My Journey in the Orisa Tradition, Ifa and Female Centred Spirituality
A List of Inspirational Sources and Personalities
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
"Collaborative Knowledge Creation" A Division of Compcros Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
A response a question from A-Global Southerner on Yoruba-101 Facebok group on my poem/ essay/art titled "Sheela Na Gig : Cunt Wisdom : Womb Wisdom : Opon Ifa"
Integrating Spiritual Traditions in Relation to Ifa and Modern Western Paganism
The "Sheela Na Gig : Cunt Wisdom : Womb Wisdom : Opon Ifa" post integrates insights from Yoruba/Orisa tradition in general, and from Ifa and global female centred spiritualities, particularly Hindu and Western Pagan.
My Foundations in Yoruba/Orisa Spirituality
My fundamental knowledge of Orisa tradition comes from Olodumare : God in Yoruba Belief by Bolaji Idowu, perhaps the most lucid and yet comprehensive work in the field.
My further understanding comes from The Return of the Gods : The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger by Ulli Beier, a superb presentation of the Orisa tradition from a Western mind deeply attuned to the tradition, drawing from Wenger who was immersed in it through a lifetime in Yorubaland, particularly at the Osun forest at Osogbo.
An amazing summative statement of Orisa spirituality is Wole Soyinka's seven stanza poem at the conclusion of A Credo of Being and Nothingness, while the essay itself transcends religious particularities in describing a meditation on the Nothingness before cosmic manifestation.
This meditation may be correlated with Wole Soyinka's awesome depiction of the ancient voluntary death ritual in a place in Yorubaland in his Death and the King's horseman and his fantastic meditations on cosmic origination in The Man Died, possibly in chapter 33 and in A Shuttle in the Crypt.
We have thus entered some of the most profound adaptations of Yoruba/Orisa spirituality, taking us to Soyinka's Myth, Literature and the African World, the three non- historical essays of which, for me, along with the poetry of Credo, communicate the power of a scripture.
The most sophisticated and profound writings known to me covering the scope of the Orisa tradition are the works of Susanne Wenger, of which I have read The Return of the Gods, written by Beier but deeply grounded in a vision shared with Wenger, Adunni, a magnificent series of interviews with Wenger and The Sacred Groves of Osogbo, all these with wonderful photographs, and the greatest, one of the greatest works in global spirituality, A Life With the Gods in their Yoruba Homeland, with amazing photographs by Gert Chesi, superb images in colour and black and white, magnificently hardback bound.
The best place I know of to get it is a search through bookfinder.com. The Amazon prices are significantly higher, the last I checked.
Other books by Wenger are The Timeless Life or Mind of the Sacred, not sure of the specific title, and others I dont remember now or know about, along with other books and essays on her work and that of her artistic collaborators.
Summations that could be described as bridging the basic and the more sophisticated understanding of Orisa are my essays on Orisa and Ori in The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought. ed by Abiola Irele, essays which one might be able to read on the book's Amazon link.
My Foundations in Ifa
The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is a presentation of an approach to an aspect of Ifa cosmology and practice in relation to English, Christian and universal female centred spirituality.
My foundations in Ifa are from Wande Abimbola's An Exposition of Ifa Literary Corpus and Ifa Divination Poetry.
He has more books and a rich catalogue of essays.
I consider any work by Abimbola a necessity.
Reading and rereading him, and meditating on his works I find a priceless education.
A marvellous perspective on Ifa in relation to Orisa tradition is provided by Awo Falokun Fatumnbi, that being his Ifa name, his other name being perhaps George Wilson.
His "Obatala : Ifa and the Chief Spirit of the White Cloth", available free on Scribd, is mind blowing and I expect his other books are also potent, as evidenced by other essays of his on Scribd and at his website.
I have been privileged to spend a year studying with Nigerian Benin babalawo-adept in the esoteric knowledge of Ifa- Joseph Ohomina.
