Technology has changed what can happen across distance.
You can speak with a priest on video.
You can receive religious education from someone thousands of miles away.
A Diloggún consultation can be conducted virtually.
Someone may prepare a spiritual bath, soap, cleansing preparation, or other appropriate item for you and send it through the mail.
Those things involve information, guidance, divination, or something being prepared on your behalf.
Receiving Orisha is different.
Receiving Orisha is a ceremony.
The person receiving must participate in that ceremony. Certain things are done with you, for you, and in your presence. Another person cannot simply take your place, complete everything somewhere else, place religious objects in a box, and mail you the experience you were supposed to undergo.
You can mail religious objects.
You cannot mail someone a ceremony.
That should be obvious.
Yet people are paying strangers to do exactly that.
The more interesting question is why.
A Virtual Reading Is Not a Virtual Initiation
People sometimes collapse completely different religious activities into one category simply because all of them involve a priest.
They are not the same.
A consultation can happen at a distance.
A Diloggún reading can happen at a distance.
A spiritual bath can be prepared for you.
Spiritual soap can be prepared for you.
Certain religious or cleansing preparations can be made and delivered.
But receiving Orisha is not merely having somebody prepare something for you.
You are part of the ceremony.
Your participation is not an inconvenience that technology has made obsolete.
It is part of what is occurring.
That is the dividing line.
When someone says:
Send the money.
We will perform everything here.
You do not need to come.
When it is finished, we will ship your Orisha to you.
You should immediately understand that something is wrong.
Because receiving religious objects and receiving the ceremony that gives those objects their religious meaning are not the same thing.
The Objects Are Not the Ceremony
One of the easiest mistakes for a newcomer to make is confusing sacred objects with the religious process through which they are properly received.
The objects matter.
But the objects are not everything.
A bracelet is not proof that you received the Hand of Ifá.
A container is not proof that you received Orisha.
A photograph of priests standing around religious objects is not proof that a ceremony was properly conducted for you.
A video clip is not proof.
A shipping receipt certainly is not proof.
You can purchase objects.
Someone can prepare objects.
Someone can say prayers over objects.
Someone can send you beautiful photographs of objects.
None of that establishes that you underwent the ceremony those objects represent.
This is especially important in a world where almost anything can now be ordered online.
Religion is not Amazon.
You do not select an Orisha, enter your payment information, wait for shipping, and become the recipient of a ceremony when the box reaches your front door.
Some Things Require You to Be There
There are aspects of receiving Orisha that involve the person receiving.
That is as much as needs to be said publicly.
This article is not going to disclose private ceremonial procedures merely to prove that they exist.
Sacred knowledge should remain sacred.
But secrecy should never be manipulated to make nonsense appear legitimate.
There are procedures in which the recipient participates.
There are things another person cannot do as you.
You cannot delegate your physical participation to a stranger.
Someone cannot represent your body in a ceremony while you sit hundreds or thousands of miles away.
The priest cannot perform everything to somebody else, pack the result, and retroactively turn you into the participant because your name was written on the package.
Some religious activity can occur on your behalf.
That does not mean every religious activity can occur without you.
The difference matters.
African Ifá and Cuban Ifá Are Related, but They Are Not Identical
This issue becomes more confusing because people correctly recognize that African Ifá and Cuban Ifá are not identical.
They have common religious roots.
But traditions evolved.
Cuban Ifá developed under the particular historical circumstances of Cuba, including slavery, diaspora, adaptation, preservation, community, and generations of lineage transmission.
There are differences in terminology.
There are differences in procedures.
There can be differences among houses even within the same broader tradition.
Those differences are real.
They deserve respect.
But “my lineage does it differently” cannot become a magical sentence that makes every questionable practice legitimate.
Variation is not the same thing as absence of procedure.
Traditions evolving differently does not mean that anything anybody decides to do automatically becomes authentic.
And appealing to Africa does not end the conversation.
