are institutionalized into Yoruba cosmology and institutions, such as Gelede, but, to the best of my knowledge, are based on ideas and practices the practitioners of which are unknown, who do not speak in their own voice, but are represented by literature, religion and the visual and performance arts, existing more in belief than in observable reality.
Witchcraft in the African Context as an Autonomous, Shamanistic Spirituality
My tentative definition of witchcraft in the African context is that of a spirituality that is not circumscribed by any religion and is marked by claims of human demonstration of powers that transcend the laws of nature as conventionally understood, central to such powers being the ability to move from one place to another without the use of physical locomotion or mechanical instruments. This ability may be associated with natural formations, particularly trees, groves and forests, understood as acting as the enablers of these activities as well as providing environments where those who practice these activities may interact.
This definition is derived from hearsay in Benin-City, where I became an adult, as well as my own experience of such motion without physical or mechanical assistance, facilitated by trees and the Ogba forest in Benin-City, the environment of the city being a great facilitator of exploration in spiritual techniques on account of the preservation of natural forms and shrines that are priceless for such explorations. It would be a tragedy if those aspects of the culture are eroded in the name of urbanization and modernization. Nothing can replace them as pointers to a central legacy in humanity's efforts to harness the multiplicity of potential available in the cosmos. My experience with what I describe as the projection of consciousness I associate with witchcraft in the African context occurred involuntarily, however, and I have not been able to replicate it.
This style of spirituality is not unique to Nigeria or even Africa, though. It is similar, if not identical, with what is described by the Western mystical and occult order AMORC as projection of consciousness and to the idea of the hedgewitch in modern Western witchcraft, the hedge symbolizing the dividing line between states of being and consciousness which the witch crosses as well as the naturalistic character of the witch's practice as different, for example, from the more ceremonial and instrument oriented techniques in some other forms of Western witchcraft.
Is Witchcraft in the African Context Necessarily Evil?
This kind of spirituality, known as azen in Benin, as Aje and Iyami in the neighbouring Yorubaland, is often referred to in terms of claims of the orientation of its practitioners towards destruction, distorting lives of people through their powers and taking human life.
My journeys in spirituality have convinced me of the factuality of the assertion by perhaps the most influential writer for me in the field, the Western magical mystical magician Dion Fortune, that as one progress on the occult path, opportunities, or in another term, temptations, will emerge to use for evil the knowledge and powers one is developing. In my experience, this could emerge in terms of suggestions emerging in one's mind in relation to the effort to dialogue mentally with some spiritually powerful trees, an idea well known in folklore and spoken of in relation to African magical systems. Another may be to use the resources you are cultivating in attacking a person who has wronged you.
In such contexts, it could be helpful to draw upon profound philosophical and spiritual ideas that go beyond power of any kind, such as the words of Jesus, the founder of Christianity, who is depicted as more powerful than most magicians have ever been- what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
What is your soul? Your soul is the essence of your humanity, expressed in the finest qualities that make human life meaningful , joyful. Love is a central quality of that character of humanity. No amount of power or achievement can replace the simple beauty of being alive and enjoying the freedom to love and be loved and live a life of your choosing. Under no circumstances should one's freedom or the freedom of others be sacrificed in the name of anything, talk less access to power of any kind.
I am convinced that various spirits exist who would promise favors in exchange for what you, as a human being, posses as a natural right. The exchange is not worth it. Patience and perseverance are key to discovering or developing, among the many possibilities available, methods for one's spiritual growth that provide optimum value rather than degrade you in exchange for something else or that require loss to someone else.
Some of the most inspiring engagements with this aspect of the occult I am acquainted with are in imaginative literature, particularly the works of Western writers, such as Algernon Blackwood's story "Strange Worship" and the novels of Dennis Wheatley, ideas developed at greater scope by J.R.R. Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings novels and by J.K Rowling, most likely adapting Tolkien, in the Harry Potter novels, fictional works woven around a kernel of reality, all of them ultimately foreshadowed by the story of Jesus' moral wrestling with Satan in the Bible, its symbolic significance beautifully dramatized by John Milton in his poem Paradise Regained and by Fyodor Dostoyesvsky in his short story "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" from his novel The Brothers Karamazov.
There is much that a magician can learn on relationships between power, love and wisdom in relation to being human from the example of Jesus, whatever might be one's views on various aspects of the Biblical context that frames his story. Jesus is depicted as demonstrating both magical power, the ability to influence events through his own will drawing on unusual abilities, devotional spirituality, relating himself to the source of existence, God, through prayer and self surrender and profound identification with other people, transcending any focus on self centredness, to the point of surrendering his life for his beliefs, thereby demonstrating his power over the fear often inspired by human mortality, an understanding of power that remains valid whatever one might think about the claim that he rose from the dead or that he was divine, or even about the factuality of his existence.
Experimenting With Initiation into Witchcraft through Use of Plants and Ifa Symbolism
If you try this procedure please share your experience publicly as I am sharing this information, as the writer of the book shared the knowledge he had gained from various babalawo and as those babalawo shared their knowledge with him and as the person who made this normally very expensive and rare book
If you want to keep your experience private, feel free to correspond
All enquires on this subject, in private or in public, are welcome.
1. English Text
Collect the following
Leaf of CORCHORUS OLITORIOUS. Tiliaceae.
Leaf of CRASSOCEPHALUM RUBENS. Compositae.
Leaf of CROTON ZAMBESICUS. Euphorbiaceae.
Leaf of ACANTHUS MONTANUS. Acanthaeceae.
Leaf of TETRAPLEURA TETRAPTERA. Leguminosae Mimosoidae.
Black soap.
Pound with the black soap, draw the odu [ Ifa symbol, in this case, the odu Irete
Bathe with the preparation.
A picture of the relevant section of the book:
Irete Owonrin
Picture of book section:
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