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!
Alafia Omo Orisa!
Ire ati Ayo!
Good Tidings and Joyfulness!
Continuing from my last Post:
(9) You must never initiate harm to another human being!
This applies not only to physical harm but also emotional, social, financial, or any other form of hardship. DO NO HARM! And, this not only applies to actions that you might take through physical agency but also to actions you might take through spiritual and metaphysical pathways. This means you should not wish, pray for, conjure, or will any form of harm to be visited upon another person. It is better to wish, pray for, conjure, or will that our ‘enemy’ or ‘tormenter’ have a revelation of consciousness or a change of heart rather than to wish harm upon them. Let Olodumare and Orisa be the judges of whether harm is the only way to deal with a soul in violation of righteous behavior. Trust that Orisa will protect their own!
It is difficult for some of us to believe or conceive of the mysteries that our Ancestors brought from behind the veil. The religious world has casted a dark shadow over many of the practices of our Ancestors and much has been loss because of our experiences in contact with the western world. Many of us have forgotten that we have the power to affect the world - for better or worse - through powerful spiritual methodologies.
(10) You must never harm the universe of which you are part!
Clearly the world has lost sight of this ancient wisdom. Ifa reminds us through the parables of the Sacred Corpus that humans are part of the fabric of ONE creation. The Western Cornucopia Worldview sees humans as a species apart and the earth, and other living things as being here to serve our selfish purposes. Ifa tells us that if we persist in that thinking we are bound to destroy ourselves and suffer greater and greater hardships on the road to that eventual destruction. This should be evident from the events taking place in the world today. Humans have offended the domains of the Orisa and the Orisa are today acting according to the Laws of Reciprocity, and Cause and Effect. Ifa reflects an ecological philosophy of thought.
(11) Your Temporal and Spiritual capacities must work together!
We are designed with two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and a mouth that serves two purposes – taking in and putting out. Likewise our hands, feet, eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth can serve two masters – our physical Ori and our Spiritual Ori. Remember the Ifa saying – Ori inu we maba tode je! May our Spiritual Ori not be in conflict with our physical Ori! Of course serving two masters can always create opportunities for conflict – in this case, inner dissonance, confusion, bad health, and poor relationships. The solution is to avoid the dissonance or resolve it in favor of your Spiritual Ori. When you are in doubt, when you feel dissonance seek an answer from your Spiritual Ori by consulting Ifa. Ifa presents you with the choices, options that will lead you to success and leaves it to you to bring your physical Ori in line with your Spiritual Ori – the Carrier of Your Destiny!
(12) You are born with a specific path. It is your goal to travel it. Divination provides your road map!
You were not commanded or forced to come into the world. You chose to come in order to share in the wondrous experience of co-creation. You came to fulfill the longings of your own heart and in the process you are a vehicle for Olorun to explore the Realm of Infinite Possibility. You and I are, in fact, Source Energy experiencing our ability to create a multiplicity of realities within the Realm of Infinite Possibility. The mystery for us is that most of us have, through the birthing process, forgotten that we are One with Source, and cannot be separated from It. When Ifa says that ‘Your Ori is your God!’ it is pointing you in the direction of this remembrance. Your Spiritual Ori is your Divine Share of the Universal Divine Consciousness, the Sentience of the Ase, your Divine Share of the Infinite Power of Olodumare! You are an eda Olorun (creature of God), an omo Olorun (child of God), an iranse Olorun (servant of God), in fact, a god in human form.
Discovering your Orisa, being initiated, gathering items of Ifa from your rituals, ceremonies, and those that just come to you, calling on your Ori, and listening with certainty for its response, all of these are part of your Path. Your journey to fulfill your Destiny will also involve interacting with other people in the complex area of L’oja (the marketplace). The L’oja is full of noise, distractions, temptations, challenges, and obstacles. The L’oja is where the Eniyan (witches) work to destroy humans and their works by throwing confusion in our Path. Ifa Divination provides us with a way of escaping confusion by getting clear answers to our problems and pointing us in the direction of our True Identity.
(13) Our Ancestors exist and must be honored!
Each of us is part of a long chain of souls who have come into this world, lived, and died leaving behind their genetic legacy. We return to this world (by choice) through our lineage and from that perspective it is possible for you to give birth to a child who is the return of your Great-Great-Great Grandfather or Grandmother. It is by keeping the memory of our Ancestors alive in oral and written tradition that we are able to recognize them when they return. Death does not end the life of a soul or limit the capacity of the soul to feel its own connection to the ongoing legacy of the lineage. Among the forces recognized in the Ifa Tradition, the Egun (Ancestors) are always considered to be a positive force in our lives, always working to our benefit. We can choose to honor their legacy, continue its development, and to pass it on to our descendants, or we can choose to break the chain of wisdom that lies waiting to be accessed in every cell of our body temples. One of our greatest powers in this reality is our Power to Choose, to Choose to See (ori – sha, to choose to see).
(14) Sacrifice guarantees success!
In a sense, Ifa is a give and take belief system. Most of the Ese Ifa (verses of the Ifa Corpus – Sacred Odus) carry an underlying theme – Sacrifice is necessary to avoid difficulties, solve problems, achieve success, and to fulfill ones chosen destiny. The particular offerings that must be made may vary, the client for whom Ifa has been read may choose to follow the advice of Ifa or not, but sacrifice is always advised. If you understand the Ifa History of the Beginning that I’ve spoken about in previous Posts, and if you understand the significance of Ase (Primordial Energy, Spiritual Energy and Power) then you can understand that sacrifice is how we can move the Ase and alter the configuration of the Universe. That process is accomplished by making a kind of contract with the Orisa who hold the fabric of creation together. If your Ori permits it, and if Eshu clears the way, you will give the Orisa something, and they will assist you in accomplishing that which you are seeking.
Consider the Ifa saying – Riru ebo ni i gbe ni. Airu ki igbe eyan! It is the offerings of sacrifice that brings blessings. Neglect of sacrifice blesses no one! Nothing in the Universe of Creation is isolated from anything else. Everything is connected! When you ask for some aspect of your life to change, no matter how large or how small, the entire Universe of Creation will be reconfigured to accommodate your desired reality. Consider that when you eat something, your entire body is changed because every cell in your body is connected to every other cell, so whatever changes in your stomach changes your entire anatomical and physiological universe. So it is with the greater cosmos. Remember, whenever we change a thing, we change more than what is intended!
(15) The Orisa live within us!
Remember Truth 8 – You are part of the universe in a literal, not figurative, way. Yes! The universe has an existence that we can experience as out-there, and that existence has validity in your and my journey in the L’oja. But, there is also a universe in us that is both an extension and a reflection of that outer universe. So it is with the Orisa! The Orisa are part of the sentient matrix of entities that Olodumare called into existence in order to orchestrate and sustain the creation process. They are aspects of The Unity, The One, The Eternal, The Source. Those sentient energy matrices also exist within each of us and we choose to heighten our sensitivity and connection to one (or more) of those Orisa at the time that we choose to come into the world (again), and further once we arrive.
(16) You need have no fear!
Trusting in the Unseen can be difficult even for those of us who are sincere believers. Trusting in Ifa in the face of fear is the way to eventually overcome your fears and strengthen your faith in the Unseen. Remember the story about The Thief that I shared in the Library. Certainly the man who Ifa told to go out and steal like his father before him was filled with fear about following Ifa’s guidance. But he faced his fear with the support of his wife, and learned from his experience that Ifa does not lie and Orisa never break their promises! The way is not always straight but you need have no fear!
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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!
