Eleko la ba ki
Ebi dandan ni yoo pa olose
Bi obun o ba yo tan, kii we
Dia fun Elede e yayi
Ti nmomi oju sungbere omo
Ebo ni won ni o waa se
O gbebo, o rubo
Omo sun niwaju
Omo sun leyin
Laarin omo yooyo laa gbe nba Elede

Let us praise the person who supply us Eko(FOOD)
A soap seller will die of hunger
If a dirty person does not eat to his satisfaction, he will never think of
bathing
These were Ifa's messages for Elede e yayi, the pig
Who was lamenting her inability to bear children
She was advised to offer ebo
She complied
Many children are in front
Many children issue from behind
In the midst of many children do we find a pig

Fantastic. I always hoped there were some dedicated people helping to document our unique history and traditions so they are not lost on us and future generations. We need to value genuine historians.

My thanks to the Scholar for this wonderful work.

Btw, I think you can be a good Christian and still appreciate history and tradition.

Nice, so many life lessons to be learned from each one.

edo.girl:
Fantastic. I always hoped there were some dedicated people helping to document our unique history and traditions so they are not lost on us and future generations. We need to value genuine historians.

My thanks to the Scholar for this wonderful work.

Btw, I think you can be a good Christian and still appreciate history and tradition.

you dont need to be christian in the first place. first try to be a good human being.

Ada Nri1:
That's because JEHOVAH is the GOD we worship.

Here we go again with premature ejaculators who don't understand and will not keep quiet to learn but keep interjecting and intruding into unfamiliar terrain. Who says Ifa or Yoruba religion worships the idols and not ultimately God Almighty. Does write ups and the different ODUs mention at anytime the worship of ifa ? The intolerance the embers of which they fan in their places of worships in their region, is creeping if not already established now in Yorubaland. Awon obun apa sio sio.

@Osun•Ife and aribisala0:
Breathtaking inputs. I'm enlightened by your contributions.

Interesting to note that the 'odus' embody deep wisdom. The more you study them, the more sense/ meaning they make.

Tribute to Ile-Ife, the cradle of the Yorubas.
Tribute to the entire Yoruba nation.

In Ile-Ife, the Ooni is often referred to as Oònirìsà (literally meaning the Ooni himself is an òrìsà)

If I may ask, is it then safe to conclude that the Arole Oodua (Ooni) himself is one of the 401 deities?

Does any of the odus prove this?

pekelepekele: again why are some people using Human being parts for rituals through IFA?

There is always dark side of every religion. There are witch craft, exortism in chrstianity and islam.
Even in science. Nuclear energy is being converted to bomb. That's in the nature of human.

Let me call your attention to something. The word "awo" doesnt stand for "cultist"
This is A̶̲̥̅​ wrong interpretation. Awo is A̶̲̥̅​ yoruba name for "monk".

hotwax:
There is always dark side of every religion. There are witch craft, exortism in chrstianity and islam.
Even in science. Nuclear energy is being converted to bomb. That's in the nature of human.

Let me call your attention to something. The word "awo" doesnt stand for "cultist"
This is A̶̲̥̅​ wrong interpretation. Awo is A̶̲̥̅​ yoruba name for "monk".

All Religious philosophy, whether the ancient Egyptian, Persian, Hindu,Bhudda, Tibet, Asians and those of the Greeks and Romans, europeans are filled with lovely myths and stories of gods and goddesses, fine poetries, secret knowledge or mysteries..and the claim to be serving the ultimate God through his other creations. i have had interest in reading through their scripts as well as took interest in this thread as well............The TRUTH BE TOLD, that when the European Missionaries came they saw all sorts being the effect of these religions wherever they were practiced. All manner of Human sacrifices, fear, ignorance, poverty, barbaric injustice and people living more like or closer the Animal World, that is why they felt superior to the Blacks and thought of them better as Slaves to be used. Read the notions of early explorers through africa, india and asia. THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH ARE FILLED WITH THE HABITATIONS OF CRUELTY. No part of the World was free from the Grip Of Evil Powers and Satanic darkness under various religious guise and creed. A Classic case of The Fruit[end effect] of African Religious Creed is the State of HAITI. the most impoverished and backward as well as subservient of places on earth. Despite over 500yrs of independence. Go and find where the most impoverished and ridiculed black peoples live on Earth, they are in Brazil, Haiti and all those funny places where they embrace VOODOO.
The Yoruba as a people Have been displaced from where they originally came from [ancient Egypt] by various forces who were better and stronger and have been driven into the thick forests to find a place called Ile -Ife....please read your history well...and when they first arrived.. they met others here who lived before them and subjugated those people. I do not have the space here to say much, but it is very interesting to note that the Yoruba as a people have a role to play in these end times but must first have their eyes open to really know where they fell from in order to take there place. Till now, every great achievement of the Yoruba have been through their sons who embraced the missionaries religion or their education{even the writer of the book in question is the scion of an anglican priest!!), check that out!!! there is pointer to the way forward from such a simple analogy!!

hotwax:
There is always dark side of every religion. There are witch craft, exortism in chrstianity and islam.
Even in science. Nuclear energy is being converted to bomb. That's in the nature of human.

Let me call your attention to something. The word "awo" doesnt stand for "cultist"
This is A̶̲̥̅​ wrong interpretation. Awo is A̶̲̥̅​ yoruba name for "monk".

There is no dark side in IFa. everythig done is for a reason and in this case no human sacrifice is done.

