Agbo ato This a lecture from 20 years ago is summarizes some of my early ideas on

liturgical Yoruba A Lecture on Oshun and Gelefun

by Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi
Ara Obinrin Gelefun includes; Oshun, Yemoja and Oya

I'm going to discuss the relationship between these three Ifa Goddess Spirits. Let's start
with a break down of the words. "Ara" is "body," "Obinrin" is "Female," "Gelefun" is made
up of three parts. "Gele" is an elision of "Ge" and "Ile." "Ile" is "earth," "fun" is from
"funfun" meaning "white" and "ge" means "to sit." The common meaning of Obinrin would
be "daughters." So we have daughters who sit on white earth. In better English we could
say daughters who bring whiteness or purity to the earth.

White is not an ethnic reference. In Yoruba there are only three words for colors, black
which is "dudu" red which is "pon" and white which is "funfun." All colors fall within one of
these three general categories, and all colors are described by Ifa as carriers of a particular
type of ashe or spiritual power. Any time you refer to white in religious symbolism you are
speaking about things that bring coolness like water, air and calm emotions. White is a
symbolic reference to natural elements in the environment.

The most widely worshiped female Orisa in Nigeria come under the general heading of Ara
Obinrin Gelefun, the daughters who sit on the earth and bring coolness. When I speak of
male and female in terms of Orisha as Forces in Nature, I'm not talking about human men
and women. Male and female in the metaphysical and cosmological context refers to the
yin/ yang polarity between the Forces of expansion and the Forces of contraction.
Everybody has both. If you don't grasp this, some of the language of Ifa can sound sexist. If
you really look at what is being said, I do not believe that it represents a sexist point of
view. That is the idea that one gender is better than another gender.

When I talk about female Orisa in their most primal manifestation, I am speaking of primal
Forces of contraction. The idea of contraction does have implications within the social
framework of Yoruba culture and we'll get to that. But I want to start with the metaphysical
basis. The center point of Creation is called Oyigiyigi in Ifa. Oyigiyigi means "The Eternal
Stone," which is the Source of Matter in the Universe. In the Ifa Creation Myth all the
matter of the Universe is contained within this stone. Science says the same thing. Oyigiyigi
represents the ultimate point of contraction. It is pure female energy. There is no force for
contraction in a stone that is infinitely small, and infinitely dense. Oyigiyigi is the complete
crystallization of female power or female ashe. Oyigiyigi is pure womb, pure female
essence. There is no manifestation of the power of expansion in Oyigiyigi prior to the
moment of Creation. There is no value judgment on this statement. It is a description of the
history of the development of the Universe.

Before there was time and space everything was condensed. There was no power of
expansion, there was no light, there was no time and there was no space. The idea that
there was no light does not mean that Oyigiyigi was evil. It is simply a state of being. In Ifa
we say that Oyigiyigi became manifest through the ashe of Olodumare. Here we have
another female concept. "Olodumare" means "Owner of the Womb of the Rainbow. " No
personal pronouns in Yoruba are gender specific. All the anthropologists translates the word
by saying Olodumare He... I have never seen it written in English, Olodumare She... But
when you are speaking of the owner of the womb of the Rainbow this seems to have a
female connotation.

We know that the rock split apart. Science calls this the Big Bang. Ifa calls this splitting
apart the separation of the calabash of Creation. The first split was called the Creation of
Igbamole. The word "Igbamole" means "The Calabash of the house of light." It is a two
sided calabash. At this point in Creation half the Universe is light and half the Universe is
dark. The light portion of the calabash is the realm of Obatala which means "The King of the
Spirit of White Cloth." Again white cloth is a symbolic reference to light. The bottom portion
is the realm of Oduduwa. In some regions of Nigeria, Oduduwa is the female aspect of
Obatala. In some areas the female aspect is called Yemo.