If someone says, “That is only Cuban Ifá. We do it differently in Africa,” then ask the obvious question:
What does your tradition actually require?
A legitimate Babalawo who follows the procedures of his tradition should be able to explain whether the recipient needs to be present and why, without revealing confidential religious material.
Sacred secrecy can protect the details.
It should not prevent basic accountability.
Wanting Orisha Can Make You Ignore What You Already Know
This is the deeper problem.
Many people who fall for these arrangements are not unintelligent.
They are not necessarily incapable of recognizing a scam.
They simply want what is being offered so badly that they begin helping themselves believe it.
You want Orisha in your life.
You want spiritual protection.
You want direction.
You want to belong.
You want connection with something sacred.
Perhaps you have spent years looking.
Perhaps there is no religious community near you.
Perhaps you finally found someone online who tells you:
Yes, I can give this to you.
That can be extraordinarily powerful.
The desire is real.
And because the desire is real, you begin making exceptions.
Normally this requires your presence.
But maybe this person has another way.
Normally certain things must happen with you.
But perhaps Africa does things differently.
Normally you would know the elders involved.
But this person sounds knowledgeable.
Normally you would travel.
But this is more convenient.
Normally you would ask many questions.
But you do not want to offend the Babalawo.
You start explaining away every red flag because the alternative is accepting that what you desperately want may require more time, travel, money, patience, and effort than you hoped.
That is how desire becomes vulnerability.
At Some Point, You Become Complicit in the Scam Against Yourself
This may sound harsh, but it needs to be said.
There is a point at which being deceived becomes cooperating with your own deception.
You see the contradiction.
You recognize that important things are missing.
You know you were not present.
You do not know who actually participated.
You cannot verify what happened.
You do not understand how functions that normally involve you were supposedly bypassed.
Yet you decide to believe that everything was performed perfectly somewhere you could not see by people you do not know.
Why?
Because you want the result.
The stranger provides the story.
You provide the belief necessary to complete it.
That is an extraordinary amount of trust to place in someone you may have never met.
And when every contradiction gets answered with another reason why you should simply believe, you are no longer evaluating evidence.
You are protecting hope.
Hope Is Not Evidence
There is nothing wrong with hope.
There is nothing wrong with faith.
But neither requires abandoning judgment.
If the only proof that your ceremony happened is the claim of the person who took your money, you should recognize the problem.
Imagine the logic:
You never saw what happened.
You were not there.
You cannot explain how the required procedures were completed without you.
Then a package appears at your door.
And suddenly the package becomes proof that everything happened exactly as claimed.
The reasoning resembles believing in Santa Claus because gifts appeared under the Christmas tree.
The gifts are real.
That does not prove the story explaining how they arrived.
The package is real.
The objects may be real.
The payment certainly was real.
But none of those facts independently prove that you received the religious ceremony you were told you received.
An adult making a lifelong religious commitment should demand a higher standard than:
“Something arrived, therefore I believe the story.”
The More You Want It, the More Discernment You Need
This principle extends beyond Santería.
The more emotionally important something is, the easier it becomes to deceive ourselves.
Love can do it.
Money can do it.
Career ambition can do it.
Fear can do it.
Religion can do it.
When you desperately want an outcome, you naturally become more receptive to information that tells you the outcome is possible.
That is exactly when you need more discernment.
Not less.
If receiving Orisha is deeply important to you, that importance should make you more protective of the process.
Ask more questions.
Research more carefully.
Know who you are dealing with.
Understand the religious community.
Learn enough about the tradition to recognize when something does not make sense.
The sacredness of what you want should increase your standards.
It should not lower them.
“Trust Me” Is Not a Religious Procedure
There is information priests appropriately keep private.
Not every ceremonial act belongs on the internet.
Not every prayer should be published.
Not everything needs to be explained to someone who has not received the religious authority to know it.
But secrecy and accountability are two different things.