The third World War will be a religious war. Muslims and Christians will face each other and fight to the finish. Presently, the World Christian Population is over 2 billion (still counting) while Muslims all over the World are about 1.5billion (still counting and growing rapidly). Two-third of the World population may be wiped out during the third World War. After the War, Christianity and Islam will be demonized! The remaining world population will then start to search for the true religion. They will then embrace IFA. IFA itself has said its message will be ignored until the 11th hour (Irole Aye)! The wise ones are already learning IFA in preparation for the future. Visit www.ifafoundation.org for more information.

While you sit down there and continue to doubt, the progressive Americans are already tapping into the limitless
opportunities that IFA offers!

American Ifa




The Ifa Foundation of North America is proud to introduce American Ifa.

American Ifa is the result of more than 25 years of study and examination of the ancient philosophy of the Yoruba culture of West Africa.

Long before the advent of what we now consider scientific truths, the Yoruba discovered, and utilized, the basic energies that comprise the matrix of our planet. Far from being primitive, or simplistic, these Truths required brilliant analytical techniques, and analysis. The understanding of these Truths, and the sophisticated instructions for utilizing them, allowed the Ifa Devotee to maintain health, balance and fulfillment in their life. With them, the future could be glimpsed and the present could be modified.

As other philosophies encroached on the Yoruba culture, these universal truths, which had been freely open to adapt to change and cultural differences, suddenly became codified. This desire to "freeze frame" the inherently fluid YorubaTruths, by writing them down as "the word," began to castrate the power and truth the energies had to offer.

Other corruption's of these Truths came along. The Christian Missionaries imposed a "Devil"; Tribalism, Nationalism, Catholicism; all took increasingly devastating bites from the effectiveness of these universal truths. Each and everyone had their own agenda.and it was no longer the agenda of understanding and utilizing the inherent energies of the universe for the benefit of all.

Equally destructive, as the freeze frame western religions retreated from the Cartesian logic of Science, they turned away from the secular world. They offered you the proposition that you could either be spiritual, or you could be temporal, but you couldn't be both. In so doing they took the integrated holistic view of the Yoruba philosophy and ripped it into two parts.

American Ifa is based upon putting those parts back together again. We are stripping away the Nationalism, fear, dependence and contradictions that have adhered themselves like barnacles to the hull of this beautiful and powerful philosophy. It is about effectively freeing these basic universal truths to function in the Western society we are part of.

Most important, it is about being able to practice and utilize these truths without segregating ourselves from the rest of society or our community. It is not a philosophy for the superstitious and uneducated. It is a powerful system designed by, and for, thoughtful, intelligent individuals who want the very best from this lifetime.

If you seek to go back in time, if you thrive on the psychodrama of evil eyes and spells, this is not the site for you. If, however, you want to be successful, if you want long, loving and lasting relationships, if you want to be a worthwhile part of your family and your community, if you want to be involved in a career that brings you challenges and rewards, then American Ifa can give you the tools to do so.

American Ifa

After more than 25 years of examination and study, The Ifa Foundation of North America has reached the following conclusions:

1. Religion was meant to be the repository for the highest levels of practical knowledge and wisdom

2. Religion was meant to demonstrate the practical application of Universal, and timeless truths, for improving our lives

3. For Truths to be Universal and timeless they MUST be able to adapt, and apply, to the context and culture they are to be utilized in

4. Ethical behavior and good character are the only logical ways of applying these truths

5. Timeless and Universal Truths must apply to all people, regardless of race, nationality, gender or sexual orientation, in order to be valid

6. For a philosophy to be meaningful, it must address all aspects of our existence. This includes the temporal/monetary aspects of our lives as well as the spiritual and emotional components of our energy matrix.

7. Ifa is a philosophy for applying practical Universal truths to achieve success in all aspects of our lives.

8. Truth, regardless of where it is discovered, belongs to all people

9. For truth to be worthwhile, and meaningful, it must create independence and personal empowerment

10. Fear, control, manipulation and dependence destroy, and render useless, those Truths

11. Truth, as wisdom, must continue to grow and adapt if it is to be meaningful

12. Truth must enhance the symbiotic relationship between individual, family, community and Earth if its capacity for change is to be worthwhile

In the coming weeks we will explore each of these areas in order to provide thoughtful Westerners' the logical understanding of Ifa.

Blessings,

Oluwo Philip Neimark

source: http://www.ifafoundation.org/american-ifa/

kayusbrown: The third World War will be a religious war. Muslims and Christians will face each other and fight to the finish. Presently, the World Christian Population is over 2 billion (still counting) while Muslims all over the World are about 1.5billion (still counting and growing rapidly). Two-third of the World population may be wiped out during the third World War. After the War, Christianity and Islam will be demonized! The remaining world population will then start to search for the true religion. They will then embrace IFA. IFA itself has said its message will be ignored until the 11th hour (Irole Aye)! The wise ones are already learning IFA in preparation for the future. Visit www.ifafoundation.org for more information.

