Ifa: Forest of Mystery

Deeper Down The Rabbit Hole: Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold discusses Ifá: A Forest of Mystery

Presented Tue. Jan. 17th, 2016 8pm EST on Para-X-Radio.com Andrieh Vitimus and Jason M. Colwell welcome Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold back to the show to discuss his newest book Ifá: A Forest of Mystery. Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold is an anthropologist and psychologist who over the course of the last fifteen years been studying, both academically and practically, African and Afro-derived cults in the New World.

This has led to a multiplicity of initiations into Vodou, both from Benin and Haiti, Santeria, Kimbanda, Palo Mayombe and Ifá. He makes part of the council of elders in the Ogboni society of Abeokuta, Nigeria. Nick is a Babalawo and a member of Ogboni society. He has for the last decade lived in Brazil where his studies and involvement in traditional forms of metaphysics, faith, cult and witchcraft is a constant theme in his life. He is also author of: Pomba Gira & the Quimbanda of Mbumba Nzila, a study of the Devil’s Mistress in Quimbanda. Exu & the Quimbanda of Night and Fire, the strong companion to Pomba Gira and together with her this forms the most complete account of this sorcerous cult. Exu is the fusion of Umbanda, Angolan sorcery and European demonology, erupting in a uniquely Brazilian cult of practical magical action. Spells, workings, hierarchies and origins are all given in detail. Palo Mayombe: The Garden of Blood and Bones, an initiates account of this much maligned religion and cult whose central mystery is the prenda, the cauldron containing the human skull or bones, reanimated by living spirit. He may be contacted at nicholaj@gmail.com & www.starrycave.com for more information.

Talking Ifá with Nicholaj De Mattos Frisvold

"This week we speak to the one and only Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold about his latest book, Ifá: Forest of Mystery.

We also discuss troll mountains, Quimbanda, fallen angels, spirits of the left hand and loads more. For those who are unfamiliar with Ifá, here’s a brief and useful video primer:"


Show notes:

• Nicholaj’s blog
  
• The book itself
  
• Nicholaj on Facebook
  

West African religions like Ifa and Vodou are on the rise in Maryland, as practitioners connect with roots

J. Pitts

Iyawo Orisa Omitola, a doula and midwife-in-training from Gaithersburg, founded Dawtas of the Moon after having a dream suggesting the idea. Recently pledged as an Orisha priestess dedicated to Yemoja, an deity associated with rebirth, water and the moon, the 46-year-old mother of four says she’s often visited by the deity as well as by her own forebears.

During one stay, she and a friend visited a nearby plantation, and Olori says she was alarmed to realize she had a power many priestesses possess: She could “see dead people.”

Near the servants’ quarters behind the mansion, she says, she spotted “a man leaning against a tree, an elder, an old slave. I started talking to him as if I could see him clear as day.”

Olori’s friend, who had been working on a history of the place, later told her those and other details synced up with what she had learned in her research.