African Traditional Religion : The Multidimensional Osun

Awo, in your post you spoke of Oshun's dulaity-- her benevolence and malevolence. To me, this is reflected in her being "owner" of the herb/spice Anise. (I like to use Anise in some of my baking, so I thought about this as I was contemplating baking something lol) Anise is used to heal digestive issues and gas buildup, but is is also used to induce abortions. There is duality reflected in her herb/spice that she is a healer who rules specifically the digestive and sexual system/organs, but can with the same substance terminate the blessing of a pregnancy, although she rules fertility and procreation/conception.

Hi sisterAntiAlice88,
Osun as leader of the Aje', the Eleiye (ugly), and as Water Goddess
The duality inherent in all Orisa, to me, speaks to the idea of unity. Everything is sacred. The most beautiful to the most abhorrent. the most benevolent to the most malevolent. Many new age inventions, like the charlatans at the Ifa foundation, with their so-called "American Ifa," love to talk about a "benevolent universe." This is "Christian creep." Ideas seepin' and creepin' into Ifa from Christianity. I'm not attacking Christianity. There's enogh of that here at destee, and I'm gonna try to stay away from that. It is an exercise in futility that bears no fruit. But the idea of a God who only represents half of all, a nuetered God, is a Christian concept. And as spoken about in another thread on new age paths, shows up as "the Universe."
Forgive my rant. In Ifa, unity of "good and evil" has been maintained, and is obviously very important to the theology, for it is everywhere.

alaafia
 
Iba Osun
Yeye-onikii-Obalodo
0 gba ooguin leri' opo sa
ti nrz kikere add yewo'
O gun ooguzn, gun oogun, s(e) odo karawu
Ore yeye o!

Homage Osun
Gracious-mother-Queen-of-the-River
She takes the medicine that is on the roof post in order to use it
The Orisa who finds a little gourd and looks carefully inside
She pounds and pounds the medicine and makes the mortar sound.
Most gracious Mother!
 
Osun (as leader of the Iyami, the mothers)holds aspecial place in Yoruba thought, and is indispensable to successful and harmonious political, economic, religious, and social life.

It was divined for the sixteen Odu
Who were coming from heaven to earth
A woman was the seventeenth of them.
When they got to earth,
They cleared the grove for Oro,
Oro had his own space.
They cleared the grove for Opa,
Opa’s abode was secure.
They prepared a grove for Eegun,
Eegun had a home.
But they made no provision for Osun,
Also known as “Seegesı, the preeminent hair-plaiter
with the coral-beaded comb.”
So, she decided to wait and see How
they would carry out their mission successfully;
Osun sat quietly and watched them.
Beginning with Eji-Ogbe and Oyeku mejı,
Iworı mejı, Odimejı, Irosun mejı
Owonrın mejı, Obara mejı, Okanran mejı,
Ogun-da, Osa, Orangun mejı and so on,
They all decided not to countenance Osun in their mission.
She, too, kept mute,
And carried on her rightful duty,
Which is hair-plaiting.
She had a comb.
They never knew she was an “aje´”
When they were coming from heaven,
God chose all good things;
He also chose their keeper,
And this was a woman.
All women are aje.
And because all other Odu left Osun out,
Nothing they did was successful.
They went to Eegun’s grove and pleaded with him,
That their mission be crowned with success.
“Eegun, it is you who straightens the four corners of the world,
Let all be straight.”
They went to Adagba Ojomu
Who is called Oro
“You are the only one who frightens Death and Sickness.
Please help drive them away.”
Healing failed to take place;
Instead epidemic festered.
They went to Ose´ and begged him
To let the rain fall.Rain didn’t fall.
Then they went to Osun
Osun received them warmly,
And entertained them,
But shame would not let them confide in Osun,
Whom they had ignored.
They then headed for heaven
And made straight for Olodumare,
Who asked why they came
They said it was about their mission on earth.
When they left heaven, And arrived on earth
All things went well;
Then later things turned for the worse,
Nothing was successful.
And Olodumare asked
“How many of you are here?”
They answered, “Sixteen.”
He also asked,
“When you were leaving heaven, how many were you?”
They answered, “Seventeen.”
And Olodumare said, “You are all intriguers.
That one you left behind
If you do not bring her here,
There will be no solution to your problem.
If you continue this way,
You will always fail.”
They then returned to Osun,
And addressed her,
Mother, the preeminent hair-plaiter with
the coral-beaded comb.
We have been to the Creator
And it was there we discovered that all Odu
were derived from you Osun,
And that our suffering would continue
If we failed to recognize and obey you.”
So, on their return to the earth from the Creator,
All the remaining Odu wanted to pacify and please Osun.
But Osun would not go out with them.
The baby she was expecting might go out with them,
But even that would depend on the gender of the baby
For she said that if the baby she was expecting
Turned out to be male,
It is that male child who would go out with them
But if the baby turned out to be female,
She would have nothing to do with them.
She said she knew of all they had eaten and enjoyed without her,
Particularly all the delicacies and he-goat they ate.
As Osun was about to curse them all,
Ose covered her mouth
And the remaining Odu started praying
That Osun might deliver a male child.
They then started to beg her.
When Osun delivered,She had a baby boy
Whom they named Ose-Tura.

ase
 
In the divination verse above, the Creator-God has placed all the good things
on earth in Osun’s charge, making her “the vital source” as her name suggests. Without Osun’s sanction, no healing can take place, no rain can fall, no plants can bear fruit, and no children can come into the world. Granted that every orısa must have their own ase, one must wonder about Osun’s seemingly superior ase that was able to counteract the activities of her fellow orısa. Alternatively, it is conceivable that the ase of female orısa is inherently different from the male orısa, and perhaps even antagonistic when they compete, with one (presumably, the female ase) neutralizing the other (that is, the male ase), as appears to be the case in this story.
 

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