Ifa & Palo...Oil & Water

If there is any "secret" regarding the successful empowerment of your own life, it lies in the reality that one must follow a consistent set of principles and rituals when connecting to the energies of the Universe. As an Oluwo of Ifa, I subscribe to, and follow, the essential patterns and instructions of Orisa worship as they were developed by the Yoruba culture of Western Africa. Other cultures developed their own rituals and practices for contacting and working with these energies. Each had its own "set of instructions," and each worked, to various degrees, as long as you were consistent and true to the integrity of their energy matrix.

It is when one mixes these instructions that results begin to diminish or disappear. As I have stated time and time again, the instructions for flying a jet plane, a helicopter, a prop plane, a dirigible ALL work... but they only work for the aircraft they were developed for. If you are flying a jet, and decide it would be interesting to use the helicopters flying instructions to cruise along with, you will crash.

The attempt to integrate Palo, a derivative of the energy matrixes of other cultures of Africa, into Ifa, is equally destructive.

An increasing number of individuals who have already been "scratched", or initiated into Palo, have come to us in recent months to explore Ifa. For too many, their attitude is "I cannot change what has been done, so let me integrate this into Ifa." It simply cannot be done. Because someone was "born", or initiated does not prevent them from changing. Who, among you that is reading this, was born or raised in Ifa or a similar African paradigm? I would venture to say "none." Rather, you were born Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Baptist etc., and through exploration and intuition came to be drawn to the Orisa. If you come, or are drawn, to the Orisa, you can only make that connection through the consistent, logical and loving use of the energies proven to help you empower your life. You cannot mix and match, nomatter how much you would like to. To attempt to do so is as futile as attempting to mix oil and water. 

Blessings,

Oluwo Philip Neimark

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