Oduduwa can be translated one of two ways. We can say either the Odu or womb of black
character or the owner of black character depending on how it is broken down. "Yemo"
means simply "Spirit of my mother." Again there is no pejorative reference in the use of the
word black. In the Yoruba language, black suggests that something is invisible. It is the
absence of light, the power of contraction. So either way that you translate Oduduwa you
are symbolically representing the idea of contraction. Ifa recognizes the fundamental
polarity of yin and yang or light and dark. This polarity came into Being with the splitting of
Oyigiyigi into Igbamole. There was a big explosion and light went in every direction.

Physics tells us that at the moment of the Big Bang there was nothing but light and nothing
but the power of expansion. In religious language this means that the feminine principle
disappeared. In the early history of Creation, we have pure female energy one moment and
pure male energy the next moment. The existence of nothing but light in the Universe
lasted for about one trillionth of a second. The big problem of astrophysics is the question of
why the light from the big bang didn't just flatten out into a single beam of light. That would
be the logical consequence of an explosion from a center point. This may not be real
obvious, but to the world of Western science it is a serious enigma.

In simple terms it is the fundamental question: Why is there something instead of nothing?
Light from the big bang created photons which are sub atomic particles. Photons are the
building blocks of atoms, but in the first fraction of a second of Creation there were no
atoms. We've got this big cloud of light particles which would be yang energy or expansive
male energy. After you ask the question why is there something instead of nothing, you are
faced with the question how do we get from pure light to life on earth?

To make a very complicated story a very short story, photons begin attracting each other in
polarities of opposites based on the attraction of plus and minus electromagnetic charges.
It's the same idea as the attraction of the opposite ends of a magnet. This process begins to
form atoms. The basic structure of atoms is a power of contraction at the center in polarity
with a power of expansion at the perimeter. An atom is an energy packet of gradations of
expansive and contractive energy. Atoms link together to form elements. There is a power
of attraction in the universe that causes opposites to come together. This power of
attraction generates something that was not there before. This is a fundamental law in
Nature. From the metaphysical point of view, we call that attraction of opposites, or the
tendency for polar energies to come together, we call that the allure of erotic. The pre -
human universe has an erotic component according to Ifa. The way that this is expressed is
the Irunmole, which means "hairs on the house of light," or "the house of light that formed
the earth," made the journey from Heaven to Earth.

The story says that 201 Irunmole made this journey from Oyigiyigi to planet Earth. The
Irunmole were accompanied by one daughter of the Gelefun. If we look at that we could say
"oh wow, that's kind of unbalanced and sexist." The point is this, 201 is a symbolic number
for infinity. It is describing that time in the history of the universe when there was a lot of
light and no form, no atoms and no matter. At that point in time, we had mostly expansive
energy. We also have one female principle that we call the allure of the erotic and can
anybody guess which Orisha brought the allure of the erotic from Heaven to Earth with 201
male escorts?

Answer: Oshun.

Fa'lokun: Good guess. Least you think that I'm tripping and making all this up, does
anybody know Oshun's star?

Answer: Venus.
Fa'lokun: Venus. The Yoruba word for Venus is "Irawoaguala." "Irawo" means "star" in
Yoruba. " Aguala" means "Anchoring light to the earth." Amazing. The Yoruba language is
metaphysically rich. Wouldn't it be wonderful if English was as illuminating. "Ala" is "white
cloth." or "white light," "agu" means "anchoring to the earth." It is what you say when you
tie a rope from the dock to a boat. We have the idea that the allure of the erotic creates
form in the universe. Are you with that as an idea? Let me give some examples. Babies are
the most obvious. If you go further back, fire and water creates oxygen. Stars implode and
generate complex elements. Everything here is made from star dust. We are not stardust
because opposites have come together to make something of substance. We call this
process Oshun.

Oshun is the archetype of the lover, the allure of the erotic. The Love Goddess is the
common anthropomorphic manifestation of Oshun. With all the light at the beginning of the
big bang, we have a coupling of the allure of the erotic with a cooling process. The Universe
is not as hot today as it was in the first fraction of a second of Creation. In Yoruba we call
this process ori tutu. Ori is "consciousness," Ifa teaches that everything in the universe has
consciousness. Tutu is "cool." As the Universe itself cools, the universe becomes ori tutu.

