Ire ati Ayo Omo Orisa!
Good Tidings and Joyfulness! In my last Post we spoke about your Destiny and your Fate, and the role your Ori plays in assisting you to align your Choices and therefore your Fate (the consequence of your choices) with your Destiny. When you consult Ifa to assist you in that alignment the guidance you are given may not always make sense to you. After all, if it all made sense you would have had no need to consult in the first place. Ifa does not challenge you but life does and so the journey that your take in following Ifa’s guidance may not be along a straight and smooth road. Perhaps a story can help to clarify this important point.
Your brain thrives on associative links, your mind needs to complete pictures, and your imagination loves stories. The 256 Orisa Odu provide the seeker with wisdom and guidance in the form of stories that are at once the Yoruba history of the beginning, and a library of metaphors and analogies that give insight and solutions to the affairs of human beings. Bi owe, bi owe, ru Ifa soro! (Like proverbs, like proverbs, is how Ifa speaks) This is one of the stories the late Baba Chief Adelekan shared during his visit with me. Where the commentary On Becoming A Babalawo speaks to the training, responsibilities, and character of the Babalawo, this story speaks to the faith that one must be able to place in Olodumare, Orisa, Egun, and the Babalawo.
The Thief
There was a man and his wife who lived in a prosperous town. A town that was prosperous for everyone but him. Everywhere he looked the people were flourishing, but his own condition remained the same - poor. In time the man's condition drove him to consult with his Babalawo. Ifa advised that in order to be successful the man had to follow in the profession of his father. This honest man was somewhat confounded by the Ifa reading and went home to discuss the matter with his wife.
How can you follow in the footsteps of your father, she asked - when your father was a thief? The man, sincere in his faith, and his wife, sincere in her love, agreed that he should follow the instructions of the Babalawo. They devised a plan. The man would travel to the nearby town, enter the king's palace, and steal something of great value. One night the man snuck into the king's chambers. Meanwhile, the king had taken a younger wife and was spending private time with her in another room. However, the king's other wives were quite jealous and angry over his decision and actions, and were devising a plan to poison the king.
As the man snuck into the king's chamber, the group of angry wives came in and he hid in the ceiling rafts. As he hung above their head, he heard their plan and saw them place poison in the king's food. When the king returned, the wives began encouraging him to eat. As the king got ready to put some of the poison food in his mouth, the man fell from the ceiling. Everyone jumped back in surprise. The king demanded the man's identity and an explanation for his presence in the king's palace and chamber. The man explained his circumstance and what he had overheard.
In gratitude for saving his life, the king gave the man both wealth and status, and he was allowed to return home to his wife.
What a wonderful reminder that Olodumare, Orisa, and Ancestors have no desire to harm us. Like the circumstances of my Journey to Ile-Ife, the Path that Ifa chooses for us to arrive at our intended destination may not be straight, and in fact may sometimes look like we are being asked to travel in the opposite direction. In this story, the man’s physical Ori asked him, how could you, an honest man, become a thief? His Spiritual Ori asked how could you, a faithful man, not follow the guidance of Ifa?
I tell my spiritual godchildren:
Trust the Process!
Ifa does not lie!
Orisa never break their promises!
Certainly the decision that the man and his wife came to was not made easily. Their decision was made based on their faith in Ifa, and the knowledge that what the man’s Ori permits to come through in the reading is intended to guide him toward his destiny. Certainly the man and his wife had to overcome their fears and practical concerns in order to choose. That is what we each have to do each and every day of our lives. We have to choose!
B’ao ku ishe o tan!
When there is life, there is still hope!
Ise Olorun Tobi! God’s Work is Great and Mighty!
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!
