This Ifa worldview binds each of us to the past and to the future. It calls us to mindfulness of the highest values, traditions, and aspirations of those who came before us. At the same time, it compels us to be mindful of the choices we make during our personal journey because our choices affect the legacy of our Egun and the conditions under which our descendants will be born (or our Ancestors reborn). The Ifa Ancestral worldview also fulfills several of the essential needs of our species like a sense of belonging and connection. If you understand that once someone returns from the oja to nile, all of what they have done in this world becomes clear to them. They are without confusion as to the consequences of the choices they made during their journey in the marketplace. Confusion cannot pass from this world into the next. Since your Egun can see things clearly their only motivation is Love and their only intention is your Success. Even if the relationship between you and your relatives was a bad relationship when they were alive, you need not fear as to their feelings or intentions towards you once they leave this world.
Many if not most practitioners of Ifa will have a small ancestral altar somewhere in their home. A few pictures going back one or many generations, some family heirlooms, and a clear glass or wooden goblet to offer their Egun a drink of cool water every few days. Setting a small plate at the table at dinnertime and placing a small amount of each food in the plate for your Egun is also a wonderful way of creating mindfulness about this connection that exists between you and the spiritual world. When you create the conditions for mindfulness you open yourself up to the energies that your Egun are sending through. Some of the images that come through in your dreams may also contain impressions that your Ancestors are communicating to you. Listen!
Believing as we do in Ifa, and many other indigenous traditions, that all of the layers of this world and all of the dimensions of creation are connected, we travel in the world not as an individual ego but as a sentient part of a greater fecundating whole. We also recognize that death does not end the relationship between souls. Many of us still carry baggage from our previous relationships with our deceased relatives. We treat death like a permanent barrier between the worlds and believe that we must carry the weigh of our unresolved issues for the rest of our lives. We believe Iku (death) has robbed us of the chance to settle matters in a way that brings us peace and balance. But Ifa says unfinished business can still be finished.
Take a moment each day to talk to your Egun like they were right their in your presence. Share your thoughts, hopes, feelings, and fears with them and you may find that death has power over life but not over love.
Ki Olodumare, Orisa, ati Egun fifun e ni
Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!
Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!
My Olodumare, Orisa, and Ancestors bestow on you
Guidance, Wisdom, and Abundant Blessings!
Adura: An Ifa Prayer Book For Beginners (Preview)
2 comments:
Peace and Love Baba Sharif,
Thank you for your enlightening blog! It is heartwarming to think that I can reach out to my Egun knowing that there is an entrance for crossing oja to nile. Since I do believe that I am a Conscious Energy form or Soul, it is not difficult for me to consider that I may indeed be a part of a linage of souls, Egungun. It is also exciting to note that my relationship with my Egun can be one of Clarity, Love, Intention, and Success. What a wonderful conception! I look forward to establishing an ancestral altar for my Egun, creating Mindfulness while entering into the realm of Spiritual Consciousness and then sharing with my Ancestors my Love for them along with my thoughts, feelings, hopes, and concerns. I also look forward to Listening intently to their messages in my Dreams.
Baba Sharif, I think this spiritual-based poem gives honor and character to your priestly thoughts:
The Iku
The Iku [death]: what do they say about them?
They say the body is dead- but they keep living.
They say the body is gone - back to the earth,
But the spirit just keeps moving....
As surely as Oya makes the wind to blow
And as surely as the storms bring change
All life cycles must transform, all things must rearrange.
As surely as the ocean, we say the ocean runs deep
The Iku- they walk again - we say the Dead do not sleep.
If you don’t take care of the Ancestors,
Exactly how do you expect them to take care of you?
Then you are out there in the madness of the world
And then just exactly what are you going to do?....
Elevate all those strong spirits that never once gave up the fight....
So we build the Dead a house and we dress and bless the shrine
We invite our people to the earth to commune
And then we Open up our minds.
We light a candle for our Mother’s people, our Father’s people too
We Then we Feed the Dead faithfully - that’s what we have to do.
We pray for iwa pele [the dead] each and every single day
Then we sit down, be quiet and Listen when they say what they have to say.
Efunyale Akinloye (n.d.)
References:
Akinloye, E. (n.d.). The Iku. Retrieved from http://www.cultural-expressions.com/poetry/poetrydef.htm
Thank you so much for sharing this poem. I hope everyone takes the time to read it. The connection with Egun is so important for it represents a strong chain of relationship that cannot be broken. Our Egun live-on in us and they and we will live-on through our descendants and the descendants of our relatives. To deny our Ancestors is to deny our own roots and the fuller history of our being. To neglect them is to put your pot on the stove and forget to light the fire.
Alafia!
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