When the cult of mother becomes a curse

Speaking of the oracles

Òrìṣà bí ìyá ò sí. This is a saying in Yoruba that is not that easy to translate without losing the fundamentals of meaning and context.

Òrìṣà in Yoruba is the core of the indigenous animist culture representing the supernatural, elemental spirits that are varied depictions of polytheistic deities, powerful, revered, worshipped and honoured. In the main, they traverse the early plane in legend as human and the heavenly plane as spirits, they are the mainstay of the deepest cultural identity of the Yoruba.

Only, a decade ago, I had to reflect on who the Yoruba were when I met two Cuban professors whilst on holiday who appeared to have more insight and knowledge of Yoruba myths, mythologies and legend than I ever knew. Steeped in superstition in what Lord Lugard dismissed as a ‘vague dread of the supernatural’, you probably would never understand the Yoruba without being Yoruba.

Blog - Who are the Yoruba?

The enduring hold of our oracles

I might extend that to suggest the Yoruba influence that remains strong in the practices as varied as Santería, Candomblé, Trinidad Orisha, Umbanda, and Oyotunji suggests some fundamental underpinning of the mother culture has been lost to the influx of new religions that have in most cases branded these traditions as savage, uncivilised and inherently evil.

Yet, these beliefs have sustained people for centuries and endure in the spirituality of the peoples and their descendants of the new world who were trafficked in the malevolence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Òrìṣà bí ìyá ò sí. Indicates that the mother or motherhood usually as seen from the perspective of the child is the genre of elemental spirits worthy and possibly demanding of worship, adoration and adulation.

In the cult of mother

Recently, in watching a film and a television dramatization, I was exposed to an interesting dynamic between mother and child, the blood relationship persisted to serve the purposeful hold of the Òrìṣà mother on the worshipper child, but it was progressively damaged through abuse brought on by drug addiction.

A child desires of a mother love, attention, care, protection, maybe encouragement and even guidance, but some children get little of that because the mother’s capacity to mother in a somewhat ideal mothering situation is impaired by personal struggles that distract the mother from that objective.

In the one case, as in the film, Moonlight, the mother only seemed to come to, late in life whilst in rehabilitation and she profusely apologised for being less of a mother than she could have been. It was a time of tears, of hugs and of healing.

Blog - My own #Moonlight story is not a movie

Breaking the cult of mother

In the television drama, it was the 6^th episode of the 5^th Series of Law and Order: UK, called Deal where a drug-addict mother could care less about her son, first blaming her 13-year old son who for years had been told he was responsible for her problems and then when she was owing money to her drug dealer, she sold her son to the drug dealer to abuse as he saw fit.

The Òrìṣà mother bond was kept strong with threats to kill the boy’s mother if he stepped out of line. It is not until he saw that his mother had indeed sold him that the wicked Òrìṣà mother – worshipper child hold and bond was broken.

The travails of mother and child

The Yoruba culture places great burdens of responsibility and duty on the worshipper child to serve and sacrifice to the Òrìṣà mother, which in many cases is a willing and honourable function in the life of a child who has had positive influences of the mother, mothering and motherhood.

We as child strive to do as much as we can to uphold that Òrìṣà – worshipper bond, yet, that bond can be broken, broken beyond repair by agency or acts of either or both mother and child. The addiction that belies incapacity does not have to be drugs, it could be any other activity that brings on the infirmity breaks that maternal bond.

At peace, away from mother

As I wrote in my blog on Moonlight, the case of my mother is an addiction to a syncretism that combines elements of Judaism and Christianity with African-initiated interpretations of scripture along with strange animist traditions enlivened by incantations of the Psalms, rituals and holy waters, the result of which has broken the Òrìṣà mother – worshipper child bond.

Whilst it pains me that there is no relationship of any note between us, I cannot help but see my mother through the prism of those other mother addicts with no prospect of a Moonlight ending, because somewhere down the line she sold that motherhood to her devotion, hoping my fear of it would bring me into line, like the drug dealer’s threat to the boy.

