Month: November 2015

TRAINED: A VALIDATION AND INVALIDATION TOOL
By Ayaba OchaBi Ifabuluje-Ifaseye and Ayaba-Oloye Erelu-Abiye Unsi-Tassinon
Nov. 27, 2015

TRAINED; conformed, conditioned, brainwashed.
Among Ifa/Orisa Initiates, it means VALIDATED.

UNTRAINED; not conformed, not conditioned and not brainwashed Among Ifa/Orisa Initiates, it means INVALIDATED, FAKE AND FRAUD.

DO YOU NEED TRAINING OR TEACHING IN ORDER TO DEVELOP SPIRITUALLY WITH IFA AND ORISA?

According to the military, training is brainwashing, e.g. soldiers, military or police dogs. A dog is trained to sniff out illegal drugs; attack individual; or fetch the newspaper. “Training techniques, brings NO spiritual substance; no spiritual development; and no spiritual elevation is attainable.” It does not afford you the ability to walk your own spiritual path towards your destiny.

In the past few years, the word training has been applied continuously in relationship to the status of Ifa and Orisa priest. Why? It is an undoing of ones initiations and years of development. It is to ruin people’s reputations. It is an effort to bring about your downfall. Some people are pushing the idea that having no training is the reason to invalidate a person’s priesthood and initiation(s). In Ifa and Orisa life, training means to follow policies and protocols of those who demand it from you; It means buying books read on how to follow those policies and protocols, and it means paying for membership that says you are a VALID practitioner by a certificate of completion. NO, YOU ARE NOT TAUGHT, TO CONDUCT ANY RITUALS. DO CEREMONIES, MAKE MEDICINES. OR TO DIVINE FOR OTHERS. In other words, it is a groupthink attitude that says, “if you are not conditioned by us or validated by us then your years of study means nothing.” To these Ifa/Orisa advocates who push for validation, any person is considered fraudulent and fake if they are not TRAINED, yet you are not TAUGHT.

TRAINED, TRAINING TRAINS:

1. to coach in or accustom to a mode behavior or performance; 2. to make proficient with specialized instruction and practice; 3. to prepare physically, as with a regimen; 4. to cause (one’s hair) to take a desired course or shape, as by manipulating; 5. to point or direct (a gun or camera) at something; 6. to discipline and instruct (an animal), as in the performance of tasks or tricks; and 7. a number of followers; a procession; a succession of things, persons or animals.

TRAINING IS ALL ABOUT OBEDIENCE FOR LIFE

From a psychological standpoint training implies being DOMINATED. To train is to stress the development of a desired proficiency or behavior through practice, discipline, and instruction such as a trained dog, servant or slave may be. For example, in Training = Dominance therapy (TDT), Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS (2015) stated that “Traditional training techniques are based on the idea that we must become the dominant leader and rule our pets the way a wolf would rule a pack [or the slave master dominance over his slaves].

In order to evaluate whether this reasoning in valid, we must understand dominance….In animal behavior, dominance is defined as a relationship between individuals that is established through force, aggression and submission in order to establish priority access to all desired resources (food, the opposite sex, preferred resting spots, etc). In species where strong hierarchies exist, this hierarchy is important evolutionarily because having a high rank confers a greater ability pass on one’s genes. Rank is maintained through ritualistic aggressive acts on the part of the higher ranked individual and appeasement or deference on the part of the lower ranked individual

TEACH, TAUGHT

1. to impart knowledge of or skill in; give instruction in, and 2- to impart knowledge or skill to; give instruction to. In other words, to teach is to furnish a person with skills or knowledge e.g. teaches you how to divine, make medicines, and how to conduct rituals and ceremonies.

TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION

Steve MS (2012) stated that “milieu control is destructive religious groups have an ‘us vs. them’ mentality.”

How does TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION fit into Ifa and orisa practice? Several workshops are advertised for “TRAINING of Ifa” followed by certification. Are the words being used, out of context? What can the certification do? For example, does the certification save lives? Does the certification develop and elevate someone spirituality? Or does the certification assure that the trained priest holder is well conformed top spot in a PYRAMID SCHEME to make money? Is it us (conformed) vs them non-conformed)? Where will you fit in the Trained Pyramid Scheme of things planned for Ifa/Orisa devotees?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

Will you as a trainee and/or conformer accept the invalid certification over teachings, spiritual development and elevations?

