A Plea; enlisting Collaborative Support

Today, this Ifa Day (Ose-Ifa/Awo), I felt the need to discuss Collaborative Support of Powerful Positive Affirmations, on todays Ifa Speaks post.

Positive affirmations seeking collaborative support made in the Morning upon rising, Ifa calls calls; making a plea or request, to those in 'Heaven' who hear such Pleas.

(Plea def. – noun; an appeal or entreaty: a plea for..)
(Collaborate def. - vb; to work with another or others on a joint project)


One example is listed below in the sacred Odu Ifa, Ogbe Irete,

Ogbe-Ate:

"When we wake up early in the morning,
When we wake up at the dawning of new day
Let us plead (pray) for something from the Owner
So that the Owner may give it out to us
And for the Owner to release it to us
This was the Ifa declaration for Orunmila
When going to Heaven on mission to bring Egungun
to assist his wife & her lineage..."

Now, to discuss this verse of Ifa within the chapter of OgbeAte, let us first resolve who is the "Owner" that Ifa is referring to here.

Within other religions and traditions one might consider such a being as the Creator (Olodumare in Yoruba for lack of better term), or God, Allah, Jah etc.

But within the context of Ifa philosophy this might not be so clearly distinguished, for example, our tradition is a tradition of "monotheism and polytheism" at the same time, without conflict.
We believe and understand the existence of Olodumare, in Olodumare rightful place, yet we also do recognize and venerate the "supporters" of Olodumare, we refer to as the many Orisa (Humans intermediaries with Olodumare).

So the Supremacy concept of the Creative force is not centralized to one Being, as with many other religious traditions. We see such a Supreme Being as more like a community of Supreme Beings, all providing Her & His own complimentary attributes and virtues.

Furthermore, addressing the issue in the Ifa Stanza listed above OgbeAte; 'making a morning Plea to the Owner', one might misinterpret this as a simple morning prayer, to God/Allah/Jah etc
Yet within the view of a traditional Ifa practitioner, this is only a part of the greater picture.

The Owner mentioned, who hears and answers prayer, might be a collective or community of Beings we refer to as Orisa, which have a close relationship with Olodumare.

Today it might be ones Egberun or Iyemoja that is the "Owner" who has heard and "championed" our Plea, and another day it could be Egungun or a combination. The idea is collaboration & collective supporters.

The next issue to discuss, one might argue is different from commonly held religious belief, is the items we use in the process of entreating the Orisa to hear our Plea. This is yet another matter, and one that is codified with the various means we deploy in questioning the Orisa or collective body of "Those who Hear and answer Plea."We deploy these processes to ensure our Plea has been heard and accepted thus coming into reality.

We make Plea, with the assumption and resolve (through questioning), that the "Owner or Collective" who assist its manifestation will accept our request and petition, thus helping the Plea to come into reality.

May the Owner(s) of this Day, hear our Good Positive Pleas and accept our petitions...

Awo Ifaloju