Spiritual Ethics When Practicing Spirituality (Taboos You Should Know)

In spirituality, there are spiritual ethics that are very important to opening spiritual doors for the non-physicals that we entertain.

There are spirits with us all the time, but when you begin to pay attention to them, knowing that they are there with you (as in having an altar or meditating and connecting to your higher self), there are things the humans need to do (or not do) to get the best out of this association with these beautiful Beings who are here for our benefit.

As a child I remember my mother telling us children that we should not throw anything out in the night without the “shh” sound, so as to alert what may be there in invisible form of the water we intend to throw in its direction. As usual she never explained anything about her teachings, but as I became who I am, I realized how important this lesson was.

While being on the Ifa compound daily, I would see amazing things when the Babalawo (priest) would divine and bring Odu (live energy) down. The imitative gestures the Babalawo and Awo would do when these energies came down after being brought forth, such as the case with the Odu Ogbe Iwori, where the priests would look left and right. Or Osa Meji, where the priests would flap their arms like birds, or the Mighty Odu Eji Ogbe, the arrival of the elder King, and all the priests prostrate with honorific hailings.

In the practice of spirituality, when a person has decided to walk a spiritual road, there are particular moral ethics that must be adhered to in order to avoid falling into many pits, some more difficult to get out of than others.

Always remember that non-physical Beings are of a very high frequency, of a Light that humans can not even conceive. They are of the origin of all things, and therefore exist in Purity, before impurity and corruption. Humans live in a chaotic existence, and in order to have any contact whatsoever with what is above them, they must do the things that will allow them to rise.

There are things we must avoid, taboos that must be adhered to. In order to show any type of reverence or honor to these Higher Beings, we must practice what the human mind may conceive as cleanliness in all forms of that word. That is the only road to Divinity.

Taboo #1: Wearing Shoes

Shoes must never be worn in anyone’s home, but it is difficult to tell anyone in the world this because it is so normal. But one of the reasons why this must not be is that your home, where you lay your head, is a sacred space. The moment you arrive at your door, the shoes must be removed. The shoes itself is the embodiment of all the chaos that is outside of your sacred space. All things that have attached itself to the human, will have also attached itself symbolically to the “person” of the human (his garments). The shoes, specifically, is a representation of travel. Outside of your sacred space, is chaos, and a whirl of all things negative, positive, and in between. It is a confusion that should be left at your door.

The home is more than a physical structure. It has a spiritual nature. What you do to your physical structure, is what you are doing to your spiritual nature.

Shoes must never be worn at any shrine, any altar, any space at all where there is Divinity. This is a very big taboo. If shoes are worn by these sacred spaces, these spaces are no longer sacred.

When that Purified place becomes corrupted, the Divinity that was once present, will leave this space. And as the practitioner continues to worship at this space, the propitiations will be accepted instead by a replica of the Deity, a lower Being that operates on a lower vibration. This Being is closer to human in nature, and “darker”. By “dark” I mean of a lower vibration and so prone to errors and chaos. The reason for this is because impure spaces house only impure spirits.

Taboo #2: Covered Head (Before Pure Divinities)

It is very important to understand that there are hierarchies and ranks within the spiritual realm. How you deal with each will differ depending on which “rank” you are serving (and by “rank” I mean Light). Each type of Being has its domain, or region, where it operates in the world of spirit. Some are closer to Earth, and may have more humanlike tendencies, and some may have even lived a human life before (ancestral), while others may not have lived a human life but operate in a region that is above human but below “Heavenly” (for lack of a better word).

The Beings that are closer to Earth, and are more interactive with humans, will be more forgiving of human errors, because these Beings themselves are of a nature closer to human, so they do not strictly require the rites of cleanliness and purity as the more advanced Beings. Although, this should always be a consideration when dealing with Beings that are not in human form.

Beings such as these may be accepting of covered heads, and perhaps even shoes. However, Beings of a higher, purer nature, the Beings that are closer to Divine and are of Higher Light, do not come to Earth. What the priests/priestesses may have access to is the signature of these Divinities, and so when in the presence of the insignia, one can not cover the head.

Uncovered heads, kneeling, and prostrations are signs of humility, absence of ego, reverence and veneration to the lofty Beings that we are in the presence of. When before them, it is a taboo to cover the Head.