Aboru Aboye Abosise and Greetings

This is an open letter to those looking from the outside in and to those antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators.

Olodumare (God) have never said that one person was greater than the other. Over time,  humans’ ego have taken control of the Ori (head).  In the sacred odu, EjiOgbe, Ifa teaches us that every human being had a fair start in Orun (heaven) but upon coming to earth, the ego, id and super ego stepped in. As a result, we as human beings have become, competitive irrational, illogical, and war like.  It is the ego that causes one to stray from the agreement made in Orun at the foot of Olodumare. In the mean time, some of us in Ifa neglect our own destinies by trying to control other people’s destinies. If the antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators really knew Ifa, they would not be what they are. Instead they would be learning Ifa and working on their own individual destiny. They would be doing all they could to promote the love of Ifa. Ifa teaches us that when we have serious problems, we should take it to Ifa so that we can live comfortable, with love, long life, a good mate, children and material wealth. By following Ifa, we acquire all of those mentioned above. We do not take it upon ourselves to destroy the destiny of another person.

It says so in Ofun Meji-Orangun meji:

Ifa says, Powerful Ifa must be used to resolve serious issues (life issues)
A powerful medicine must be used to counter another powerful medicine;
A fortune must be used to resolve Sere’s issue.
What If we have no money,
How will we resolve it (the problem)?
Cast Ifa for OLOKUN when all of the bodies of waters became her enemies.

Olokun’s plight is the very scenario that has befallen us, (Ayaba OchaBi Ifabuluje-Ifaseye Ika Meji, Ayaba-Oloye Erelu-Abiye Unisi-Tassinon (Ika Ofun) and the idea of American Ifa-Fa-Afa.  Our message is in regards to the lesson in Ofun Meji and other Sacred ODUS mentioned here.

The tree that Olorun has planted, nobody can rip from its roots (Ogbe Ate). Here is no winner(s), because ALL priests of Orunmila should not conspire against one another; all priests should think carefully about his/her life and behave well (Irete meji).

As our antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and the fabricators continue their path to destroy us, we thank Odi Meji for revealing what was hidden.

A din di odi, A din di Odi – what and who that hides the messages of heaven, Ifa will reveal it on earth; no matter what you say about us, it will be shown to the world (Odi Meji).

1. “WHEN YOU SPIT IN THE SKY, IT FALLS IN YOUR FACE”

Life is a journey. Love is the main attribute of Olodumare. As a famous mythologist once said, “Mythology is the womb of mankind’s initiation to life and death” (Joseph Campbell, 1990).  We all are born to die like the seasons, e.g. Fall, Winter and so-on. Nothing will stay the same…not me and not you.

We (Ayaba and Ayaba) started a spiritual journey, together. We worked and prayed hard, while making small slips and falls along the way. We raised our children and paid our way through school. We even paid for each of our initiations and made it through difficult lessons as we continued to develop with our ancestors, orisa, ifa and God. When people believe that, they are mighty and taller than anyone else, they have spit at God and will have return into their own faces. When our antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators took out what seems like 100 fraud pages on Facebook to destroy us, they were splitting in the sky; they are spitting in the face of God. They forgot millions of other people on facebook were reading. As they hid their identities and we blocked them, our friends and family on Facebook are still reading all their nasty comments and being affected by it. While everyone else read the nasty remarks of the antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators and their blatant abuse, WE, continued to take the injustices to Ifa and Ifa advice is that we continue along our paths as we are on the right path and that is spreading the awareness of the goodness of Ifa in all of its variations. It is because of Ifa that we have continued living and walking our destinies today despite, the curses, threats and the many attempts to belittle us.

We speak to you all with love and concern and we pray that you too have love and are concerned for us since we are all children of God. It could have been you and if it were you what would you do?  So we ask, why are these things still manifesting? Is it because we are continuously working Ifa?

2. “DO FOR DO, AIN’T NO OBEAH”

This means, do unto others as they would do unto you, literally.

