The prefix of then name Osoosi, Oso, denotes the ability to astral travel. It refers to out of body experiences that are done intentionally. In Yoruba there is the saying "Otun, Osi?" meaning right and left. "Osi" meaning left.
On the Opon Ifa (circular divining tray) the right side corresponds to what is manifest in the present, and the left corresponds to what is hidden.
Odu Ifa is divided by right and left constituents. The lines of Odu are essentially a mandala.. The right side of the Odu reflects what is going on in the physical world, while the left side is indicative of what is happening in the invisible world. In Ifa there is the understanding that all things have the potential to come into being exist in potential in the spiritual realm. Odu is a map of the possible relationships between primordial patterns of energy.
Osoosi is calle the "Sorcerer" of the left hand, who brings good fortune, spotted medicine of the forest. The reference to spotted medicine is medicine that is put in the skin during scarification. Medicine and sand is placed under the skin. The medicine is called "Ajabo." "Aja" means dog and "bo" is short for Ebo, offering. In other words Dog offering. In Ifa dogs serve as runners for Orisa. So Ajabo is made by getting ewe (Herbs) and depending on function of the medicine, Ewe are are procured based on what needs to be accomplished.
Osoosi in his role as hunter or tracker requires astral travel in the forest for the purposes of locating herbs and game. Hunters in the forest have the ability to walk and look with their right eye seeing straight ahead and the left eye seeing looking down from the sky above them. Naturally it would easier to locate something using two seperate perspectives.
How does this translate in a western setting? Lets look at the opon Ifa again. The Ifa symbol of the cross on the Opon Ifa, among other things, serves as a map of the conciousness. The key word here is balance. The outer rim of the circle represents the sum total of an individuals state of consciousness. The four quadrants of the circle represent the elements of consciousness in balance.
In Ifa, when we have balanced all the forces that create consciousness, we are in touch with what is called Ori Inu, or the inner self. The process of getting in touch with the inner self is connecting with the higher self, known as Ipori. In Ifa, making this connection is a prerequisite for the phenomenon we know as possession. The connection with higher spiritual forces.
The Yoruba word for possession is "Ini" which translates to mean
"I am," being possessed by something other than ourselves, we are getting in touch with who we really are. Once you get in touch with your inner self, it becomes a magnet for similar forms of energy in the cosmos and this is possession occurs. We can be in touch with our inner selves and not hook up with these forces, this is a given, however hooking up with similar forces of consciousness, typically with the aide of specific ritual precipitates an energy surge we call possession.
Orunmila says that Ori leaves the house in the morning should not be the Ori that comes home at night. This means that during the day you are going to learn something and you have to balance your consciousness. Every time your consciousness expands, the person who is alive today dies and is reborn as someone more intelligent.
Again, the cross/map on Opon Ifa and the circle represents consciousness, and as consciousness expands the circumference the circle gets bigger. Like a leap from childhood to adulthood represents a tremendous expansion of the circumference of the circle that defines the individual consciousness.
For example, image a circle the size of a baseball that represents the sum total of the consciousness of a child. We could say that the circle of an adult's consciousness was the size of a basketball. Picture the baseball resting at the bottom of the basketball and image the center of the base ball has to move through a rite of passage to the center of the basketball. There are two ways to travel from the centered consciousness of a child to the centered consciousness of an adult
To travel in a straight line from center A to center B, the other is all the infinite ways that we can avoid traveling in a straight line. By avoiding a straight line, we are allowing ourselves to resist the process by either avoiding the responsibility, refusing to face the fear or by denying that growth is necessary. So we look for community support to give aid to children as the make crucial transition.
The purpose of spiritual communities is to support spiritual growth. The purpose of Osoosi is to support the idea that moving from Point A to point B can occur smoothlyy and efficiently by traveling in a straight line.
When Priest/ess invoke Osoosi it is done in order to get a clear vision for a straight path, on the shortest route. You have to see there the path lies in the course of life before you can walk it with efficiency. When divination is doen part of what it reveals is the shortest path from A to B. Osoosi is an important element in almost any divination experience. You reveal the problem to the diviner, and ask how do you solve it. Spirit reveals the solution and the most efficient way to resolve it.