Coming to terms with this has meant that I have decided not to waste precious time trying to make peace, but as I learnt in a conversation with a dear friend, I must find ways to be at peace with myself. I write about these things because I believe I am not alone in this kind of experience, it is also my own personal therapy in resolving the deep conflicts of the heart.

The Agemo Traditions of Ijebuland - A Primer

Ìjà Olóko dancing in full Agẹmọ masquerade costume

Ìjà Olóko in full Agẹmọ masquerade costume

A lot to be said

“Ọmọ alágẹmọ mẹ́rìndínlógún Ọ̀rọ́pọ̀ o” [Son of the sixteen Agemo masquerades, there is much to be said; though Ọ̀rọ́pọ̀ in that context was the name of someone being praised in song.]

Many a Yoruba speaker who has listened to the classics of Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey will remember this line from one of his albums in the early 1970s.

The Jùjú musicians of that age along with praise singing included gems of Yoruba history and the intricacies of tradition from which the attentive can glean some very useful information.

In this case, the musician was singing the praises of an Ijebu indigene and referring to the Agẹmọ masquerades, fetishes and grottos of Ijebuland, which is in the middle of the Yoruba kingdom with the Egbas of Abeokuta in the north and the Lagos to the south.

Getting to the crux of the matter

Playing host to the Ìjà Olóko of Ìjẹ̀bú-Imọsàn, the traditional ruler, Oba Tajudeen Adekunle Muili - one of the most revered and respected of the Agẹmọ priests and dancers known in Yorubaland. He honoured me with answering a few questions of what can be revealed of the Agẹmọ traditions, cult and practices.

As the story of the Yoruba is made up of historical fact, myth, legend and fable, he said the Agẹmọ are the Òrìṣà brought from Wadai, purported to be the place from where the Ijebu’s migrated to present-day Ijebuland in the company of Bílíkísù Súngbọn (The Queen of Sheba). [More on Bílíkísù Súngbọn.]

Bílíkísù Súngbọn was barren but on her return journey, five important Agẹmọ figures said she would have a child if she takes them to the setting of the sun (Iwọ̀ Òòrùn). The Ìjẹ̀bú apparently set down where the sun went down.

Knowing the Agẹmọ

The five Agẹmọ figures included Ìjà, Nọ́pà, Olúmọ̀rọ̀ and the Ògbinkòjohùn of Òké ẹrì amongst others of the entourage where they warred in Ilé Ifẹ̀ and won before Bílíkísù Súngbọn settled and eventually died at Òké ẹrì.

Ìjà had a son who follows the Agẹmọ tradition in Ilé Ifẹ̀ named Olúyarè, much of this makes for the much to be said and told of the Agẹmọ cult, the unveiling of which must never be seen of the womenfolk.

The Ijebu led by the Ajẹbú and the Olóde predates the Agẹmọ, but for the Ìjẹ̀bú to eat the new yams of the harvest each year, they must first celebrate the Agẹmọ festival.

The Awujale depends on the Agẹmọ for counsel and for divination, the Ìjà, a hunter, is the most powerful of the Agẹmọ cult and he was first at Ìdẹ́wòn before he travelled to Ìmòwé and then to Imọsàn where he first sighted the Agẹmọ grotto.

On sighting the Agẹmọ grotto, the Awujale of Ìjẹ̀bú Òde sent the Ogí Aláwọ Ọba there and the Olújàgbórí was installed as the high priest of Agẹmọ.

More on the Agẹmọ

The Oro and Agemo cults

Ijebu deities

Pomp as Ijebu celebrate Agemo Festival

The Agẹmọ masquerades of Ijebuland

Àwọn alágẹmọ mẹ́rìndínlógún ti Ìjẹ̀bú oníjó – The sixteen prominent Agẹmọ masquerades of Ijebuland who have priestly duties along with dancing at the festivals. There are more than sixteen but these are the main personalities of the Agẹmọ cult.

