by Lawal Sodiq Adewale

“The concept of ritual is complex and wide. Ritual is as old as the existence of human. It does not only cover the entire life activities of human but also a form of connection between humans and spirits. In this life, there are two realms; the spirit and the human. The spirit realm is said to be in absolute control of the entire world.

Hence, there must be an intercession between humans and spirits. For every human being, there is a replica – corresponding resemblance in shape at the spiritual realm. There must be inter-relationship between the two realms.

The oldest and generally accepted means of intercession between humans and spirits is RITUAL.

Whenever the word “ritual” is uttered in public, it creates tension and fear. it brings discomfort and irritates people who ignorantly engage in rituals. Catholicism features elaborate rituals with a wide variety of public and private rites, including mass, rosary recitations, processions and novenas.

A check revealed that the smoke of burning incense is interpreted by both the Western Catholic and Eastern Christian churches as “a symbol of the prayer of the faithful rising to heaven”.

A school of thought posited that five daily prayers known as ‘solat’ is a ritual. Ritual purity in Islam, an essential aspect of Islam. Khitan (circumcision), the term for male circumcision can also tagged as ritual. An Islamic cleric who holds unto a rosary and requests someone to pick one for possible prediction is engaging in ritual. ‘Ileya’ – a festive of ram killing is a ritual. Some people opined that prayer is also a form of ritual. There are many innocent rituals in our religious houses either churches, mosques or traditional centres yet we all act cold whenever the word “ritual is mentioned”.

Observation has it that a lot of people have unknowingly participated in rituals in the past while some people are still performing rituals. Recent developments which include bloodletting, disemberment of human parts and how evil people have redefined the approach of rituals by making use of human parts as sacrificial materials and for prosperity charms have made it worse and difficult to explain that innocent rituals exist.

It is very important to note that killing of human beings, collection of human blood or disemberment of human parts is not a form of ritual but it is an evil action conceived by evil thought for evil people. Eventhough there are claims that human bones can be used for rituals which can be originally traced to Cotonou but these claims have not been substantiated.

It was gathered that it is a convenant within groups of rich and blood sucking people who use it as a form of initation. Whenever new members are initiated, they work out ways for their financial freedom.

The soul you terminated, the body you killed will not boost prosperity neither would it bring good fortunes but the people who are direct beneficiaries of the soul you terminated would give you a temporal wealth. Blood-letting for ritual purpose is evil, immoral, ungodly and height of wickedness. ‘Ritual’ has now become an evil adventure that must be avoided as a result of popular incidents such as disemberment of human parts among others in recent times, media redefinition, opinions and actions of extremists including celebrities who enjoy being tagged with ‘blood-letting’.

RITUAL: The performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by tradition or by sacerdotal decree. Ritual is a specific, observable mode of behaviour exhibited by all known societies.

RITE: A prescribed form or manner governing the words or actions for a ceremony or a ceremonial act or action initiation rites.

However, ritual and rite are closely related words and there is no clear difference between the duo. The only possible difference between Rite and Ritual is ‘the Rite is an established, ceremonial, usually religious, act and Ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value’. Yet both ritual and rite indicate spiritual connection between humans and spirits.

A closer look into origin of rituals revealed that ritual is into several stages. Rituals cut across every aspect of life. People engage in rituals for protection, fame, to cure sickness, to live long and to boost their businesses. Rituals can be used to appease spirits and ancestors. There is no need to engage in ritual secretly and any ritual that involves hurting or killing of human by humans is not ritual but an evil action done by the evil ones for evil purpose. There are a lot of rituals but the most widespread is money ritual.

MONEY RITUAL

Money ritual has no straight definition but it can be defined as a practice by some people who believe wealth can be created for individuals with the use of spells, charms and sacrifices. There are a lot of misconceptions about money ritual. Beside money ritual, there are other rituals people call ‘prosperity rituals’ people have done or are doing to boost their businesses and it is called soft money ritual.

TYPES OF MONEY RITUAL

There are four different types of money ritual. They are namely, “Osole, Oso-Gbigbona, Oso-Tutu and Awure-Itaja”. There are different types of ‘Awure’ which is also known as ‘Goodluck charm’. The kind of profession you are into would determine the kind of ‘Awure’ you need to do. But all these are basically classified under two sections namely; Osole Gbigbona and Osole Tutu.

Awure is also known as safe money ritual because it does not involve the use of human parts. The concotion or approach that comes with ‘Awure’ is natural and things to be used in preparing it would be natural herbs. Herbalists and prophets who spoke with WITHIN NIGERIA disclosed that Awure is a safe ritual and it has no repercussion because it is a gradual process but there is always repercussion for any money ritual that involves removing of human eyes or parts.

Money ritual cuts across all religions. There is no religion that does not have its own approach or way of performing money ritual. Eventhough some scholars across religions have condemned it and described priests who engage in it as ‘fake ones’ yet findings made by this reporter disclosed that the claim that only worshippers of traditional religion engage in it is false, wrong and unfair.

