To Approach with Interest

The foundation of Ifá philosophy is that we are all born good and blessed and that we are divine beings making a human journey. The human journey is symbolized by the market place and the travel itself.  The market is a place where the good and bad trade can be done, where thieves and truth mingle.  The journey itself signifies a travel from one place to another where in the in-between the unexpected can occur. Ifá tells that at the end of any journey well made lies a bed of tranquility and peace for those who used iwá rere (good character) as their compass in this journey.

Ifá teaches that creation was caused by the dream of light that was made visible in the odu Eji Ogbè, which  signify the elevation of both hands towards heaven – because with the birth of light came also its contrast, Òyèkú méjì, that signify darkness, end of cycles and the inhalation that makes the exhalation of Ogbè active. The idea of raising both hands to heaven implies to accept beginnings and ends, light and darkness with equal reverence and gratitude.

The omo odu Ogbè’wori speaks of the need for transformation in the world, how we cannot recognize the sweetness of the honey unless we also know the bitterness of orogbo (the bitter kola nut). One of the verses tells us:

Ogbè’worí

B’áye wón ba ndùn

B’áye wón bá ndàra

Ìwá ibàjé wón nhú

Translation:

When life is sweet for them

When life is good for them

That is when they start to misbehave

Misfortune and complications are not necessary the same thing, a complication can become a misfortune if we approach with resistance and negativity.  When we do this we feed the complication in our life with prayers asking to bring us more complications. If we however approach with interest and tranquility we will feed the complications with light and goodness.

Ifá is adamant in its importance of ancestry; actually, the entire corpus of Odu Ifá is the wisdom of ancestors. By becoming aware of situations in the past and their solutions we can effectively turn undesired situations into prosperity and complications into abundance. Another verse in the book of Ogbé speaks of how Orunmila himself went out on a travel but met misfortune and not the abundance he was searching for. The verse tells how he went out in the waters, his emotional confusion, and petitioned the ‘sixteen owners of the market’ as he called upon in lament for the aid of the bird called Agbe (Touraco Musophagidae). The blue Agbe bird is a harbinger of good fortune and is said to expose the hidden treasures of Olokun, the owner of Ocean, when petitioned. The verse tells how Orunmila made the appropriate sacrifice, in this case a change of attitude, where his erratic consciousness was calmed down and in this calm state of mind he was able to remember the long chain of victorious conquest leading up to this difficult moment.

The teaching is that the complications in our journey towards abundance also invite a unique opportunity for yet other forms of victory - as long as we approach with interest and not resistance. Because in every struggles lies the promise of victory. In a way, we can say that Ifá sees complications and difficulties just as a situation – the coloration is given by the way we approach the situation. Ogbé’rosún has the following to say:   

Ogbè’rosùn

A dífá fún Òrúnmìlà

Ifá nsawo lo àpá òkun

T’òun ìlà méjì òsà

Nílé olójà mérìndínlógún

Wón ní Baba ò nìí padà dele

Baba wá m’ekún s’ekún ìgbe

Ó fi ìyèrè se ìyèrè aro

Ó nÍ: Agbe gbé mi dele o ò Agbe

A kìí rajo k’á má dele o

Agbe gbé mi dele o

Kò pé kò jìnnà

E wá bá ni bá àrúsé ogun

Àjàse ogun l’á wá wá

Translation:

The teaching of Ifá were interpreted

For Orunmila

When he was going on a spiritual mission

On the shore of the ocean

When he was in the middle of the lagoon

At the home of the sixteen owners of

The market

They said Baba Orunmila would never

Return home

But it came to pass that Baba Orunmila began

To cry out in a powerful way, turning

His cry into a shout

And he turned his lamentation into a song

Of sorrow

He called out saying: Agbe bird, carry me home

O’ Agbe

We do not go on a journey so that we may not

Return home

So, Agbe bird, please carry me home

Then, before long and in the not distant future

Come and join us in victory achieved

Through sacrifice

Victorious in struggle as we have come to be

The Witches’ Truth

“Witchcraft is a poetic reality - born from the dragonflies that took shape in the sparks of the first blacksmiths hammer – as He forged Beauty in the cave of Wisdom. “
- Frisvold & Ristic: The Nocturnal Gospel (tbp)


     

Traditional witchcraft is the art of forging the world in accordance with ones Fate – but it is also the art of shaping Fate into be good and true as much as forging the world to bend to your will and make all Nature still in your moment of regal impossibility where you are One.

This turns the Witch into a worker of Fate – and this calls upon the need to know the secret alchemy within creation – and in particular nature herself.

Any attempt of defining traditional witchcraft is always challenging – as is the definition of the practitioner of this art, ‘the witch’. Andrew Chumbley referred to it as the nameless art, Scandinavian cunning people call it simply ‘The Art’ and the Greek poet Kostis Palamas called it ‘what has yet no name’.

It is actually the namelessness of witchcraft that defines it, which gives an interesting contrast to the Basque saying: ‘If it has a name, it exists’ – suggesting that the naming itself is endowed with magical forge and force. So, how do we discuss formal and logical about witchcraft? We simply don’t – because the Art speaks with the heart and are understood by the mind – and in this process the axis for understanding the Godhead and all things divine in creation is made erect and upright.  

Troth, Oath & Word

“Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest.”

- Epicurus

To give ones Word, to Swear, to give an Oath is an act of dramatic consequences.  It was dramatic in the past – as it is now amongst traditional faiths, cults and minds – to give ones word in oath binds one in a given way taking the spirits as witness of truth. We find contrasts in this ranging from Epicurus who held friendships to be a form of love that danced around the world and sustained our being.  The betrayal of friendship (file) in the forms of harm, lies, deception or treason was for him viewed as the key to misfortune in its depraved lack of honour. For Epicurus it was better to end one’s life than to betray ones friend.

Modern man tends to not give the same value to oaths and promises anymore. Promises and vows are easily broken in reference to some strategy of self justification or the demonizing of the other. Curiously broken promises are often followed by punitive action upon the other by the one that feels guilty of breaking the oath or promise. This guilt take the shape of self justification. Instead of admitting guilt one seek to explain the reasons for ones broken promise and lie in the faults of the other, real or imaginary. The truth start to twist and be twisted into something the guilty one can condemn in an act of getting rid of the guilt that attaches like flies gravitating towards feces.

The Gathering of Harmony

Life is a beautiful journey in mystery. In this journey we meet friends and fiends. Fiends encountered often surfaces as lessons or embodied principles that tempers you to turn inward and get to know yourself. Friends we meet in this journey can affirm your path – or just resonate with a particular sojourn on your path of self discovery. These meetings are important crossroads that affirms what we are and makes us move on - or stay...

Ifá is rooted in a solid belief in Fate – hence we can act in ways that brings us closer to Fate or remove ourselves away from it. Fate is in Ifá understood to be the summit of fulfillment and joy, so the counsel of Ifá is always focused on how you can reach this happy and joyous station.

We reach this station with the help from our friends and the communities and relationships we form.  As our sense of Self and purpose grows in meeting with friends and fiends the underlying principle in Ifá is about developing good character (ìwá rere). A good character is a peaceful and loving character. This makes it easy to see if a gathering of people is of friends – or foes – look at the character you are developing. If misfortune, anxiety, negative thoughts and worry is the product – this is for sure a detour from your destined Happy Fate.

The journey is a complex of errors and gains, of falsity and conquest – the trick is to count the blessings and decide to take the track that reaps rewards. Negativity in all its forms so easily turn into ‘that one thing that makes the passions rise’ – in this we fail to see the hundreds of blistering dragon flies that points the way.