Tàmì láti (from) Òdoógbolú
Olúmọ̀rọ̀ olórí (traditional ruler) Ìmọ̀rọ̀
Ṣeréfùsì láti (from) Ìgbílẹ̀
Pòósà láti (from) Imọsàn
Olúmokò láti (from) Ọkùn Ọwá
Alófèé láti (from) Ìjẹ̀ṣà Ìjẹ̀bú
Ònúgbó láti (from) Òkénugbò
Ìjà Olóko Ògún olórí (traditional ruler) Imọsàn
Láṣẹ̀n Àjágà L'órù láti (from) Orù
Màgòdò láti (from) Aiyépé
Lúbamísan láti (from) Àgọ́ Ìwòyè
Petu láti (from) Ìṣíwọ̀
Ògegbó láti (from) Ìbọ̀nwọ̀n
Ìdẹ́bì láti (from) Àgọ́ Ìwòyè
Nọ́pà láti (from) Imushin

Àwọn alágẹmọ aláìjo - Agẹmọ priests who do not dance but handle rituals.

Olújàgbórí láti Imọsàn - High Priest of Agẹmọ
Adùẹ láti Àgọ́ Ìwòyè
Ogí Aláwọ Ọba láti Ìdogì ní Ìjẹ̀bú Òde

The Churches of Strange - A short story

There they stood

“What is all this?” He said in amazement almost bordering in stunned amusement to his mother as he made to leave her room. It was one of those bizarre events that would almost read as too good to be true, it had to be the figment of an imagination in overdrive looking for the incredulous to offer as fact.

Somehow, there seems to have been a disconnect between mother and child, for all the tradition and culture she knew that she hoped to instil the greatest fear and dread in her son, one can only say she had cried wolf one too many times already.

The church of the bizarre

The boy had his problems, many could not be attributed to the usual adolescent issues, they were much more troublesome and she had resorted to remedies in African-initiated churches to deal with possibly mental, maybe psychological and generally termed spiritual problems.

The raison d'etre of these churches were of an almost macabre ritualistic creed that bore very few similarities to the established church which Africans generally never felt tackled the vague dread of the supernatural and superstition that held mind and reason hostage to agents of demonic and devilish persuasion personified in some close blood relation who was either envious or jealous of a person’s circumstances.

It allows for every misfortune to be blamed on some unnamed enemy or some hapless powerless victim that cannot fight back against accusations of sorcery or witchcraft.

The hold and the sway

Much as the bible appears to be their source inspiration, the powers of the churches derive from seers or prophets if you like and people convulsively possessed of influences that portend to prognosticate or exhibit telepathic or clairvoyant tendencies. This provides a great draw that one might well find of the terror of shamanism.

In the process, people who have bought into this religious chicanery are literally fleeced by these “false” prophets whose church establishments have all the trappings of some outward show of holiness and purity but are bastions of the occult gaining some Christian legitimacy by excitable references to God and Jesus along with even more violent exertions in battling Satan as the prophets operate like modern-day Levites and the laity recite the Psalms repetitively with Christian numerological symbolism of threes, sevens, twenty-ones or forties.

Many religions of Christ and others

You can imagine the confusion of “Christianities” the boy had, as his mother took him to strange prayer meetings before he was 5 where the family friends were bedecked in flowing white robes and red sashes, candles taking a prominent place in the homilies, those were seemingly secret liaisons.

Publicly, the family was Anglican though his dad had dabbled in bizarre animist rituals for protection and other life needs. However, every religion was tapped from medicine men through witch doctors to Islamic mystics. In the case of the Islamic mystic she used an episode in the boy’s life of terror and fear to warn him off telling anyone they had been seeking help there.

It was a nasty thing to do but with hindsight the boy felt mother hens will do anything to protect their chicks and this was just a personification of that justification.

The boy deciding

By the time the boy left home, he joined up with what was at that time termed an extreme Christian fringe which brought quite a bit of friction with his parents because they were at variance with other Christian practices.

