ROLES OF WOMEN IN IFA/ORISA LIFE: IYANIFAS ARE TAKING THE LEAD

IFA ORISA EGUN TALKS

"Ifa priestesses are called Iyanifa. Awo is often used as a gender-neutral reference to individual Iyanifa or Babalawo, as well as to the group as a whole. An Awo is a spiritual counsellor to clients and those whom he or she may have assisted in receiving tutelary Orisa shrines and/or initiation into the spiritual tradition of the Orisa. There have been Iyanifa, women Ifa priests, since time immemorial in some areas of the world, such as Ibadan, Nigeria", yet we find that many women of today are still confused about their roles. For many years, there have been and still is a huge controversy about the roles of women in Ifa and Orisa life. Women have come from a place of misconception about their roles according to the DOs and DON'Ts set fort by men in Ifa and Orisa life. Many women have been trying to organize women in order to teach them or to bring up their understanding of their responsibilities in Ifa/Orisa life and what CHANGES they can must make within the RANKS OF IFA/ORISA LIFE. In 2003 a group of Iyanifas organized and held an Iyanifa Worldwide Congress in efforts to bring the women in Ifa/Orisa life to an understanding of herself. Some of the questions surrounding these roles stem around how women are limited or not limited based on their status as Olorisa, Awo, Iyanifa. WHAT IS THE ODU (SACRED IFA SCRIPT) THAT SAYS WOMEN SHOULD NOT INITIATE OTHER WOMEN INTO IFA? SHOULD WOMEN BE ABLE TO INITIATE MEN INTO IFA, YES OR NO AND WHY OR WHY NOT? KEEP IN MIND THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IYANIFAS WHO ARE TRAINED. YOUR KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE AND OPINIONS ARE APPRECIATE. Join me (O'Fae O'Fae) and our special guest, Iya Fayomi Falade Aworeni ObaFemi of Ile Iwosan Orunmila Mimo Temple