The Orisha Today. philip neimark

let us understand exactly what Orisa are. Orisa are pure, potent,

      energy matrices, each expressing a specific focus or potential experience.

      Each contains both male and female aspects of that energy. What the Orisa

      are not, are human like entities endowed with human behavior or goals. The

      stories, or pataki, that have become the staple of Orisa understanding were

      never made to be interpreted literally. Yet, like almost everything else in

      Western culture, the “sizzle” replaced the steak. The problem is not simply

      a semantic one, it is a critically significant issue that has to do with

      your ability to get your life on track and fulfill your chosen destiny. This

      can only be accomplished by absolute connections with the potent energy the

      Orisa represent. It cannot be accomplished by trying to relate to what

      amount to Disney characters!

      When one examines the tales that were constructed to explain this energy,

      you see the essence quite clearly. When one examines the tales in a literal

      fashion, one gets lost in a morass of anthropomorphic confusion. As humans

      sought to explain the divine energy that they had learned to work with, they

      did so with Human like examples. When we take the anthropomorphic (giving

      human attributes to something not human) view, we immediately make the

      energy less that it truly is…in our attempt to understand divine energy in

      human terms, we humanize the energy. In so doing we diminish its power…and

      our ability to truly utilize it.

      There is another important aspect to understanding Orisa energy. That has to

      do with differentiating between the essence of the energy itself, and the

      expression of that energy in our lives. The essence is pure. The expression

      is our individual use and integration with that essence in our daily lives.

      The essence will remain pure. The expression of it will be ever changing!

      Orunmila/Ela

      One cannot mention Orunmila, the deity of Divination, without mentioning Orisha Ela. It was Susanne Wenger who allowed Ela to be restored. She had written a small booklet in the early 1950’s, the only thing ever penned in her own hand, which referred to Ela as the Fountain, or pool, of Wisdom and Knowledge from which Orunmila drank. It was awe inspiring to me. It put one of the final pieces into the puzzle of why Divination had gone so wrong.

      As someone who has devoted his life to Orisha for almost 40 years, there were, nevertheless, things which bothered me. It seemed to me that Divination had, in many instances, lost its purpose, its directional barometer. Certainly a skilled Ifa priest could deal with the questions, which seemed overwhelmingly to focus on what the individual wanted, but the genuine question remained: were we doing the client any favors by getting the girl/boy, by securing the “better” job or by the ways in which we were getting the client out of the trouble they had involved themselves in?

      It seemed to me that Orunmila/Arula had turned into the Yellow pages of Divination. That we had, in some horrible kind of a way, degenerated into the “Hit Man” of peoples problems!

      How had we lost our soul?

      Certainly “we” were doing a great job for the Western mindset of: “I want what I want…and I want it now”, but were we doing what was right? Were we delivering on the wisdom that Ifa had shown for thousands of years, and “if not” what had gone wrong.

      It seemed we had “lost” Ela. We had lost that component of Wisdom, compasion and caring, that had always made the advice of the ancient Babalawo so useful. The ancient Babalawo always asked “why?” Why did you want the job? Why do you want the girl/boy? Why did you get into the trouble you are in? He also asked, “Was it good for you?” Not in the short term, but in the longer term of building a worthwhile life, meaningful relationships, and contributing to the community. Only with the understanding of these issues, could he lead the client to the right conclusions, and do an intelligent job.

      So the Ifa Foundation’s search began…

      The Ifa Priests can perform initiations only with the presence of the Igba Iwa. I was fortunate to receive, from the late Afolabi Epega, the Igba Iwa of his grandfather, the Patriarch of the family, and the primary informant to Professor William Bascomb. To make a very long story short, it seemed that beginning in the early 1950’s Igaba’s were constructed without the component that connects them with Ela! After all, it was the end of the Korean war, the beginning of the interstate highway system, suburbia and a general feeling that the “best” could be purchased, and the future was unlimited. As someone who lived through this era, it seemed like the floodgates had been released and we welcomed in the era of greed. Why then should the connective pool of Divination be included? It became all about getting it done and the wisdom of the divination seemed a needless complication.

      Perhaps it was the fact that I had received a more than 100 year old Igba. Perhaps not. As time rolled by, practitioner’s could easily ignore the Igba and continue down the fast track of personal aggrandisement and greed.

      As my father always told me, ” Philip, they will eventually give you the bill.” So they have done. If the last four years of the housing crash, bank failures, auto failure and massive unemployment, met with a very sluggish recovery, we were all frightened. We needn’t have been…

      All the talk regarding the “end of the world” can reflect the world as we knew it and the beginning of the world that should be, and once, almost was. If it is to be, it will require Ifa priests that ask “why?” Is it “best” and a client willing to listen.

       http://alturl.com/mybed