Meanwhile, in that boy’s life, he had been cut many times, incisions made on the scalp, on the check, on the face with all sorts of potions rubbed in, he had bathed in forests, drank the most dastardly concoctions, seen the indescribable, experienced a lifetime of Steven King kind of horror and to culminate all, had eaten and swallowed razor blades; all in the name of protection, safety and help.

Then came this day as he returned from his church, she called him into her room and after much railing and agitation she cursed her child telling him, if he returned to that church again, he will not find his way back home again.

What is right?

It could have been literal but elements of the child’s upbringing meant that this act will hold less significance as it might have held for someone else steeped in their culture. The rationality of doing this unclothed never dawned on the child for his Christian persuasion at that time put him on a trajectory that gave him a sense of safety from that episode.

The child is then left with many questions on what really is Christianity from the established versions through the African-initiated ritualistic establishments to the ones steeped in dread of evil and a brand of ultra-evangelical exuberance whilst at the same time, he is yet to find his way back home – all because the conflicts in doctrine that govern all these congregations sometimes persuade people to do the most unlovely and inhuman things.

That is the story of a boy and the many “Christianities” that vie for his soul and claim to offer him protection.

Thought Picnic: Analysing the Cultism in our Religion

Between religions and cults

An article titled When Does a Religion Become a Cult? [1] In the Wall Street Journal inspired this blog and whilst the main thrust of the write-up offered the signs that make religious cults evident, there was a possibility that certain of those perspectives were not necessarily all-encompassing.

Being on expert on the subject I have however witnessed first-hand people who have joined up to religious organisations seeking some solution to life’s problems and ended up becoming people with altered personalities, narrowed views of life, extreme fundamentals and spewing out doctrinal teachings that border on blasphemy to evident apostasy looking like new revelation.

Effective Controls

It is instructive that analysts of cult phenomena suggest a number of criteria that define cults as behaviour control, information control, thought control and emotional control. Beyond this are two other categories defined as financial control and extreme leadership.

What apparently indicates as control is different for different cultures and one can suggest that in open and freer societies the elements of control are probably more obvious and directly impacting on the adherents of such cult followings.

In this sense, one could be deluded into thinking that cults rarely exist in African cultures because the controlling forces do not appear to be enforced in a seemingly policed environment rather people tend to abdicate the free moral agency they have and submit themselves to the controlling influence of their leaders and then flock together with the false sense of safety in community.

Indirect but controlling nonetheless

There are many elements of behaviour control masquerading as religious creeds with interminably long lists of dos and don’ts of with absurd logic pandering to ancient rites that have long been superseded by modern ways that are conveniently ignored.

Information control usually presents as doctrinal diktat breeding anti-social forms of extremist and intolerant attitudes encouraged by the laziness of congregations to review criticisms no matter how constructive those views might be.

With a plaint and fawning audience, thought control is easy, people who are brought up in patriarchal societies might not be disposed to inquisitiveness or questioning the basis of the tenets they adhere to. There is a self-censorship in place that automatically kicks-in when a “Man of God” speaks, acts or commands as some vague dread of the supernatural instils the fear that allows for bling-followership and no critical assessment of the circumstances the person is in.

The aspect of emotional control is easy, as humility is confused with accepting humiliation and the guilt complex is exacerbated by painting scenarios that leave adherent apparently eternally grateful for the succour the leadership appears to provide.

In the pocket of the mind

Financial control is almost as innocuous as it is diabolical, holy texts are trotted out to convince, persuade, cajole, tease and in the extreme defraud as people are first convinced of a monetary key to blessing and almost compelled from the pulpit to give everything to the point of pain; whilst mind-control is quite difficult to assess, the beholden are already taken.

The religious leader regaled in the best flaunts this luxurious appearance as something to aspire to but only available through deeper financial commitment as hopes and desires are played and teased with the eventual promise of success which is almost within grasp – the spur is captivating to keep the people striving. The message gets perverted to “Use God and Love Money”.

