About Us
What is ASHE Soul Global Village? A.S.H.E. is an acronym for African Spiritual Healing Enlightenment . Soul is reflective of our spirituality as well as our Soulful cultural identity . Our African American ancestors said every one has A soul but not everyone has Soul! Soul is both a noun and a verb. It is also a spiritual quality. Having Soul is reflective of how we have retained African elements in our culture heritage such as music, food, dance, spirituality, and world view despite the displacement of African people in the Diaspora. Soul in our name reflects a reclamation and affirmation of such in our spiritual values.
ASHE Soul Global village is founded by Chief Dr. Abiye Fayele and Baba Okikifa , African American priests initiated in the Ifa Orisa Isese Lagba lineages (based out of West Africa ( Ota, Ibadan, Osogbo, Nigeria) . Ashe Soul is a Missouri registered religious non profit faith community. Our legal status is as a 508 c1a Faith Based Non Profit Organization ( Free Church defined under (508 (c)(1)(a) under 501 c 3 of the IRS Code 26 501(508). See our Legal Status for More information
ASHE Soul GV was founded to support individuals seeking healing, elevation and reclamation of their spiritual heritage through the wisdom traditions of Africa as well as their expressions in the African Diaspora. We have priests, devotees, and students from around the world thus creating a global spiritual community and village. We are a full service ile (spiritual house) offering a wide range of services from counseling, divination, ceremony, initiation in the diaspora and Africa, as well as education and training.
Our Mission:
Facilitate healing and wholeness for individuals through self development, spiritual enlightenment, and alignment with nature.
Our Vision :
To be a vehicle for community spiritual healing, empowerment , and education.
Spiritual History
Forms of Worship
Our primary places of Worship is at personal shrines in our homes, our community temple ASHE Soul Center, local study circles , and in Nature. We facilitate community ritual and talks at ASHE Soul Center. We also have an online global village community through which we facilitate bi monthly services and meet collectively throughout the year. In addition, we recognize natural shrines found in nature at places such as natural bodies of water, mountains, caves, and the Earth herself, etc.
Worship takes place based on our Traditional Ose Calendar. Our primary “text” is actually the oral Ifa Orisa literary corpus. It is a mathematical system and Oracle consisting of 256 "books" of wisdom with 16 sub books each and tens of thousands of verses. Some of the verses have been written down in publications that we also use as reference. Others teachings are based on the long standing 10,000 year oral tradition through a mentor who is a licensed priest.
How we identify Ourselves
We are a community of Priests, Initiates, and Devotees The Global Ifa Orisa faith is maintained through a community of initiates in which individuals undergo certain approvals, initiation rites. In Ori Temple, those who have undergone initiation rites are considered Initiates. Those who are considered community priests are required to undergo education and training under the supervision of a mentor in addition to their initiations in order to be considered licensed clergy. Ori Temple accepts initiates and devotees from all legitimate lineages globally and accepts them as their initiation level confers to them all rights their initiation level confers to them. This includes those initiated into other traditional African lineages such as Akan/ Vodun/ Kikongo/ Zulu, Lucumi, etc. In order to establish continuity however, all Official members of the temple, regardless of lineage are required to go through and adhere to the same membership guidelines and protocols. The official levels of initiation and hierarchy we confer in the temple, however are the following:
Our positions and titles are based on traditional approaches in the Ifa Orisa Tradition. These are some designations.
Oba/Obabinrin Royal Office Appointment of King/Queen
Oloye/Olori/Abiye/Apena- Chieftaincy- A person who has received a chieftaincy title.
Babalawo/ Iyalawo/ Yeyelawo/ Iyanifa, Agba Awo- Fully initiated Priest of Ifa who has also undergone a prescribed course of study to practice as community priests.
Agbamate / Awo Atemaki /Omo Awo )who underwent Itefa /Itelodu initiation but do not practice as a Babalawo/ Iyanifa- Maintains personal shrine only. May also practice as an Olorisa
Awo Orisa/ Olorisha Fully initiated Orisa Priest Iyalorisha/ Babalorisa- Fully initiated Orisa Priest who have undergone training to practice as official clergy and are mentors. They are sanctioned by the house to perform rites.
Onisegun /Adahunse - Traditional Healer- Includes Herbalist, Iya Abebi (Traditional Birth Attendants/ Midwives) , Iyanu Practitioners, Homeopaths, Naturopaths, Aladura, etc.
Onifa (Owner of Ifa) - A student of Ifa . Have received a hand of Ifa or is initiated to Ifa but are not priest or initiated.
Oniorisa (Owner of Orisa) A student of Orisa who has received a consecrated orisa vessel.
Apetibi- A woman who has received a hand of Ifa or Isode ritual and considered a wife of Ifa or a Babalawo
Alagba- Applied to all Elders by age
Akeko - Student - Member
Aborisa - Devotee
Ifa Core Values & Statement of Faith
- 1. There is one unifying intelligent source that expresses as all things to all people and through all of creation seen and unseen. We call it Olodumare.
- 2. We are all endowed with personal power and choices and must take full responsibility for our own actions.
- 3. For every problem we encounter , there is a solution and that we have the power to effect positive change in our lives .
- 4. We each have a divine purpose and destiny, It is our responsibility to discover it and live in alignment with it in order to live our best life.
- 5. At our core, we are spiritual beings inhabiting human bodies. Our divinity is manifest through an indwelling intelligence (Ori) that is always connected to our source.
- 6. We do not die but continue as ancestors in the spiritual world and come back through reincarnation into our blood relatives.
- 7. We live in a spiritual universe that it is governed by universal laws that ensure divine order and balance.
- 8. Character directly impacts our destiny. We must each do the internal work to cultivate integrity and honorable character in our lives. There is no real gain, joy, or peace from wrong doing.
- 9. Spiritual technologies such as therapeutic ritual, Oracles, innate spiritual gifts, initiation, and indigenous medicines can be used to heal, empower, receive guidance, support, and insight in and for our lives.
- 10. The universe is governed by primordial intelligences we call Irunmole and Orisa who manifest as light and forces of nature. Our bodies are made of the same substances and therefore always connected.
- 11. Earth is our Mother who provides all living beings food, water, clothing, medicine, shelter, and substance our entire lives. We are custodians of the Earth and must respect the laws of nature. True healing is spiritual in nature and nature provides us with everything we need to heal. Healing can work through many avenues but we do not support avenues that cause more harm such as vaccines and experimental drugs. We believe in the use of traditional healers and medicines as the ideal practitioners and methods.”
- 12. Good fortune in life can be attained through Ebo. We must give up something of lesser value for something of greater value.
- 13. The spiritual world and physical world are interconnected and interdependent . Nothing comes through the physical world without coming first through the spiritual.
- 14. We are the sum total of our ancestors who came before and continue our relationships with them in the spiritual world. world through our ancestors and (Egbe) spiritual mates.
- 15. The world is abundant and should be lived with joy and free of fear.
- 16. Women must be respected. The only way we come to Earth is through women.