Getting back to Gelefun, sitting on the earth bringing whiteness means the process of
cooling creates matter in the universe. The allure of the erotic coupled with the cooling
process is the way in which Nature creates matter. It is that simple. Once matter is created,
what do we do with it? Oshun is the power of the erotic that causes opposites to unite. What
happens when opposites unite? If you mix water with water you get more water. If you mix
water with fire you get steam. Steam is something different. That is called giving birth. Fire
and water mate to create steam.

The next phenomena in the function of the daughters of the Gelefun is nurturing. The Orisa
of nurturing is Yemoja. This is an elision of "yeye," the familiar form of "Mother," "mo" is
"my," and "oja" is "Fish." "Mother of my fish," with fish representing the principle of
fecundity. The relationship between Oshun and Yemoja is the relationship between the
impulse to procreate and the impulse to nurture that which is created. This is a fundamental
law in Nature that transcends human relationships. The Earth itself is trying to nurture
itself. That is why there are compensating factors on the earth that are trying to close the
hole in the Ozone layer. Every time you cut down a tree in South America, the rainforest in
Africa kicks out more oxygen automatically. This is the nurturing principle of Nature itself.
The consequence of this is that the soil in Africa becomes depilated and you have large
areas of draught and famine.
What we have at this point is lover and mother. That puts it in the human realm. Can
anyone guess where Oya fits in the mix? Whenever you give birth to something, nothing
remains the same. One hundred years ago there were five million Yoruba living in Africa.
Now there are twenty million living in the same space. This creates a shift in the
environment. What worked in terms of living off the land one hundred years ago, does not
work as well anymore because you have fifteen million more people to support. Oya is the
idea that nothing remains stagnant in the universe. With Oya we have the idea of change.
With Oya we have the idea of the wind, and the whirlwind in particular, and the wind that
creates thunder and lightning. In Ifa, Lightning represents Divine Justice, but thunder is the
force that generates Justice.

Question: Would you repeat that?

Fa'lokun: Lightning is the Ifa symbol for Divine Justice and it is pure male energy. Lighting
is expansive and it is light. The light is generated by wind. Wind is caused by the contraction
of air. The male expression of lightning is created by the female contraction of air. We could
say that the juice behind Sango's sword is Oya's hot air, both cosmically and socially. We
have Oya as the warrior. Now this is an interesting paradox. There is very little folklore in
this country about Oya in her role as warrior. One of the enigmas of Oya is that she always
fights with a dull sword, and in some stories with a wooden sword. If we go back to our
original idea of Gelefun - sitting on earth with whiteness - we could also say sitting in the
house, sitting on the land, its all the same idea. The feminine principle of the warrior is
associated with bringing coolness to the earth. This is a big clue on understanding the Ifa
concept of Justice.

Question: Will you say that again?

Fa'lokun: The female warrior incarnates the idea of Justice through coolness as opposed to
the Ogun idea of big fish eat little fish. These are different ideas. Big fish in nature are
effective hunters, that is a way to do things. I would call this the masculine principle of
justice. The feminine principle of justice involves fighting with a sword that has no edge. In
other words, finding a non-violent solution. This is a feminine principle that could be
expressed by either a man or a woman.

We have lovers, mothers and warriors as daughters of the Gelefun. We've talked about this
as metaphysical principles that do not necessarily have anything to do with the gender of
people. These are principles that describe the way the universe was created. We have
discussed the idea that Odu manifest at different levels of Being. In other words the Orisha
manifest in different forms at different levels of Being. We have been speaking about the
Orisha as they existed before there was life on earth. To show you the power of Oshun and
the power of the erotic, I brought in a newspaper. There is a story in it about the Hubble
telescope. The story says that scientists used to believe that the earth was the only place in
the universe that supported life. I have always considered this a notoriously egocentric idea.
The Hubble telescope is now sending back pictures that tell us that there are at least one
billion planets capable of supporting life in our galaxy alone. There are billions of galaxies
that can be seen from the earth and who knows now many that can't be seen. We have the
idea that these principles have shown up in at least a billion different places in the Milky
way alone. This means that Oshun has been spreading her honey far and wide.

