To Walk Gracefully in the World

The meji odu of Ifá Irete meji, carries to us the meaning of good fortune being caused by the activity of te, to press or shape hardly, as a sculptor shapes clay and rock or a blacksmith shapes iron. The idea of ‘pressing your own good fortune’ challenges us in terms of character, as this activity can make some people become stubborn and selfish in their pursuit for power in order to accomplish their goals. A distorted sense of how to walk in this world can arise and arrogance and destruction for personal gain can rise from the forging of our character in Irete meji. This causes this odu to form a pattern that, when afflicted, gives birth to spirits known as elenini. These spiritual forms and rays are born from a specific self serving activity that in the west is often understood as the power behind sorcery, viewed as a negative engagement with the world, where nature is attempted to be bend to the egoistical will of the sorcerer. Baba Falokun comments that these spirits, elenini bars the full expression of freedom, enlightenment and balance. They do this by generating states of paranoia and isolation where the world is perceived as hostile. The sorcerer under the influence of elenini will do whatever is in his power to thwart the truth, to seduce or debase people around him in order to accumulate a personal power resting on fear and threats. The odu is an important political odu, as it is an odu that gives the powers of ‘influence’ for good or for ill. That the arrival of the elenini is a gradual process caused by failure of understanding the mystery of this odu is evident in some political personage, like Idi Amin Dada, Joseph Stalin and Ivan IV, the Terrible. What these personages have in common is the self isolation born from believing they lived in a world of hatred. This barred any expression of freedom or enlightenment and the exercised power in a ruthless and self serving way. We can even stretch this to modern film industry where the progress of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Wader is a good allegory on failing to understand the mystery of Irete meji.

The key to the mystery is to see the world as a teacher. The forging of Irete meji should stimulate you to choose the gentle ways. It is an odu that speaks about transforming these great personal powers into good manners, etiquette and gentlemanship. I mean this in the most direct of interpretations, to be a gentle man. This is the road to integrate this powerful mystery in a positive way. One verse in Irete meji reveals in its simplicity profound depths concerning this:

Bùtùbútú onà Ìjèsà Lomode fíí seré

Bi ó ba kómo ní rírìn esè

A komo ní yíyan

The fine sand which children play with on

The road to the land of Ilesa

If it is used to teach children how to walk,

It can also be used to teach them how to

Walk gracefully

So, when life tempers us and circumstances forges us, let us not forget that swords need fire , hammer and anvil to become beautiful, diamonds are born from coal under pressure. With patience and gentle ways a positive road towards unfolding tremendous personal power is opened up, so let us walk on gracefully in the face of challenge… Ase O!

A Coroa de Ferro

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Ifá conta em vários odus sobre a descida das forces espirituais à Terra. Estes contos, geralmente da família de Ogunda, Ogbe e Ofun, falam sobre o desejo das forças espirituais em se juntar com a matéria, em fazer estradas na Terra.

As estradas na Terra foram feitas por Tobi Ode, cujo nome significa ‘o caçador que possui grande habilidade’. Antes de Tobi Ode e sua bem-sucedida abertura de estradas na Terra (Ikole Aye), houve outras tentativas de se limpar o terreno nas vastidões silvestres para a passagem espiritual. Ikole Orun (o reino divino) tinha o desejo de se mesclar com Ikole Aye (o reino da Terra visível e invisível). A primeira tentativa foi feita por Obatala, o Rei das roupas brancas e sonhos. Ele fez um cutelo de prata (àdá fadàkà), o metal da lua, para cortar seu caminho através da vegetação terrestre, mas a lâmina de prata se entortou e foi destruída. O senhor dos sonhos usou sonhos para cortar através da matéria e assim abriu uma via particular para o ingresso entre humanos e deuses, pelos poderes da noite e sua regente, a lua. O itan (estória) conta como Obatala conseguiu cortar sob as moitas, mas incapaz de limpar o caminho da cobertura verdejante que criava bloqueios na terra. Desde que Obatala cortou sob os arbustos, seus poderes ainda falam das raízes e solo – como nos sonhos, mas a estrada propriamente foi aberta pelo ferro. O ferro em Iorubá é ‘irin’, a mesma palavra dada aos guardiões divinos, ‘irin’. Assim, há razão para se supor que ‘irin’ (ferro) foi usado para abrir os portais aos ‘irin’ (os guardiões), e a abrir os caminhos para o congresso angelical com humanos e a Terra. (Deixe-me lembrá-lo que o Iorubá leva 30% de seu vocabulário da língua sinaíta, ‘sin’, que está na raiz de hebraico).