The World (whats left of it) will return to the Pagan religions.

aribisala0:

Like I said before I am not a Babalawo.
"Learning" Ifa can mean anything

from becoming a Babalawo to being merely a consumer of divination.
I believe it is important to memorise some spiritual poetry whether in English Yoruba or whatever and this may be religious or non-religious.
Note I do not think spirituality= religion.
Such poetry or verse can help in a spiritual understanding and enjoyment of life whether or not one chooses to become a practitioner or even to consult with Babalawo's.
If you mean to become a Babalawo or priest this is best started as a child unless there is some spiritual pull like that Susan Wenger lady(hope the name is right).People learn differently.If you want to learn Odus in Yoruba You will have to "sacrifice"(again that term) time ,effort and may be money .Even one or two that are particularly relevant to you is enough .
If you are really keen you a=have to submit yourself to a master and learn from him.

Not everyone or anyone becomes a babalawo. Only those to whom it is their 'life path'.

baby_123:

I thought it was 401 too. A mistake by OP perhaps. I am watching the videos. The repetition and flow of the Odus is simply enchanting. I like when Yoruba's say incantations. Nothing like it in the world. Very beautiful but can be dangerous sha.

If I remember correctly, there are 200 Irunmole to the right and another 200 to the left of Olodumare who stay in orun(heaven), and then another 200 that move from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven.

Good article! Thanks to op and aribisala on all your contributions. Amor4ce, how you dey, long time.

In Yoruba cosmology, aspects dealing with physical matter and manifestations are paired and opposite, always! For that reason if you follow in the narration of the descent of the Odus, when they descended into material space their positions and ranked inverted.....a mirrored or polar repositioning. Amor4ce, your response is correct.

The 401 deities would be an adherence to that protocol of numbering in double or paired and opposites; where the 200 becomes 400. Then why the. odd number 1? That is the veil.

Anyway, chech these out.

http://ebookbrowse.com/odu-256-ifa-xls-d43221857

http://www.ifafoundation.org/ifa-blog/2012/4/4/the-labyrinth-of-the-256-odu.html

aribisala0: Eleko la ba ki
Ebi dandan ni yoo pa olose
Bi obun o ba yo tan, kii we
Dia fun Elede e yayi
Ti nmomi oju sungbere omo
Ebo ni won ni o waa se
O gbebo, o rubo
Omo sun niwaju
Omo sun leyin
Laarin omo yooyo laa gbe nba Elede

Let us praise the person who supply us Eko(FOOD)
A soap seller will die of hunger
If a dirty person does not eat to his satisfaction, he will never think of
bathing
These were Ifa's messages for Elede e yayi, the pig
Who was lamenting her inability to bear children
She was advised to offer ebo
She complied
Many children are in front
Many children issue from behind
In the midst of many children do we find a pig

more pls

Elder Negro, I've been getting some things that you would be interested in.

[size=18pt]Book Serial: Ile-Ife: City of 201 gods (2)[/size]
On December 13, 2012

Yesterday (Part 1):

Prof. Jacob Olupona began the story of the mysteries of Ile-Ife — the city of Yoruba gods

The Imagined Sacred City

THE Portuguese image of Ile Ife: The Europeans saw Ile-Ife as the preeminent city-state and as an important ceremonial centre in what was then often referred to as “the Negro world.” The seafaring Portuguese, the first Europeans to explore the coast of West Africa, arrived in the fifteenth century. Although they had heard much about the city of Ile-Ife, their inability to access interior forested regions made contact very difficult. However, the Portuguese recorded their impressions of the importance of this ancient city, especially of its artistic and historical relationship and connection to the kingdom of Benin, with which the Portuguese had earlier contact.

Writing in his navigational guidebook Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, the well-known Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira noted that to the east of the Benin Kingdom, about one hundred leagues (four hundred miles) inland, was a country with a king named Licasaguou, who was said to be lord of many people and to possess great power. Close by, Pereira explained, another great lord, Hooguanee, “is considered among the Negroes as the Pope is among us.” Although the identity of the first king, Licasaguou, remains unknown, the “Pope of the Negroes” may refer to the Ooni of Ile-Ife, since the neighbouring Benin people commonly referred to this king as Hooguanee (Ogene).
Some of the earliest written records about Ile- Ife come from the Portuguese seafarers who traded with the Benin Kingdom. One such record was Da Asia, by Joao de Barros, which provided a detailed discussion of the political and ritual kinshiIp of Benin and Ile-Ife in the precolonial period.

According to this interesting account, the king of Portugal, Don Joao, learned from the ambassador of the king of Beny (Benin) and also from Joa Alfonso d’Aveiro that to the east of the Benin Kingdom, about a twenty moons’ journey (about 250 leagues), “there lived the most powerful monarch of these parts called Igane. Among the pagan chiefs of the territories of Beny [Benin], he was held in as great veneration as is the Supreme Pontiff with us.” The informant also described a ritual link between Benin and Ile-Ife. In compliance with an ancient tradition, whenever a new king ascended the throne of Benin, the Benin sent ambassadors to the monarch to the east with many gifts to inform him that the new king of Benin had succeeded his deceased father and to request confirmation of his new status.

As a sign of consent, Prince Ogene sent the new Benin king a “staff and a headpiece of shining brass, fashioned like a Spanish helmet in place of crown and scepter: He sent a brass cross to be worn around the neck, “a holy and religious emblem similar to that worn by the commendadores as of the Order of Saint John.” for, “without these emblems, the people do not recognize him as the lawful ruler, nor can he call himself truly king.” De Barros reported that the ambassadors from Benin never saw the king himself, since he was always secluded behind a “curtain of silk.”

