The Priest Team

Our Mission

To reconnect people with their ancestral authentic selves. This is done by calling upon a mixture of practices and concepts from the South Afrikan Zulu (1st ancestor practices and also part of Kwanza's base), Congo Mayombe practices, West Afrikan Egun practices, Voodoo, Native American shamanism, and Kemetic ancestral concepts and practices.

This mission is open to diasporic practitioners beyond Egungun — Voodoo, Mayombe, Akan, etc. — because the commonality and unifying nature of ancestral upliftment is the protection, healing, and development of the human soul and spirit from birth through all phases of life and death, to assist the soul in fulfilling its highest destiny and potential — individually, as a family unit spirit, and as a community collective spirit.

Motto: Traditional principle with modern application.

Malenga Shakara — Warrior Scholar

Baba Shakara holds undergraduate joint degrees in Philosophy and Information Systems from Rutgers University, a Master's degree in Information Systems from NJIT with a graduate certification in Disaster Management, and further graduate work in education administration. He holds a New Jersey professional teaching license with endorsements in Mathematics, Economics, and Social Studies.

He has been involved in martial and yogic practices since age 6, having studied various Asian, Western, and African arts including Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, Western Boxing, Fencing, Kickboxing, Capoeira, Silat, Ground & Standard Jujitsu. He is a master practitioner of the Ulimwengo, Kuimbiana Makonde, and Wkono Nikhet styles of Diasporic martial arts, attaining the title of Mtu Malanga (approximately 7th dan) in the Kupigana Ngumi family of arts.

Geru Shakara — Energy Healer

He is also an accomplished energy healer: a Mene Akhu Geru (Silent Heru), Reiki Master, Elemental Tantra instructor, and NLP Master Practitioner. These warrior and healing practices, along with Kemetic, energetic, and shamanic studies, rites, and rituals, led him to Tibetan Buddhism Ordination (ordained April 2, 1993) and initiations including the Tibetan Ra Kalachakra and the Gesar Lion King.

Baba Shakara — Initiatory Path

His first spiritual teacher was his grandfather. A major early influence was his "Black Nationalist College Crew" and Dr. Rev. Ceil Canteen Grey who promoted liberation theology. Through long involvement in African martial arts and cultural nationalism, Shakara was introduced to Orisha, Kemetic, and Kongo culture in the early 1990s. He participated in Kemetic and Orisha culture through the 90s in Philadelphia where he began his relationship with Iya Olakunle Oludina, who would later become his key guide and mentor.

In early 2002, Shakara began his training and initiation in orisha culture with Omdina (Desiree E. Brittingham) as his 1st godmother. In summer 2003, he broadened his Congo study to include Palo Mayombe. He continued his Orisha veneration in September 2006 under the late Chief Afolabi. He began his Ifa pre-apprenticeship under Baba Shaka Taylor in 2008, and in fall 2009 began formal study of Ifa, Orisha, and Egungun under Baba Ifakunle — being initiated as an Egungun priest in 2010 in the Egbe Oje Parapo lineage out of Ibadan, Nigeria. He later became a Fellow Centurion for the BLAC Foundation.

Shaman Shakara — Plant Medicine

After an encounter with Ghanaian shaman Dr. A. Kweku Andoh in 2003, Shakara began shamanic work with entheogens — working with iboga, a Congo herb used by the Bwiti people in religious ceremonies. He expanded to working with psilocybin and Kemetic plant medicine (blue lotus, acacia). In 2011 he was initiated in the Order of Osian — the Orisha of wild plants, healing, and magic. In 2015 he began interweaving Ayahuasca into his ancestral spiritual practice. Due to its outcomes, he promotes it as part of his Spiritual Intermediate Level Development program and facilitates seasonal sessions.

Priest of the People

Shakara found his home in the Ancestral Egungun practice. He has participated in and/or organized and performed many public and private, community and family rituals, and is known for his public ancestral feedings, regular classes and workshops, Pan African ancestral white tables, and his commitment to communal rituals like Odunde, Tribute to the Ancestors (at Coney Island NY), and Egungun masquerades. In 2012, he co-founded the Pan African Egbe with Baba Ifaniyi Akintunde and Iya Olakunle Oludina to address the lack of ancestral rites and rituals in the greater Northeast region.

Baba Shakara is a firm and supportive godfather who strives to elevate the African community via Ancient and modern African Traditional spirituality. He believes that by developing the individual and the family, the community is healed. He maintains an orientation that is both traditional and contemporary at the same time.