It would even shed further light on my own Akan name and why one of my birth names, Nyarko, translates as one who likes to fight/argue/debate etc.Īfter this reading, the decision was made to provide me with the first half of my initiation, as a full initiation could not be conducted in England as it involves many parts, many of which could not be facilitated abroad.
Over time and with more study, the significance of the reading would be reflected in many other areas of my life. We went to Baba Lanre’s house in South-East London where I obtained my first IFA reading to identify which Orisha ‘held my head’, as they say, meaning which Elemental force is most prevalent in one’s character and personality – it was Ogun, superficially known as the ‘God of War’.
Ifaleke had serendipitously met my wife, Verona, on the streets in West London whilst she was returning from filming for the film and in overhearing his conversation with his friend and its relevance to our film, she made the decision there and then to approach him, introduce herself and then subsequently interview him. My first introduction to Baba Lanre Okeyiwumina of OLA IFA house was in 2011 through an Ifa initiate by the name of Ifaleke, a renown jazz musician based in London, who ‘coincidentally’ was interviewed for our first film ‘Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge’. What Malidoma and Castaneda’s accounts made me wonder particularly was what else I could be missing out on due to the absence of plant medicines and a teacher or elders from the community who would guide me along such a journey. The main difference was, mine had not taken place in the context of a traditional community that supported its growth through requisite cultural training, otherwise known as initiation systems. Malidoma’s works had a familiarity mainly because of the experiences with his Ancestors as my journey into spirituality, when it became conscious to myself, started with personal encounters with my maternal grandmother as a teenager, so it did not seem so far removed. His experiences with teaching plants, the merging of realms and encounters therein with spirit guardians and animals piqued my interest even further. This interest was piqued even more so by Carlos Castaneda’s ‘The teachings of Don Juan’. Initiation into spiritual systems has always held a fascinating space in my imagination since my reading of Malidoma’s seminal account of his in the book ‘Of Water and Spirit’.
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