However, to authenticate the mission, just before the ambassadors departed from Ile-Ife, the king showed “a foot behind the curtains,” indicating that he agreed to Benin’s request. The ambassadors were bestowed with gifts as compensation for the great journey to Ile-Ife. The gift to each ambassador consisted of a “small cross similar to that sent to the king, which is thrown round his neck to signify that he is free and exempt from all servitudes and is privileged in his native country, as the Commendadores are with us.”

The Ifa Temple on the Oke Itase, the sacred hill of Ifa

This is one of the most detailed descriptions we have of Benin’s connection with Ile-Ife, illustrating the perception of Ile-Ife and the sacred kingship in Benin. There have been several discussions about the historicity of this passage, especially regarding the authenticity of the Benin ambassadors and the gift of the cross. The passage supports the account of the modern Benin monarchy’s origin in Ife and the role of Oranmiyan (also named Oranyan), the son of Oduduwa, in the establishment of Benin’s modern rule. It also establishes the ritual relationship between the two kingdoms in rites of coronation and burial. Although some traditional rituals have been modified or have disappeared in the contemporary Nigerian state, the coronation ceremony performed today for the Oba of Benin, whereby the Ooni of Ile-Ife sends a traditional gift to the new Oba, confirms the ancient connection between the two kingdoms described in the Portuguese sources. Moreover, archaeological investigation in Ile-Ife reveals an ancient burial ground, called Orun Oba Ado (literally, “the heaven of Benin kings”) that holds only certain parts of the dead bodies of kings brought from Benin. Some scholars suggest that the Ile-Ife burial site reserved for the Benin kings shows their ancestral connection with the city of Ile-Ife.

Because rituals are constantly reinvented in response to the contemporary social and political contexts in which they are performed, such customs often disappear gradually from practice. In my view, the significance of the Portuguese story does not lie in whether it is absolutely true. Even if it occurred only in the realm of the imagination, without the archaeological and ritual evidence that lends it credence, the story would still enable us to comprehend the enigma that lies behind Ile-Ife’s preeminence in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Portuguese accounts of explorations in the land of the “Negroes.” I will return to these sources later in the chapter.

ILE-IFE IN THE ANNALS OF WESTERN EXPLORATION: A LEO FROBENIUS REVISITED
Ile-Ife’s preeminent status is based on archaeological and iconographic evidence that confirms its significance as a ceremonial center in cosmological, mythical, and ritual contexts. The best-known European visitor to Ile-Ife was Leo Frobenius (1873-1973), a German ethnologist and researcher who visited the city between 1910 and 1912. Frobenius was the head of the German Inner African Exploration. At the time of his visit, the city’s population was over twenty-five thousand. His contribution to the West’s knowledge of Ile-Ife and of Africa in general was so significant that President Leopard Senghor wrote in a foreword to a book marking the centenary of Frobenius’s birth: “No one did more than Frobenius to reveal Africa to the world and the Africans to themselves.” An essential part of this “revelation” consisted of the ancient Ife bronzes and terra-cotta pieces that Frobenius brought to the attention of the world. In spite of Senghor’s warm comments, Frobenius’s pioneering works are little read and appreciated.

Frobenius’ Eurocentric views
Why has Frobenius not achieved a status similar to that of William Bascom, the American anthropologist who worked thirty years in Ile-Ife after Leo Frobenius? The answer lies in Frobenius’s Eurocentric views and his racist remarks about the Ile-Ife people throughout his sojourn there. Frobenius was convinced of the superiority of the German race over other European groups in Africa, especially the British, and he frequently referred to German thoroughness, which for him far surpassed that of the British, as exemplified in their colonizing efforts in Ile-Ife. Frobenius’s goal was to discover artifacts more genuine in form and style than the “inferior” arts hitherto discovered by his English predecessors. Frobenius was both amazed by and envious of the British looting of Benin artifacts during the so-called punitive expedition against the Oba of Benin Kingdom in 1885. He reasoned that since Ile-Ife was older than Benin and, indeed, gave birth to Benin, the art objects “from Benin were nothing but the products of degenerate times, mere imitations of an older, more genuine and sincere art.”

This was a point of contention that caused the British to work against the success of his mission. Frobenius’s ideas and theories represented the best in the European imagination of the African people during this period. Having read or heard of Ile-Ife in Europe, he concluded that it must be “the lost city of Atlantis” in black Africa, where remnants of the Greek culture that worshipped Poseidon lived. When Frobenius first saw two pieces of reddish-brown terra-cotta pottery in the sacred shrine of Olokun, he observed: “Here were the remains of a very ancient and fine type of art, infinitely nobler than the comparatively coarse stone images, not even well-preserved. These meagre relics were eloquent of a symmetry, a vitality, a delicacy of form directly reminiscent of ancient Greece and a proof that, once upon a time, a race, far superior in strain to the Negro, had been settled here.” Frobenius acquired many terra-cotta heads, including the famous Olokun sculpture. He was convinced that the religion and culture of the ancient Greeks had been extensively disseminated, reaching even to Ile-Ife, and that the “Yoruba religion was not unique to the African people, that it is definitely linked to the perfected system of a primeval age.”

The high chiefs in the courtyard of the palace preparing for the Olojo festival

ILE IFE AND THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF BENIN
Ile-Ife gains further credibility as a sacred center because of its connection with the ancient kingdom of Benin. According to the Benin historian Jacob U. Egharevba, following a series of unsettled crises in Benin, the Owodo, the last of the Ogiso kings of the first dynasty, was deposed. The Edo (Benin) people then sent emissaries to Ile-Ife (Uhe), asking for a “wise prince” who would reign over them. Oduduwa, the Oba of Ife at that time, decided to test the sincerity and endurance of the Edo (Benin).