Before sending money, you should be able to understand basic facts:
Who is performing the ceremony?
What tradition are they practicing?
What lineage are they part of?
What exactly are you being told you are receiving?
Does the ceremony require you to be physically present?
What obligations will you have afterward?
Who will guide you?
What relationship exists once the payment is complete?
If you are told:
“You cannot ask because it is secret.”
That should concern you.
Sacred secrecy protects the religion.
It should not protect questionable business practices.
If Someone Offers to Mail You the Hand of Ifá, Run
I would not complicate this.
If a stranger tells you that you can receive the Hand of Ifá entirely remotely, without physically participating in the ceremony, and that they will simply perform everything in your absence and ship it to you afterward:
Run.
If you proceed anyway, understand what you are risking.
You may simply be giving someone your money so that you can pretend you received something you desperately wanted.
That is an expensive way to participate in your own fantasy.
A person can mail you religious objects.
They can mail you a bracelet.
They can mail you containers.
They can mail you prepared items.
What they cannot put inside the shipping box is the ceremony you never attended.
Geography Does Not Guarantee Authenticity
People sometimes assume that something must be legitimate because it comes from Nigeria.
Or Cuba.
Or another place strongly associated with the tradition.
That makes no sense.
Every country contains honest people.
Every country contains dishonest people.
Every religion contains serious practitioners.
Every religion also attracts opportunists.
Living in Nigeria does not automatically make someone an authentic Babalawo.
Living in Cuba does not automatically make someone a legitimate priest.
Living in the United States does not automatically make someone illegitimate.
The relevant questions concern training, lineage, procedure, community, reputation, and conduct.
Geography is not a credential.
Neither is a social-media profile.
Neither is religious clothing.
Neither is a title typed beside someone's name.
Religious Desire Is Easy to Exploit
People often seek Orisha during vulnerable periods.
Life is falling apart.
A relationship ended.
Someone died.
Money is disappearing.
The same problem keeps repeating.
They feel spiritually unprotected.
They want answers.
They want to know their destiny.
They feel disconnected from their ancestry.
They are searching for meaning.
Then someone appears and tells them:
You were chosen.
Your ancestors sent you here.
You urgently need this ceremony.
I can do it remotely.
Send the money now.
That combination is dangerous because it combines spiritual authority with urgency.
People become afraid that saying no means rejecting destiny itself.
But pressure is not proof.
Urgency is not proof.
Fear is not proof.
Someone claiming your ancestors sent them is not proof.
And asking questions does not mean you lack faith.
Sometimes asking questions is exactly how you protect your faith from exploitation.
Receiving Orisha Should Create a Relationship, Not Just a Transaction
Receiving Orisha does not end when you acquire sacred objects.
There is a community.
There are elders.
There is teaching.
There are responsibilities.
There is development.
There are questions you will have later.
There are things you will need to learn.
There are relationships that continue beyond the ceremony.
If your entire religious connection consists of:
Direct messages.
Electronic payments.
Photographs.
Tracking numbers.
And packages.
Ask yourself what you actually joined.
A religion?
Or an online transaction?
Receiving Orisha should connect you more deeply to a religious tradition.
It should not leave you alone with a box wondering what happened thousands of miles away.
Sometimes You Have to Travel
There is a practical reason remote ceremonies are attractive.
Travel is inconvenient.
Travel costs money.
Maybe no legitimate house exists near you.
Perhaps the Babalawo you trust lives in another state.
Perhaps the right religious connection is in Cuba.
Perhaps it is somewhere else entirely.
That can be frustrating.
But inconvenience does not change religious requirements.
If you have to travel, travel.
If you need to save, save.
If you need more time, wait.
If you need to take several days away from ordinary life, then determine whether the commitment is important enough to do that.
We routinely travel for things we consider important.
Weddings.
Funerals.
Graduations.
Vacations.
Business opportunities.
Medical procedures.
Family emergencies.
