Eṣu-Elegba: Ifa and the Spirit of the Divine Messenger
by Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi
Eṣu, for any of you who are familiar with any earth-centered religion, fulfills the role
of the Divine Messenger. Every earth centered tradition that I know of, believes that
there is some Force in Nature, or Spiritual Presence, or some power that allows
humans to communicate with Nature and allows Nature to communicate with humans.
It is the function of translation. The Divine Messenger translates the language of
Nature into the language of humans and the language of humans into the language of
Nature.
If you have ever gone to the beach feeling depressed and came away feeling better
just by being in the presence of the ocean, then we can say that you had some kind of
dialogue or communication with the ocean. The translating factor in this interaction is
a Spiritual Force that we call Eṣu. That is the most immediate and tangible
manifestation of Esu as a Force in Nature.
I want to take it back to the more primal aspect of Esu and then see if we can't bring
that forward to a place where it relates to life in Oakland in 1993. The most abstract
manifestation of Esu is as it comes into Being in the Odu Ose'Tura which appears as
follows:
I
I
II II
I
I
I
II
This is the symbolic representation of the energy pattern that incarnates Esu. This Odu
is used as a magnet to invoke the power of the Divine Messenger. In Ifá Creation
Myth, the Eternal Rock of Creation is called Oyigiyigi. This Rock separated into four
Calabashes of Creation. These four calabashes interacted with one another to form
sixteen sacred principles called Olu Odu or the primal principles of Creation. In Ifá
the sacred number seventeen represents the sixteen primal Odu plus Ose'Tura which is
the seventeenth Odu of Ifá. This Odu has the function of causing the Olu Odu to
copulate generating the two hundred and forty Odu that are generated by the first
sixteen Odu. This suggests that Esu, in addition to being the Divine Messenger, is also
primal seed of generation.
Ifá is the religious tradition of Yoruba culture. It is the parent religion of all the
different spiritual societies, fraternities and sororities that exist within the culture. The
reason that Ifá is considered the source of all the other forms of worship within
Yoruba culture has to do with the role of Esu and Ose'Tura in relationship to the
primal Olu Odu. In essence when an Ifá priest is initiated, they invoke the first sixteen
Odu, then they invoke Ose'Tura. This is a ritual re-enactment of the original moment
of the Creation of diversity within the Universe. This ritual event gives the initiate a
glimpse of the primal event that generated Being as we experience in human life. It is
the mystical vision of that event that gives the Prophet Orunmila the praise name
"Eleri-ipin" which means "Witness to Creation."
The opening invocation for Ifá is always "Orunmila Eleri-ipin" meaning "The Realm
of the Immortals is our salvation, the Witness to Creation." The mystical invocation of
this event occurs through the invocation of Ose'Tura. I know that this is an abstract
concept, but it is out of this primal event that all the other sub groups within Ifá
emerge.
Every Orisa, every ancestral lineage, every society, every vocation are all
manifestation of one Odu, or a grouping of several Odu. It is understood that all of
these groups come into the world through the Divine intervention of Ose'Tura. In
addition to being the Divine Messenger, Esu has several other functions. If we take
them one at a time, I hope this will give you a broader understanding of Esu as a
Force in Nature. Esu is the Divine Enforcer in issues of Justice. Esu also has a role as
the Divine Trickster and Esu is the Orisa which opens doors.
So we all understand the idea of Esu as the Divine Messenger. If you can
communicate with the ocean, if you can gain inspiration anywhere in Nature you have
established a relationship with Esu as the Divine Messenger. This is true whether or
not you have received some symbolic representation of Esu that you use in a ritual
manner. For those of you who are familiar with chakras, Esu communicates through
the third eye. In Yoruba we say "Iwaju." The word Iwaju means "The Eye of
Character," and is used commonly to mean "forehead".
