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Background

In my first book, The Way of the Orisa, HarperCollins Publishing, I spent a great deal of time delineating the characteristics of the most prominent Orisa. Today, almost a decade after the original writing was done, it seems clear to me that further explanation is necessary. To understand the following, it would be worthwhile to set the stage with an overview of all the Orisa. Ifa views the universe as a perfect construction created by God. Within this perfection, all possibilities and energies exist. These include those possibilities or energies that are productive as well as those that are Destructive.

These energies were identified thousands of years ago by Yoruba wise men. Each was given a name in order to identify its specific energy. The total corpus of these energies comprises the 401 Imole (Orisa/energies) that make up and affect our world. It is generally conceded that 200 are positive energies, while 200 are negative. The extra energy, which creates the 401, comes from the Ogun complex, which can be expressed, in either positive or negative terms.

Into this perfectly constructed universe, Oludumare (God) placed man. We were given the opportunity to work with the other energies of His creation to improve our lives and fulfill our chosen destinies. We were not put in charge, but rather placed at the top of the hierarchy He had created. It does not guarantee our supremacy. The Dinosaur was once at the top as well! Rather, by using the tools we were given, intellect, emotion, love and ritual, we could benefit from the positive aspects of energy and growth while protecting ourselves from the potentially harmful and destructive energies.

But, in order to accomplish this, we must understand the actual nature of the energies themselves. The responsibility is ours. Each week, I will address the energy of a specific Orisa in a way that will make that energy more understandable and useful to the devotee. First, 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!