If receiving Orisha represents a lifelong sacred relationship, perhaps having to get on an airplane is not an unreasonable requirement.
Sometimes you have to go the extra mile.
The Babalawo does not always come to you.
Convenience Is Not More Important Than Legitimacy
Modern life trains us to expect everything immediately.
Food comes to the door.
Groceries come to the door.
Medicine comes to the door.
Clothes come to the door.
Education comes through a screen.
Why not religion?
Because not everything can be converted into a delivery service without changing what it is.
A wedding ceremony cannot occur entirely without either spouse and then become valid simply because somebody mails them wedding rings.
A surgery cannot be performed on someone else and transferred to you through the mail.
Some experiences require the person who is supposed to receive them.
Religion is no different.
Convenience is useful until convenience destroys the thing you were trying to obtain.
What If You Already Received Something Remotely?
Do not panic.
And do not let the next person exploit your fear about being exploited the first time.
Do not immediately pay somebody else to “fix” everything.
Do not throw objects away impulsively.
Do not automatically assume that something spiritually dangerous has happened.
Start with information.
Document what occurred.
Save your conversations.
Save receipts.
Write down what you were promised.
Identify the priest or priests involved.
Record exactly what ceremony they said was performed.
Record what arrived.
Then speak with a reputable Babalawo or appropriate elder who is independent of the people involved.
Ask what the religious objects appear to be.
Ask whether the procedure described makes sense within the tradition that supposedly performed it.
Ask what would normally require your presence.
Get evidence.
Then make a decision.
If someone immediately tells you that everything is fraudulent and you must pay them thousands of dollars tomorrow to correct it, recognize that you may simply have moved from one salesperson to another.
New expenditure should follow new evidence.
Not new fear.
Receiving Something Sacred Requires Taking It Seriously
There is a contradiction in desperately wanting Orisha while simultaneously accepting a process that treats receiving Orisha like buying merchandise.
If you believe the relationship is sacred, act accordingly.
Learn.
Travel if necessary.
Build relationships.
Exercise patience.
Ask questions.
Understand what you are committing to.
Respect the procedures.
Respect the elders.
Respect yourself enough not to pretend.
If something obviously does not make sense, do not suspend your intelligence because religion is involved.
Your desire for Orisha should not make you easier to deceive.
It should make you more serious about receiving Orisha correctly.
You Cannot Mail Someone a Ceremony
Technology can do extraordinary things.
It can connect students with elders across continents.
It can make public religious education widely available.
It can allow consultations that once required travel.
It can connect diaspora communities.
It can make knowledge easier to access.
Those are valuable developments.
But technology does not eliminate embodiment.
A virtual reading is not a virtual initiation.
A prepared bath is not receiving Orisha.
A mailed bracelet is not the Hand of Ifá ceremony.
A package is not proof that religious obligations were properly fulfilled.
And another person cannot simply undergo the portions of a ceremony that require you and then transfer the result through FedEx.
The principle is straightforward:
You can receive information remotely.
You can receive guidance remotely.
Certain things can be prepared for you remotely.
But receiving Orisha requires ceremony, and ceremony requires your participation.
When someone tells you otherwise, do not allow desire to silence common sense.
Do not ignore every red flag simply because you desperately want the promise to be true.
Faith does not require pretending.
Hope does not establish legitimacy.
And sacred objects arriving in a box do not prove that a sacred ceremony occurred.
Someone can sell you the objects.
Someone can sell you the story.
You decide whether you are going to participate in believing something that does not withstand scrutiny.
You can mail religious objects.
You cannot mail someone a ceremony.
Keith Lawrence Miller, M.A.
Ogún Oní
SanteriaReligion.com
Related reading
- What Is Santería?
- Diloggún consultation and religious guidance
- Spiritual Safety
- Sacred Boundaries
- The Orisha
- Why Does Santería Initiation Cost Money?
- Getting Crowned Is Becoming a Priest: Are You Ready for the Responsibility?
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