I spent all last night beading. I am beading a set for someone I am about to initiate. I love to make my own Elekes for my godchildren and feel that there is a lot of worth in a set of Elekes that you have made with love and passion. This does not mean that they still don’t go through a spiritual process. Each set of Elekes have to go through a process before they are received. An Ide and Eleke for a new initiate also goes through a process before being bestowed on the new initiate. Not everyone enjoys beading and it is an option to buy Elekes from a Botanica, but if you have not been initiated then shopping for Elekes is not something that you should be doing.
I was made aware today that people who maybe following the tradition are not clear about who wears what and why. Looking through questions that people have googled and and found their way to my page include today as I write this: “ I have just bought myself an Oshun bracelet, which wrist should I wear it on?” !!!! My answer to this question is, if you were meant to be wearing a bracelet for Oshun, you would not need to ask this question. IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN INITIATED STOP APPROPRIATING.
Here is a breakdown:
- Elekes. Four or five Necklaces given by Olorishas in a ceremony. The four pillars and sometimes Elegua are given in a ceremony when it is divined for someone to receive them. Some houses don’t give Elekes and will only do so on full initiation.
- Eleke and Ide of Orula. This is given when you receive your hand of Orula from a Babalawo.
- IDE, large multi stranded bracelets worn by initiates who have gone through the ceremony of KARIOCHA only will be wearing these.
- EXCEPTIONS: sometimes a single Eleke may be asked for during a reading for the protection of the person coming for the divination.
- Large double stranded Elekes. Worn by initiates who are crowned. New fashion in Cuba is to receive these on initiation.
Horrible Inventos. At the moment in Cuba. Newly crowned individuals in some houses are now wearing double stranded Elekes of both their mother and father in Ocha. They are also wearing two Ides. One symbolising their crown and the other symbolising the corresponding mother or father Orisha. This is not necessary and this is relatively new.
My aim is to keep to tradition. There are reasons for everything within this tradition and it is a hierarchical tradition where there are clues to people’s status via what they wear. This is so across the board in any given African tradition whether in Africa, or in the Diaspora.
oshunschild's Blog: Simply my thoughts and feelings about being an Iyalocha in London 
i thank you for the insight especially the exception , worn for protection.
Hello,
I’m new to the religion and I feel like I’m being torn about whether I want to continue with the religion due to an altercation of greedy misleading godparents… to make a long story short, received elekes and not too long after I reached a point where I got clarity and realization that I was being taken advantage of and decided to leave my god parents home. My question is… is it possible to receive elekes twice? Due to my first set of elekes not being fed or properly blessed?
It would be great if you could write to me personally. I have no idea whether or not your ceremony was not legitimate. It is possible that it was, in which case, you cannot receive Elekes twice. I cannot respond here, because of the nature of the question. I would say that people are people, and that there are some charlatans out there, however if you feel called to the religion, then your negative experience should not dissuade you on your journey. I would say, please feel free to write to me to elaborate on your experience so that I may come to some conclusion regarding whether you have received Elekes or not.
Same here ! I received my beads but my God parent not really guiding me and I’m just studying on ny own trying to understand my beads how do I fed them ? Or Bless them? I try to keep them clean and I hang them.
Only an initiated Olorisha can feed them. They should have been fed and washed ( in freshly prepared Osier) when you received them during your ceremony. Post leek ceremony, you don’t need to do anything to them. Keep them in a white cloth when you don’t use them and put them on in the order that your godparent instructed you when you received them. Hope this helps.
I went through a ceremony with a babalao and given orisha beads and lost them. To later find out that he tricked my sister into signing financial obligations.
. A Santero told me to discard my oshun,ogun, elegua stone and everything else. That my ceremony was not done correct. I received eleke beads from him not green and yellow as I received before. But white and red/black. Now. I’m told I have to do another ceremony to receive orula again. But shouldn’t I have received Orula first before obatala and elegua?
I don’t understand. Do you mean Osun not Oshun? You received Obatala? I am not sure you are working with authentic and verified priests. Please take a while to learn a little bit about the religion before making any more commitments. Get to know people and do not hurry into anything.
I’m trying to learn more about t h e r we religion and appreciate your devotion to teaching. Thank you for taking the time to respond back to me. I wish there were more priest like you with the passion to teach and for people to truly understand the religion before any ceremony. For ne, they always tell me that the orishas have told them for me to be blessed. So, I get blessed.
There are good people out there, just take your time and don’t rush anything.
Hey i need my elekes blessed
What do you mean?
Hey I’m looking for a godparent to perform the ceremony and bless me with elekes beads are you able to help on my journey I’m new to this I feel like I have evil energy around me & I won’t to get rid off it can you please contact me back
I’m afraid I’m not taking on new Godchildren at the moment and I only give Elekes to those that have built up a genuine relationship with me and if and only if divination permits. There is a process where I always ask my tutelary Orisha for blessings to guide someone, it’s not my decision, it’s Oshun’s and I only ask Oshun after I have built up a relationship with a potential godchild. Posting the answer so that others can also understand the process. I wish you all the best on your journey.
i have a question. I did a reading and i got osun. I got my eleke blessed as in fed. But idk ever since she put it on for protection it feels hot and heavy and idk started getting itch and sore body is that bad??