Editorials and Opinions
We invite our readers to submit their editorials, opinions or comments for publication in this section.
© The material on this page is copyrighted. No part of this information may be quoted, reproduced or paraphrased without the author's consent.
The exposés, critiques, and information contained herein are based on my years of religious experience, as well as on personal research and historical/anthropological fieldwork, primarily in the United States, Cuba and Brazil. Though I cannot claim to have all the answers, my years as an Olorisha and Obá Oriaté have allowed me to acquire a considerable level of hands-on experience in the practice of Lukumí religion, and exposure to countless Lukumí elders many of whom have long-since passed. I willingly choose to share my knowledge and opinion on a variety of subjects related to Yoruba/Lukumí religion with those who choose to read this section. The key word here is choice.
In this section, I have chosento expose and condemn any and all forms of religious heresy as I consider that the main objective of this section and Eleda.Org is to propagate religious knowledge based on truth. I do not intend to create any religious chaos nor burrow at anyone's religious foundations unless these foundations began on falsehood and deception. Rather I intend to expose the many distortions of our faith that I consider abusive and an embarrassment to the entire religious community, Lukumí and non-Lukumí alike. I am aware that this is a revolutionary measure and I strongly feel that it is one that should be taken by anyone who considers him or herself a responsible Olorisha, if we as a people and as a religion are to advance and achieve the level of respect that is afforded to other religious systems. It is about time we stop acting like ostriches! We cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand while a group of heretics distort our very essence!
I must stress that I do not wish to
come off as a religious lunatic or an overly conservative Olorisha with a cynical agenda of some sort. I have no such agenda, other than to defend and uplift the image of our religion. I do emphasize, however, that the final understanding and responsibility
rests with the reader who should have the common sense, religious maturity, and most importantly
the religious, philosophical and ethical foundations needed to distinguish between veracity and fabrication.
I encourage readers to forward any information they consider relative to this
section that should be brought to the attention of the religious community, however
all emails must be signed with the reader's full name. Anonymous emails
will be ignored. Send all correspondence to Heresy@Eleda.org.
Columns
Olorishas traveling to Cuba for rituals should take special interest in the two commentaries that follow.
Diplo-Orishas: Questionable Orishas Coming from Cuba |0| Diplo-Orishas: Orishas Questionável que vem de Cuba
Reader's Commentaries
Read what some of our readers have to say. We invite you to share your opinions. If they are objective, in search of understanding and the promotion of necessary dialogue, I will post them. I reserve the right to reject any commentaries that I consider offensive, sexist, racist, discriminatory or character attacks of any stype.
Generation X Practitioners: A QVC Outlook
Olorisha Oní Yemojá Kathryn Forestal, Yomí Yomí
Raising the Bar
Olorisha Oní Yemojá Kathryn Forestal, Yomí Yomí
Victims of Religious Fraudulence |0| Vítimas da Fraude Religiosa
Olorisha Oní Yemojá Kathryn Forestal, Yomí Yomí
Ventilating Hard Feelings: The Ups and Downs of a Devoted Devotee
The above letter was sent in by an Olorisha from Central Florida who discusses some very valid issues. I urge other readers to forward articles to post on this section.