In response to their request, he sent lice to the chiefs of Benin with instructions that they were to care for the lice and return them to him after three years. The Benin chiefs took great care of these lice and returned them after three years to the Oba of Ife, who was impressed. Convinced that people who could, without question, take care of such minute pests as lice, could undoubtedly take good care of his son, he sent the Ife prince Oranmiyan, accompanied by palace servants, courtiers, and a native medicine man (ogiefa).

Oranmiyan and his entourage reached Benin after ‘an arduous journey that included a hazardous crossing of the Obie River. Upon his arrival in Benin, Oranmiyan met with resistance from one Ogiamwen, the son of Evinan, who had temporarily taken charge of Benin affairs during the interregnum, after the termination of the first dynasty. Oranmiyan triumphed over Ogiamwen, settled in Usama Palace, which had been built by the Benin chiefs, and married a woman named Erinmwinde, with whom he had a son. After a few years, he grew tired of Benin and the many crises with which he had to contend there. He called an assembly of the Benin people and relinquished the throne, after naming the city Ile-lbinu, “the land of anger;” from which Benin, the current name of the city, comes. He decreed that only someone born and brought up in Benin and properly schooled in its traditions and mysteries should be its king. Oranmiyan then installed his son Eweka as king in his stead and returned to Ile-Ife, his own native place, leaving the palace chiefs and medicine people to take care of the new king. On his way back to Ile-Ife, Oranmiyan stopped in Ugba (Okha) and Obboh, for three and two years, respectively, to ensure that his son reached maturity before he finally returned to Ile-Ife. Eweka was crowned at Usama, his father’s palace. When Eweka died, his remains were returned to Ile- Ife for burial. This tradition, in which “the remains of the Oba of Benin were taken to Ile-Ife in every third reign,” was continued until very recently.

I am not concerned here with the historicity of the story or with its claim to truth. Rather, I regard it as an origin myth believed to be true by those who hold onto it as a part of their tradition. The story establishes the sacred origin of Benin kingship, projecting it as an extension of the Ife sacred kingship that was certainly in existence long before this period. It establishes a kinship relationship between the Ife and Benin kingdoms, although Benin later took on a more radical form of sacred kingship than that which exists in Ile-Ife. Benin became an absolute monarchy, with the first son of the reigning Oba named as the heir apparent, whereas in Ile-Ife the kingship rotates among four ruling lineages, so that the first son of a reigning king does not succeed his father and there is a strong system of checks and balances on the power of the reigning king.

Oranmiyan’s role is an important one in this story, especially in the spread of religious ideas and political values, presumably from Ile-Ife to Benin. Several traditions concerning Qranmiyan exist in Ile-Ife. One tradition refers to him as the son of Oduduwa, which is consistent with the Benin story. Another tradition refers to him as a great Ife warrior who left his mark permanently on the Ife landscape in the mystery of the Staff of Oranmiyan (Oba Oranmiyan), a stone staff with iron marks that has become a tourist attraction, if not a pilgrimage site, in Ile-Ife.

Several other traditions support this warrior ethos and connection, and Oranmiyan features prominently in the annual ritual of Ogun, also known as Olojo (the festival and ritual of kingship). Ogun, the Yoruba warrior god and god of iron, is equally important in Benin society and cosmology and possesses the same characteristics and features attributed to the deity by the Yoruba people in general.

The tradition of returning the body of the Benin Oba to Ile- Ife for interment symbolizes the return of the “stranger king” to his autochthonous place for burial, in keeping with the Yoruba and Benin tradition of burying kings and commoners in their ancestral place of origin. Why did Oranmiyan call the city Ile Ibinu, the “land of anger,” which then became Benin’s permanent name? Part of Benin’s continuing enigma is that the city’s secret cannot be unfolded, especially by outsiders, a dilemma that caused Oranmiyim (an outsider) to vacate the throne and replace himself with a son born of a Benin woman (an insider). The inherent tension in the “insider-outsider” conflict remains part of Benin’s identity today.

Three other significant cultural factors are alluded to in the Oranmiyan story: the mystical power of the Benin king; the importance of magic and medicine in sustaining the king’s power; and the burden of preserving, at all cost, the institution of kingship to ensure the survival and well-being of Benin society. The story places the burden of preserving kingship on the community.

According to Egharevba, Oranmiyan was not sent until Oduduwa had confirmed that the Benin people would take good care of their king and the institution of kingship. Those who had demonstrated their ability to preserve lice would certainly guard very jealously the institution of sacred kingship, an equally delicate and onerous task, to which the Benin have devoted their full resources up to the modern era. The institution of kingship needed to be guarded by powerful medicine and magical rituals. Oduduwa sent with Oranmiyan a medicine man to make potent magic for the suste- nance of the king. This tradition remains part of the royal cult of Benin mysticism; indeed, more than any other kingship system in Nigeria, Benin rituals, arts, and ideology of kingship demonstrate the importance of sacred power for the preservation of kingship.