By which time extreme leadership does not look that extreme any more, people who have willingly and freely associated that they have been subsumed and the leader either by design or unwittingly earns a cult following of almost sycophancy at some presumed closeness to God.

The slide to a cult

In any event, very little needs to be done to exercise absolute control as varying degrees of control as pertains to the earlier criteria could have inadvertently created a self-sustaining cult environment, the participants so completely oblivious of the fact that they have also stuck so close to a commune they cannot cut loose.

The sad thing is many are already in cults thinking they are fervent followers of some religion, the distinction between the terms almost impossible to distinguish. The analysts however conclude that every coercive religious group harbours the telltale trait of untoward secrecy – however, secrecy might well be hidden in everyday language, a lot being said but a dog whistle to those who know.

If members experience impediments in relationships, ideas or travel and the group’s finances are suspect and non-transparent, one might just say, following the money will just take you deep into the grotto of a cult.

Sources

[1] Mitch Horowitz: When Does a Religion Become a Cult? - WSJ.com

The Cult of the Burnt Fornicator II - Judgment Day

A Jesus impostor in your vicinity

Judgment has come upon the man who deluded many and who as the leader of the Christian Praying Assembly in Lagos proclaimed himself as Jesus Christ with power on earth to punish sin.

Just like something out of a witch-burning activity in the 15^th Century, anyone caught in the sin of adultery or fornication – if that means anything to people today – was doused with petrol and set alight.

One of the said sinners did burn and lost her life in the process before the law in Nigeria waded in to seek justice for this abuse of power and criminal act. Months ago, in Cult of the Burnt Fornicator I wrote about this episode.

What is most disconcerting is the number of people who would follow a lie and engage themselves in cultist activities that seem to create more adherents as their increasingly bizarre and uniquely outrageous acts gain notoriety.

Proselytisers bring friends who feel they would be protected from greater evils by submitting themselves to a lesser evil which holds sway over their freedom, their liberty, their rights and their freewill; the stupid and gullible being lead by a con – there can be no greater partnership.

Ignorance that grates

Beyond this, it is the ignorance of the rule book that grates the most, a person going to church should and must be able to read a Bible in whatever language they speak, nowadays, Bibles are in pictures, in audio and fully dramatised in audio-visual sometime crass acting, but there is almost no excuse for not checking if what you have heard is really true.

We have a case where Jesus had to deal with the issue of adultery, it was a lesson in understanding the gravity of the offence but greater still, understanding the greater good of forgiveness, giving the adulterer the opportunity to repent and spread the news of forgiveness.

Men had arraigned to stone the adulterer to death as is expected of the law of the day, but rather than carry that sentence out, they approached Jesus to hear his view of the matter.

Knowing the law, knowing humanity

Jesus did not argue either the law or the sentence of the law, but he highlighted that fact that those who stand in judgment should themselves be free of guile and sin – let the man without sin throw the first stone, he said – then you all can then have a killing party, he implied. From the oldest to the last, they dropped their stones and walked away as conviction came upon each and everyone – meanwhile, the adulterer stood waiting for judgment deserved as Jesus scrawled in the sand.

At the end, there was not one accuser left and he who could pronounce judgment spoke mercy – “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more”. How, then can another man impersonating Jesus then be carrying out gruesome petrol burnings when the Jesus we know would not do such a thing?

As we have seen through the ages, the man involved in the act is often never caught or brought to judgment that is another issue.

The man the con

The problem is, as the man takes his sentence for murder and more heinous crimes, there are many who still believe that this religious tyrant is some messenger, a messenger of death and terror, I would say, as he tries to model his sufferings on the sufferings of Jesus.

No, people should not buy into that lie, I am no supporter of the death penalty, however, if he must die, I am happy that no one has decided to take the joke as far as to crucify him – however, it is evident that Jesus cannot die twice, a revealing truth that makes this religious cad, a false prophet and charlatan.