Qualities of character, of relationship with inscrutable and ever expanding knowledge and nuggets of wisdom I will continue to ingest and unravel over a lifetime were communicated to me through this relationship.
I must confess that meditation and writing on Ifa ideas has proven priceless in expanding the knowledge gained from reading and direct teaching.
I have collected some of these writings in my Facebook notes, my blogs, of which "Ifa Student and Teacher" is representative on Ifa.
The 'see my complete profile 'link on that blog takes one to my complete list of blogs on Blogger, including one on ese ifa, Ifa literature, and perhaps one on opon ifa, the Ifa divination tray and cosmological symbol.
I also have a summative statement of my understanding of Ifa at my essay on Ifa in The Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Thought.
Very informative groups on Ifa abound on Facebook.
Odu Access Network has a growing collection of ese ifa carefully discussed by members, while Orisa/Ifa/Egun Talks examines in some depth each week a subject in the tradition each week, while both groups also address a range of topics in the tradition.
Solagbade Popoola, Elebubion, Awo Fagbami Nougbodekon, Obafemi Origunwa, Aina Olomo, Awo Fategbe, among other Orisa and Ifa luminaries, are people whose Facebook accounts, Facebook groups, comments in various Facebok groups, and other institutions they have founded are priceless for knowledge of Orisa and Ifa.
A very good blog on Ifa, among which must be a good number of others, is Ifa Yesterday, Ifa Today, Ifa Tomorrow, by Ifalola Sanchez.
My essay,freely accessible online, on Ifa divination, in relation to autobiographical theory in studying the work of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh both presents foundational and more sophisticated understanding of Ifa and presents a style of its possibilities in the study of non-African cultural forms, thereby indicating its universality of application, a path taken by other writers whose names I dont have now, including Olu Longe in "Ifa Divination and Computer Science" and Ron Eglash in African Fractals.
Opon Ifa Studies
The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post also builds on a division of Ifa, which I describe as Opon Ifa Studies, the exploration of the opon ifa, the Ifa divination tray and a central cosmological symbol of Ifa.
Foundational information on opon ifa symblism is in the marvellous Yoruba : Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought and priceless essays are in The Yoruba Artist : New Theoretical Perspectives in African Arts.
A pioneer in Opon Ifa Studies is Hans Witte, as in his book Ifa and Esu : Iconography of Order and Disorder .
All the essays of Babatunde Lawal are irreplaceable in relation to the entire Orisa tradition and he presents vital information on opon ifa in his essay on Twinness in Yoruba Belief.
The one body I know dedicated to Opon Ifa Studies is the Facebook group Opon Ifa Studies, with fantastic essays of high sophistication and conceptual range, covering different disciplines, on opon ifa.
A Google search for opon ifa will bring up a significant number of hits.
Essays on opon ifa by myself and others are in my blog on opon ifa in Blogger and in my Facebook Notes and photo albums.
The Feminine Principle in Ifa
The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is also based on the feminine principle in Ifa known as Odu.
My understanding of this concept comes from my reading of it in relation to Olodumare in Bolaji Idowu's Olodumare : God in Yoruba Belief, the analysis of the concept in relation to Olodumare by Shloma Rosenberg in his wonderful essays on Orisa, online.
Babatunde Lawal has a magnificent section on the feminine in Yoruba cosmology in his book on Gelede and I expect the writings of the Drewals in their book on Gelede as well as the book on Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency will also prove priceless.
One of the richest discussions of the feminine and Ifa is by Awo Falokun Fatumnbi in "The Ifa Concept of History", if I remember the title well, free online.
I also find the marvellous essays of Rowland Abiodun on both the feminine principle in Yoruba cosmology and on ase, creative, transformative cosmic force, to be priceless.
These essays might be in the files section of the Opon Ifa Studies Group and certainly in The Cosmos of World Art and Correlative Cultural Forms Facebook group.
The work of Susanne Wenger in this field is priceless.