In order to communicate with Esu there has to be an unbroken connection between the
head and the heart. If you are in Yoruba culture and you hear someone say think about
what you are doing, they do not point to their head. They point to their heart. The
reason for that is they understand the link between the third eye, the brain and the
heart. So in Yoruba there is a link between iwaju, ori and okan. That link is at the
back of the neck. In the West they call this link Esu ni ba ko. In Ifá we say "ipako"
which literally means "not disjointed." No matter which phrase you use, the back of
the neck is still the link between the head and the heart.
If you only look at the world through the power centers in your head, you have shut
down the power centers in the rest of your body. When this occurs your shoulders
tense up, you get a pain in the neck, this tension leads to agitation and the
development of illness and is considered reflective of bad character. Ifá tradition
describes this lack of connection by saying that the hands and the feet are moving in
different directions. So if there is no unity between what you feel and what you think,
which is a fundamental issue of psychology, you have a problem. The image of hands
and feet suggests that hands bring what you need to survive and feet take you out in
the world. You need to have your hands and feet motivated by the same program in
order to function with efficiency.
In the role Eṣu as Divine Trickster, most of the anthropological literature identifies
the Trickster as a random form of harassment. In some literature E ṣu is described as
an “evil” phenomenon. But there is a very sacred function for all Tricksters in all
traditional cultures. That function is to bring to each one of us the truth that we are all
interconnected and interrelated. It is the Eternal Truth that no one can be totally self
reliant. Once you have the idea that I can handle all of my problems, I've got it
covered, I'll never cry, I'm the tough guy, call me John Wayne or now-a-days Rambo
or whatever archetype that you're stuck in, the role of the Divine Trickster is to let you
know that this self perception may not be true. Occasionally things occur and we don't
have all the answers. So there is a spiritual influence that pushes us all towards the
idea that one tree does not make a forest and no man is an island. It is pushing us
towards the idea that we are interrelated, that when take the solitary, I can handle
everything approach, sooner or later reality is going to greet us in the street.
I am not just speaking here of other people. We are dependent on other people to
survive in the world and we are dependent on communication with Nature to survive
in the world. The Divine Trickster slaps us up side our head when we empty too much
garbage in our water. When we piss in our drinking water, eventually it tastes funny.
As George Carlin said the whole purpose of life on earth is to feed Mother Earth
Styrofoam cups. That may be true, but until we know for sure, that could be
disruptive. If it is disruptive, we can expect a wakeup call from E ṣu. The Divine
Trickster is not some arbitrary, malevolent Force that is out to get you if you don't
behave. That is the Christian "boogy man" model. The Divine Trickster is a
fundamental principle of the structure of reality, based on the idea that if you see an
egg that hatches and something comes out with wings, there's a pretty good chance
that it’s a bird. The universe is not arbitrary.
The great African Shaman Malidoma has said that rocks, trees and animals are much
smarter than humans, and that humans are the lowest rung on the consciousness scale.
He said that because birds always act as birds, you rarely find a bird trying to be an
elephant. You rarely find a tree trying to be a rock and you never find a rock being
anything but a rock. That is one of the reasons rocks are sacred. They are inflexible in
their insistence on maintaining their intrinsic identity. A rock is very evolved
spiritually because it always functions in perfect alignment with its destiny. Humans
on the other hand are constantly trying to be birds and elephants and whatever else
they can image. It is the role of the Divine Trickster to suggest that we might have a
personal destiny and that we may have a purpose for being on earth and that we may
have some eternal essence that the Universe is guiding us towards bringing into
Being. So the Divine Trickster has a very important and very sacred function. This
leads us to the idea of opening doors. I hate to trash the literature on Orisa, but right
now I'm going to. You read time and time again that Esu opens doors. That sounds
good, but what does it mean? It’s like everybody is rewriting what someone else
wrote. Let us consider what door it is that Esu opens. And when in the course of your
life it is important to have that door open.
Fa'lokun: Does anyone know what door we are talking about?
Answer: Your head.
Fa'lokun: Well, sort of. Let us say it like this. In Ifá they say initiation is the process of
elders guiding the novice up the seven steps of initiation. They knock on the door and
kick it open, then step back. This is the door that they are talking about. I'm not just
speaking of the door that is kicked open during ritual. It is a bigger door than that.