Despite revisionist theories, especially in the last ten years, aimed at disconnecting the linkages between Benin and Ile- Ife, suggested by Egharevba and Robert Bradbury, the above story supports the origin of Benin kingship in Ife tradition. As Kees Bolle points out, the central issue in myth is not “what is true” in the story but “What have societies, civilizations, communities found necessary to point to and preserve as centrally valued for their entire existence?” The story thus permanently establishes the sacredness and significance of IIe-Ife as an important ceremonial center and as an ancestral city to an equally powerful kingdom that lies to its east.

Tomorrow (Part 3)

Evangelical offensive

Members of the new Christian movements are targeting the sacred authority of the Ooni, and Ile -Ife civil religion more generally, because they realize that debunking the the legitimacy of the sacred canopy – the guardianship of religious pluralism- will make it possible to destroy all indigenous non-Christian Yoruba tradition.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/book-serial-ile-ife-city-of-201-gods-2-2/

[size=18pt]Book Serial: Ile-Ife: City of 201 gods (3)[/size]
On December 13, 2012

YESTERDAY (Part 2)

The imagined sacred city, findings of Western explorers, the Ile-Ife and ancient kingdom of Benin connection stories

IFA: Divination Rituals and the New Yam Festival
IN the first three chapters of this book, I alluded to the role of Ifa divination and Ifa priests in various rituals in the sacred city, especially those relating to the resolution of the conflicts between Oduduwa and Obatala. I will devote this chapter to the place of Ifa divination and the Ifa deity in regulating and managing the spiritual and social affairs of the city and will introduce the myths and rituals of Orunmila, also known as Ifa, the Yoruba god of divination; Ifa divinatory practices; and the religious, ethical, and thought systems espoused in the rich Ifa divination texts, otherwise known as ese Ifa or Ifa divination poetry.

By analyzing certain related festivals of Ifa—Odun Egbodo Ooni (the King’s New Yam Festival), Odun Agboniregun (the Diviners’ New Yam Ceremony), and the annual Ifa Festival, together with the sacred narratives associated with them, I will show how the symbols and rituals of Ifa sanctify the sacred city. Ifa has a pivotal role in maintaining and legitimizing the Ooni’s sacred kingship and the lineage identity of Ifa devotees, particularly the Araba, the chief priest of Ifa, just as the sacred kingship legitimizes Ifa’s authority as the spokesperson for the 201 divinities of the Ile-Ife pantheon.

IFA IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE
In traditional and contemporary Yoruba culture and society, the Ifa divination system occupies a vital role in ordering and regulating the social and moral order. In addition to providing a plausible theory and practice aimed at explaining and controlling events, space, and time, Ifa represents a boidy of deep knowledge that deals with the past, present and future all at once. The Babalawo or diviners memorize Ifa as poetic oral texts and recite them on appropriate occasions, especially during rituals to secure healing and good health for clients.

As a prelude to examining the rituals and ceremonies of Ifa in Ile-Ife, it is useful to discuss the practice,logic and meaning of Ifa. The Ifa divination system of belief and ritual practices derives its authority in Ile-Ife from the sacred kingship and the lineage traditions of the diviners. The ritual and ceremonies discussed later in this chapter follow the archetypal format upon which Ifa beliefs and practices throughout Yorubaland, if not abroad, are based.

The Yoruba consult Ifa diviners on a wide range of personal, social and religious matters: for example, before undertaking an important obligation such as marriage, travelling to a distant place, and whenever they are in doubt. They use divination in situations of serious illness, especially when the illness is prolonged. Below, I interpret the symbolic and metaphysical meanings surrounding an Ifa consultation. As in the consultation that my research assistant sought in the Araba’s house, a client visits a Babalawo to determine the cause of a problem, typically a physical ailment. The client sits on a mat in front of the diviner while the Babalawo lays out his divination paraphernalia, which consists of a divinatory chain of linked half nuts and a tray of yellowish pollen. The client takes a coin, touches his forehead with it, and whispers into it his prayer or request, asking Ifa to reveal the secret behind his problem and to find an appropriate solution. He places the coin in front of the diviner, touching his chain with the coin as if conveying the request to it.

The diviner begins the session by invoking Ifa and reciting the words that begin this chapter. Ifa is showered with presents to assist in the process. The diviner requests that Ifa not mislead his client. The invocation also allows the diviner to pay homage to the spirit world, the ancestors, the great diviners before him, and the four directions of the Yoruba universe as he moves the chain to the front, back, left, right, and center of the tray, acknowledging all the relevant spiritual forces connected to the process. To cast the divination, the diviner holds the chain in the middle and throws it on the mat, making a “U” shape on the floor, so that four nuts fall on each side. The nuts will expose either convex or concave sides, thus displaying sixteen possible forms of the “signature” of Ifa. Each signature stands for an odu (divinatory sign or symbol), and each odu is linked to several verses of oral poems that interpret it. The diviner then recites the odu that appears in the divination castings. The client listens carefully, and after the recitation comments on whether any of the poems is relevant to his illness. At this stage the client may reveal to the diviner the nature of his inquiry. The diviner will interpret the text and, through further questioning, arrive at a definite cause of his client’s problem. The diviner will prescribe the appropriate remedy, usually a sacrificial ritual and the use of medicinal herbs.

Ooni with the sacred crown.

