What I Wish Every Beginner Understood Before Beginning Their Ifá Practice

Every spiritual tradition has its list of common mistakes. If you’ve spent any time researching Ifá online, you’ve probably already seen them. Don’t skip the ebo. Don’t disrespect your elders. Don’t play with what you don’t understand. Those things are true, and they matter, but they’re also the version of this conversation that everybody’s already heard.

This post isn’t that.

I want to talk about the mistakes I watch individuals make again and again. The ones that don’t show up on the beginner checklists because they require actually working with the practice long enough to witness these common beginner errors.

These aren’t usually mistakes born from disrespect or bad intentions. Most of the people who make them seek to develop a genuine connection to the tradition.

But good intentions don’t stop you from experiencing adverse consequences. Sadly, I’ve seen too many people get spiritually confused, financially taken advantage of, or disconnected from the very tradition they were trying to honor. That’s because nobody explained these things to them clearly or early enough.

So this is me explaining them. Not to call anyone out, but to call people in, because I’d rather you inner-stand this before it costs you later.

Let’s get into it.

Relying Too Heavily on the Internet and AI for Research

This is one of the biggest ones I see, and it’s only gotten worse as AI has become the default place individuals turn to for answers. Before you even get to AI, the internet itself is already a maze when it comes to Ifá.

You’ll land on pages from Isese practitioners, then click over to a page rooted in Lucumi, then another grounded in Santería. And each one presents the tradition differently because they come from different lineages with different practices and different ways of doing things.

In many instances, the information from them is accurate. But if you don’t already understand that these differences exist, you’ll walk away thinking the tradition contradicts itself. Instead of realizing that you’re just reading content from four distinct houses with varying approaches.

Now add AI into that mix, and the confusion multiplies. AI pulls from a wide range of sources without understanding which ones are legitimate and which aren’t. And it has a real tendency to blend information together in ways that create inaccurate and misleading information.

I’ve had people bring me information they got from AI research, fully convinced it was accurate, and it wasn’t just slightly off. It described practices and concepts that simply aren’t part of Ifá. The problem is they had no way of knowing that, because they didn’t have enough foundation yet to recognize the difference.

This is how people end up carrying false beliefs into their practice, misrepresenting the tradition to others, or making decisions based on the wrong information. And once you lock into the incorrect information, it can take a long time to unlearn it.

I’m not telling you to avoid the internet or AI entirely. Research is part of how most of us start out, myself included. But research should be the beginning of your understanding, not the foundation of it. Use it to get basic ideas and to establish a foundation for study. But don’t use it as your only teacher.

If you want a more well-rounded foundation, here’s where I’d point you instead:

• Read books written by reputable, verified practitioners with real lineage behind their work

• Follow accounts and channels run by individuals who can show where their knowledge comes from

• Invest in real coaching or mentorship with a practitioner who can actually answer your questions directly

That last point matters, and we’ll come back to it later in this post. Because there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about seeking guidance from a practitioner.

Questioning Experienced Practitioners Based on Outside Information

This one connects directly to what we just talked about. Some people gather information from the internet, AI, and other people. Then they bring that information into conversations with experienced practitioners, ready to challenge or debate what that practitioner is telling them.

They don’t understand that Ifá is a familial tradition. Information is passed down from house to house, and even from lineage to lineage. What one lineage teaches and how it teaches it can differ significantly from another, even when both are legitimate.

The real issue isn’t that individuals are asking questions. Questions are welcome. The issue is when someone locks into information they already have and refuses to remain open to other information. This happens even when the information they received was accurate. It just came from a different house, a different lineage, a different way of teaching the same truth.

When you come into a conversation ready to argue, you close the door on deep inner-standing. A practitioner with years of experience isn’t trying to invalidate what you’ve learned. They’re trying to help you see the fuller picture, one that includes the nuance and lineage-specific context you may not have access to yet. Staying open to that, even when it challenges what you thought you knew, is part of how you grow in the tradition.

Prioritizing Price Over Fit

This one is common, and I understand why. Ifá services can be expensive, and for many people, budget is a real factor. I’m not telling you to ignore pricing altogether. I’m telling you it shouldn’t be the deciding factor. Finding a practitioner who actually fits you, your needs, and your path matters more than finding the cheapest option available.

I’ve seen individuals go with whoever quotes the lowest price, only to end up with unresolved issues because the work wasn’t done properly. They eventually seek out a different practitioner, pay more, and finally get the results they were looking for. The lower price didn’t save them money. It cost them time, and in some cases, it cost them more money in the long run.

On the other end, some people assume a higher price automatically means better quality, which isn’t true either. Cost alone doesn’t tell you whether a practitioner is legitimate or whether they’re the right fit for you.

