Afolabí, Oni Yemoja ati Shango
(also: Shloma Menachem Mendel Rosenberg)
August 15th, 1968 - November 8th, 2009
Ordained November 9th, 1989 in Kendal, Florida by Sandra Leon, Omidára [Oni Yemojá Ogúnte/Aganjú] with Ojigbóna Amparo (Ampe) Cueto, Obaletí, [Olo Obatalá Ajáguna ati Nanúme]
LIKES:
- Shrimp fried rice
- Chocolate
- Wizard of Oz
Afolabi, ibae, and Iyalorisha Tita Sardinia
Memories and notes from those who knew Clay
Willie Ramos:
Afolabí’s passing is a great loss to many, and especially to the Orisha communities Online, as Afolabí was one of the pioneers of the many Orisha discussion board. He was a path maker in many ways. Afolabí was also responsible for the introduction of Lukumi religion to his community in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, where he ordained over 20 people to the religion. This community continues to grow and prosper to this very day. This was a man with great potential and even greater charisma. I had high hopes of making him the first American oriaté, but destiny had other plans.
comment found here archive link
Pedro Bonetti:
My nephew, Clay had charisma and PRESENCE. He filled a room. When he was “on” you could see the enlightenment. and he had a wicked sense of humor at least with me in the olden days of communicating via phone and AOL.
David N. Smith:
Clay was always an interesting character. The first that I met him was at a public Samhein event in 1993. In high drag. The story goes that he wore some drag at a previous event and someone made the mistake of trying to shame him on it. Whoops!!! He never attended another pagan event without being in full on drag. That is who Clay was. He did things his own damn way and to hell with anyone in his way. He was the first one to throw shells for me, the first teacher through classes he did at Main Street Chiro, and he was the one to mark my head, back when we did that a little too freely. I am grateful to his part in starting my long journey to where I am today and grateful that he brought the Orisha to our community.
Archived Website Links
Clay also maintained a website, where he was curating information regarding the religion.
Let it be noted that we offer these links as a matter of historical, archival knowledge from his perspective and experiences. The links provided here are “frozen” in time, as a way to view his website in an unfiltered way. The content within this website may have typographical, historical, or other errors - and also note that it may be missing important pieces of data. Again, this is for archival purposes only.
Archived link with notes in his words of his Ile Family Tree