Ifa: The Spiritual Tradition of Orisa and Ancestor Worship
Ancestor and Orisa Worship: Perspective: Part VI
May 2018
Homage To The One Who Sends and to those who are sent! Homage to Orisa and Egun!
Ifokanbale Omo Orisa! Peace of Mind from Olodumare Children of Orisa!
Ire ati Ayo!
Good Tidings and Joyfulness!
I honor your gods, I drink from your wells, I bring an undefended heart to our meeting place. I have no cherished outcomes, I will not negotiate by withholding, and I am not subject to disappointment. I am here! And They are all here with me! Ase! Ase! Ase!
Lord of my Ancestors, I have no knowledge except that which is given to me through inspiration, that which is sent to me by way of an angel, and that which I am blessed to acquire by way of some discipline. I thank you for guiding my words, my thoughts, and my actions so that all that I say and do may serve to point the seekers in the right direction. Ase! Ase! Ase!
Isopo is a Yoruba term that means ‘connectivity’ – the state or extent of being connected or interconnected. Things that are connected have access to and the possibility of communication with each other. Things that are connected are linked or related to each other. Things that are in a state of Isopo feel an affinity (a spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something) with each other. We should always stop and think about the things we believe, why we believe them, and how we understand or perceive the things we believe.
The Eurocentric Worldview, rooted in the Newtonian scientific perspective, would have us believe that the world, this reality, is a machine-like thing composed of separate parts or components. But, our Ancestors developed a worldview that sustained them for thousands of years before the Western Worldview was even conceived. Our Ancestors understood the world to be a single, living organism, no part or aspect truly separate from another. Where the Eurocentric Worldview pursued understanding by analyzing and labeling component parts of the world as separate things, the Indigenous Worldview of our Ancestors sought to understand all aspects of the world as interrelated, interdependent, and interconnected elements of a single essence, a single entity. At the center of the Indigenous Worldview is the notion of Isopo.
In the beginning there was nothing but the Ase, the Realm of Infinite Possibility, and the Ase became self-aware. This Sentient Energetic Essence (SEE) recognized itself as the Realm of Infinite Possibility and determined to experience the fullness of its potential. That determined idea ignited the creative impulse and set into motion the phenomena of the entire cosmic reality. This perspective gives rise to certain questions. Did the SEE, Sentient Energetic Essence subdivide itself into various parts in order to manifest creation? To me, that assumption is not reasonable. To divide means to separate or be separated into parts, or to form a boundary between two or more things. If the goal of the SEE and the purpose of creation were for the SEE to experience the fullness of the Realm of Infinite Possibility, the fullness of its own potential, then separation would be contrary to that purpose. There is however another perspective that we can take. That is, that the SEE decided to express itself in a multiplicity of forms, thereby maintaining its essential unity while at the same time creating the possibility of having a multiplicity of experiences.
Now, in the Ifa Spiritual Tradition of Orisa and Ancestor Worship, we call the Energetic Essence the Ase, and we call the Sentient Energetic Essence Olodumare. These two perspectives, the subdividing of the SEE versus the expressing of the SEE through a multiplicity of forms lead to very different ways of being in the world and interacting with all of its forms. In a world where everything is separate there is the inevitability of competition, hierarchy, and conflict. In a world where everything is one thing, where everything is the SEE expressing and experiencing itself through a multiplicity of forms, there is the inevitability of a familial attitude towards everything, a sense of unity, mutual acceptance, harmony, and grace.
Are the material elements, the forces of nature, the manifestations of the vegetal realm, the manifestations of the animal and human realms separate, independent things, or are they all expressions of the same thing? The chosen perspective leads to very different paths and ways of being. If they are truly separate things, and separate from us, then any attempt to influence them must be by external, physical, mechanical means. However, if everything is really and truly one thing, then we are all connected, everything is connected on an energetic level and therefore everything is influencing and being influenced by everything else all the time, in both seen and unseen ways, through material and immaterial channels.
This later view is the perspective of our ancient indigenous Ancestors and the worldview of Ifa. The Ase, Olodumare, Olofi-dumare, Ori, Egun, Orisa, Imoles, the cosmos with its planets, galaxies, stars, the plants, the trees, the insects and animals, the rivers and oceans, the mountains and stones, the elements of earth, air, fire, water, metal, and wood, these are not all separate things, but expressions of the SEE seeking to experience the fullness of its potential.
What this means is that we each have the ability to influence any and every aspect of the creation through spiritual, metaphysical, unseen means! What it means is that we each are in every moment influencing the world that we experience. It means that the SEE, God by any name, is present in everything, and yes, present in each of us. When the Ase became self-aware, its first utterance was ‘I AM’. This is one of the shared, unifying experiences of everything. Everything is an expression of the SEE and therefore shares its consciousness, its awareness to some degree. The first sense of everything is the first utterance of Olodumare, ‘I AM’ (Emi ni).
At first, in our earliest understanding of the Ifa Spiritual Tradition of Orisa and Ancestor Worship we naturally tend to think of Olodumare and the Orisa as entities that are separate from us, and that exist outside of ourselves. But the real empowerment potential of the Ifa Tradition comes when we begin to understand our world from the perspective of Isopo, and realize that Olodumare is expressing itself through each of us and that the Orisa are Sentient Energetic Entities that dwell within us and respond to our own consciousness, awareness, and thoughts.
I hope you will reflect on this message and share your thoughts and questions with me for our future Posts on this topic.
To be continued:
Aajiirebi! May the Unblemished Cloth of Orunmila Continue to cloth us with the Wisdom Of the Here and the Hereafter!
Ase! Ase! Ase!
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Ki Olodumare, Orisa, ati Egun fifun e ni Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!
My Olodumare, Orisa, and Ancestors bestow on you Guidance, Wisdom, and Abundant Blessings!