When we have an idea that we can't accomplish something, or anything that diminishes our own sense of self, it's Osoosi that can be invoked to find an alternative vision. Any time you give credence to a negating concept, the circle of your conciousness gets smaller. You regress rather than grow. Regression takes effort and eventually leads to suffering and illness. The reason regression takes effort is because you have to constantly distort your perception of reality to conform to your negating self image.
Sometimes things happen to us to challenge our negative self image and rather than integrate our consciousness and grow, you won't see it, you'll distort it.
If we shift the focus from the mundane or practical level to the cosmological plane, we can start by drawing a horizontal line that represents the spectrum of light. The top of the end is ultra violet and the bottom is infrared. Many of us are aware that we use our eyes to look at teh spectrum somewhere in the middle. There are vibrations on the lower end and on the hight end of the spectrum that we do not see.
In Ifa, the concept of Orun which is understood to mean heaven is in fact an invisible dimension. Looking at the science of light, there are visible light rays that have an influence on visual reality. These rays cannot be seen. This means that we can say that there is an invisible dimension that helps shave the physical dimension. This is what Ifa means referring to Orun. So Orun is not heaven in the classic judeo-christian since of the word, but is the invisible dimension of the physical environment that has a clear substance and affect and real power, we simply can't or don't see it. Ifa refers to Orun as being on the earth, under the earth, above the clouds, in our own consciousness, with the living, and with the dead. There are seven different names for Orun which are located on different densities along the spectrum of light.
What allows us to see along a particular band of light? We are controlled by gravity, time and substance. If we had a different field of gravity and sense of time, we would be looking at a different frequency along the spectrum of light. When you have Oso the ability to go out of your body, then the first thing you are doing is liberarting yourself from the effects of gravity. In addition to being able to go into the forest and see things in the physical realm, you can also see things in invisible realm. Priest of Osoosi are often adept as seeing and physically entering these dimensions of light that are not normally seen.
In Ifa there are two ways to enter the invisible realm. One is through the use of Eiye which is the spirit part of a dead bird that is used to pull yourself out of your body. The other is through Osoosi. Ifa has it own tradition of dwarfs and little people and they are associated with Osoosi. They are described in one of two forms. One is as small people who look like regular people in terms of their proportions, except they're real tiny. The other is what would be considered little fur balls. That's the other way the spirit helpers manifest in the motherland.
When these spirits appear visually and spontaneously out in the forest. which they do for people who are sensitive, it becomes a matter of caution. That is because when you get into the upper regions of the light spectrum time and space become distorted. So when the fur balls appear, if you were to follow them, you can litterally disappear and reappear somewhere else.
There are certain places that are accessible gateways into this dimension that work as shrines that lead into different realms Those gateways are usually rocks or particuliar trees and when Priest or medicine men/women approach them they litterally walk into the tree or rock and disappear. They may reappear hours later. This implies a mastery of the ability to shift dimensions. This is an aspect of Ifa that is still used and preserved worked with and in Africa and the diaspora. In fact shape shifting is an aspect of Osoosi. It involves going into possession with the spirit of an animal, not so that you look like the animal to someone around you, but that you feel like the animal to other animals. Shape shifting serves as a tool for hunting with the spirit of the animal, then you have the ability to blend with those animals in the forest. this is a hunting technique.
Osoosi and Esu
Esu's function is to put us at the center of the Opon Ifa. When we say put us on the right path, you can't go from point A to point B without moving from your center. You cannot grow while being stuck in a place of fear for example. Esu puts us in the center of our self. That is symbolically called the gate or doorway through which movement occurs, but it is not the movement itself. Sometimes we hear people say my life would get better if I won the lottery. There is no way you can grow spiritually while sitting around waiting to be saved by the lottery. There is no way to move forward while being possessed by illusion.
Befor you can begin a spiritual journey, you have to come face to face with your inner self. If you are not fact to face with your inner self you are in a state of Esu Ni Pa ko. People who are not centered, according to Ifa, have problems with the back of their neck. This is the place that links the head and the heart.Once you are thinking the same thing you are feeling, then the head and the heart are in alignment.You are no longer possessed by a fragment of your consciousness, you are in the center of the tray. You are at a place that will allow you to step on the path. Coming to the center is Esu's role.
