Where Ogun Fears to Tread

What are the Orisha? The Orisha are COMPLEX MULTIVALENT BEINGS.

The Orisha are ASPECTS OF GOD. Can we know God? No we cannot, nor really can we TOTALLY KNOW the Orisha. The Orisha are a little easier to grasp in our understanding but only a little and never totally.

They are FORCES OF NATURE. As such they exist everywhere. Are we always aware of them? No, especially when we are not in the environment where their force is manifest. Are they constained by our awareness of them? I don't think so. Do the names that different cultures give to them affect their being? I don't think so. Are Olokun and Sedna the same. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Olokun lives at the bottom of the sea and Sedna lives at the bottom of the sea. How I resolve this for myself is the Orisha are a theme with variations. The Inuit conceive of Sedna in one way. The Yoruba conceive of Olokun in another (which by the way is different from the way that the Beni conceive of him - or is it her?) Yet Sedna and Olokun could possibly be the same or different. How is that for definiteness? Or is all this a way that different peoples attempt to explain the different forces to themselves? Since environments, circumstances and cultures are different, are not awarenesses different? Is any awareness (with the exception of Olodumare) total? I don't think so.

Are Orisha only forces of nature? No they are not. They are also FORCES IN THE HUMAN MIND. Ogun is will. Yemonja is compassion. Obatala is reaon. Oshun is self esteem.

The Orisha also EMBODY VALUES. They are also PRINCIPLES OF LIFE. Yemonja, nurturance; Shango, truth; Obatala, ethics, Oshun connectiveness; Oya, change.

Some consider the Orisha LAWS by which we must live our lives. Oshun's law is love yourself while Shango's is use your head.

The Orisha also have reincarnated on the earth and achieved Orishahood. There are stories about the apotheosis of Yemonja, Shango, Oya and Orisha Oko, to name a few. Therefore the Orisha are also ANCESTORS, however, a special categories of ancestors.

The Orisha are all this and more.

The following pataki explains how there are Orisha all over the world.

Obatala went to the market and bought a slave. He put him to work on his farm on a hillside. The slave worked very hard and the farm thrived. Obatala was pleased. One day Obatala was walking up the path to the farm and the slave rolled a huge boulder down on him and crushed him into numerous pieces. Orumila gathered up as many of othe pieces as he could find but he could not find them all. It is said that the pieces of Obatala were spread all over the world.

So the Orisha are everywhere, whether we know it or not or whether we recognize them or not.

Olamide

Iya Olamide is a priestess of Yemoja with nearly two decades of ocha. The vitality and wisdom that is always evident in her writing has made her a favorite contributor to the Orisha Mailing List. She currently resides in Houston, Texas.