Initiation occurs every time we expand our own consciousness. This can be in the
context of a communal ritual, or it can be in the context of overcoming difficulty in
the world.
Ifá says that we can draw a map of consciousness through the use of a circle that
contains an equal armed cross. So lets image a circle with a cross that is the size of a
baseball. Lets say that this circle represents the consciousness of a young man the day
before puberty. Then puberty kicks in and your consciousness is forced to deal with
the issues of being an adult, raising a family, finding a productive role in society and
so on. Lets say the consciousness of man before puberty is the size of a baseball. Lets
say the consciousness of the man who has assimilated these new roles is represented
by a circle the size of a basketball. To get from the baseball to the basketball requires
the death of the old self. The boy no longer exists and in his place stands a man. This
shift in consciousness can only occur if we tear down the parameters of conscious that
define how we see ourself in the world.
When this barrier breaks down we go through a period of death and rebirth. The death
of the old self and birth of the new self. This process always involves walking through
some doorway, some portal, some barrier that leads us into the realm of the unknown.
This is always true, there is no exception. This occurs daily if you are in tune with it.
Ifá says that once we are initiated, it is our task to re-initiate ourselves every day. Each
day you have to incorporate, assimilate and integrate the life lessons that occur in the
world. Otherwise you become stagnant, you regress and the circle that represents the
parameters of your consciousness becomes smaller.
So there is a doorway that we walk through that allows us to make the leap into the
next level of consciousness. The key to unlocking that doorway is the willingness to
confront the fear of the unknown. It always involves embracing the need for change.
The doorway that Esu opens is that doorway that exposes a mirror that allows you to
see yourself. When you see yourself clearly, you grab yourself by the lapels, you look
yourself in the eye and you say, "Who I am in this moment isn't going to cut it, what
do I have to do to take the next step?" Esu as the Orisa that opens doors, really
becomes the primal source for the confrontation with fear. So historically, one of the
reasons why Esu tends to be described as "evil" or "negative" is because he brings us
face to face with our fears. If you don't like this experience, or if you can't handle it.
The tendency is to blame Esu rather than admit to your own lack of courage.
I want to say that again. If you are unwilling to walk through the door that Esu has
opened, the common human response is to blame the door keeper. Esu as the opener
of doors is that which we invoke so that we can confront our fears. The point being,
don't invoke Esu unless you are ready to deal.
What happens is that people come to me saying they are ready for growth. We invoke
Esu and they blame me for all the problems that greet them in the street.
But I am not the one who is causing the problem. The problem was caused by asking
the Universe to open the door. The key point here is that Ifá is not about sprinkling
juju dust over your head and washing away all your problems. Anybody that tells you
that maybe doing something wonderful, but it isn't Ifá. Let's say I did have some juju
powder that gave you the courage to confront your fears. So every time you had a
problem you'd come to me and I would sprinkle the juju on your head and you would
handle the problem. What you would be creating is reliance on me and not the ability
to work through the fear. There is only one antidote to fear and that is courage.
Understand? Courage is the only antidote to fear and there is no way to invoke
courage other than to do the right thing in spite of the fear.
Fundamentally, cosmologically, psychologically and spiritually that's just the way it
is. In fact, most initiations include a healthy dose of time to allow you to experience
your fear. This is the primary reason why initiations are secret, because if you really
figured out what they were doing, it’s not all that scary. If you don't know it can make
your anus pucker. Believe me I have experienced many an anus pucker and it is a
valuable process.
All this to answer the question what doorway does Esu open? The doorway that
allows you to confront your fears. There is an idea in Ifá that appears in every earth
centered religion that I have ever encountered. It is the idea that everything is
interconnected. If you read all the great mystical writings in literature, they are all
about trying to explain how it feels when you really get that idea. The point is, we can
sit here and talk and say; "Oh yeah we're all interconnected, I can get with that, we're
all connected to Source, so we're all the eyes of God, sounds good." It’s a wonderfully
noble and universally recognized idea. But it remains an idea until you really
experience it. Now all the folks who write about experiencing it say that the prelude to
that experience is what I call the Mother of all Fears. Ifá literally calls it "Fear of the
Mothers." It is the fear of total loss of self, which it is, followed by a sense of we're all
inter connected.
