The Philosophy of the Yoruba Origin Ogboni Esoteric Order and the Figure of Onile
Onílè is an Ogboni conception indicating the owner of the land, and by extension the earth, which humanity relates with as primary enabler of embodied existence, generator and container of arcane powers, foundational companion on life's walk conducted on her surface, the earth which humanity transforms into living space.
Onílé is also this identity as the owner of the house representing this transformation, the house as sacred communal space of Ogboni, symbolic of the house that is the community, the community that is the microcosm of the world, the house of the world, ile aye, that is humanity's place in the habitat that is the cosmos, and, as one may expand this associative continuum, the cosmos itself a structure of constants and dynamism enabling it as the home represented by the possibilities it constitutes, a specific actualization of the unknown scope of the potentialities of existence.
This summation integrates and builds on various identifications of this figure, particularly Henry John Drewal's "The Meaning of Osugbo Art: A Reappraisal", Babatunde Lawal's "À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó : New Perspectives on Edan Ògbóni", Rowland Abiodun et al's Yoruba Art and Aesthetics and John Pemberton et al's Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought.
Visualizing the Feminine in Ogboni Sculpture
Picture below: Collage by myself of pictures from various sources depicting representations of the feminine in Ogboni sculpture. The two to the middle and left are Onile while that on the right is another central Ogboni form known as an edan ogboni. The image on the left is also known as Ajagbo and comes from Frank Willet's African Art, that in the middle from the art dealer Barakat: Mirror of All Ages and Cultures and that on the right from Lawal's "À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó".
Responses
Eze Chimalio :
At age 12 when I was in secondary school and living within its walled enclosures in Bendel State as it was called then, my college was close to a house used by the local Ogboni Society.
It was a fascinating house as it had no windows and only had a very small door almost like what you will get if you had a chicken coop.
I and my friends use to be so curious to find out what was happening in there. We never had an opportunity to do so but we used to sneak out of school late at night to hide in the nearby bush to observe the various members go in and out of the building until one day the principal of the school banned students, meaning us, from spying on the house.
Years later, I knew better what the house symbolized and some essence of its being. I have also come into contact with a replica of the object above and studied and admired its concepts. In parting, its head has the semblance of an 'Ikenga' [ a symbol of creative power in classical Igbo cosmology] horned top. Can you also share your understanding of the Onile sculpture?
Great thanks, bro.
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Eze Chimalio :
The house was a low corrugated iron roofed adobe house with a single small door entrance that was forever locked. It was painted black with charcoal dust, I presume.
The surrounding yard was kept clean most of the time. I never saw anyone go in or out of the compound during the day. Most of their activities were at night which was when we were sneaking around trying to figure out what was going on.
The members did not wear special clothing most of the time but on some occasions had woven coloured fabrics wrapped around them as they stooped to conquer the small entrance. In the on and off adventures I and my pals undertook around the house which lasted over 2 years we found out nothing but became very familiar with the faces of some of the members.
They did not know that we knew them but in town we could identify these members but kept that to ourselves. In a nutshell they were a secret society and kept their actions secret. I would not be writing this if I had not read your writing on the subject.
Based on knowledge of other similar groups, there are likely to have been a lot of "cross-fertilization" between the Masons [ a British origin esoteric group ] and groups such as the Ogboni, since there are many Masons in Nigeria, they have been in the country since the 19th century. Delete or hide this
Eze Chimalio:
I am not an authority on Ogboni images/iconography/objects but I have seen and studied them at close quarters without prior knowledge of what they mean, symbolize or mean to project and I have come to these conclusions:
The typical form in Ogboni art refers to a spirit or principle or essence of nature and to nothing visual(interpretation). The image is 'primary', the articulate vessel of the spirit rather than the matter, it is almost always sacred and worshipped. They are in the main, conceptual, relating to the world of spirits and beings.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju :
Eze Chimalio, here is Williams' summation:
"The anthropomorphic brass staff of the Yoruba Ogboni Society—the edan Ogboni—holds a position of isolation and aesthetic distinction within the Yoruba plastic [arts].
Whereas traditional wood-carving is humanistic in its identification with life, is spontaneous, descriptive, and experimental in idiom, Ogboni art is iconic—archetypal, hieratic, and conservative, a manifestation of [an] eternal principle.
Where the formal theme of Yoruba carving is abstract, dynamic, architectonic, Ogboni art is absolute, static, and linear. Frequently the edan Ogboni is little more than high relief—a non-sculptural projection of drawing in wax.
Though art associated with Orisha [ Yoruba cosmology deities generally] is often religious it is not generally held to contain a spirit, and is never worshipped as a spirit. Orisha art is most typically symbolic of the spirit, where Ogboni art, in contrast, is sacred and worshipped as the actual vessel of the spirit.
This difference in function, besides affecting the resulting form, determines the attitude of the artist to the object rendered. Yoruba wood-carving is therefore free to be naturalistic and spontaneous, where Ogboni art is rigidly traditional and conservative.'[ a view on tradition and creativity in this art richly modified by Lawal ].
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Eze Chimalio :
You ask how I was able to come to my conclusions. I wish I could tell it simply.
I look at things I am interested in from a meditative point of view. I don't just read and study it. I imagine myself to be part of it and from that point of view, I form my opinions. It doesn't always turn out to be good but I have learnt to mercilessly edit myself so on the average things work out.
That is the same thing I do when I play the trumpet. I imagine I am the sound and that I am living in the sound and from there I can usually work out what I think would best represent the moment I hit the note.
I know what the chords, structures, keys, signatures are but I don't bother with that. I try and live in the sound and work my way back to the instrument. It doesn't always work but it does most of the time.
On access to the objects the answers are these. My father (dead) collected Yoruba art to the point that some people thought that he was a voodoo priest but he wasn't. He had friends in places like Ife, Ibadan, Lagos, Abeokuta [ Yoruba cities] and much more whom he asked to help him find these things and he paid to have them in his collections.
I and my siblings knew a lot about the Yoruba people even though we never consciously lived in the West nor spoke the language.
Eze Chimalio :
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. As you most probably know knowledge is about truth in a quest, a search. There are no mysteries on earth, merely lack of knowledge. All I know about your subject matter is based on what I have been able to find through curiosity, thirst and wonder.
The cosmos of the Yoruba is as rich as that of the Greeks and deserves more celebration and exposure, however, I think that the people to whom it has been given are too interested in the flash of it, the splendour of its call and the fame of its reach rather than the depth and spirit of its being. An opinion.. Delete or hide this
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju :
Eze Chimalio wow! im just reading your last comment.
Bros, you have travelled very far.
I, for one, have not seen a single Ogboni figure before. My inspiration comes from pictures and verbal texts.
God bless you for sharing.
You have done a lot for me with your enthusiastic and deeply informative response to my efforts.
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