To be a good Babalawo
To be a good Iyanifa
To be a good Iyalorisa/babalorisa
To be spiritual
To be connected to the /Orisa
You must learn to speak the truth. This is the first step to be in line with the deities.

Matilda McCrear lived long enough to become a human bridge between Africa, American slavery, and the modern era. Born in West Africa around 1857, she was captured as a toddler and transported across the Atlantic aboard the Clotilda in 1860—the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans illegally into the United States. Her Yoruba name was Àbáké, meaning “born to be loved by all.” The facial scars on her left cheek, preserved in photographs, marked her as Yoruba. The voyage ...