Como mostra o odu, esta era uma provação celestial. Osagunda fala sobre um desafio dado à Irumole (os poderes da luz que moram no céu) insinuando um concurso sobre o que o espírito poderia consertar da cabaça quebrada, isto é, o mundo como nós o conhecemos. Foi o ‘caçador hábil’ que realizou a meta, e sobre a sua realização os Orisa (os imortais) vieram à Terra e estabeleceram seus mistérios. Ao caçador foi dada a grande honra. Tobi Ode foi renomeado como Ògún e o apontado para ser um Olori (chefe), ao que ele recusou. Ao invés disso, ele foi à morada de Obatalá, às montanhas. Não levou muito tempo até que o povo lhe chamasse para restabelecer a ordem, e ele veio vestido de ariwo (folhas de palmeira), como um senhor da floresta. A primeira cidade em que ele chegou foi Ire (boa fortuna), e aqui ele lutou com todas as forças maléficas e obteve o nome de Onire, que significa ‘Chefe de Boa Fortuna’. E isto se repetiu cidade após cidade. O caminho de Ògún foi bem-sucedido até que um dia ele decidiu parar. Isso aconteceu em Ile Ife, a cidade do Amor, onde ele havia recusado a honraria concedida de ser o primeiro dentre os Orisa. Em vez de assumir a coroa da realeza, ele assumiu a coroa do seu destino, que era a coroa de irin (ferro). Seu destino era a coroa de igbo (a floresta) e, por conseguinte, ao abrir as estradas, ele dança em seus perímetros, não como rei, mas como seu capacitador. Desta forma, Ògún, o espírito do ferro, é a força que cultiva a terra, mas que ainda se mantém à distância. Como aquele que abre as estradas, ele conhece todos os mecanismos civis, mas a sua escolha, seu destino, é de ficar livre de todas estas coisas que pertencem à civilização. Mas ele pode ser chamado para resolver as questões ‘civilis’, desde é fundido com ‘naturis’, que é a perspectiva da montanha em que ele escolheu se aventurar e estabelecer sua morada.

Ògún é o filho, marcado e abençoado ao retorno, como ele fez, ele deve fazer. Mas o retorno está habilitado. E aqui reside o mistério da queda e dos anjos renegados - como pode ser visto a partir da concepção divina. É aqui que seu papel está marcado e assumido pelo seu retiro. Ase!

The Crown of Iron

Para ler este texto em Português, clique aqui.

Ifá speak in several odu’s about the descent of spiritual forces on earth. These tales, often from the family of Ogunda, Ogbe and Ofun, speaks about the desire for spiritual forces to join with matter, to make roads on earth.

The roads on earth were made by Tobi Ode, whose name means ‘the hunter who possesses great skill’. Prior to Tobi Ode and his successful opening of the roads on earth (Ikole Aye), there were other attempts of clearing the earthly wilderness for spiritual passage. Ikole Orun (the divine realm) had a desire to merge with Ikole Aye (the realm of earth visible and invisible). The first attempt was made by Obatala, the King of the white cloth and dreams. He made a cutlass of silver (àdá fadàkà), the metal of the moon, to cut his way through the earthly vegetation, but the silver blade got bent and destroyed. The lord of dream used dreams to cut through matter and thus opened a particular road for ingress between humans and gods, by the powers of the night and its ruler; the moon. The itan (story) tells how Obatala managed to cut the under bush, but was unable to clear the road it self for the hovering blockages of green born from the earth. Since Obatala cut the under bushes his powers still speak from the roots and soil – as in dreams, but the road itself was opened by iron. Iron in Yoruba is irin, the very same word given to the divine watchers, ‘irin’. So, there is reason to assume that irin (iron) was used to open the portals for irin (the watchers) to open the ways for angelic congress with humans and the earth (and let me remind that Yoruba takes 30% of its  vocabulary from the sinaitic language ‘sin’ that is at the root for Hebrew).

As odu displays it, it was a celestial ordeal. Osagunda speaks about a challenge given to the Irumole (powers of light that dwells in heaven) hinting towards a contest of what spirit can mend the broken calabash; that is, the world as we know it. It was ‘the skilled hunter’ who accomplished the goal, and upon his accomplishment Orisa (the immortals) came to earth and established their mysteries. The hunter himself was given great honour. Tobi Ode was renamed as Ògún and forced to be an olori (chief), which he refused. Instead he went to the abodes of Obatala, the mountains. It did not took long before the people called him to come to restore order and he came, dressed in ariwo (palm fronds), like a forest lord. The first town he arrived to was Ire (good fortune), here he wrestled with all malefic powers and obtained the name of Onire, meaning ‘Chief of Good Fortune’.  And so it went, city after city. Ògún’s path was a road of success until one day when he decided to stop. This happened at Ile Ife, the city of Love, where he declined the honor given, to be first amongst the Orisa. Instead of assuming the crown of kingship he assumed the crown of his destiny, which was the crown of irin (iron). His destiny was the crown of igbo (the forest) and thus by opening the roads, he is dancing in its perimeters; not as its king but as its enabler. Thus Ògún, the spirit of iron is the force that cultivates the land, but still keeps him self at bay. As the opener of the roads he knows all civil mechanisms, but his choice, his destiny is to stay clear from all these things that belong to civilization. But he can be called upon to settle matters of ‘civilis’, born from his merging with ‘naturis’, which is the perspective from the mountain he chose to venture towards and make his dwelling.

Ògún is the son; marked and blessed for return, as he did he must make. But the return is enabled. And herein rests the mystery of fall and of the renegade angels – as seen from the divine design. Herein his role is marked and assumed by his retreat. Ase!