Osa otura says, what is truth?
We say what is truth?
Orunmila says, truth is the laws of heaven, guiding the earth;
the wisdom of Olodumare is using great wisdom.
Truth is the word that cannot fall;
Ifa is truth, truth is the character of Olodumare,
Truth is the word that cannot spoil
Mighty, power, surpassing all,
Everlasting blessing
This was divined for the earth,
They said the people of the earth should be truthful.

Up until now, none of our antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators has been truthful about their activities as sons and daughters of Orunmila should be. They have spread propaganda while acting as if they are protecting people as a charity and their motive to destroy us. Are we not people too? When did God tell them to be destroyers of other people when all ODUS are remedies to HELP man along. The ODUS do not tell us to take matters into our own hands, or there would be no need for Ifa, period.

3. “TRY TO BE WISE AND YOU END UP OTHERWISE”

As it have been clearly stated from time to time, Lucumi is Lùkù mi, or Olùkù mi, meaning “My friend” in Ife dialect. There has not been any spiritually friendly and loving development by our antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators who says that they are Lucumi and/or respect the teachings of Lucumi.

A well known professor stated that; as African peoples and their Diaspora peoples living within and outside the continent, we will explore 100 Theses, one by one, for the need to orchestrate the Full and Unmitigated Reformation of Ifa and Other Orisa Based Agencies of African Divination, Worship, Belief Systems, Philosophies, Theology, Ancestral Adoration and Religions. Slavery, the most central tool used for the subjugation, confusion and control of peoples of Africa and its Diasporas has remained neglected, ignored, silenced and subordinated by cultural custodians, including Obas, Ijoyes, Babalawos, Iyanifas, Babalorisas, Iyalorisas, Oniseguns, Adahunses, and other indigenous spiritual leaders of Africa and its Diasporas–although these cultural custodians know fully well, or they are abjectly ignorant that without a full recognition, discussion and treatment of this historical cancer, it is impossible for peoples who look up to them to understand or fully benefit from indigenous systems of divinity (Moyo Okediji, Ifa University).

In other words, no one person have the monopoly on Ifa and another person destiny within the propagation of Ifa and orisa.

4. “WHAT SHOE YOU BUY, YOU WEAR, EVEN IF IT HURT YOUR TOE”

Odu Iwori Bosa says this is where you’ll find the wars in the world; Obatala (Ayaguna) the creator of wars; and
where one is not to be allowed to sit at your table with dirty hands. Meaning, if you don’t respect me, how do you want me to respect you; if you want me to give you something, what are you giving me. It is all about trust and not trickery.

“THIS ODU CLEARLY SPEAKS OF THE NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIVITIES”

It’s heartbreaking, that in our present times, there are those who point to their own interpretations of the ifa and governmental laws, who break the very rules they want to enforce. As the world continue to spin and conflicts escalate, pathology besets the orias/ifa communities and their families, more and more. What would Orunmila say about this? We have been falsely accused as frauds by once distinguished priests of this tradition whom by their actions against us removed their own distinctions. We find this particularly disturbing and hard to understand because Ifa is Ifa, we are ifa and they are ifa. We are not electing people to govern their destinies but they want govern ours.

5.  “NO MATTER HOW FAST THE MOONLIGHT RUN, DAY LIGHT CATCHES UP”

Every one of us sat down before Olodumare (God) prior to coming through to earth. We all made and accepted out destiny contract. Some chose to be president of the United States while others chose to be simple people in the world. Regardless, every one of us made an agreement with God. Traveling on the road to fulfilling that contract has been a challenge, from raising children to just living in the world but we are fulfilling our destinies to complete our contracts with Olodumare.  Out of love for Ifa, we pray that our antagonists, adversaries, nemeses, and fabricators will come to the conclusion that their activities are incorrect behavior for Ifa priests. That Ifa-Fa-Afa will forgive them and elevate their ori and spirit.

We can not say often enough, if we had a million of your tongues supporting us that it would still not be enough to able to thank Ifa for the love, the guidance and the strength gained from doing good by Ifa

Ase ire o
Ayaba Ochabi Ifabuluje-Faseye IkaMeji

Ayaba-Oloye Erelu-Abiye Unisi-Tassinon (Ika Ofun)