Baba Adelekan’s
nephew is the second in line under the High Priest of Yoruba. So
the nephew shows deference to Baba as his senior relative;
and Baba shows deference to him as his senior in the Spiritual Order
of Ifa. The nephew did a prayer and libation for me. Other members
of
the family were present, each going before Baba and his nephew for
consultation and blessings. According to Baba Adelekan communication
with Orisa Orunmila
(the Prophet of Ifa Divination) who speaks to Baba directly, I am Omo
Obatala (a child of Obatala). I was originally read by my first Yoruba
teacher as Omo Ogun (child of Ogun, the Orisa of metal and civilization).
Now, being read here in Ile-Ife as an Omo Obatala I can finally better
understand some aspects of my personality and character. It is not
uncommon
to have more than one Orisa over ones head, but one will usually dominate.
It is Obatala who dominates over my Ori. The experience at the High
Temple of Obatala and Yemoo (the Orisa progenitor of Obatala energy)
was almost dreamlike. To actually be here, in Africa, in Ile-Ife,
in
the House of Obatala, sitting and dancing to the sound of the bata
drum (sacred drum of Ifa and the Orisa Shango) with the indigenous
people
of the area, in the home of my Ancestors.
The Congress Organizing Committee held its business meeting this afternoon
and announced that the Cuban government has approved Cuba as the site
for the 8th World Congress on Orisa Tradition and Culture in 2003.
The
Congress has been previously held in Brazil, 1983 and 1989, the United
States, 1997, and Trinidad and Tobago in 1999. The Committee Chair,
Professor Abimbola made an appeal for financial support for the continued
efforts of the Congress. There are many questions to be asked about
the true history and current conditions in Nigeria and its sacred Cities,
Ile-Ife, Osogbo, Oyo, Koso, and others. This was not like China or
Southeast
Asia. In those places there was poverty, but there were also signs
of development, indications of a light at the end of the tunnel. But
here,
in Nigeria, the Yoruba people seem locked in a matrix of economic,
political, and mental oppression unlike anything else I’ve seen.
With economic exploitation on one side, political corruption on another,
and religious
manipulation on still another, I witnessed a condition of stagnation
too uniform and unrelenting to be without explanation and design. Land
so fertile that virtually anything will grow, space so vast that a
neighbor
could be hard to find, and resources so abundant that most of the African
Continent could live comfortably from its breasts. Yet, a stagnation
so profound that its weight tilts the entire world.
Indigenous people came from as far as 300 miles away in hopes of selling
some of their goods to the Conference attendees. The arts and crafts
were beautiful. I’ll have to go back just to do some shopping
at some point. But this journey was not about shopping or arts and
crafts.
It was about spiritual healing and sociological insight; about history
and tradition, about human forces and spiritual forces, and about the
Root of Human Civilization, the place where land was first formed,
and
the Mysteries of Orisa. What this multi-faceted oppression has done
in the Birthplace of Human Spirituality is to drive the traditions
underground
for most of the population. Although the declared Orisa worshipers
in Nigeria represent less that 15% of the population, even the dominant
Christian and Muslim populations still adhere to some of the practices
and taboos of Ifa. The family shared with me how the Christian preachers
will sneak to see the Babalawos at night, to benefit from their knowledge
and powers (juju), and then mount the pulpit in the day and preach
to
the congregation that Ifa is the work of the devil and they must avoid
it at all cost. Of course this is all understandable after reading
the Jules
Renkin speech I mentioned earlier, and the Willie Lynch Speech
of 1712 that has been circulated in the U.S.