There are a number of Facebook groups dedicated to the feminine principle in the Orisa tradition, of which I can recall Daughters of Odu Ifa-Egbe ômô obìnrin Ifa.
There are others I belong to but dont recall now.
Searching for these, I came upon the name of Mercedes Morgana Reyes who seems dedicated to the Iyami-Our Mothers-dimension of the female aspect of Orisa spirituality.
The group Bini and Yoruba Deities, founded by Aminat Ola is also likely to have essays on Iyami.
My Facebook page, blog and Notes titled "Space of Becoming" provide a summary of my understanding of this field in relation to other African spiritualities.
Female Centred Spiritualities : Global
The 'Sheela Na Gig/Opon Ifa' post is also inspired by an exposure to the great developments globally in female centred spiritualities particularly in Hinduism, Buddhism and modern Western Paganism.
Hinduism
Central to my inspiration here are the concept of Sakti in Hinduism, as represented by such foundational texts as the Soundayalahari, commentary on the poem and other literature on Goddess veneration in Sri Vidya, of which the works of Douglas Renfrew Brooks and the PhD thesis of Geoffrey Lidke are central, along with marvellous Yogini Hridaya and works on the poem.
Also vital is the organisation created by and the books of Maddhu Khana, such as Yantra : The Symbol of Cosmic Unity, along with her renowned PhD thesis, the book on which is awaited.
Summative of Hindu Goddess concepts and much of global Goddess conceptions are the Mahavidya, The Great Feminine Wisdoms, on which the works of David Kinsley are particularly good, and the few other books that seem to exist on them are very good, including Aghor Pir's blog, now available as fee online PDF files.
Anything written by, quoting or discussing the matchless Abhinavagupta is precious, his insights on the feminine/masculine dynamic being peerless in lyricism, profundity and conceptual magic.
The great scholar of Hinduism Mark Dyczkowski is currently engaged in presenting a translation of Abhinavagupta's magnum opus the Tantraloka.
A Google search will unearth treasures of information on these figures, and Facebok has a good number of impressive groups and pages dedicated to the subject.
Out of these, the site Siva Sakti Mandalam by Mike Magee, the site of the Sakti Saddhana group and their translation of the devotional text the Sri Devi Khadgamala Stotram, are in a class of their own.
Hindu Goddess literature is huge in primary and secondary expressions.
Buddhism
The concept of the dakini in Buddhism is an awesome correlation of the feminine principle and a conception of the transcendent character of ultimate reality.
I have moved closer to appreciating the dakini concept through my exposure to Judith Simmer-Brown's Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism and June Campbel's Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism
Modern Western Paganism
My exposure to modern Western Paganism has been more limited and less structured, though rich, and has emerged largely through visiting such sacred sites as Avebury and Glastonbury in England, learning from the modern Western witch Yvonne Owens, what I presented in the post from Theodora Wildcroft and memories of reading Starhawk's Spiral Dance and the unforgettable Elements of the Goddess by Caitlin Mathews and the novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley, particularly The Mists of Avalon and others in her Darkover Series.
My essay, available free on Scribd, comparing the Osun forest artistic and conceptual cosmography created by Susanne Wenger and her school and the Glastonbury work of Katherine Maltwood presents one approach to correlating the Yoruba/Orisa and English nature and Zodiacal spirituality.
Unification
Unifying these various strands of knowledge in relation to female centred spirituality for me is the work of Ayele Kumari, as represented by her books, blog posts and Facebook comments.
The Facebook group Exploring Ayele Kumari presents this inspiration and my method of pursuing the synthesis it inspires.
Christopher Okigbo's poetic cycle Labyrinths blends such intercultural streams into a unity focused on a central inspirational source, his work being a smaller example of the different but related achievement of Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy, one of the greatest creations of humanity.
Also posted in
Opon Ifa Studies Facebook group
The Cosmos of World Art and Correlative Cultural Forms (COWACArt) Facebook group
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