Oyekuwori alagogo oje, owner of the lead bell Little by little is the work of Isan, dripping Last year, you beat the bell of wood This year, you are beating the bell of metal Next year, you will beat the bell of brass Don't you know it is little by little that Isan moves? - Holy Odu OyekuIwori Spiritual development adheres to natural laws of growth and progression. Anyone who hopes to enjoy the beauty, the power and the wisdom of Orisa Lifestyle must submit himself to the natural sequence of personal transformation, expressed in the verse above as the transition from wood to lead to brass. As a result, leaders of spiritual communities are charged with creating an environment that supports the natural order. Stated differently, social order - man made laws, rules and regulations - can either reinforce or contradict the rules of nature and the cosmos. Ifa teaches us, bit by bit we eat the head of the rat; bit by bit we eat the head of the elephant. Likewise, Ifa goes on to teach us, one by one we eat walnuts; one by one we eat groundnuts. These proverbial insights reinforce the necessity to do things methodically and deliberately. Consider, for example, that you cannot build a family overnight. In order to be an elder, who is surrounded by your children, grand children and relatives, you must cultivate a multitude of meaningful relationships, decade after decade after decade. Consider the teachings of Orunmila in the Holy Odu OfunOdi, which says; Ladder supports your body with the ground It props-up your frame with the land A wasp stings with its butt Cast divination for Oduduwa Oluwaami Aterigbeji Who was asked to offer 22,000 cowries So that he may own the children in the world Oduduwa heard about the offering and performed it The world exclaimed: well done The children of Oduduwa - Holy Odu OfunOdi The whole of Yoruba civilization is organized around the leadership of Oduduwa, who is credited with establishing the 16 original kingdoms, each with its own infrastructure and systems of governance. Ultimately, we know that kingdoms like Ife, Oyo, Osogbo and Ketu were not built in a single day. They were founded and developed bit by bit, one family lineage at a time. The greatness of a nation begins in its homes. Well established homes required balanced individuals. Living the medicine means crafting a personal priesthood that encourages your ability to transition from one stage of development to the next, always increasing your ability to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of the people you are destined to serve. Aboru aboye abosise It isn't every day that you get a glimpse of poetry in motion. When you do, however, it is important to remember the experience, how it impacted you, as well as how your perspective has changed as a result. Today, I want to affirm for you the indellible fact that life is filled with possibilities. Examine the details, embrace the difficulties and accept the outright failures. But never limit yourself to the mundane. Take it for what it is; a launch pad to your ascent. Rise above it all! Live the medicine! So, when I first started to pursue the mysteries, I was fortunate to enjoy the good company of some brothers who were Gnostic students. Of all the teachings I was exposed to, Hindu astrology - jyotish - fascinated me because of the use of the moon and the deities. Today, I still find myself drawn to Hindu astrology from time to time. It's fun to find out new ways to see myself and try to understand my place in the universe.
It dawns on me that some people approach Orisa Lifestyle in a similar kind of way. They're curious. They want to window shop and browse. I get it. But if you've ever gone shopping in Yoruba land, you know that there is very little room for browsing. When you enter the fabric seller's stall, the assumption is that you're there for one purpose; to buy fabric. When you point out one you like, they ask how much you would like. If you waver or vacillate, the shop keeper might suck her teeth or furl her brow in disapproval. I realize how my thinking has shifted. I find myself confused by people's ambiguity and penchant for dip and dabble Ifa. I disapprove of fence-sitting and indecision. In my mind, there seems to be a growing sense of conclusiveness that says, "you're here for a single purpose. Pick your path and stick with it." But my fascination with Hindu astrology reminds me that sometimes, people are just having a little fun. It doesn't mean they're not serious. They just want to satisfy their curiosity. Orisa Lifestyle is preferable to religion alone because it is a holistic approach to self improvement. In my work with people over the passed twenty years, I have learned that the most successful clients and students take a holistic approach, which accounts for the mundane as well as the mystical, the emotional as well as the intellectual dimensions of personal discipline. Here are six practices taken from my Orisa Lifestyle Academy that are designed to help you to be your best:
Find out more at the Orisa Lifestyle Academy. Otua fufu - Holy Odu OtuaOfun Today, few people are aware of the mile wide dust storms that terrorize many places of the world, particularly China. Even fewer remember the historical context for dust storms as indicators of environmental degredation and total economic collapse. But if you reserach the dust bowl phenomena around the world, you will quickly appeciate the significance of what Ifa is teaching in the verse above. When our values become distorted to the extreme, and we put material gain before natural law, the result is self destruction. There is a PBS documentary called the Dust Bowl that tells the story brilliantly. It chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the “Great Plow-Up,” followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away the breadbasket of the nation. For the documentary, Dayton Duncan interviewed 26 living witnesses to the destruction of the Dust Bowl era. All were children in the 1930’s, and are now in their 80’s and 90’s. They recount hauntingly vivid memories of choking dust and crushing drought. Then, the threat was the collapse of American agriculture alone. But in today's global economy, what happens here is felt in far away places and vice versa. What is therelationship between Chinese dust storms and the incursion of Chinese migrants into the African continent? What is the Chinese impact upon Yourubaland and its environs? More importantly, given the reality of food and water security in relation to the dust bowl phenomena, what are you doing to capture water and grow your own food? If you're like most practitioners of Orisa Lifestyle, these are foriegn concepts. You worship the spirit of water as Oya, Yemoja, Osun and Olokun, but you have no idea where your water comes from. You worship the spirit of agriculture thrpugh Orisa Oko but you have absolutely no idea of where your food comes from, nor how to produce some of it yourself. You pray for ire owo but you are completely unaware of true wealth and ways to generate local currency. The Orisa Lifestyle Acamedy is creating pathways to spiritual development by helping you get outof the shrine and get into the garden, into the community into and global conversation on the future of life on this planet. Please join us in helping bring about the Good Condition. Obafemi Origunwa, MA ...The next logical step for me in my spiritual growth. It also was the only choice I had. Nothing else seemed to fit. Nothing else felt so right. To neglect to consult Spirit at this point is to neglect any opportunity for purpose and meaning in my life. After nearly 47 years of trying to "figure it out", wandering through life making good decisions at times and bad decisions at others, I needed a way to connect to the only thing I know is sure: Spirit. The Christian church seems to promote a connection with Spirit on the surface, but it really only delivers a subscription to religion. On top of that, it's the religion of the oppressor. Ifa is of my own people. And it works. Baba Obafemi immediately spoke to my Spirit and my intellect the moment I saw one of his videos for the first time. He just made so much sense!! There was a complete absence of empty dogmatic rhetoric and instead there was a rich, colorful illustration of how to live. He seemed practical and accessible. Holistic. Contemporary. I picked up on his progressive ideas on a very old tradition. He was willing to work with a same-gender-loving couple (no small consideration for me) as who we are: human beings. Also, the fact that he is a professional counselor was icing on the cake. And I have to say--the person I saw on the videos is the same exact one I met in person. He's real. No pretense. We did the Opa Iku ritual, training and divination. I no longer feel like a wandering soul trying to figure it out. My feet touch solid ground. I am not exaggerating when I say that the experience was one of the most profound moments in my life. I came away from it with a real, tangible, palpable sense that my life had officially been ordered, structured, defined. It's like walking around with blurred vision for decades and then putting on a pair of glasses--everything is now clear and well defined. My natural habits now make sense to me. Though I don't know what each step will bring, my overall path has been laid out in front of me. All I have to do is put one foot in front of the other and keep touching my hand to the ground. In this way I am on sure footing. I am grounded. I don't have to be afraid of the unknown. I can be comfortable in the uncertainty of the particulars. Obafemi is a teacher at heart and he is patient. He is genuinely concerned with seeing a transformation in the lives of those who have consulted with him. It's not about the money with him (though he deserves every penny he charges and them some). It's about service and fulfilling his own ancestral promise as he helps others. -Grounded in Gratitude, Detroit, MI Family Faith: Faith is having inner strength and confidence based on your trust in a higher power. It's also based upon your direct experience. When you try something new, unknown, or even dangerous, you need a certain amount of faith. It takes faith to board a plane to fly. You need faith in the pilots, co-pilots, the engine and electrical system, the compass, and all of the airplane’s instruments. When you face challenges that seem impossible, but are inevitable, you need faith. The following activity reminds you that faith helps you reach your goals and that you will benefit from keeping faith central to all aspects of your life. ACTIVITIES Complete the following:
In Orisa Lifestyle, the Creator is called Olodumare. Some people are of the opinion that Olodumare is synonymous with God, G-d, Allah, Brahma and other cultural expressions of the Supreme being. This is what anthropologists call parallelism. It is an effective way to talk ABOUT theological principles, like Olodumare. But, when you wish to communicate DIRECTLY with Olodumare, you cannot use the Bible, Quran or the Sutras. If you want to know the origin and nature of Olodumare, you cannot refer to the laws of physics, the periodic table or history books. Of course, our faith in Olodumare is grounded in personal experience. But our experiences are contextualized by the sacred texts of Ifa, which is the definitive source of the theology of Orisa Lifestyle. To learn more about Olodumare, enroll in the Fundamentals of Orisa Lifestyle. Discuss these questions with your family:
COMPETENCIES
This is one of hundreds of lessons you will find at the Orisa Lifestyle Academy's Member Site. Oturuponwori Cast divination for Ololo omi ikere, a type of water On the day that his life was dirty and unsettled He was asked to offer 330 cowries So that Ololo omi ikere's life would be settled He heard about the offering and performed it Ever since, even if a horse steps into it And it becomes dirty and unsettled Not before long it will become peaceful - Holy Odu OturuponIwori There is a great Blues song that says, "I'm so glad that trouble don't last always." It reminds me that the difficulties of today will eventually pass. There is a verse of the Holy Odu OgbeOse that reinforces this simple truth; "The difficult times facing the babalawo are not permanent. Today's poverty will end in wealth." Verses and folklore like these help to inspire us to remain hopeful in the face of adversity. No matter how daunting your circumstances have been, there is always hope for improvement. No matter how contentious your relationships may be, there is always hope for reconciliation. The value of hope is what you develop from excercising it. In order to be hopeful in the midst of difficult circumstances, you have to start by recognizing the gravity of your present situation. You also must draw upon a variety of past experiences, as well as your ability to imagine a better outcome for your current situation. Orisa Lifestyle is much more than ritual and ceremony. In reality, the ritual can only set the stage for you to make the right decisions and thereby carry out right actions. This is what I call the path of personal transformation. Through your ability to stay mentally and emotionally present, you internalize the energy that is most necessary for your development. In the teaching above, you are invited to practice hopefullness in the face of doubt. Live the medicine. Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.ObafemiO.com Sometimes, you need to be heard, but you remain silent under the pressures of group responsibilities and expectations. Other times, the systems and agreements that you thought would protect your interests, increase equity and promote efficiency end up being so complicated that you now feel trapped by them. These kinds of foolishness play themselves out in families, bands and businesses alike. You set out with the best of intentions but, instead of drawing closer to one another, all of your communications seem to drag you towards fragmentation and separation. Instead of opening up to the differences, you cling to what you THINK you know... Instead of deepening your connection to the perceived "other" you insist upon polarization and extremes. Most importantly, under surface of your stubbornness, you know that you're putting everything - and everyone - at risk.
In this month of Erénà/March, open your heart and creative mind in order to enable your ability to correspond with your people from a place of grace and kindness. This is necessary for you to complete what you have started. This is accomplished first by helping you to face yourself more completely; the poet, the thief, the teacher and the criminal are all within you, to varying degrees and under different circumstances. Carl Jung has said that what we find most annoying in others is an indicator of what we find (unconsciously) most annoying in ourselves. The full moon of Erénà/March is a good time to renegotiate your perception of your own shadow, as it is reflected in the difficult relationships that surround you. Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.ObafemiO.com When we approach Orisa Lifestyle from a developmental perspective, we begin to appreciate preparation, training and trust. Preparation means readiness. It suggest ability to act and respond appropriately. At each developmental phase, preparation varies. Generally speaking, beginners require a more controlled and detailed preparation than seasoned practitioners. Training means proficiency. It suggests the ability to perform skillfully. Whereas preparation is akin to orientation, training is more closely associated with activity. As your skill increases, your training becomes more specialized and challenging. Trust means confidence. It is the foundation for all development, spiritual, material or otherwise. Trust is reflected in the quality of your relationships to others. As trust increases, so does risk taking. When people believe in one another, they become more comfortable with giving blind, unconditional support. Together, preparation, training and trust reveal the importance of time in spiritual development. Orisa Lifestyle is a lot like farming or raising a family. It cannot be accellerated. From beginning to end, you must remain attentive to the specific needs of each developmental phase and offer what is most appropriate for promoting sustainable growth. This is what prompts the elders to say that patience is the father of character. The elder who has patience has all the blessings of life. Learn more about developmentally appropriate spiritual growth: www.OrisaLifestyle.com Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.ObafemiO.com |
Live the MedicineObafemi Origunwa, MAThought leader, Ifa priest and author of four definitive books, Obafemi Origunwa inspires metamorphosis through living the medicine that will heal your life and heal the lives of the people you're destined to serve. Raise Awareness
Internalize Principles
Embody Truth
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