Although the most frequently employed form of divination involves the use of the opele chain, a more prestigious and elaborate form of divination, the ikin, involves the use of sixteen palm nuts. The diviner takes the palm nuts from a beautifully carved divination bowl into one hand. He then attempts to grab with his other hand most of the palm nuts in his first hand, leaving one or two. He marks the result of the exercise in the powder in the divination tray. When one palm nut is left in the other hand, the diviner makes two marks, and when two ikin are left, he makes one mark. When no palm nuts remain, he makes no mark. This process is done several times until the diviner can make four signs on each side of the tray. Each divination session produces an odu divination sign out of the 256 possible signs. The process of reciting the odu that appears to the client is similar to the above divinatory session with the opele.
Below is an example of verses from an odu called Eji Ogbe, which explains how important divination practice is on earth.
Ko sibi ti afefe ki i fe e de
Ko sibi ti iji ki i ja a de
A d’ifa fun Ojise Olodumare
Eni ti Olodumare ran wa sile aye
Eni ran’ni nise la a beru
A ki i beru eni ta a je fun
Olowo ori mi ko je t’Ikole orun bo wa s’Ikole aye
Olowo ori mi o re’bi Kankan
To fi n se gbogbo ohun ti o fe e se
Eni to ba ko’ti ikun s’Ifa
Eniyankeniyan to ni eni wo’fa o logbon lori
Enikeni to ni eni n wofa n sese ibi
O setan to fe e lo s’alakeji
Ojo to jade nile koje pada wale omo
Ebi iru won nii jese owo o won
Enikeni o gbodo so pe Ifa o nii se e
Ohun t’Ifa ba so nii fun babalawo lounje
Eni to n’Ifa n puro o lere kankan.

There is no place that the wind does not blow.
There is no place that the hurricane does not blow.
Who divines for the messenger that Olodumare the Supreme sends on an errand?
He who sends you on an errand
He [whom) only you will respect.
Your Master never travels from heaven above.
Your Lord does not go out visiting.
Your Lord stays in one place and accomplishes everything he wants to bring about.
Whoever refuses to obey the diviners’ words,
Whoever says the client’s work is not good,
Should be prepared to see Olodumare in heaven [i.e., be prepared to die].
When the enemy leaves his house, he will not return home.
The family he leaves behind will have to take charge of his affairs.
No one must doubt the stories of the diviners. The stories the diviners tell provide for their daily bread.
The enemy who says the diviners are lying will make no progress in life.

In this powerful narrative the heavenly Ifa commands his devotees to take the work of the diviners seriously and spells out consequences for disobedience. Ifa diviners see this passage as proclaiming the authority given to them by Orunmila to control, determine, and mediate the affairs of the living. The diviner’s role recalls that of the Holy Spirit, who according to Christ’s promise would guide the affairs of the world after Christ departed.

The Logic and Meaning of Ifa
African societies recognize two forms of divination: the mechanical and the mystical. The mechanical form involves manipulating divining instruments or objects to arrive at an appropriate answer and treatment for the client. The mystical form centers on possession by a deity and appeal to a deity. In discussing the !Kung or San divination system, Lorna Marshall has argued that mechanical forms of divination fall into the category of magic and “secular” rather than religious forms because they involve no communication with mystical powers. But although Ifa divination is primarily mechanical, the preamble to an Ifa divination session indicates that mystical powers in control of the cosmos are invoked.

Ifa divination is also premised on the communication process between the diviner and the spiritual agencies responsible for proper divination performances. William Bascom remarked that the result is influenced by divine guidance. As in the divination process used by the Ainu of Japan, an invocation and prayer to the mystical forces precede the actual mechanical manipulation of the divinatory instrument. The invocation of Ifa provides an important clue to the logic of the divination mechanism. Here we focus on the Ifa divination performance for healing, and our exploration of its three stages – consultation, diagnosis, and sacrifice-must begin with the ritual invocation. It is a poetic ritual prayer addressed to the relevant cosmic powers (the gods, ancestors, spirits) that the diviners know could influence the outcome of the client’s diagnosis. The Ifa ritual invocation that I witnessed in 1991 was intoned as follows:

The front of Ifa
The back of Ifa,
The right side of Ifa,
The all-knowing on the left, the centre of Ifa,
The centre of heaven
From the dawn of the day
to the setting of the sun,
Never say it is good when the message is evil
Never say it is evil when the message is good.
Never speak in a voice of deceit!

These lyrics are the diviner’s invocation to Ifa, spoken as a prayer to guide his consultation rightly so that an unequivocal truth may emerge. By his invocations, the diviner symbolically dramatizes the creation of the cosmos, the three layers of the Yoruba world. At the core of the divination is the idea that the universe and its events are guided by Ifa. He is the regulator of events in the universe (Agbayegun), and his divination process and activities bring order to a potentially chaotic universe. That spiritual order is symbolized by the regulating grid of the four cardinal points of the universe plus the centre, the fifth and the most central point.

The five important axes of power are replicated in the Ifa divination tray, usually carved out of wood, which represents the universe. The circular tray is a replica or “reproduction, on the human scale, of the cosmos [and] of Creation itself. It is an imago mundi, an image of the original world order.” At times in the course of divination, the Babalawo may trace these axes in the yellow powder on the Ifa tray, indicating the connection between the four cardinal points and the center.

The centre of the divining tray, like the centre of the world, is the link to the centre of heaven, the abode of the Supreme God (Olodumare) and the storehouse of sacred knowledge required to discover the “secrets” surrounding the client’s ailment, the hidden forces that have produced it. This is analogous to Victor Turner’s notion of the centre “out there;’ a place outside the immediate domain of the client, which nevertheless can be accessed through divination.

