Rock Of Eye — On Head Marking

“I’m a child of Yemaya! I’m not in the religion, but I know it.”

One of the most attractive aspects of Lukumi religion is the idea of head Orishas - that each of us have our own Orisha who is like a parent to us. I, for example, am a child of Oshun. Most people in Orisha religion identify themselves first as a child of their Orisha, before anything else. Who your Orisha is says a great deal about who you are as a person (though it’s not always a like attracts like sort of situation, some people’s Orisha is the opposite of who they are in the world).

To outsiders, this is understandably attractive! Unfortunately, some people have misconceptions about what this means. The biggest misconception is that they think they can choose their Orisha. You can’t. Your Orisha is chosen before birth.

The other major misconception is that you can “just know” who your Orisha is. You cannot. There are only three ways to find out who your Orisha is: diloggun head marking from an Olorisha (preferably an Oriate - this is more than a standard reading), Ifá bajada from Babalawos, or from an Orisha who has mounted someone during a bembé (this needs to be confirmed by either of the previous two methods). These are the only ways to know who your Orisha is. Generally, though it varies by house, a person only finds out their Orisha when they are getting ready to become a priest in Lukumi. So, no, you can’t just find out for the sake of finding out - it is a step on the path towards becoming a priest and fully functioning member of this community, not a fun horoscope-like fact. In fact, knowing your Orisha too early can create more problems than it solves. The ceremonies to find out your Orisha basically make a promise to the Orisha that you’re going to become initiated - if you fail to fulfill this promise in a timely manner, let’s just say it’s not great.

“But I had a dream with Yemaya!! I love the sea!!”

Nope, not a valid way to find out who your Orisha is. Perhaps Yemaya has a message for you - the best way to find out is to get a diloggun or Ifa reading from a reputable Olorisha or Babalawo. In Orisha religion, we confirm everything via divination - there is no ambiguity, no room for “just feeling it.”

“I’ve always known I was a child of Yemaya!!”

Almost everyone I know who’s had their head marked thought they knew exactly who their Orisha was going to be. They sat down in the banquito on the mat thinking “Yes, this is going to confirm it all!” And the vast majority of them were shocked to find out who their Orisha actually was. I, for one, was convinced that Oya or Yemaya was my mother, but it turned out I’m a child of Oshun. What sits on top of your own head is often the hardest thing in the world to see.

“I met a Santera/espiritista/New Orleans Voodoo priestess/Rootworker who said I am FOR SURE a child of Yemaya!”

Unless they read that through diloggun or Ifa divination, they were just talking out of their ass. If they were a valid Santero, they might have made an informed guess, but most Santeros I know are terrible at guessing people’s Orisha unless we can look at a bunch of diloggun readings you’ve received over at least a year. Sorry. That’s just the truth.

I see all of this happen so much, especially on Tumblr where everyone is a cultural magpie trying to grab anything that isn’t nailed to the floor, and it’s a little frustrating. Often the people claiming this or that Orisha (for some reason, it’s almost always Yemaya, Oshun, or Oya - you guys know we have 401 Orisha, right?) have never even stepped into an Orisha ceremony or drumming.

You can love the Orisha - that’s wonderful! But please, don’t claim to be something you are not. If you’re really interested in honouring the Orisha, you will follow the protocols they themselves have established over hundreds of years through the hard work of their priests who’ve had to survive so much (slavery, ongoing police persecution, murder, deportations, the Mariel boatlift, etc.) to keep this religion alive. The most important thing in Afro-Diasporic religions is respect. Please, have some respect and I promise it will pay off in the end.