By Nana Kwame Osunwole

Irosun F3
Awo Salako – Sixteen Cowries

“Head, push me into wealth”…
Evening got all the fruit of Morning’s labor
Evening got it
Morning was working
To serve Evening
When people pray,
They say, “May Olorun
“Let your evening be good, oh”;
And we reply, “Amen, oh.”
And Evening was good,
Evening had blessings on Earth.

Ifa’ philosophy uses evening as a metaphor for longevity and prosperity for the sacrifice and work in our day and our life. Its fluidity is seen in the reality that a child (through reincarnation) can enter the world as a prophetic priest or wise elder of a family and community, and be revered and taught by a loving religion the principles of longevity and prosperity. This is contrasted by the fast and hurried life seen in some of our communities today, influenced by Western linear thinking, which has hurt many in the last 40 years.

Beginning in the late 1950’s we began to study the rituals and characters of Ifa/Orisa, and the Rites of Passages. We were being taught to understand, as Wole Soyinka stated: the tenet of the cyclical nature of existence – of life and death following one another interminably in saecual saeculorum (“for ever and ever”)

This column is going to highlight exemplary elders who have been within our Ifa/Orisa community for years. Difficult years may be ahead of us. It has become paramount for us to learn from our elders’ vast well of knowledge and practices, and allow this knowledge to guide us at every stage of our evolution. The wise tenets given us of Ifa never separated the cosmic (Orun) and our life on earth (Aiye’). Our wisdom proved to be truth.