So how does this relate to the idea of the Divine Enforcer? You can only move so far
away from this idea before Nature itself, and human beings who are in the process of
becoming conscious, create counter - balancing forces to guide you back to center.
Esu has the function of Divine Enforcer. You can all say, "What about this tragedy,
and what about that tragedy?" That is a difficult question to come to terms with
objectively. But as an aspect of faith, in Ifá there is the belief that within the bigger
picture, Divine Justice is at work. This is based on the belief that it is possible to get
along, that it is possible to relate.
The symbolic analogy that Ifá uses is "Ifá Olokun o saro dayo," meaning "The Spirit
of the Ocean always provides for those who live in the sea." Every fish that lives in
the ocean has a home and food to eat. So they have it figured out in the ocean, we just
haven't figured it out yet on land. That's probably because they've had more time in
the ocean to work on it. The idea of Esu as the Divine Enforcer is that the ground
rules for figuring it out are in place. When we get too far away from that, things occur
that bring the truth back to us.
This is all related to Chaos theory. Western science has a discipline called Chaos
theory which postulates the idea that things which seem to be symmetrical in the
universe have a range of variation when viewed at a distance. Things which appear
random have a degree of symmetry when viewed at a distance. So the issues of justice
and randomness are issues of perspective. If you get the big picture, the pieces start to
fall in place. So Esu as the Divine Enforcer is what we invoke to get the big picture.
You can do things on the short term that feel effective, righteous and ethical that can
have long term negative effects.
You can do things that seem negative in the moment and end up having positive
results. It is Esu that we invoke to get a clue where we are in that polarity.
Fa'lokun: So what does all of this have to do with life in Oakland in 1993?
Answer: One thing that I get is there are no absolutes.
Answer: It seems like Esu is necessary to find some form of spiritual centering.
Fa'lokun: The Yoruba word for shrine is "Ojubo." I'm going to tell you a secret. Every
shrine I've seen in Africa contains a rock. In our religion we pray to rocks. Ojubo
means "the place we face when we say our prayers." So when you are given a rock
during initiation by wise and powerful elders, they bring a Spirit to live in that rock so
that you have something to dialogue with when you face the rock. They also teach that
if you don't talk to the rock, that which they brought to the rock will go away. What
you are left with is just a rock.
Despite what the Christian missionary's taught, no one in Africa believes that the rock
is Esu or the spirit. They believe that the rock is the place you face when you are
speaking to Esu. This gives you a place to initiate the centering process.
If all the Universe is created by the 256 Odu, then those 256 Odu have to be a part of
your consciousness, because they all emerged out of the light that came from the Big
Bang. That same light created your consciousness. This consciousness includes the
Odu Ose'Tura which we said invokes Esu. So somewhere inside of you Esu is alive
and waiting to go to work. When you are centering, you are facing that rock and you
are calling Esu out of your own consciousness and bouncing it off that rock.
Hopefully, if Ose'Tura exists somewhere else in the world, which we believe it does,
your prayer will attract other manifestations of that Odu. That will create a
convergence of forces that will allow for dialogue and inspiration.
Nobody believes that Esu is a rock. Ojubo, just look at the language. The rock is the
place you face when you say your prayers.
Now the thing that I didn't realize when I went to Africa for the first time was the
importance of the extended family in relationship to Ifá and Orisa worship. First and
foremost, Ifá is the sanctification of the extended family. The extended family is an
eternal structure that exists forever and different faces evolve into the role of elders
within the ongoing family unit. I think the reason why no one has ever written about
this aspect of Ifá is because we in the West don't know what a functional extended
family looks like. We barely know what a two parent family looks like, let alone an
extended family.
There is a lot of talk about dysfunctional families and co-dependent behaviour and
that's all good. But we need to start thinking about, seeing and understanding what a
functional family looks like. For example the role of grandmother and grandfather are
eternal roles within the family that are assumed by different faces. Children are being
trained for the day when they become grandmother and grandfather.