I’ll also say this. Some practitioners, myself included, won’t hand out a blanket price list to just anybody who asks. That’s intentional. Certain services, especially high-level ones like initiation, require an existing relationship first.

That relationship is how both sides determine if working together makes sense. It’s not about gatekeeping. It’s about making sure the fit is right before diving into a connection that requires real trust on both ends.

When you’re searching for a practitioner, keep price in mind, but don’t let it lead the decision. Instead, focus on the right fit first.

Getting Spiritual Work From Multiple Practitioners

This one causes real problems, and most individuals don’t realize it until they’re already in the middle of it. Going to more than one practitioner for readings, ritual work, or spiritual medicine can create confusion. But it goes beyond confusion. It can actually cause spiritual problems.

Think of it like seeing two different medical doctors who aren’t communicating with each other. One prescribes a treatment. The other prescribes another type of treatment that may contraindicate the first. Neither doctor knows what the other one did. Your body ends up caught between two approaches that don’t work together, and now you’re dealing with unnecessary side effects.

Spiritual work operates the same way. One practitioner may prescribe a specific remedy based on their diagnosis. Another practitioner may prescribe something that directly conflicts with the first practitioner’s prescription. Now you’ve got two different spiritual instructions running against each other, and you’re the one caught in the middle dealing with the fallout.

This isn’t about loyalty for loyalty’s sake. It’s about consistency and safety. Your path needs one clear source guiding the work. If you’re dealing with someone and it’s not working, address that directly. Have the conversation. Don’t add another practitioner into the mix without telling either one what’s going on.

There’s another layer to this too. When you’re seeking services from multiple practitioners in the same time span, you lose the ability to actually track what’s working. If an area of your life starts improving, you don’t know which practitioner’s work is responsible for it.

Conversely, if something goes wrong, you don’t know which work caused it either. You end up with no clear picture of what’s helping you and what’s harming you. This makes it nearly impossible to move forward with sound guidance.

Seeking Mentorship in DMs and Comment Sections

This is the one that sits closest to my chest, so let me start with how it actually harms you.

When you scatter high-level questions across DMs, comment sections, email, and random practitioners, you don’t create a solid foundation with any one person. You get fragments. A partial answer here, a different partial answer there, none of it connected, none of it helping you to fully understand.

You end up with more confusion, not more knowledge. And because these answers come without a real relationship or context, you have no way of knowing if what you received actually applies to your path.

Now here’s the other side of it. This approach is disrespectful to the practitioner, even when that’s not your intent. A practitioner’s knowledge came from years of study and experience. It wasn’t handed to them for free, and it shouldn’t be expected from them for free either, especially when the question is complex or personal.

Practitioners are busy. They don’t have the bandwidth to sit down and answer high-level questions from everyone who slides into their DMs or drops a question in the comments.

Think about how this works in any other profession. You wouldn’t expect a doctor or a lawyer to provide a full consultation via DM. You wouldn’t walk up to them at an event and expect a real answer to a complex personal question, free of charge, on the spot.

Spiritual work deserves that same respect. When the question is complex or high-level, that’s not casual conversation anymore. That’s consultation, and consultation requires compensation.

If you have deep-level questions about your path, the proper step is to connect directly with a mentor. Establish a relationship. Respect their time.

And when the conversation moves into personal or complex territory, be prepared to compensate them for it. That’s not gatekeeping. That’s honoring the tradition and the person who’s guiding you through it.

This also applies to repetitive questions, even ones that aren’t necessarily high-level or personal. If a practitioner has already covered a topic on their website, in a video, or across their social media, take the time to look for it there first.

A practitioner isn’t a personal concierge whose job is pointing you back to information they’ve already shared publicly. Do the work to see what’s already been made available before asking them to repeat it for you individually. Respecting someone’s time means doing your own research first, not treating them as your first and only source for everything you want to know.

There's a real cost to ignoring this too. When you approach a practitioner without respecting their time or the proper channels, you risk alienating the very person trying to help you.

Practitioners notice when someone consistently disregards their boundaries, which can close a door that was genuinely open and helpful to you. You could end up losing access to a connection that may have significantly served you throughout your journey, one you can't easily rebuild once the trust is gone.

Resources to Support Your Journey

If you’re looking for a grounded place to start or continue your Ifá journey, here are a few resources I offer through Asanee 44.

• Asanee 44 Blog: Articles on Ifá fundamentals, ancestral veneration, and navigating the tradition as a diaspora seeker.

• Asanee 44 Àṣẹ Academy Channel: Video discussions, interviews, and reflections on Ifá, African traditions, and the diaspora experience.

• African Spirituality for Beginners: My book for individuals reconnecting with traditional African wisdom for the first time.

• Ifá Divination Sessions: Available to seekers worldwide, backed by real lineage and training.