USA Africa Dialogue Series - Rethinking and Reworking Ese Ifa, Iyami, Aje, Witchcraft Beliefs through Humanistic Orientations in Yoruba and African Thought

                                                                              

                                                                  

     

                        "Ayajo Asuwada" 

                  Rethinking and Reworking

 Ese Ifa ,Iyami, Aje, Witchcraft Beliefs

     through Humanistic Orientations

        in Yoruba and African Thought

                                                                        

                               

                                                         

                                               

                                                              Art by Joseph Eze, used here to evoke my aspiration in developing a mystical form of witchcraft,

centred in the integration of Yoruba philosophies, Benin nature spirituality and Western magic.

                                                                                  Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                                                   Compcros

                                                                   Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems 

                                                   "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

The Necessity of Developing Critical Relationships with Ideas Relating to Spirituality

Even if we cannot prove or disprove the validity of religious ideas or ideas relating to spirituality generally we can discuss and examine them.

Discussing and examining beliefs facilitates moving from superstition to informed belief.

Image Above

Art by Jerry Kirk, used here to evoke the allure of the moon as calling to the depths of the psyche, depths invoked in modern Western witchcraft through cultivating intimate relationship with the moon.

The Dehumanization Created by Unexamined African Witchcraft Conceptions, such as the Yoruba Iyami and Aje Particularly as Constructed in Ifa Literature

Africans are paying a high price in dehumanization of supposed witches on account of unexamined beliefs in such witchcraft related ideas as Yoruba conceptions of iyami and aje.

These beliefs are partly fed in the Yoruba context by ese ifa, the literature of Ifa, the Yoruba origin oracular system described as a means of accessing the wisdom of the orisa or deity Orunmila, the Little Man With a Head Full of Wisdom, the One Who Counseled the Creator of the Universe, Olodumare, at the Time of Creation, the latter salutation coming from Wole Soyinka's Seven Signposts of Existence, the One Who was Present at the Creation of Each Entity and is Therefore Privy to its Ultimate Possibilities, as another characterization may go.

A particular ese ifa declares all women are aje, with various ese ifa depicting aje as an essentially destructive spiritual identity.

The feminine focus of the aje personality is reinforced by their being described as 'iya mi', 'my mothers', motherhood in a sense both arcane and maternal, biological and spiritual, imbued with mysterious powers associated with both the enabling and the cutting short of life, emphasizing feeding on the very life force that motherhood enables.

Image Above

Collage of art by Joseph Eze signifying mysterious, nature centred and visionarily insightful embodiment of feminine power and beauty.

The Triangulation Created by Ife, Gelede and Ogboni as Central Yoruba Institutions in Characterizing Female Spiritual Identity

Hence, these personalities are placated by and celebrated in the Gelede society, which emphases their numinous powers, invoking their destructive capacities, urging them to direct such transformative possibilities for human good.

Gelede, Ifa and Ogboni constitute the nexus of constructions of Yoruba conceptions of the feminine in its spiritual significance, with Ogboni being the most creatively sensitive towards female power while Ifa and Gelede blend both the empowering and the denigrative or problematic in attitudes towards women.

Majestic, awesomely beautiful Gelede mask

Searching for Ultimate Truth with Limited Faculties in Spiritual Systems

How do we distinguish between success in the effort to access divine intelligence and the influence of the limitations of the human mind making the effort to reach such intelligence using instruments framed by human culture?

Various religious texts make claims which later generations have come to rightly understand as primitive and unbecoming of the religions' claims of speaking the mind of God.

Such primitive declarations supposedly from God are that of the Biblical description of God urging the Hebrews to commit genocide and awarding them land belonging to others.

Militant Islam, today's greatest global security threat, is based on narrow interpretations of the Koran.

To what degree is Ifa the mind of Olodumare, the creator of the universe, an infinite intelligence described as all knowing?

Can the existence of such an intelligence be taken as granted in the first place?

To what degree should such such claims of faith be seen as valid and in what contexts?

To what degree can ese ifa, Ifa literature, be seen as the mind of Olodumare?

