Who defines the guardian angel (Orissa Alagbatori)? The babalawo or the Oriate?

This is a long and controversial topic. So I advise you, if you're not going to read it to the end, don't read it; save it for later. And if you are going to read it, sit back and grab a water bottle. At no point do I want to impose any specific rules or impose anything on anyone. In fact, I'm going to leave this post open so you can draw your own conclusions. Don't be swayed by impressions and read to the end.

In the sacred scriptures, that is, our Creole IFA corpus, there are several Ifa Eses (Patakies) that speak of why it should be Orunmila who determines our Orissa Alagbatori (Guardian Angel).

One of these patakies tells us how Obbatala was defining Orissa Alagbatori, and all of them were children of his. The Orishas became upset because they also wanted children, and Obbatala wouldn't let them. The orishas gathered to complain to Olofi. They all went before him and presented their complaint. Olofi determined that since Orunmila wasn't the leader of anyone, it wouldn't matter who anyone's Guardian Angel was, so Orunmila would be in charge of determining this Orisha Alagbatori.

Likewise, you can find similar Patakies that refer to the same thing.

Now, who rules our mind? Well, our mind is ruled by Ori. Our destiny, our soul, as it's called in other cultures, our DNA, our genetic information, are found in Ori. In other words, everything. When we exist in heaven and want to come down to earth to fulfill a destiny, we request an audience with Oloddumare, where we ask for everything we want to achieve. He will give us some advice and send us back to earth. Orunmila and our Orisha Alagbatori are witnesses at that audience.

Due to the goddess of misfortune, Elennini, when we go through the process of descending to earth (or ascending, as it would be more accurate to say), we forget everything we had asked for and agreed upon. That's why in Nigeria, a ceremony called Esentaiye is performed. It means "Setting Feet on the Earth." This ceremony is where Orunmila reveals to us our destiny and our Orissa Alagbatori.

The moment we came down we were assigned to the formation of the carnal body to Ori, where as I already explained all this information is.

In the old days, the importance of Ori wasn't taken into account in Nigeria. This complementarity of Ori with our Orissa Alagbatori didn't matter. What mattered was the lineage you came from. If you belonged to the Sango lineage, then you consecrated Sango. If you were born in the Ossun lineage, then you consecrated Ossun, and so on with each Orissa. Even if you were born in one of the Ifa lineages, you didn't consecrate Oosa; you consecrated Ifa. (And now they've changed their ways and are criticizing us.)

In Cuba, the idea of Ori first arose. Why in Cuba? Who created this invention? Well, this isn't an invention; it's a solution. As I explained, in Nigeria, it depended on lineage. But in Cuba, lineage didn't matter when uniting slaves. And the Spanish united the lineages in the settlements.

And they began to marry across lineages, and the situation arose between a man from the Oggun lineage and a woman from the Yemaya lineage. This marriage produced children, and what saint do we give the child? The one from my lineage or yours? So, it comes down to consulting the child's Ori to see which is the Orissa Alagbatori and being able to consecrate the child.

At this point, you can see that if this arises in Cuba, the important thing is to have Ori, whether through an Oriate or a Babalawo. Unless you pay attention to our sacred Ifa writings, which are the ones that govern us.

But if by chance you are an Olorissa Anti babalawo and you do not care what the scriptures say and if what you were taught now I am coming for you.

In the Oddun of Ifa Irete Kutan there is the story of why Erindilogun dies and his children lose the secret of speaking because they did not know how to speak, and Olofi determines that the Mellis of Ifa must sponsor the Oddun of the dilogun so that they can speak.

Likewise, we see that the Dilogun only speaks up to number 12, Eyila. From number 13 (Metanla), the Oddun of the dilogun have no name. They are numbers; they are counted; they are not proper numbers. For example, 1 is Oddun Okana and number Okan, 2 is Oddun Ejioko and number Melle, etc. But from number 13 onwards, it is simply Metanla; there is no name for the Oddun, but a number.

From metanla onward, the dilogun commands the foot of Ifa, or few Oriateses have control of these high oddun, since they are only from Ifa. In fact, no mat ebbo will speak beyond 12 Eyila.

All Orissas have children, but not all of them speak through dilogun. So imagine if a son of Oddua or Osun, etc., comes to determine his Orissa Alagbatori at the home of an Oriate. If these Orissas don't speak through dilogun, how can they tell the Oriate that he is their son? Therefore, the latter will try to speak through a saint who does speak through dilogun, and then it will be determined that he is the son of Obatala or someone else. Hence, there will be the first error in determination.

But unlike Orunmila, he can speak through any Orissa, and any Orissa can speak through Ifa. Add to this the fact that Ifa speaks the 16 Oddun or Mellis with their unlimited combinations. So, who determines the Guardian Angel?