Yesterday I was reminded of my responsibility, to be a righteous person, I was reminded that all the Ebo and sacrifice in the world will not change my life, I don't take personal responsibility for change that is required. We all have light and dark within us positive and negative, which is balance, however, in our behaviors are hidden things, that we gloss over. They may not be glaring obvious things, they could be what we consider small things, but the fact of the matter is they can hinder our growth, they can hinder us in fulfilling what is our destiny. Even though I am an initiated Ifa Priest, and Ifa is transforming and changing my life.I still have a responsibility to change myself. If there are behaviors that are not good, I am to change them, Yes I am to ask the Orisa for help, however I cannot ask for help and continue in that same behavior, that is a waste of energy etc. As hard as it may seem, I am realizing to go deep, to commune with my Ori, Ancestors, and Orisa. In doing so I ask that they highlight the things, areas in my life that need work, then with courage face these things and make the changes. I was before I came to Ifa a Christian minister for 28yrs, and during that time I realized one of the hardest things in the world to do was to really examine who you are, to see your faults (sins) as what they truly are. Am I a liar, if I am then stop making excuses realize what i am and stop, am I a thief, stop stealing, (these were just examples lol) However those are blatant things, but we should dig deeper, am I a person who procrastinates, hmmm Am I a person who does not pay my debts hmmm these are all reflection for what our true character is. Am I a person who is critical of others, am I self righteous, hmmm. As I examine who I am I find things that are not in line with waht Ifa is about, they are not in line with the laws injunctions of Olodumare. I admonish us, to examine ourselves. take a good look at what we need to change then with the help of our Ancestors, Ori, Orisa we can be who Olodumare requires of us to be
In Ogbe-Ate it reads thus:
Ogbe waa te k'ara o ro wa Mo gba, mo te ni iregun Ifa Dia fun Orunmila Baba yoo te omo re n Ifa Won ni ko sakaale ebo ni sise O gbe, bo O rubo Nigbati mo gba Baba a mi se ti mi Ailogbon ninu
Aimero nikun
Nii mu nii wo Igbdu leemeta Bi a ba te Ifa tan
A kii fi ajaku igba a gu ope A kii be ludo lai mo we A kii ri iku nile ka tori boo A kii fe obinrin Awo A kii gba aya isegun
A o gbodo mu obinrin abore wole kelekele loo fe A o gbodo ba obinrin imule eni seke Oluwo eni kii bi ni loro ka se Koiko ti erin gberi mo
Orunmila lo te Akoda O te Aseda O te Araba Orunmila Agbonniregun Olojo ibon Oun nikan soso la o mo eni to tee
Nje bi a ba te mi tan Maa tun ra mi te Eewo ti a ba ka fun mi
Maa gbo Tite la te mi Maa tun ra mi te o
Ogbe, come and be initiated in order to be comfortable To take a hand of ifa and then be fully initiatewd is the pride one has in Ifa these were the declarations of Ifa for Orunmila When he planned to initiate his child Orunmila was advised to offer sacrifice He compleid When I received a hand of Ifa My father then performed the itelodu for me Lack of wisdom Lack of deep thought These are what compel people to be initiated repeatedly on three occasions After being initiated The issue of Esu Odara needs to be taken seriously Why must Esu Odara be given extra consideration? After being initiated We must not use a worn out twisted rope to climb a palm tree
We must not jump into the river without knowing how to swim We must not take undue risk which may cost life We must not snatch the wife of Awo We must not snatch the wife of a medicine man We must not have illicit carnal knowledge of a ritualist's wife We must not plan evil against our friend with his wife We must not lie to our Oluwo Any matter that had been exhaustedly addressed We must not raise it again Orunmila was the person who initiated Akoda He also initiated Aseda He equally initiated Araba Only Orunmila Agbonniregun Was the person we do not know who initiated Now after I have beenb initiated I will complement it with self initiation All those things that are my taboos I will surely avoid them I had been initiated I will re-initiate myself by myself
So here we see we have responsibility to be and act in a certain way, it is called Character, (Iwa Pele)
Ire o