This brings us to the historical and social manifestation of these principles. I want to talk
about the African idea of the extended family. I want to talk a little bit about the history of
some of the changes in that idea. I want to say that some of the ideas that I want to talk
about might sound sexist. So let me just go through it so we can see the historical
perspective and see where it brings us today.

The extended family in Africa is organized around the veneration of male and female Orisa.
On the female side you have the society of mothers or Iyami. They are the council of elder
women in the village. In what Yoruba call the old days, the village and the family were
considered one and the same. This council of women is made up of female initiates of
Oshun, Yemoja and Oya. Usually Oshun is the chief. Without going into a lot of details, the
female council of elders worship the spirit of air which is a masculine expansive force. The
messenger of the Spirit of air is the bird. The women worship a male force in Nature while
the women themselves are initiated into female societies. The male council of elders are
made up of initiates into the male mysteries of Obatala, Ogun and Sango. They worship
Mother Earth. This council is called Ogboni which means wisdom of the earth. Ogboni is the
worship of all the Irunmole as they are linked together through the womb of the Earth
Goddess.

The center point that creates balance between these two councils is the Oba. This is a male
patriarchy in terms of the passing of the seat of power. So we can ask the question how can
there be a balance of power if we are giving the men the responsibility of being Oba? What
are the things we fear in patriarchy? Egotism, nepotism and abuse of power. That's the
negative consequence of the abuse of male power. Originally when they installed an Oba, it
was for a seven year term of office. At the end of the seven years Oshun sent the Oba into
the realm of the ancestors. He went with his head separated from his shoulders, loving
every minute of it. He was going to the land of the ancestors as a messenger to report on
how things were doing on earth.
This is absolutely the same paradigm as what happened with the Druids in England, the
basis for the Tarot deck, the movie "The Wicker Man." The pre-Christian monarchies in
Europe had the same paradigm. Is this a coincidence or were they in touch with the political
ideas of Africa? Who knows. But in the old, olden days the negative effects of male
patriarchy were kept in balance by the female council in a very direct manner.

Ifa scripture says that at some point historically the women abused this position. The men
revolted and said it was time to make a change. This shift is clearly documented in Ifa
scripture. In the days when the Oshun initiates sacrificed the Oba, the women where the
owners of the mystery of Egungun. When men took over Egungun they put a stop to the
seven-year cycle of replacing the Oba.

Question: Is the Oba like a king?

Fa'lokun: He is a king. There are only twenty one Oba in Yorubaland. They rule regions
about the size of a state. Technically an Oba would be like a prince using European
language and the Oni of Ile Ife would be the king. Actually there is a dual monarchy, so the
Oni of Ile lfe and the Alaafin of Oyo would be the kings of the Yoruba Nation. The Oni of Ile
Ife would be the chief spiritual elder and the Alaafin would be the national chief of Ogboni.

The women still put the crown on the Oba's head and he cannot sit as Oba unless he is
wearing his crown. If he messed up real bad, either the male or female council of elders
could tell the Oba to commit suicide. Looking at this arrangement historically, we have a
balance of power, followed by a period of excessive female power, followed by a period of
excessive male power. But throughout this we have the effort of Ifa and both councils of
elders to find some formula for creating and sustaining the idea of balance. This suggests
that Ifa as a personal religion of transformation and as a model of social organization is a
system in process.

The point here is that we are trying to create permanent, eternal political and social
structures in the midst of evolving historical circumstances. So we have these flip flops. The
last flip flop lasted a long, long time until a very specific external influence pulled the pin out
of the whole system. Do you know what that was?