The act of touching the divining chain or opele on the four cardinal points and then the center of the tray captures a complex religious symbolism. By this visually significant act, the tray becomes the earthly sacred centre from which the diviner makes present the heavenly centre and the ultimate storehouse of Ifa’s knowledge.”

Lokoloko (palace guards) holding whips made of branches during the Olojo Festival

Ifa divination connects the diviner’s probing act with the source of the client’s being, the ori (personal destiny). By this process, divination exposes the client’s destiny, the realities that influence his development, and the configuration of sacred powers that governs the world’s ceaseless transformations.

CONVERSION AND THE NEW FACE OF MODERNITY IN ILE-IFE

Today, in Ile-Ife and throughout Yorubaland, newer Pentecostal, evangelical, and “born-again” Christian movements that first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s are challenging the institution of the sacred kingship and the pluralistic order that has existed for over a century. These movements epitomize a new form of modernity encroaching upon Ile-Ife. Amid hundreds of evangelical Christian programs, revival meetings, open-air services, and nightly vigils taking place in the city, a newly emergent form of discourse is pushing evangelical Christian activities beyond the arena of the churches and private spirituality to public spaces, thereby directly challenging the orisa-based civil religion that has been in place. I should add that whereas in the Western world the crisis of modernity often connotes a struggle between religion and secularity, Ile-Ife’s current struggle over the negotiation of modernity concerns which form of religion will control its centre and civic life.

This newer negotiation of modernity is driven by generally exclusivist religious movements whose theology subsumes the entire cosmos and its inhabitants under a single divine order, ruled over by a Supreme God. This theology renders implausible the older order, according to which there exists not only the sacred kingship but also a diverse range of spirits and ancestors. As a result, this shift of sacred power and authority-from rulers and principalities that inhabit the living world to a single divine order inhabiting an invisible world (called heaven) – creates significant tension between devotees of the orisa and members of the new, predominantly Christian, movements. In short, these new movements challenge existing assumptions about what it means to be human in the cosmos and how civil authority is to be understood.

According to these new movements, all kings are simply human beings. Thus no king has any inherent religious or earthly authority that gives him power as head of the community, as the chief priest of the local civil religion. Central to this message is an emphasis on the personal salvation of individual converts. Moreover, unlike indigenous traditions, which were concerned with the temporal domain and a this-worldly proximate salvation, the new movements place significant emphasis on otherworldly salvation and benefits. Kings have become more concerned with their own personal salvation than with the proximate salvation of their people as a whole. Each individual is left to fight for his or her own salvation.

Members of these new Christian movements are targeting the sacred authority of the Ooni, and Ile-Ife civil religion more generally, because they realize that debunking the legitimacy of the sacred canopy-the guardianship of religious pluralism-will make it possible to destroy all indigenous non-Christian Yoruba traditions. While this kind of exclusivity is often associated with the European and American missionary enterprises of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I have shown that their accommodationist orientation actually tended to support a role for indigenously based Yoruba civil religion. Rather, native Yoruba are driving this second, far less tolerant, mode of conversion. Although the new Christian movements are part of a global effort to usher in a universal Christian moral and social order, the conversion tactics employed by native inhabitants of Ile-Ife are specifically adapted to their local context. These individuals are able to explore and exploit, to their advantage, their knowledge of the indigenous orisa tradition in order to turn that tradition against itself. They draw upon the indigenous tradition’s pragmatic orientation – its emphasis on religion’s use value – but claim that indigenous beliefs and practices no longer have such use value because they no longer meet people’s needs.

Thus these new movements often blame disorderly events – particularly those perceived to be obstructing societal progress – on the continuance of traditional orisa religious practices and ways of life, which are regarded as “pagan.” Among these events are pestilence, natural disaster, famine, disease (especially the AIDS epidemic), and military coups, all of which are seen as signs of divine anger and Satan’s presence. Paradoxically, whereas indigenous religions have claimed that they were indeed performing rituals, engaging in calendrical ceremonies and holding festivals to explain, predict, and control natural phenomena, the new Christian movements have claimed that destructive natural phenomena and events are caused by the continuation of these very “pagan” rituals and festivals. Evangelical Christianity’s desire to trump indigenous religious symbols and practices has effectively devolved into a declaration of hostility and war against indigenous traditions. As the cultured despisers of indigenous practices, these new Christian movements aim at doing away with any forms of local knowledge, language, and ethos, even when they do not have any apparent religious connection. For example, by discouraging the use of vernacular liturgy and local dialects, members of these new movements aim to preach a universal message that is ultimately of global, rather than purely local, reach.

CITY OF 201 GODS: Ile-Ife in Time, Space, and Imagination by Jacob k. Olupona will be presented at NIIA, Lagos today at 11 am (This must have taken place already.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/book-serial-ile-ife-city-of-201-gods-3/

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babyosisi: What I have read so far sounds to me like a fetish godless city full of idol worship and juju
A land teaming with evil spirits and backwardness
It is this holding unto idolatry that causes ritual killings and sacrifices for these gods when there is a better way
The land needs to turn to Jehovah to have those covenants broken and the people set free in the mighty name of Jesus
The king of kings and Lord of Lords

You are a big fool for calling the Yoruba religion idol worship and referring to Ile-Ife as an evil land. Take ur Jehovah to Israel, we denounce that name in Yorubaland

Good morning sir, i was hoping if you can help me on understanding more about OSA-LOGBE... Your knowledge and wisdom is highly needed, thank you sir..