Once the door is open and you see where the path is leading, then Ogun is invoked to clear away the obstacles. This is why we associate Esu, Osoosi, and Ogun because they have the inter-relationship that allows for growth. Their interaction is the fundamental Ifa paradigm for growth. These 3 divinities are called Ebora and the fourth Ebora is Osun. Osun is the symbolic representation of the map of consciousness or realm through which the Ebora travel
Osoosi and 1st nation medicine
Osoosi can identify the invisible spirits of the land we live on. In Yorubaland Osoosi is used to identify indigenous plants, minerals and animals. As a result of the Maafa, there were and are fundamental challenges that have to be addressed regarding rituals in a new environment. The first challenge is to identify those plants tha can be used in a ceremonial way. They are no longer the plants that we used in Africa, so a dialogue is established with plants on the astral plane. We ask what effect plants will have on human consciousness. One of the things we ask Osoosi to do is to identify the function of various aspects of the ecological support sytem. Herbs and plants are a fundamental aspect of Ifa worship. When you go to the market in Africa there are booths that have hundreds of different kinds of tree bark. Each piece has a function and a name and they are commonly known in the area.
When Priest are in Igbodu, the first thing we want to do is to identify the natural source of the particular power that we are working with. You don't go to the ocean to worship the spirit of the river, nor do you go to the mountain to worship the spirit of the desert. If you have thousands of miles of flat forest, and if you are in the rain forest of the Amazon, it may not be readily apparent what forces are strongest in given area. It may not be apparent what spiritual use of that land was in the past.
Institutional Churches are notorious for building churches on holy 1st nation ground of what ever area they took over. Our ancestors were much more respectul. They would invoke Osoosi to discover how the land was used before they arrived. They used Osoosi to discover the name of the indigenous spirits of the land and then they honored that in conjuction with the Orisa that they were used to working with. So Osoosi was used to ensure that nothing was done in conflict with the 1st nation uses of the respective land. That way they avoid invoking conflicting spirits on the land that would neutralize their efficacy
On the Opon Ifa (circular divining tray) the right side corresponds to what is manifest in the present, and the left corresponds to what is hidden.
Odu Ifa is divided by right and left constituents. The lines of Odu are essentially a mandala.. The right side of the Odu reflects what is going on in the physical world, while the left side is indicative of what is happening in the invisible world. In Ifa there is the understanding that all things have the potential to come into being exist in potential in the spiritual realm. Odu is a map of the possible relationships between primordial patterns of energy.
Osoosi is calle the "Sorcerer" of the left hand, who brings good fortune, spotted medicine of the forest. The reference to spotted medicine is medicine that is put in the skin during scarification. Medicine and sand is placed under the skin. The medicine is called "Ajabo." "Aja" means dog and "bo" is short for Ebo, offering. In other words Dog offering. In Ifa dogs serve as runners for Orisa. So Ajabo is made by getting ewe (Herbs) and depending on function of the medicine, Ewe are are procured based on what needs to be accomplished.
Osoosi in his role as hunter or tracker requires astral travel in the forest for the purposes of locating herbs and game. Hunters in the forest have the ability to walk and look with their right eye seeing straight ahead and the left eye seeing looking down from the sky above them. Naturally it would easier to locate something using two seperate perspectives.
How does this translate in a western setting? Lets look at the opon Ifa again. The Ifa symbol of the cross on the Opon Ifa, among other things, serves as a map of the conciousness. The key word here is balance. The outer rim of the circle represents the sum total of an individuals state of consciousness. The four quadrants of the circle represent the elements of consciousness in balance.
In Ifa, when we have balanced all the forces that create consciousness, we are in touch with what is called Ori Inu, or the inner self. The process of getting in touch with the inner self is connecting with the higher self, known as Ipori. In Ifa, making this connection is a prerequisite for the phenomenon we know as possession. The connection with higher spiritual forces.
