An introduction to the spiritual source of the beliefs and practices that have so profoundly shaped African American religious traditions. Most of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were from the Yoruba nation of West Africa, an ancient and vast civilization. In the diaspora caused by the slave trade, the guiding concepts of the Yoruba spiritual tradition took root in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. In this accessible introduction, Baba Ifa Karade provides an overview of the Yoruba tradition and its influence in the West. He describes the sixteen Orisha, or spirit gods, and shows us how to work with divination, use the energy centers of the body to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and create a sacred place of worship. The book also includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the Orisha.

In this introductory volume, Baba Ifa Karade provides an easily understandable overview of the Yoruba religion. He describes 16 orisha and shows us how to work with divination, to use the chakras to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and describes howto create a sacred place of worship. Includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the orisha and egun. Illustrations, charts, glossary, bibliography, and index.

In this introductory volume, Baba Ifa Karade provides an easily understandable overview of the Yoruba religion. He describes 16 orisha and shows us how to work with divination, to use the chakras to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and describes how to create a sacred place of worship. Includes prayers, dances, songs, offerings, and sacrifices to honor the orisha and egun. Illustrations, charts, glossary, bibliography, and index.

Ojise: Messenger of the Yoruba Tradition is a journal of the day-to-day activities and rituals that Karade encountered in his quest for priesthood in the Yoruba religion. Embedded in this journal are the very emotions, ideas and changes in his psyche-and the healing of soul - that occured on this journey. Karade explains the significance of the spiritual pilgrimage for people of all faiths.

Baba Akinkugbe Karade has written this book so that the readers will know that Africans both on the continent and the Diaspora, have had and still have vehicles for divine realisation and actualisation. He further states that he has written this book so that people will see that the African traditions exist in America and is a viable way to answer the call 'of spirit'. Not only does the tradition exist, but there are also people responding to it. I have experienced it and I am still experiencing it... This is where my story begins.