OPENING THE DAY WITH ORI, IFÁ AND THE ORISA
A RITUAL OF INVOCATION AND CONTEMPLATION
I Purify and Consecrate yourself using the Celestial Sanctum ablution and invocation
[ The Celestial Sanctum ablution and invocation are a ritual and contemplative method of the Ancient Mystical Order of the Rosy Cross (AMORC) in which the individual washes their hands, drinks a glass of water and requests that the divine essence of the Cosmic infuse their being so they may enter the Celestial Sanctum and attune in purity and worthiness. The Celestial Sanctum is the ground and source of being visualized in terms of whatever image the individual finds inspiring ]
Visualize the divining tray of Ifá-blank
[iThe divining tray of the Ifa divination system, the central system of knowledge of Classical Yoruba culture, is the central iconographic form, the central visual form of the system, after the marks that represent the two hundred and fifty-six Odu, the latter being the primary organising categories of Ifa. The totality of the Odu are derived from a primary set of sixteen forms]
Meditate on this symbol of the coming of everything from Nothing. The divining tray is empty but from it will emerge the sixteen Odu. In a similar sense, out of the emptiness of the essence of being, emerges all that exists. The divination tray is empty but on it will be written the sixteen Odu which represent the totality of existence. In a similar sense, all that is emerges out of the emptiness of the essence of being. From Nothing did the universe come. To Nothing will it return.
[A personal, speculative interpretation of Ifa cosmology, deriving from a number of sources, including Hindu cosmology and the cosmology of the Hermetic writer Dion Fortune as described in The Cosmic Doctrine]
Begin by contemplating the spiral and snake formations on the Opon Ifa :
As the spiral returns into itself,as the snake curls itself into a circle, as Osumare, the ever moving rainbow serpent, symbol of continuity and permanence, the principle of movement, the integrating force that bids the primordial elements together,encircles the world to hold it together,as the universe is stable and yet dynamic,
Using the visualization sequence described in the four successive diagrams below,slowly Visualize the sixteen Odu emerge on the tray as you call out their names and visualize their symbolic markings. Complete this visualization by imagining the face of Esu surmounting the tray.
[ Esu is the Orisa, one of the deities of the Orisa tradition which has its origins in Yorubaland,
who, along with Orunmila, the founder of the Ifa system, and Odu, Orunmila’s wife, overlooks the divinatory process. According to one perspective, Odu revealed the oracular system to Orunmila, and her being is manifest in the two hundred and fifty six Odu. Esu represents the axis constituted by the relationship between chance, opportunity and free will, as well as the mediation between the various aspects of being, particularly between the Orisa and human beings ]
Visualise the first two Odu understood as masculine and feminine forces depicted as two interesting triangles: masculine up, feminine down
Visualise the first two Odu emerge into four, understood as two intersecting lines of masculine and feminine forces: masculine: vertical, feminine: horizontal
Visualise the first four Odu emerge into eight, understood as four intersecting lines of masculine and feminine forces: masculine: vertical, diagonal; feminine: horizontal, diagonal
Visualise the first eight Odu emerge into sixteen, understood as eight intersecting lines of masculine and feminine forces: masculine: vertical, diagonal; feminine: horizontal, diagonal
Visualize the universal correlations of the Odu.Begin by speaking the definition/ description of the Odu by Ohomina, an affirmation of cosmic unity:
The Odu are the names of spirits whose origin we do not know. We understand only a small fraction of their significance. They are the brains behind the efficacy of whatever we prepare. They are the spiritual names of all elements in existence, whether abstract or concrete: plants, animals, human beings, the elements and all kinds of situations. Abstractions such as love, hate, truth and falsehood; concrete forms such as rain, water, land, air and the stars; situations such as celebrations, fighting and ceremonies are represented in spiritual terms by the various Odu.
Joseph Ohomina, Bini Ifa priest
Imagine these correlations as lines that extend to encompass the cosmos.
Japanese Garden, Inspired by Zen Buddhism, Depicting the Relationship between Center and Circumference Evocative of the Relationship between the Design of the Opon Ifa and its Role in the Generation of Knowledge through the Convergernce between the Fecundative Void of Odu Symbolised by the Empty Centre of the Opon Ifa and the Multifarious Activity of Existence as Suggested by its Circumference
Imagine the Odu as a rain of ase descending on you as you sing:
[ In Classical Yoruba thought and the Orisa tradition, Ase is the creative force that animates the cosmos and is responsible for being and becoming]
I can feel it
falling on me
I can feel it
the sacred rain
I can feel it
falling on me
I can feel it
the glorious rain
Dews pour lightly, pour lightly.
Dews pour heavily, pour heavily.
Dews pour heavily
So that you may pour lightly
As I pour myriads of existence upon the earth .
Imagine the rain become the waters of the maternal womb within which you were nurtured and from which you were born….
