Alafia! Peace!
Ase! Ase! Ase!

The Sixteenth Truth of Ifa: You Need Have No Fear!

September 2020

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!

Thank you for visiting our website and for reading our blog! We pray you find some of what you are seeking to remember.

Announcement: Starting October 2020 you can follow our Video Blogs on YouTube. (see link below)

Trusting in the Unseen can be difficult even for those of us who are sincere believers, especially in desperate and calamitous circumstances. But it is perhaps in these most grave and dreadful situations that trusting can bring about the greatest benefit and reward. 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 trusting and 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 breaks their promises!

Ifa kii puro, Ifa kii seke; Ohun tiyoo sele nifa nwi!
Ifa does not lie, Ifa does not back bite; Ifa simply says what will happen!

Ifa kii puro Opele kii seke!
Ifa does not lie, Opele does not mislead! (Opele is the chain the Babalawo uses for divination.)

Your path in life and the way laid out by Ifa is not always straight, but you need have no fear!

What is Fear? What is the nature of Fear?
Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat, or loss. Hence, many people are wearing masks and other protective equipment today because they fear getting sick, being permanently harmed, or even dying from the Covid-19 virus.

Fear is a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety and wellbeing of someone. Hence, many teachers and parents around the country and world are experiencing fear of going back into the classroom with so many unanswered questions about their safety and that of their students.

Fear is a biological process that triggers a set of neurological, biochemical, and physiological changes in the body while, at the same time sending and receiving signals and impulses from the mind. Fear draws much of its energy from the imagination and an innate reaction to certain things, known and unknown. But these definitions don’t explain why the chemistry of fear and its operational manifestations are expressed across many species of plants and animals. In this sense, fear is not just an emotional human behavior, but is in fact a pattern of avoidance behavior that is part of the Ase (energetic essence) of living things.

When a prey animal shows clear signs of stress and hyper-alertness as it senses the presence of a predator, fear, this pattern of avoidance behavior, serves the preys instinct to survive. Clearly, in this sense the Ase of Fear built into the design of living things serves the interest of life. When plants create illusions and camouflage with their flowers to make them look like a dangerous predator so that birds and insects will avoid it, it is expressing the Ase of Fear – meaning Fear as a phenomenon does not belong to any particular individual or even group of individuals. Fear is written into the Spiritual Laws of the L’oja. This is good! Fear is not inherently a bad thing. The Ase of Fear is critical to our survival and the perpetuation of the life process.

The type of fear exhibited by the animals and plants emerges from the relationship between past and present circumstances. The prey has ‘learned’ from experience (locked up in its genetic code) that certain other forms are predators to their kind. This is good! This kind of fear helps to bring about the ‘Good Condition’ spoken about in Odu Iwori’rosu, the 77th Odu of the Sacred Oracles of Ifa. For human beings to recognize real and impending danger, and to receive mental, physical, and emotional signals about the threat is good and vital.

But where humans are concerned, not only do we experience justifiable fear, based on the relationship between past and present circumstances, but we also experience fear based on emotion and imagination. And unlike the animals and plants whose expressions of fear are intermittent and time limited (once the ‘threat’ is over the stress response resolves and the creature goes back to homeostasis – relaxation response), human fears driven by emotion and imagination, are powerful and persistent, sometimes being chronic to the point of being debilitating. This is the kind of fear that we are speaking about when we say, Fear is: False Evidence Appearing Real. This FEAR emerges when the mind gets stuck in the remnants of past pains (real or imagined) and projects them onto the landscape of the present and future.

This kind of FEAR can destroy lives and disrupt the relationships necessary for our success in the marketplace (L’oja). Can you make all of your decisions without FEAR? Can you move forward in spite of the risk of potential loss or apparent failure – without FEAR? Is FEAR in your way, blocking your advancements? How many things have you put off or avoided doing, not because of a legitimate survival based fear, but because of FEAR emanating from your emotions and your imagination?

This last Truth of Ifa puts a crown on the Gathering of Truths.

Ifa ni ki isin!
Ifa is not a religion!

Ifa ni bawo aiye sise!
Ifa is how the universe works!

Ifa ni iwa ti aiye!
Ifa is the nature of the universe!

The Sixteen Truths of Ifa, the Sacred Corpus (Odu) of the Ifa Spiritual Tradition of Orisa and Ancestor Worship, and the Sacred Process of Ifa Divination provide us with all that we need to arrest our FEARs. Ifa helps to build our confidence and courage to confront and overcome any of the challenges and obstacles we may face on our earth walk in the L’oja. Ifa teaches us that all problems have a solution. Ifa shows us that the world, the L’oja is an energy based construct, apportionments of The Ase (the Sentient Primordial Energy of the Beginning), and that we have the ability to influence the forms that find expression in our lives because of our own words, thoughts, and actions, individually and collectively.

We need not fear because the Universe, SOURCE, Olodumare is not working against us. It is only social conditioning that is influencing our thought processes in such way that we find ourselves inhibited by FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) while others drain us of our own Ase (Spiritual Power) to use for their own personal gain and benefit, too often, to your and my detriment. The Sixteen Truths of Ifa lay out a path and a process of living that is in complete harmony with the Universal Laws of Creation and the Spiritual Laws of the L’oja.

Truth (16): You Need Have No Fear/FEAR!

Consider the Ifa parable put forth in Odu Oyekumeji:

“Oye dudu awo ori Bije li o difa f’Olofin
A niki o ru:
Aso dudu, ewure, ewe ati eso bije.
A ni iku ti o nbo yi
Ko niipaa, ko niipa omo re
Bi o ba rubo
O gbo o ru.”

Oye dudu awo ori Bije divined Ifa for Olofin.
We asked him to offer
A black cloth, a she-goat, and bije leaves and seeds.
We told him that this impending death
would not kill him, would not kill his children
if he made the offering.
He obeyed and sacrificed.

This is just one example of the thousands of Ifa parables that reassure us that we need have no fear, and that through wisdom and sacrifice, Ifa can provide us with the solution to all of our problems.

What is wisdom?
Wisdom is right words, right thoughts, and right actions. This wisdom is what enables us to bring about the Good Condition for every human being.

I hope you will reflect on this message and share your comments and questions with me for our future Posts on this and other topics.

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Karl Stone Art Collection
Another way that you can support the activities of the Ifa Community is by purchasing something from the Karl Stone Art Collection. These Art pieces make beautiful additions to your home decorations, and great gifts for special occasions. A portion of your purchase will be donated to the Isoro Traditional Council of Chiefs in Ile-Ife and a portion to Ile Awo Orisa. (View Art)

Modupe! Thank You!

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!

Special Announcement! I’ve decided to begin a series of video commentaries based on my Blog Post starting in 2016. So, this will be my last written Post for a while. Going forward, beginning in October 2020, the Links in the Blog Galleries will link to the YouTube Commentary on that Post. The first video commentary is already available on my Ile Awo Orisa YouTube Playlist. I hope you will join me and invite others to view the videos, subscribe to my channel, and click for notifications about future videos and Posts. And don’t forget, we welcome and look forward to your comments and questions.