It would appear Nigeria needs a Religious Cons and Cults Tribunal to ascertain the qualifications of these preachers of woe, vet their practices, audit their accounts and testimonies, close their operations if found wanting and prosecute them to the limits of the law if they have been dishonest, deceitful, deceptive, cajoling and threatening.

I have seen many and they perform their deeds with impunity because the hold and sway of the superstitious and the incredible prevents seemingly rational minds from questioning the veracity of outrageous claims, all fearing a great wrath would befall them.

That is the power of these purveyors of evil, the ability to maintain an atmosphere of pervasive awe backed by the fear of evil rather than the courage of good.

This sentence would go to appeal, but it is time for the courts to hold up the mantle of justice for those who have been sacrificed on the altar of retaining the awe of the spectacular. The blood of the innocent, albeit gullible must be requited by a suitable punishment as a lesson to those who still seek to deceive.

References

Jesus Forgives Woman Caught in Adultery

Churches should be sanctuaries not prisons

How to spot religious abuse

Opinions on cults and religious abuse

The cult of the burnt fornicator - religious abuse

Churches should be sanctuaries not prisons [1]

The worship of Moloch

When I read on NaijaBlog that a church was making some of its congregation pass through the fire for their sins, I dismissed it with the thought that this was related to the worship of Moloch and left it at that.

Well, on further research it appears this was a more serious issue that now includes charges of a homicide and other counts of attempted murder.

There is no doubt that religious cults do thrive in Nigeria, especially where people are offered seemingly quick-fix solutions that lead to other deeper problems as the people are absorbed into cultist and socially unacceptable circumstances.

Charlatans as Reverends

Anyone, can rise with any title and declare themselves the megaphone of God for these times and people can be taken by spectacular shows and illusions that depict supposed miracles, they are milked of all their wealth and well-being with the promise of safety and deliverance.

Indeed, when in a church, one should in ways submit to the leadership of that church, but in the wisdom that includes understanding clearly that this leader can be trusted to do what is right. It is called discernment.

Only fools tread

Unfortunately, as sheep lead to the slaughter, many forfeit their God-given mental faculties to submit to lies and Old Testament foreboding which fills the congregation with self-loathing, fear, low-esteem and subservience.

Leaders in the church are supposed exercise authority that exudes leaderships, mercy, mentoring and grace. They are to lift up their people so they can go out and face the world with a sense of purpose, self-worth, integrity, honour and trustworthiness.

Sometimes, some of the congregation falls to temptation or heinous sins like fornication or adultery, it is a time to come together and counsel them and strengthen them to move on from the guilt of sin, if that is the prevailing doctrine to a state of absolution and sense of redemption.

Burning the sinner

To now hear that jerry cans of petrol were poured over offending fornicators and then they were set alight leaves one bereft of composure. Wherever this quack Dr and fraud got this teaching from escapes me – witches might have been burnt in the past but witchcraft is not fornication.

Separating the church from the state

Regardless of church doctrine, it is no more in the remit of the church to mete out the kinds of punishment that exemplified the Spanish Inquisition; the law is managed and administered by the state.

The church or any other religious organisation should defer to the state on matters of crime or civil justice where the society would have determined the punishment for the crime as their legislatures would have proposed after a fair trial.

The worst the church can do is excommunicate members who refuse to abide by the rules of membership. A church must not convene a kangaroo court and mete out punishments as if it were a court of law carrying out the affairs of the state.

One of many victims of religious abuse

In this case, Ann Uzoh King ultimately lost her life having suffered serious burns, a victim of cult movements in Nigeria that get no scrutiny from the authorities because followers and adherents have been brainwashed into thinking these rotten organisations are for their good.

Any right thinking person would know that these acts are completely wrong – however, is it any wonder that like opium, religion does deprive one of complete control of ways, means and heads?

References

Attempted Murder: King Granted Bail, Re-Arrested

Religious Abuse

How to spot religious abuse

Opinions on cults and religious abuse