Imagine that womb become the fecundative void at the centre of the Opon Ifa where you are seated, empty but full of possibilities
You become fire that makes transformations from one state to another possible, from matter to energy, from the first nothingness to everything, the primal explosion through which the universe was created, the radiations of sound racing outward from the core of the terrible cataclysm, the forms that were crushed out of the chaos emerging as star clusters, as planetary systems, as the variety of the cosmos…
Pray
One particle of dust becomes
A basketful measure of dust
I …… it is who carry a basketful of dust to the earth
I use a basketful of dust
To reshape the earth
Myriads of goodness take the shape of togetherness.
Strands of hair come together to occupy the head.
The clumping of eruwa grasses becomes the savannah
Bees always cluster together.
Eeran leaves grow in a bunch.
The broom exists as a bundle.
The creator of togetherness, I invoke you!
Let myriads of goodness come to me !
Complete this stage with the adoration and supplication of the Almighty.
II Having set the stage by creating the proper frame of reference invoke Ehi, Ori and the Orisa using an adaptation of (a). The over-all body exercise.
[ Ehi is the name of the immortal self in the Bini religious tradition, Ori is the name for the same conception in the Yoruba tradition ]
[The over-all body exercise : A yoga like exercise from AMORC which involves concentrating on each part of the body while inhaling and imagining the breath as vivifying that body part. Usually starts from the feet and moves to the head and back progressively to the feet.]
(b) The Middle Pillar Ritual. As you vibrate the divine names, reflect briefly on their significance in their (a) Traditional conception. (b). Universal aspect.
[ The Middle Pillar Ritual comes from the Western esoteric school of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and is described in Israel Regardie’s edition of the Order's rituals in The Rituals ,Rites and Ceremonies of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn . It involves concentrating on a part of the body, principally those parts that correspond to the Jewish/Hermetic cosmology of the Kabbala, and intoning the sacred names of the body of God as expressed in terms of the structure of the cosmos, thereby correlating self and cosmos and vivifying those cosmic centres in the individual self. These centres are correlated with the head, the throat, the chest, the navel, the feet, the shoulders and the hips. A close look at the ritual is necessary to clarify any mistakes in this description. One can adapt this to the Orisa and Odu cosmology on which Ifa is based ]
Complete this phase with Yoga exercises, including deep breathing in the lotus posture.
[Yoga is an Indian discipline that involves the development and correlation of body, mind and spirit. The Lotus posture is a sitting position in which the legs are crossed in front of the bottom while the back is kept straight. It is understood to facilitate the management of prana, a vital energy that animates the body understood as an aspect of the total self. It is very useful for maintaining alertness.Prana is also understood to be present in the breath,making techniques of breathing vital in yoga.Slow,deep breathing is certainly useful in steadying the emotions. ]
III Having established a correlation between your spirit, mind and body using the procedure of section II, say the following prayers. Since you have opened your sanctum or shrine with the proper invocations and meditations,you may seat and proceed.
(a). Ehi, my self in heaven, my Overself, Ori, captain of the path of my life, my inner self, Chi, the guidance of the supreme one in my life, my inner self who existed before I came into this world, who dwells with the Undying One, what is your will? What agreements have been reached and are even now being negotiated in the depths of my soul?
May I forge a link, build a bridge between your transcendent vision and my conscious understanding.
[The aspects of the self being called upon here are understood to exist in the dimension of being that relates most closely to the creator of the universe, if I am not overgeneralising. They are also understood to embody aspects of the potential of the individual which are not ordinarily accessible to consciousness but which can be reached through divination and supplication. For Ori, among many sources, one could see Bolaji Idowu, Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief, Wande Abimbola, An Exposition of Ifa Divination Corpus and Ifa Divination Poetry . For Chi, Chinua Achebe, "Chi in Igbo Cosmology". For Ehi, ]
Pray
As the Iroko and Akpobrisi manifest the Supreme Presence in the forest so do the Odu express the One beyond being in the world of being. May I see with the eye of Eji Ogbe, Owonrin Meji, Ofun Meji, each Odu and her Orisha but also perceive with the understanding of the one beyond all .
As the eye of the eagle soaring above the Iroko, the rabbit and the deer, sees how these various forms make one whole, my heart beats in harmony with the heart of the forest.The immortal spirit that animates the forest, the immortal spirit that flows through the Odu, the immortal spirit that energizes the world, the immortal spirit that lives in me, are one and the same .
Orisanla
You who molds each child in the womb
from whom each Orisa emerged through the shattering
of your form
re gathered by the Wise One
into
the holy
being
whose purity is that of the stream at dawn .
Orisanla may my being be united in the calabash of radiant purity
at the center of my self.
Light the path of my journey to the center of the world
may the vigour of the passage
strengthen the self and elevate the spirit.
As I was kneaded into existence
by hands of divine love
the spark of life in me lit by the ultimate fire
May everything I bring into being be inspired
By the One
Who is beyond time and space
but who has shaped the cosmos
in the image of Its thought.
Orunmila
The Wisdom which has existed since before creation
You who understand the essence and relationships of all that is
enkindle the flame of our minds
so that by its radiance strengthened by your light
we may see into the pot of Being where all
existence is woven into one.
Esu
My brother
who is paradox itself
may I grasp the various aspects of truth
which even through seemingly
in opposition
form one whole .