The Dangers of Uncritical Assimilation of Ese Ifa, Ifa Literature, as the Speech of Olodumare, the Creator of the Universe

Is it not the same ese ifa that declares that all women are aje, recurrently depicting aje as a particularly malevolent group of spiritual creatures, irrationally destructive characters who delight in feasting on human entrails, and devastating human beings?

If we insist on taking ese ifa as gospel, would we not be compelled to accede to such dehumanising attitudes, such crass misogyny?

Are Spiritualities Not Essentially Human Constructs, the Outcome of Human Choices in Relating with the Universe?

Is it not more realistic to see religion as essentially made by humanity for humanity instead of an external compulsion, even inspiring anti-human orientations?

A Yoruba expression goes 'eniyan o si, orisa o si', translated by Adeleke Adeeko as 'no human beings, no orisa' and by Wole Soyinka as 'without the knowing of divinity by man, can deity survive?'

A Kalabari expression discussed by Nimi Wariboko, goes ' if the deity becomes too stubborn, we shall show it the wood it was carved from', leading to the Kalabari describing themselves as being able to create, appropriate or disown deities.

Among the various orientations in classical African philosophies and spiritualities, should such human centred, such humanistic perspectives, not be balanced against the more supernaturalistic directions which emphasize spirit as external to or over and above humanity?

Are the ese ifa, like all religious texts, not composed by human beings like you and I and colored by our limitations, insights and agendas?

Adeleke Adeeko, responding to the discussion on Yusuf Adetola Kareem's Facebook wall that inspired these summation, states, "Ifá divination apparatus is far more self-questioning than contemporary practice admits. Look, Ọ̀rúnmìlà disobeyed counsel in many ẹsẹ ifá stories. And he thrived nonetheless. At any rate, ''bí òní ti rí, ọ̀la lè má rìí bẹ́ẹ̀, ìyẹn ni babaláwo fi ńdá'fá ọrọrún (because tomorrow may turn out differently from today, the babaláwo conducts ifá divination every fifth day)."

Image Above

I met them in the dimension between mind and forest, we spoke in a language without words.

Art by Tamara Natalie Madden.

Humanistic Orientations in Yoruba Philosophy and Orisa Spirituality

Ase

Ase, a pervasive creative force, imbuing each existent with a distinctive creative potential, is described as a unifying reality in Yoruba thought, an idea resonating across African and non-African spiritualties and philosophies.

Our Journey by Obiora Udechukwu

Ori

Ori, the totality of human intelligence as embodying both the terrestrial and the pre and post-terrestrial existence of the human being, the core of human sensitivity to the material and spiritual worlds, a nexus between time, space and infinity embodying the individual's ultimate potential, is described in Yoruba thought as the core of each entity, 'essence and quintessence' as described by Olabiyi Babalola Yai, the only one who can follow its devotee on a distant journey without turning back, as one ese ifa, 'The Importance of Ori' puts it, the one without whose blessing no orisa can bless one, as another traditional characterization goes, the one who embodies all deities as aspects of the self as Awo Falokun Fatumnbi puts it.

Art by Tamara Natalie Madden

Constructing New Iyami and Aje Spiritualities

A focus on such humanistic conceptions of the individual in relation to the cosmos, the human person as the nexus of reality as accessible to humanity, a link between matter and spirit, the central steerer of the journey across realities that is life, as empowered by cosmic force in its individualising endowments, is an approach to Yoruba and Orisa philosophies and spiritualities that can help us jettison the limitations of older ideas in these systems of thought, ideas such as the misogynies within the aje and iyami conceptions, realizing them as constructs of narrow minded people, remaking them to reflect human dignity and female empowerment, building on these to help move humanity forward by bringing to the table another rich constellation of ideas relating to the feminine and its dialectical relationship, its rhythm, with the masculine.

We need to construct, deliberately build Iyami and Aje spirituality as the West has reclaimed witchcraft as a humane spirituality, thus transforming the former dehumanizations of women represented by older conceptions of witchcraft in Western culture.

Representation of Onile, Owner of Earth and of Ogboni Sacred Space of Gathering

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