More about the practice of orisa worship...
Ile devotees are taught etiquette and protocol for practicing the tradition. They are taught how to function in the world as practitioners and devotees of the orisa. In addition to teachings of the dogmas of the tradition, devotees are taught the use of language, such as priestly titles, greetings and commonly used phrases, gestures, praise names, and chants and songs amongst other areas of study.
The tradition is intended to be practiced daily and devotees are prepared to fulfill the requirements for practicing. Members that are further along their spiritual journey are taught the role of divination and to perform divination in their homes.
Training and providing devotees with the information needed to live the tradition as intended is important to Baba and he seeks the trust of each devotee as he guides their lives towards their perspective of destiny. Every step and every ritual practice should be undertaken with respect and care; Ile members are taught this respect.
The tradition is a not meant to be one of individual practice but is something that is inherited and shared. This is important at the Ile as our elders feel that in order for the Ile to grow and evolve our devotees must pray and commune together as the tradition serves our spiritual family as a whole.
Utilizing ase, the tradition relies on various types of materials that are gathered according to the ritual formula required to complete and fulfill the requests of divination. These materials may include fruits, food, animals, shells, stones, herbs, soil, seeds, roots and other items found in nature.
The energy housed within these materials are transformed into a more animated energy that is used to create a positive change or productive effects is someone's life. This is the true nature of ase -- that it exists in all things, that it can be manipulated in any object, and that it is a divine force which can make things happen.
Ile Oro is entrusted with fostering ase and relies on its force to perform basic instructions from divination that provides us with ritual knowledge and grants us access to spiritual healing, personal and spiritual development, and other purposes that may be sought after by any given devotee.
Lukumi ceremonies surround reciting prayers and chanting, the gathering of herbs to prepare herbal mixtures, and offering sacrifices known as ebo to the ancestors and the orisa. Ebo is used to acquire and utilize ase to resolve a devotee's spiritual, worldly or health-related problems. With the guidance of our elders, Ile Oro respectfully and properly utilizes ase to place our devotees in contact with the purest and most sacred energy of the orisa.