As Obatala
On his journey of purification and atonement
may I learn that you, Esu, are everywhere
in those tests that strain us to respond
with the emotion and thought of the moment
or with the understanding of our divine mission .
O You, Esu, who give reward for action
that is in harmony with divine will.
May I always act and respond
with an understanding of the universal law
of cause and effect.
Visualize
The divining tray glowing with the 16 Odu patterns
Pray
Brethren
guide me to create the wisest pattern as I
weave the tapestry of my life
according to your divine wisdom.
Visualize
Your brethren in light
As an assembly of radiant beings who lay
shining hands of power on you and merge their
luminous beings with yours, lifting you into
cosmic consciousness, in union with the Absolute.
Pray
As you visualize the brethren:
My ancestors in the wisdom of the Odu
extend yourself to one who wants to
discover and propagate the profound
significance of this understanding which we all love.
May my being
and
my actions be united in
this divine and holy task.
Ase . Toyin Adepoju
FURTHER EXPLANATORY NOTES
1."As the spiral returns into itself..." Adapted almost verbatim from the superb work of Babatunde Lawal on Ogboni iconography,where he quotes the luminous perceptiveness of Hans Witte.
2. The sequence of drawings of white lines and geometric forms against a black background are described as sigils from Voodoo religion by where I copied them from on .I have used interpretations of some of their meanings, adapting them to my own use. The idea of the symbolism of the upward and downward facing triangles comes from Hindu Yantras which use almost identical visual forms.
3.The rain prayer is adapted from a Pentecostal Christian song
4.The prayer of dew is adapted with slight variations from from Babatunde Lawal, The Gelede Spectacle,University of Washington Press,1996.21
5.The Iroko and Akpobrisi are sacred trees in Classical Bini cosmology
6." May I see with the eye of Eji Ogbe..." The names of three of the Odu are correlated with the description, by Wande Abimbola,that each Odu is correlated with an Orisa, thereby integrating the cosmos as understood by Ifa
7. "The immortal spirit that animates the forest...." an adaptation of a section of the Upanishads, a central text in Indian thought,in terms of the Classical Yoruba conception of the forest as a microcosm of the cosmos as described by Abiola Irele in "Tradition and the Yoruba Writer".
8. "Orisanla You who molds each child in the womb..." Orisanla is described as the Orisa who moulds the child in the womb, before Olodumare, the supreme being, infuses the child with life (Idowu is very impressive on this). He is noted for purity of being as represented by his white garments and the purity of the stream at dawn, from which water is fetched in a calabash every morning to grace his altar (Idowu).He represents the proliferation of the Many from the One through the shattering of his self into shards which are the other Orisa. The rest was gathered into the sacred calabash of existence by Orunmila, the Embodiment of Wisdom,Who was consulted by the creator, Olodumare at the time of creation ( from Idowu along with a beautiful metaphorical interpretation in Ulli Beier, The Return of the Gods: The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger )
9."...pot of of Being where all existence is woven into one." A central metaphor of Ifa is the closed calabash understood as a metaphor of the cosmos, and, possibly,the dwelling place and being of Odu, the wife of Orunmila and generative source of the wisdom of Ifa as described in Rowland Abiodun, and Henry John Drewal et al, Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination and Judith Gleason, A Recitation of Ifa, Oracle of the Yoruba.
10. "Esu..."“Esu turns right into wrong, wrong into right” (Wande Abimbola, Sixteeen Great Poems of Ifa) His cap is red on one side and black on the other; he is at time shown as androgynous . A superb analysis of Esu’s correlation of contraries is provided in the first chapter of Henry Louis Gates Jrs’ The Signifying Monkey ,"A Theory of the Tradition".
11."As Obatala On his journey of purification and atonement..." Orisanla,also known as Obatala, was once advised by Ifa/Orunmila before he went on a journey to visit his friend the Orisa Sango, Alafin of Oyo, that he should bear without retaliating every provocation he encountered on the journey. He did so even though he suffered serious ignominies. He was eventually vindicated by the forces of nature which responded in protest to his circumstances. The provocateur on that journey is at times identified with Esu, agent of opportunity for good or bad (Ulli Beier, A Year of Sacred Festivals and The Return of the Gods : The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger ).
12. "Ase". An invocation of the Yoruba conception of ase, the creative force that animates the cosmos and is responsible for being and becoming. It can be cultivated and directed through a variety of means, including ritual. It is to be intoned slowly and mindfully, enabling one to take advantage of the correlation of vowel and consonantal sounds that constitutes its phonological structure,, a combination that recurs in a number of sacred words, including the Hindu OM, described as the expression of the creative force that sustains the universe, Amen, the Judaeo-Christian word of sacred affirmation, Amon, the ancient Egyptian name for the creator of the universe. The Rosicrucian thinker Harvey Spencer Lewis describes this vowel,/consonantal combination as facilitating entry into contemplative states ( “Amen,OM, Amon”, Rosicrucian Digest). AMORC suggest they be intoned along with rhythmic deep breathing and I have experienced the combination of breathing and slow intonation of one of such words as I have listed above to be helpful in facilitating entry into a contemplative state.
