Okay, I couldn't stay away. lol I came to see if the replies were understood, and it looks like we have a few questions worth answering. So let me do so. but first:
@Zulile: Thanks so much. I am actually requesting that anything I write here not be reposted on
other forums, emails, blogs etc. Links are okay, but copy and pasting elsewhere is
not. I am having issues with people passing off my writings as their own or misquoting material. I've had to use a lawyer to straighten some of it out in the last few years. Also, sometimes I take my own posts and rework them into legitimate articles, some of which end up on the site I run, in one of the few manuscripts I am writing or in rare cases I am asked to submit to publications. It proves difficult to publish if someone is running around holding your article in their hand or on their blog with someone else's name attached. lol
@Bootzey: I had no idea I would even be back this soon. I am tempted to stop before the questions become too much or involve "priviledged information" but I will make an exception and address your questions, primarily because you're a woman and your inqueries make for interesting discussion.
The answer to your first question is sometimes. It just depends on what the African Deity or Ancestor you are working with has requested. You can’t guess and you have to be initiated to know definitively. Even if a Deity or Ancestor came to you in a dream and told you (which happened to me before I got initiated) you still have to find a Priest that can verify the dream's purpose and perform the deed. Refer to my last post if this unclear.
This is the reality that the average day person has to deal with concerning the topic:
1. you have no idea what kind of blood from what kind animal
2. the gender of the animal needed
3. the color of the animal needed
4. the condition it must be in prior to sacrifice
5. where it must be kept prior or afterward
6. what parts of the animal to save
7. how to skin gut and cook the animal afterward (yes you got to make use of the whole thing most of the time)
8. how to offer the blood
9. where to put the blood
10. how to dispose of it (it needs to be disposed of)
11. how blood much can touch or not touch you others shrines the ground etc. etc. (its gets pretty exhausting the number of variables to consider)
This is the most interesting of all the questions that you posed. Unfortunately, there is no appropriate way to address it in public or with someone that is not initiated. But I can offer a tad bit of insight.
In general it is always a BAD idea to offer your own blood as a sacrifice. First, why would you? Did the African Deity or Ancestor ask for it? Remember, this is alchemy. You need exact ingredients. All blood is not the same. Secondly, what if the Deity or Ancestor asked for more? No you have a problem. It’s in your body! What if you give a few drops and they want a half a quart? What you gonna do now? You opened a Pandora’s box. Also blood from your menstrual cycle is very unique and powerful. Generally speaking women who are menstruating are not even allowed in ritual space in most Traditional African Spiritual Systems that I’ve dealt with. It’s not bad energy. But it’s like a preacher trying to preach while another Preach is already talking. It’s competing energy. In the wrong hands your menstrual blood can aid or destroy. Literally. Aside from the obvious reasons, this is another good reason why men should “try” not to eat food prepared by menstruating women and certainly not have sex with them. It’s taking very strong life forces and co-mingling them like a mad scientist and thinking nothing will happen. Are there rituals that would use menstrual blood? Yes. But if you’re not initiated and trained, you’d never do them – unless you were purposefully trying to hurt yourself or someone (or both).
Yes, it’s an interesting topic. I can't really explain what performing animal sacrifice feels like anyone else, but I found it to be an amazing and OVERWHELMING experience! I really had to check myself afterwards. Again, I've left out some critical aspects of the discussion because this just isn't the best place to have it, even the parts that are open to public discussion. But, it’s really quite phenomenal. After being an Orisa devotee for well over 14 years before I had chance to perform animal sacrifice, I can see exactly why we have no business doing it outside of initiation. It’s not just the act of killing an animal, but using spiritual invocation to set a stage, to bring Heaven and Earth closer to each other for a moment and be held responsible for that animal's spirit, as well as the safety of those present. It's just not something you can "pick up".
People always ask "what about the first Priests, who initiated them, who taught them all this stuff?" Well, the answer is easy and difficult at once.
The first Africans benefited from a better and closer relationship with the Deities that we do. Africans were still open and receptive to speaking and relating with Spiritual entities, and thus they saw more and experienced more that we do by far. They were called and trained directly as Priests by the Deities and Ancient Ancestors themselves. A man or woman would disappear and reappear visibly changed. The community would know the change had occurred and because they were “cleaner” than we are, they could FEEL the change and had no reason to doubt it.
Take into account, there were no atheists in Africa during pre-history. The process of initiation and training were set up to safeguard what we learned along the way and of course the Deities and the Ancestors knew that with Time Humanity would change, so initiation and training ensure that something will survive, no matter what people are doing or how “clean” Humanity is at any given time. Initiation also ensures the techniques are taught and executed correctly and follow strict dictates, unless Western or Arabic culture which tends to say the 'person with the biggest muscle or mouth' can determine truth, God's will and anything else they can make up! lol
More food for thought. Imagine this: African invented open heart surgery during the time of Kemet (Egypt). We invented algebra and geometry. We had vast knowledge of the universe and planetary movements. We got in ships in saw the world while White people still thought the Earth was flat. We not only invented agriculture, we groomed new plantlife. All over Africa. Then the Sahara Desert widens forces constant migration. Then the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Italians, Spanish etc..like unending waves. We fight them off for at least a thousand years up until the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Over that period, some things that had been considered esoteric, like math, moved over into secular control. And guess what?
With all that commotion, we lose a good portion of our knowledge and White and Arab people were all too eager to pretend it never happended.
But lo and behold, these Spiritual Sciences are functioning. because our Spiritual Systems survived! The process of transferring information carefully to people that prove the ability to master it and pass it along with the same level of care was paramount. And this is also how we keep some information out of wrong hands.
Okay, I've rambled. I gotta go. I will try to check in later this weekend.
Ol'Orisa Olokuntogun Ifasehun Ojedele