I sat before the Ifa oracle one day, and I was actually very angry. I believed things were not going the way I had expected them to. But when the divinity was invoked, it did not speak well. I was then instructed to kneel, and it was only after then that the oracle was appeased. What happened here is that I had to be reminded through humility, that I was not the author of what was divinely before me, that my anger was not warranted. When a person enters an Ifa temple, he enters a space consecrated to Pure Light, and any form of corruption (like my anger), will be corrected through gesture.

Something similar occurs when your own sacred space houses a shrine of Pure Light, this space may repel those who have more negative mindsets, but it may attract these people if the space itself is corrupt.

Taboo #3: Menstruation (At shrine or altar)

It is often times said that a woman is more powerful when she is menstruating, this is true, but not for the feminist reasons many might think of. It is also said that menstruation is a natural part of a woman if she desires to have children, this is also a half-truth where spirituality is concerned.

With this topic, I must tread very carefully. However, menstruation is a very big taboo when dealing with Light Beings. A woman seeing her period is almost like the Biblical Eve falling from grace, (not literally) but it is a form of impurity during this stage. If you watch two children, a boy and a girl of the same age, you will notice many things. The girl is likely to be the leader, and the boy naturally follows. The girl may naturally be more quick thinking, in comparison to the boy. However, a certain spiritual change occurs for the girl, and it is because of this change that the menstruation is introduced.

During this transition from childhood to adolescence marks for her a spiritual descent. In other words, from henceforth, each month she will go through a few days of spiritual impurity, a degeneration, which has the power to destroy many things of purity should she interact with them.

Also, when I mention Pure Divinities, this includes Nature that one can visibly see, so if a woman is menstruating, she must avoid the river or ocean, so as to also avoid the consequences that follows defiling them.

More on this topic, but perhaps saved for classes.

Taboo #4: Copulation

It is never good, whether it be your spiritual altar or a high ranking shrine, that a person should go before any of these while stained with the act of copulation upon them without cleansing. In this state, the human is in a lower form of himself, and to touch his shrine, altar, or beginning reverence, the Deity is absent if the human is soiled, or the shrine itself corrupted.

No form of intimacy should be done before one’s altar or shrine, it is a big taboo, and “offense” to the Divinity that may visit the space. “Offense” here does not mean of an emotional nature, but a natural negative effect provoked by a taboo.

Taboo #5: Dark Colors

I often tell people to avoid dark colors, whether in decor or personal dressing. The reason for this is that there are forces that are malevolent and are attracted to these colors that the human, no matter his power, is not able to control. Everything in life is symbolic, especially when it comes to spiritism.

When dark forces are entertained, it manifests many unfortunate circumstances, some of them subtle (like developing high blood pressure when you were normally a very healthy person, or sudden hardships), and others more severe, like a death, illness, imprisonment or court cases, a terrible car accident, or a changed destiny. These situations do not only affect the practitioner who has called these chaotic forces, but also affect the family.

It is not just the wearing of dark colors that manifests these things, but when these colors are worn together with spiritual practice. The human himself calls these forces by opening portals through either tarot cards, Ouija boards, invocation, etc. But which door is opened depends on the symbols the practitioner makes use of.

Before advancing into practicality, one must have a competent master to guide him in what he is about to undertake, if it is his road to take at all, so as to avoid dangerous consequences. But know that from once a door is opened by a dark force (notice I use the word “force” because every entity is a family of entities), that door will be hard to close, if ever, and there begins the disturbance in the person’s life and their family.

Particular Beings will test human worthiness, if even to be in their presence alone. So when a person wears dark colors while practicing spirituality, he is asking to be tested by forces he can not even imagine. There are forces that the human is not able to manage unless he possesses the keys or signature of such forces.

High morality is the basis of spirituality. This is not something that should be taught, it must become innate. With the practice of good ethics in spirituality, one’s vibration will gradually increase, and high morality will become a natural result of a Lighter Being.

There are more taboos to write on this topic, but the post would become too long. For now, if you are able to adhere to these instructions, should you decide to embrace your spirituality in any practical way (if only lighting a candle), then this should be helpful along your journey.

I love you all,

Obara Meji

A child lacks wisdom, and some say that what is important is that the child does not die; what kills more surely than lack of wisdom?

Yoruba Quote