Babalu Visits and Shocks

The kariocha initiation in Lucumí, which creates a new priest/ess, is a long process that begins with a seven-day ritual conducted by a team of olorishas (priest/esses). During this time the new iyawo (person being initiated) is cloistered in a small area for seven days. The kariocha is conducted by a ritual expert called an oriaté. An oriaté must go through specialized training and apprentice under an elder oriaté in order to gain the extensive knowledge required to conduct the kariocha initiation as well as a number of other rituals. While the average olorisha may be knowledgeable and experienced in Lucumí ritual, an oriaté must possess a far more extensive body of knowledge. In Lucumí, religious rituals are based in the casa templo (home temple) of an iyalorisha/babalorisha (head of religious house) who performs everyday rituals, but for a complex life-changing ritual like the kariocha, an oriaté must be hired and that person is generally brought in from outside the ilé (religious house/family). Because there are Lucumí houses all over the country, but far fewer ritual experts, oriatés often travel long distances to perform rituals. During the window of time that the oriaté is visiting a casa templo to conduct a ritual they are often referred to as oba oriaté. Oba is an honorary title that means “king.” 

The story that follows took place during a kariocha initiation in Chicago. It was an unusual case for a kariocha. The woman going through the initiation was not part of the casa templo and had no interest in religion in general and certainly no interest in Lucumí. A loved one, who was a peripheral part of the casa templo, had brought her in to consult the Dilogún oracle because she had been diagnosed with leukemia. Multiple medical experts had confirmed that the disease was very advanced, and she did not have long to live. During the reading, the oracle said that she needed to be initiated to save her life. This is a great deal to put at the feet of an areligious person. Not only are there high financial costs for such a lengthy, involved ritual, but it includes a special oracle, which often maps out a lifetime of further religious obligations. But the loved one who had brought her to the casa templo insisted, promising to pay the costs herself. 

Lucumí elders, including the oba oriaté, were flown in from Miami, FL, and were staying in the casa templo. Spirit possession is part of the initiation ritual, so within that space it is expected. What was unusual about this instance of spirit possession was that it happened after the ritual when everyone was resting in their private quarters after a hard day’s work. No one was prepared for the arrival of an orisha. The event was also unusual because the possession happened to the oba oriaté who is not expected to mount an orisha in this context. 

The next day, the oba oriaté conducted the woman’s lifetime oracle, and that too was as unusual as the events of the night before. The orisha thanked the woman for going through the ritual and told her she had no further obligations. She was welcome to continue her life as an areligious person. Within the casa templo it is said that she returned to each doctor that she had seen and was told that she did not have leukemia, and that they could not explain how such a mistake could have happened. She never set foot in the casa templo again.