Mo juba awo Obatala.
Iwo ni Baba Orisha.
Iwo ni Orisha Julo Nase.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ori.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ogbogba.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Mimo.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Alafia.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ti Abo ati
Ako Ipilese.
I humble myself before the mystery of Obatala.
You are the Father of the Orisha.
You are the Most Powerful Orisha.
You are the Owner of the Mystery of
Consciousness.
You are the Lord of the Mystery of Balance and Equality.
You are the Owner of the Mystery of Purity.
You are the Owner of the Mystery of Peace.
You are the Owner of the Mystery of the Feminine and the Masculine Principles.
In reality, nothing new has been created since the beginning. There
is only the Ase, and through its constant movement, reorganization,
and realignment is made manifest the endless expressions of the Womb
of Infinite Possibility. Orisha Obatala is one of the
divine beings called into existence directly by Olofi-dumare. The name
Olofi is used more in Santeria than in Yoruba. But both cosmogonies
believe that Obatala was among the first heavenly beings to manifest
in the Ase. Before Obatala was commissioned to reorganize this part
of the Ase, the earth was ruled by, “...the female deity Olokun
who ruled over the vast expanses of water and wild marshes, a grey
region
with no living things in it, either creatures of the bush or vegetation.”
The place where Obatala first set foot on planet earth is universally
agreed by practitioners of Ifa to be the city of Ile-Ife
in Yorubaland, Nigeria, West Africa. It is here that Obatala began the
work of organizing the form of the human being based upon the wisdom
of Olofi-dumare. Olofi-dumare apportioned part of His Ase to Obatala
who in turn fashioned the human beings and then called upon Olodumare
to come and breathe life into them, which Olodumare did. Not only did
Obatala fashion the human beings, but this sentient spiritual force
also authored the blueprint for the ecosystem that would govern and
sustain all life in this region of the Ase.
Obatala is known as the King of the White Cloth, as he is always dressed
in impeccable white clothes. He is a symbol of peace and purity. He
is also the father of mankind and the messenger of Olofi. ...in Nigeria
he is also known as Orisha-nla.
Orisha Obatala is believed to control the mind and all thought, hence
the expression,
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ori
You are the Owner of the Mysteries of the Head
[head here representing the entire experience of Consciousness
and Awareness]