In advanced religions, money ritual also exist. Most churches and mosques do not use human parts. They either pray or recite some verses from bible or quran inside water or oil and ask members to drink the water or use the oil to rub their bodies. Sometimes, they ask members in their respective organisations to recite selected verses inside rice or bean grains and spray these grains in the next day. There are some situations where clerics would pray inside water for members especially traders and ask them to sprinkle the water on the ground. These and many more are cases of soft money rituals that do not involve bloodletting.

Oso-Gbigbona (Hot Money Ritual) witnessed low patronage due to fear. Truly, there was genuine money ritual then but it’s relatively low when compared to the present situation. Most people engaged in soft money rituals also known as Goodluck rituals such as Osole, Awure and the likes. They only washed their heads with local soap already mixed with herbs and used perfumes to attract successful people but the story is different now.

People hardly go for soft money rituals because they lack the patience to see its manifestation. They prefer the bloody money ritual because it happens in a jiffy but forgot that the destruction that comes with it also happens in a jiffy. Most people now use human blood to wash their heads, eat human part and use it for voodos. At worst, people in the olden days used body parts of corpse and never involved in the killing of human beings.

A check by the journalist revealed that most clerics make use of soaps, salt, perfumes and even prepare sacrifices for goodluck rituals. A larger percentage of ‘yahoo boys – a word used to describe fraudsters’ patronise religious clerics than herbalists.

When contacted, a traditional healer stated that in the olden days, ritualists use body parts of corpse that has witnessed natural death but nowadays ritualists would kill a fellow human, collect his or her blood and disember his or her body parts into pieces. Such practice is evil and should be rightly condemned by all. Most money rituals are dubious and they end up being poor because not all processes are genuine.

The traditional healer insisted that there is a difference between Osole (Goodluck Ritual) and Ogun Owo (Money Ritual) eventhough both belong to same family which is ‘money’.

‘You must be dutifully engaged in a business or work before you do Osole. Real money ritual involves the use of human parts and destruction lies ahead. ‘Osole’ is a form of ritual that comes with patience and goodluck while Ogun Owo’ is a form of ritual that comes with speed. People who have no job or business and are not brave either end up running mad or witness mass destruction of properties while alive because spirits would appear to them, the traditional healer added.

Advising people to desist from money ritual, he said killing of human beings is evil and asked people who want to support their businesses to do ‘goodluck’ charms better known as ‘Awure’.

WHY PEOPLE ENGAGE IN MONEY RITUAL?

DESPERATION

One of the major reasons why people engage in hot money ritual is desperation. People especially young ones have lost the patience to start up a business or work and engage in soft money ritual like Awure to back it up for positive gains rather they want faster ways to make money regardless of associated repercussions. Most people have abandoned soft money rituals also known as legit ones and have taken up hot ones to satisfy their material desires. Some school of thought agreed that desperation and vagrant thought of money are closely related. Most youths engage in money ritual because they want to achieve at tender age what older people have in possession with no business or work.

QUANTITY

People who engage in hot money ritual also have issues with quantity. They believe that soft money rituals can not produce the quantity of monies they need to satisfy their desires or wants, hence they engage in hot money ritual. They are the kind of people who dream big but have no work. They want to live big houses, ride flamboyant cars and enjoy every bit of second in wealth but they lack the creativity to break the chain of poverty and enjoy financial freedom.

IMPATIENCE

Another major reason why people engage in hot money ritual is impatience. A lot of young people who are into money rituals lack patience and they say patience is a virtue.

A check by the Newspaper revealed that 50 percent of people who engage in hot money rituals have done the soft money ritual but could not wait for its manifestation because they want immediate and urgent response to initimidate and molest innocent people. They engage in hot money ritual because they see it as a faster means to financial freedom which is totally wrong. It is not only sustainable but carelessly temporal too.

POVERTY

Extreme and absolute poverty are also part of reasons why people engage in money ritual. A graduate who could not get a job for 10 years and has no fund to start up a business would eat feaces or do anything to be financially free. An individual who lives in absolute poverty and could not provide three basic amenities such as food, shelter and clothings for his family would do anything to be financially free. Government needs to address unemployment which has become a menace and also strengthens institutions to make provision for start-up capital for business. This would not only reduce poverty but also reduce peoples interest in money ritual and if some people would still want to opt in for money ritual, it would be the soft one.

PEER INFLUENCE AND CELEBRITIES INACTIONS

A lot of people who engage in money ritual are possibly influenced by friends and close relatives. They do not care to investigate the source of money rather they would want to ride luxury cars, live in luxury apartment and enjoy life with women like their rich friends. A larger percentage of people especially youths who engage in money ritual are encouraged by friends and close relatives. There are situations where mothers even take their sons or daughters to clerics or herbalists to do money ritual. The careless flaunt of wealth or fake lives of celebrities have worsened situation too. Most people carelessly flaunt unexplainable wealth which has imprisoned the minds of weaker vessels who believe that there is no work they can involve in that would make them acquire so much wealth.

In all, hardwork should be acknowledged and beautifully appreciated. We must restore dignity in labour and allow people who work to live comfortably too. When workers live comfortably, it creates an impression that for every labour, there is a reasonable gain. If professionals earn and live well, they would comfortably be mentors to young ones and be practical examples that hardwork truly pays.

written by Lawal Sodiq Adewale

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