This website is dedicated to the Students of Seifu A.S. Umar Sharif, MA. It is also dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the Traditional Afro-Asian Martial and Healing Arts. Our goal is to inform, educate, inspire, encourage, and motivate others to improve their lives by applying The Wisdom of the Ancients.
As your teacher and host, Seifu Sharif [aka: Xia` Xue' Gong] [aka: Tobi Alakoso] is dedicated to helping each of you to remember and nurture the Spirit of Wu-Te and the powers dormant within you.
Me'je Oruka Broadsword Part 3 Yemoja/Olokun: Flowing Power, Depth of Calm
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
A brief description of the Ase of Orisa Yemoja/Olokun
When water moves, you have no choice but to move with it! “If we want to fight, the enemy has no choice but to engage us!” Sun-Tzu
Water is penetrating, going over, under, around, and even through the things that stand in its path! Sweeping, moving, and washing, yet yielding all the time! She uproots things and uses them as battering rams clearing her way!
“Thus when one who understands war moves, he does not go the wrong way, and when he takes action, he does not reach a dead end!” Sun-Tzu
Sacred texts state that there are signs all around us, witnesses to the nature of life, and insights into our place in and as life. Remember the precept and principle of Wu-Te, ‘we study the martial and healing arts for our physical, mental, spiritual, and social well-being.' Wu-Te proposes a Way of gaining insight into our place in and as life. The Way of Wu-Te has no end point that is the goal or treasure to be gained. The journey is undertaken because each step of the way gives meaning and purpose to life. Each movement forward, backward, to the sides, up and down, and standing still provides lessons that can be savored like ripe fruit. A martial artist takes the journey and follows the Way because for him or her there is an affinity with the Way. We call this Isopo (Connectivity, Connection).
Let’s continue looking at the Way through the understandings and wisdom of the Me’je Oruka System. We’ve previously discussed the similarities and differences between imitating and conjuring. With regard to the 7 Circles System, we do not simply seek to mimic the postures and movements of the seven animals, but our goal is to conjure their Ase Ami (Energy Signature) that lies dormant but ready within us. To conjure means to call upon something yet unseen, and to have it appear as if by magic. You may have looked in the refrigerator and pantry for something to eat, threw some things together, and ‘conjured’ a delicious meal. Or a certain smell or place, or sound of music might have ‘conjured’ thoughts of your early childhood. To conjure is a characteristic of our species, encoded into our survival instincts and DNA.
Likewise, in Me’je Oruka Broadsword we seek to understand all aspects of the nature of each of the Seven Principle Orisa, locate the emotional heart-brain connection to that essence, and then give it expression in our own Ase Ami (Energy Signature). Consider the Adura (prayer) to the Orisa Yemoja/Olokun. Ask yourself, what in the nature of Orisa Yemoja/Olokun can inform your training, your fighting, and your personal Wu-Te?
Orisa Yemoja/Olokun
The Goddess of the Oceans and Sea
Queen of Mothers
Mo juba awo Yemoja/Olokun.
Iwo ni Ayaba Iya.
Iwo ni Iya Orisha.
Iwo ni Inu Iye Odidi.
Iwo ni Ifihan Ti Abo Ase.
Iwo ni Inu Aiye.
Iwo ni Orisha Obinrin Okun Nla ati Odo.
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ti Abo Ipilese.
I humble myself before the mystery of Yemoja/Olokun.
You are the Queen of Mothers.
You are the Mother of the Orisha.
You are the Womb of all Life.
You are the Feminine Manifestation of the Ase.
You are the Womb of the World.
You are the Goddess of the Oceans and Rivers.
You are the Owner of the Mystery of the Feminine Principle.
Now let’s look to see how these verses can inform our martial arts training, our Me’je Oruka Broadsword Form Part 3, and our lives along the Way. Notice the opening moves of the form, the three flowing wavelike cuts that start the form. This is the signature of Yemoja/Olokun. And, notice the up and down movements near the end of the form. Again, you can see the wave like effect of the movement as the Ase of Yemoja/Olokun is released and sated.
Lesson 1: Orisa Yemoja/Olokun represents the highest order of the Love Principle. The prolific creative energy of the ocean is indicative of this generous, allowing, expressive, nurturing, Omnificent energy of the Ase.
If we infuse our Ase Ami (Energy Signature) with this energy when we are training or when we are going into battle, we will be calm, elevated in spirit, and rooted, grounded in our approach to change.
Lesson 2: Although Olofi-dumare is the Masculine creative aspect of Olorun (God) it is the Feminine Principle, the Womb, the Mother, the Ase (the black material of the darkness from which all things come), which is the essential Source of all life. This reality is symbolically evidenced in the fact that all of our species are conceived female, and then if certain hormones are infused in the early gestation period, the fetus goes through a metamorphosis to become a male. The female is the prototype of the human species.
This tells us that although we must give expression to both the masculine and the feminine principles of our nature, it is the feminine principle that is the life sustaining energy. This is the energy that emerges so that ‘four ounces can move a thousand pounds’. Therefore your training should involve both hard and soft techniques, and in your fighting, with or without weapons, you must be able to yield (yin) in order to attack (yang).
Lesson 3: Orisa Yemoja/Olokun is the Mother of All Life and she has encoded the record of her procreative process in the blood of her children.
Being able to sense your opponent is vital if you intend to be able to intercept and neutralize their attack. Sensing your opponent means making a deep empathic connection with them (Isopo). When you visualize your opponent in training and when you face your opponent in battle, the lesson taught by Orisa Yemoja/Olokun is to see them as an extension of yourself, just as you feel your weapon to be an extension of yourself.
Whatever the ocean touches becomes a part of the ocean until she chooses to release it. Whatever you touch becomes a part of you. She has the power to consume even the largest and strongest ships. You have the power to neutralize even the strongest attack. Yet, she can settle the heart, calm the mind, relax the chest, and raise the spirit without revealing her other potentials. You can influence the spirit of your opponent by the strength of your own spirit.
Look at the treasures that lay deep in the depths of the oceans and seas. The depths belong to the male aspect of Yemoja, the Orisa Olokun (Owner of the Depths). Likewise, you can store your jing treasure in the legs, waist, and back where your opponent cannot easily see them, and where you can quickly and smoothly release it at will. You can store your qi treasure in the three dan tiens, and in the bone marrow to be released at your command.
Lesson 4: Orisa Yemoja/Olokun is known to be very stern and temperamental and expresses the protective energies of the feminine force. Being of the earth-essence, she is proficient in the secret arts (sorcery) and will use them to protect her devotees.
Consider the power of the hurricane, a tsunami, tidal waves, currents, and all of the other majestic powers of the Oceans and Seas. Powers that remain hidden until unleashed, and once unleashed, they will not desist until they have sated their energetic needs for release. Likewise, your power should always remain hidden and stored until it is ready to be released with intention.
All of these qualities of Yemoja/Olokun inform our Ase Ami when we practice Me’je Oruka Broadsword Part 3.
Iba se Orisa Yemoja/Olokun!
Homage to Orisa Yemoja/Olokun!
Ref: SUN-TZU The Art of Warfare, translated by Roger Ames, Ballantine Books, New York 1993 ISBN 0-345-36239-X (Note: Roger Ames was one of my mentors at the East-West Center Asian Studies Program during the 1990’s. His is my preferred translation.)
In this month's video lesson Seifu Sharif demonstrates Part 3 of the Me'je Oruka Broadsword Form.
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It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