Answer: Colonialism.

Fa'lokun: Colonialism and Christian missionaries both looked at the world view of Ifa and
said, "You can do everything you want except ask the Oba to commit suicide. We're making
that against the law." Then they went to the Oba and said, "You can be the chief trader if
you convert to Christianity." This is really insidious because it was so calculated. The first
Oba to convert to Christianity was in 1532. Then we have the consequence of this, which
was obviously and tragically slavery. After some time, we have two significant religious
reactions to slavery. In the west we had Quakers who were historically the first Western
religion to actively protest against the idea of slavery.

What was the reaction against slavery in Ifa, does anybody know? It is called Gelede.
Gelede is the most recent addition to Ifa ritual practice. It developed in the 18th century. I
believe that it developed as a reaction to slavery. The mothers were not happy. The
mothers said, "This is not happening, we want an end to slavery." What does Gelede mean?
It means; "Sitting on the earth, standing up." So whatever it was that was sitting on the
earth to bring coolness, stood up and said "wrong - not."

Gelede is also a synonym for giving birth. We have the idea that the female elders in the
community defined the parameters of acceptable behavior within the culture. It is Oshun
with the allure of the erotic, Yemoja with the nurturing of life and Oya as the inspiration for
Justice that create the vision of family. The purpose of the extended family is to support the
vision that comes with the lure of the erotic and to nurture the children of the family. In Ifa,
we believe that reincarnation occurs through the family, so if your lineage dies, the family
both in Heaven and on Earth comes to an end. If your family lineage ends with you, you
can't come back to earth through the process of reincarnation. Coming back is considered a
good thing. So the mothers as the holders of reproductive power, define socially acceptable
behavior within the extended family in such a way that it supports their divine mandate to
conceive, nurture, support and transform children. This is very clear just from the literal
meaning of the Yoruba words used to describe and define the family.

Lets look at the idea of extended family within the political structure. We've discussed the
Creation of the Universe, the Creation of the Earth, the Creation of the political structure
and Creation of the family. This leads us to the current historical issues for 1994 living in
Oakland. So I'm going to tell you a secret. All of us who have been initiated have what is
called an Ita. This is divination that tells us what we are suppose to do as elders in the
community. My Ita says that Oshun and Ifa must be treated equally. If you go to an Ifa
shrine in Africa, you will see Ifa on the right side and Oshun or whatever female Orisha
there on the left side. Now, if anybody has ever been in my shrine, they will see Ifa on the
left side and Oshun on the right. This is a symbol of the never-ending relationship between
expansion and contraction, opposites emerging from each other, the balance of yin and
yang. Placing the female spirit on the male side and the male spirit on the female side is a
symbolic representation of this balance.

Question: Why did you change yours around?

Fa'lokun: Because I was told to by the Orisa themselves. The Orisa were trying to tell me
something. This was not an arbitrary decision. I am not trying to be politically correct. We
have the political structure of Yoruba culture represented on a smaller scale in the extended
family. Let's take the issue of polygamy first. That's always a hot issue. In Yoruba culture
there is a very strict division of labor. We don't have that in Western American culture. This
means that we cannot use Yoruba culture as a literal model. What we can do is figure out
the logic behind the Yoruba model and see if we can apply that logic to our circumstances.
In Yorubaland it is absolutely taboo for women to farm and generally taboo for men to sell
food at the market. The men plant the seeds and pull the weeds, the women process the
harvest and sell the surplus.

The heart of this system is to insure that everyone is connected to a farm. If every
extended family is associated with at least one farm, everybody gets to work and everybody
gets to eat. One of the customs used to sustain this connection is polygamy. In Nigeria
there are more women than men. Here in the west, polygamy seems to mean having as
many women friends as you can as long as your wife doesn't find out. In Yoruba culture
there are primary relationships. What we might call love relationships. There are also
arranged marriages that link single women to the system of farming. One of the tasks of Ifa
is to make these arrangements and to do it in a way that is not abusive. The husband will
only accept as many arranged marriages as he can support through farming. The balance of
power in the arrangement is in the hands of the senior wife who is in charge of the
distribution of resources within the extended family.