The Yoruba word for possession is "Ini" which translates to mean
"I am," being possessed by something other than ourselves, we are getting in touch with who we really are. Once you get in touch with your inner self, it becomes a magnet for similar forms of energy in the cosmos and this is possession occurs. We can be in touch with our inner selves and not hook up with these forces, this is a given, however hooking up with similar forces of consciousness, typically with the aide of specific ritual precipitates an energy surge we call possession.
Orunmila says that Ori leaves the house in the morning should not be the Ori that comes home at night. This means that during the day you are going to learn something and you have to balance your consciousness. Every time your consciousness expands, the person who is alive today dies and is reborn as someone more intelligent.
Again, the cross/map on Opon Ifa and the circle represents consciousness, and as consciousness expands the circumference the circle gets bigger. Like a leap from childhood to adulthood represents a tremendous expansion of the circumference of the circle that defines the individual consciousness.
For example, image a circle the size of a baseball that represents the sum total of the consciousness of a child. We could say that the circle of an adult's consciousness was the size of a basketball. Picture the baseball resting at the bottom of the basketball and image the center of the base ball has to move through a rite of passage to the center of the basketball. There are two ways to travel from the centered consciousness of a child to the centered consciousness of an adult
To travel in a straight line from center A to center B, the other is all the infinite ways that we can avoid traveling in a straight line. By avoiding a straight line, we are allowing ourselves to resist the process by either avoiding the responsibility, refusing to face the fear or by denying that growth is necessary. So we look for community support to give aid to children as the make crucial transition.
The purpose of spiritual communities is to support spiritual growth. The purpose of Osoosi is to support the idea that moving from Point A to point B can occur smoothlyy and efficiently by traveling in a straight line.
When Priest/ess invoke Osoosi it is done in order to get a clear vision for a straight path, on the shortest route. You have to see there the path lies in the course of life before you can walk it with efficiency. When divination is doen part of what it reveals is the shortest path from A to B. Osoosi is an important element in almost any divination experience. You reveal the problem to the diviner, and ask how do you solve it. Spirit reveals the solution and the most efficient way to resolve it.
When we have an idea that we can't accomplish something, or anything that diminishes our own sense of self, it's Osoosi that can be invoked to find an alternative vision. Any time you give credence to a negating concept, the circle of your conciousness gets smaller. You regress rather than grow. Regression takes effort and eventually leads to suffering and illness. The reason regression takes effort is because you have to constantly distort your perception of reality to conform to your negating self image.
Sometimes things happen to us to challenge our negative self image and rather than integrate our consciousness and grow, you won't see it, you'll distort it.
If we shift the focus from the mundane or practical level to the cosmological plane, we can start by drawing a horizontal line that represents the spectrum of light. The top of the end is ultra violet and the bottom is infrared. Many of us are aware that we use our eyes to look at teh spectrum somewhere in the middle. There are vibrations on the lower end and on the hight end of the spectrum that we do not see.
In Ifa, the concept of Orun which is understood to mean heaven is in fact an invisible dimension. Looking at the science of light, there are visible light rays that have an influence on visual reality. These rays cannot be seen. This means that we can say that there is an invisible dimension that helps shave the physical dimension. This is what Ifa means referring to Orun. So Orun is not heaven in the classic judeo-christian since of the word, but is the invisible dimension of the physical environment that has a clear substance and affect and real power, we simply can't or don't see it. Ifa refers to Orun as being on the earth, under the earth, above the clouds, in our own consciousness, with the living, and with the dead. There are seven different names for Orun which are located on different densities along the spectrum of light.
What allows us to see along a particular band of light? We are controlled by gravity, time and substance. If we had a different field of gravity and sense of time, we would be looking at a different frequency along the spectrum of light. When you have Oso the ability to go out of your body, then the first thing you are doing is liberarting yourself from the effects of gravity. In addition to being able to go into the forest and see things in the physical realm, you can also see things in invisible realm. Priest of Osoosi are often adept as seeing and physically entering these dimensions of light that are not normally seen.
