This is the first time in history that the Emese has had to explain itself or be explained to the uninitiated. In describing the Emese I chose the words Caretakers, Guardians, and Repository to reflect the importance of the Emese to the Ifa Tradition and to the spiritual wisdom born at the dawn of human consciousness. Each word conveys a specific responsibility of the Emese and supports their position as the Final Authority on Ifa.
Generally speaking a Caretaker is a person employed to look after a public building or a house in the owner's absence. From the perspective of Ifa, humans are not the true owners of the earth. The Orisas are the Owners of the Earth and the Controllers of the Forces that sustain earth's existence. It was the Orisas who first inhabited the earth and humans were created later and allowed to dwell upon the earth with the Orisas. In time the Orisas returned to Orun (Heaven). Hence, the Emese are those who have been charged with the responsibility of caring for the property of The Owners in their absences.
A Guardian is a defendor, protector, or keeper of something that is valued. The Guardian is the person or group that looks after and is legally responsible for someone or something. The Emese are the preservers, the custodians, the stewards, trustees, and conservators of the Ifa Corpus and the Ifa Tradition of Orisa and Ancestor Worship. As The Guardians, the Emese have been charged with the responsibility of keeping the Sacred Shrines, Groves, Rivers, and Icons, and the Ifa Corpus sacrosanct, sacred, inviolate, respected, and safe from contamination or distortion.
A Repository is a place, building, or receptacle where things are or may be stored. It is a place where something, especially a natural resource, has accumulated or where it is found in signicant quantities. A Repository is also a person or group regarded as a store of information or in which something abstract is held to exist or be found. For thousands, and tens of thousands of years up until this very day, the lineage of the Emese have kept the wisdom of the ages, the wisdom of the Ancestors alive in the oral tradition. And now, for the first time they are coming forward to share that wisdom through this new world of Cyberspace.