Not everyone is polygamous, because not everyone is able to accept this level of
responsibility. In Nigeria the big spiritual crisis within the traditional communities is shifting
the belief that every woman must have four children. This is a deeply held belief within the
culture. I say that it is a crisis not because I am making some kind of judgment as an
outsider, but because Yoruba women themselves are beginning to raise the question. The
outdoor market places are beginning to have stalls that distribute birth control information.
If you were to ask me what the solution is, I don't have a clue. I am absolutely confident
that they will solve the problem without my opinion.

The issue for us is the question of how do we establish functional families in Oakland now?
The question I am asking is the question of whether or not there is anything in the Yoruba
model of the functional family that can be used as a source of inspiration for creating
healthy families in this culture? What are the checks and balances we need to establish in
order to maintain a balance of power and purpose within the community? Go back to
Malidoma Some's definition of community. He defines community as three or more people
who get together for a purpose. In Ifa, communities get together for the purpose of
supporting and sustaining spiritual growth. We have an eternal structure that has existed
for hundreds of thousands of years that we call family.

This structure has remained in tact for countless generations while we watch new faces fill
the position of grandmother and grandfather. The roles of grandmother and grandfather
carry both respect and responsibility. Both respect and responsibility are seriously lacking in
most Western families. The good people of Ode Remo would never do anything to disrespect
grandmother and grandfather. It is unthinkable. The reason that this respect exists is
because grandmother and grandfather serve a function that is recognized as having value.

This leads to the question, "What is the value of grandparents, what is their function? Their
function is to guide the younger generations through the rites of passage that occur during
different age periods in the growth cycle of all humans who live on earth. Grandmother and
Grandfather know how to do this because they were trained by their grandmothers and
grandfathers. This training is called initiation into the mysteries of Orisha.

The function of the extended family in Ifa is to provide a nurturing environment for
procreation and to guide the individual members of the family through the natural cycle of
growth and maturity. These cycles revolve around certain key milestones in human life. The
first is birth, the next one is puberty, the next one is forming a lasting relationship, the next
one is becoming an elder and the last one is becoming an ancestor. The entire family
receives training on now to function during each of these stages of life and this information
is passed on from generation to generation in the form of proverbs, folklore, sacred history,
sacred drama, personal and communal ritual. We either pass through these stages
arbitrarily with little or no training, as occurs in this country, or it happens efficiently with
support.

The methodology for making these transitions occur efficiently and with support is called
ritual and initiation. This ties it back to our original definition of Gelefun, sitting on the earth
bringing white. The term white refers to mystic vision. The purpose of all rites of passage
and all initiations is to center consciousness in a place where you feel good about yourself.
When you are able to feel good about yourself, you are able to look beyond yourself to the
source of consciousness and the source of consciousness is in light itself. When you feel
good about yourself, you know that you are a good and blessed person, you feel connected
with everything in the universe and that is called a mystical experience. Being guided
towards mystical experience is the point of initiation and rites of passage.
So where do we get our understanding of mystical experience? Mystical experience is a
feminine phenomena. Mystical experience comes through placing all the elements of
consciousness into perfect alignment. This is always symbolized as moving through the veil
of the Goddess. In nature there are two common events that cause mystic vision without
the help of human ritual intervention. These experiences are giving birth and orgasm. These
two events are the paradigm for all rites of passage and initiation. By orgasm I do not mean
ejaculation, I mean lights change color, knock your socks off, lose consciousness bliss
orgasm. This is way beyond g-spot. In my opinion, Ifa initiation is man's attempt to recreate
the birthing experience. Many people do not agree with me on this point, but there is no
doubt about it in my mind.