In Ifa there are two ways to enter the invisible realm. One is through the use of Eiye which is the spirit part of a dead bird that is used to pull yourself out of your body. The other is through Osoosi. Ifa has it own tradition of dwarfs and little people and they are associated with Osoosi. They are described in one of two forms. One is as small people who look like regular people in terms of their proportions, except they're real tiny. The other is what would be considered little fur balls. That's the other way the spirit helpers manifest in the motherland.
When these spirits appear visually and spontaneously out in the forest. which they do for people who are sensitive, it becomes a matter of caution. That is because when you get into the upper regions of the light spectrum time and space become distorted. So when the fur balls appear, if you were to follow them, you can litterally disappear and reappear somewhere else.
There are certain places that are accessible gateways into this dimension that work as shrines that lead into different realms Those gateways are usually rocks or particuliar trees and when Priest or medicine men/women approach them they litterally walk into the tree or rock and disappear. They may reappear hours later. This implies a mastery of the ability to shift dimensions. This is an aspect of Ifa that is still used and preserved worked with and in Africa and the diaspora. In fact shape shifting is an aspect of Osoosi. It involves going into possession with the spirit of an animal, not so that you look like the animal to someone around you, but that you feel like the animal to other animals. Shape shifting serves as a tool for hunting with the spirit of the animal, then you have the ability to blend with those animals in the forest. this is a hunting technique.
Osoosi and Esu
Esu's function is to put us at the center of the Opon Ifa. When we say put us on the right path, you can't go from point A to point B without moving from your center. You cannot grow while being stuck in a place of fear for example. Esu puts us in the center of our self. That is symbolically called the gate or doorway through which movement occurs, but it is not the movement itself. Sometimes we hear people say my life would get better if I won the lottery. There is no way you can grow spiritually while sitting around waiting to be saved by the lottery. There is no way to move forward while being possessed by illusion.
Befor you can begin a spiritual journey, you have to come face to face with your inner self. If you are not fact to face with your inner self you are in a state of Esu Ni Pa ko. People who are not centered, according to Ifa, have problems with the back of their neck. This is the place that links the head and the heart.Once you are thinking the same thing you are feeling, then the head and the heart are in alignment.You are no longer possessed by a fragment of your consciousness, you are in the center of the tray. You are at a place that will allow you to step on the path. Coming to the center is Esu's role.
Once the door is open and you see where the path is leading, then Ogun is invoked to clear away the obstacles. This is why we associate Esu, Osoosi, and Ogun because they have the inter-relationship that allows for growth. Their interaction is the fundamental Ifa paradigm for growth. These 3 divinities are called Ebora and the fourth Ebora is Osun. Osun is the symbolic representation of the map of consciousness or realm through which the Ebora travel
Osoosi and 1st nation medicine
Osoosi can identify the invisible spirits of the land we live on. In Yorubaland Osoosi is used to identify indigenous plants, minerals and animals. As a result of the Maafa, there were and are fundamental challenges that have to be addressed regarding rituals in a new environment. The first challenge is to identify those plants tha can be used in a ceremonial way. They are no longer the plants that we used in Africa, so a dialogue is established with plants on the astral plane. We ask what effect plants will have on human consciousness. One of the things we ask Osoosi to do is to identify the function of various aspects of the ecological support sytem. Herbs and plants are a fundamental aspect of Ifa worship. When you go to the market in Africa there are booths that have hundreds of different kinds of tree bark. Each piece has a function and a name and they are commonly known in the area.
When Priest are in Igbodu, the first thing we want to do is to identify the natural source of the particular power that we are working with. You don't go to the ocean to worship the spirit of the river, nor do you go to the mountain to worship the spirit of the desert. If you have thousands of miles of flat forest, and if you are in the rain forest of the Amazon, it may not be readily apparent what forces are strongest in given area. It may not be apparent what spiritual use of that land was in the past.
Institutional Churches are notorious for building churches on holy 1st nation ground of what ever area they took over. Our ancestors were much more respectul. They would invoke Osoosi to discover how the land was used before they arrived. They used Osoosi to discover the name of the indigenous spirits of the land and then they honored that in conjuction with the Orisa that they were used to working with. So Osoosi was used to ensure that nothing was done in conflict with the 1st nation uses of the respective land. That way they avoid invoking conflicting spirits on the land that would neutralize their efficacy
