Iyami Initiation
That said, I’d like to address this thing of initiation to Iyami. This too, is layered. Many say there is no initiation nor a pot for Iyami. They are wrong.
You certainly can’t give what you don’t have and you can’t speak on what you don’t know or have never been taught so I will leave that. Interestingly, one one hand they will say there is no initiation.
In the same paragraph, they will say only Iyami chose who they want.
Soooo….human Iyami can and do chose who they want and they have processes through which to determine acceptance and align others to Iyami energy. One process is through Ogboni Societies.
These are ancient pre Oyo societies that are known as Omo Iya (child of the Mother) . While having males and females, Women in those societies must be Iyami. Here is where Iyami are assigned for issues of Justice as Ogboni’s historical role is as a judicial branch of the community. .
There are also secret society and women’s Egbes who have induction processes. Ifa, having joined Iyami has its own processes. Some require that a woman be an elder, while others accept menstruating women.
There are some priests, male and female who know how to prepare the pot and perform the ceremony.
There are odu Ifa that specifically give instructions on how to make an Iyami pot. Now, some women receive Iyami Pots as a complement to men who receive Odu pots.
Even within the tradition, each town has its own lineages of Iyami with its own approaches to human membership so no one no any one Egbe has a monopoly on how it is done or any region in the world. Just like no one owns Orisha or Nature and each lineage has a different approach, no one owns the mothers.
I hope this sheds light on this topic. It’s important to understand though…that there is a caveat… The caveat is that induction into a society does not automatically mean full acceptance and initiation into Iyami in the spiritual realm. It is true that Iyami initiate their own and that initiation ultimately takes place spiritually in the astral realms.
The induction is the physical process. The initiation is the spiritual process. Sometimes there may be a trial period for the person.
This is how corruption is avoided because while some will initiate you for money or politics, true Iyami in the ancestral and spiritual planes will look at your character first. After all, these are mothers of Justice…and human Iyami are not exempt from the laws.
To that end, it is also important to know that while all women are born with some level of Aje, not all women have the discipline or moral aptitude to walk the path.
There are many who are corrupt and ego driven and even void of conscience. It’s no different from any other tradition that has humans…
Humans are subject to flaws… And many women who have a misunderstanding of Iyami as well. They want it for power, greed, control or to pay back men. So Primordial Iyami examine you before you are conferred with power or knowledge. Iwa is not just a concept.
She is an Iyami and guides character and development. To that end, those they initiate will likely be older women and elder mothers, though menstruating women who have discipline and are balance can be initiated too.
How do you know you were accepted? There are things you are given in the spiritual plane that you are likely to experience in dream or astral form.
There is information you are provided that can let the inductor know it is done. These can then be further validated through divination.
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