Jobs are also sanctioned through initiation. The profession of blacksmith is sanctioned
through initiation to Ogun. The role of healing female problems is sanctioned through
initiation into Oshun. The role of herbalist is sanctioned through initiation into
Osanyin. Divination is sanctioned through initiation into Ifá. Within the extended
family there are different roles that sustain the well being of the family.
On a communal level there is a sanctification of farming and a sanctification of the
role of those who run the market. All these roles fit into an ideal version of how a
family and a community functions. Can you imagine what shopping at the mall would
be like if every shop keeper was initiated into the Mysteries of Oya. It would be a
different place. Just so that you will know, when I say sanctification, I mean some
form of communal blessing, another way to say that would be initiation. Sanctification
is a communal process that identifies certain people as carries of a particular kind of
wisdom.
Now in the United States, Orisa families are not usually using the African model of
the extended family. Instead they are using the General Motors model of the extended
family which has one patriarchal leader at the top of a pyramid. That isn't it.
Superficially, the Yoruba extended family looks like a patriarchy. It is not. The
women have veto power over what is apparent in public. There is a balance of power
within the structure of community. So for example, if you go through an Ifá initiation,
it looks like you are being initiated by a fraternity of men. But the last thing that you
do involves a blessing from a mother. If she does not give her blessing you are not
initiated. You have to walk past her to come into the world after initiation. So there is
a weave of influences that sustains the eternal structure of the family.
Part of the function of Esu is to maintain the cohesive fabric of the family structure.
So here comes my answer to the question how does Esu relate to life in Oakland in
1993. I think that Esu can begin to give you a vision of the big picture. That vision
here and now gives us insight on how we can relate as extended family. In Africa
there is no word for uncle and there is no word for cousin. Anybody older than you is
father or mother, and if you don't call them father or mother you are in deep trouble. It
has nothing to do with them being initiated.
My baba is the Araba of Ode Remo, he bows to no man in the village, but when his
older sister comes into the room he bows to her as Iya or mother. We are talking about
the eternal idea of respect for elders as part of the process. Ifá is one particular vision
of how to make the family work and every other vision that works is Ifá whether they
call it that or not. And if you call yourself doing Ifá and you don't know what a family
looks like, then you are lying to yourself and whoever you're talking too. So within
the Orisa community there is a lot of concern about disruption, competition, jealously
and the question of why can't the community come together. That is a very real issue.
The way you deal with that is not to try and convince everybody that you are right.
You deal with that by joining hands with those who have the same vision of family
and it doesn't matter what they call themselves. It doesn't matter if they are Ifá.
Luisah Teish has gone to New Zealand and Australia and joined hands with people
who know what an extended family looks like and they have treated her as a sister and
mother. That is the point. If you are just trying to make a big theological argument,
you know I've got the right way, I've got the most information blah blah blah, all this
nonsense that goes on in the community is not relevant. There are people who get it
and there are people who don't. If you get it, you join hands with those who do and
together you become the model for what a family looks like. That's where the
transformation occurs, in the doing, not in the saying.
Based on a simple idea, the idea of Esu's power as Divine Enforcer, we come up with
the ethical notion that if your life gets better my life gets better. If you suffer, I suffer.
If I really get that idea and not just think about it, but feel it, then I have to examine
the notion that jealousy is inappropriate, competition is inappropriate, gossip is
inappropriate, back biting is inappropriate, diminishing anyone verbally is
inappropriate. That's regardless of background, status, intelligence, poverty or
abundance. The feelings I have listed are inappropriate to alignment with Esu as
Divine Enforcer, end of story.
When you find yourself experiencing these emotions there is transformation work that
needs to be done. Its not hard to identify and its not hard to recognize. The problem is
taking those emotions and transforming them into something worthy of praise.
It becomes a real struggle. There are the eternal images of Ifá scripture that motivate
us to transcend our limitations. Then there are the contemporary manifestations of
those principles. One example is what I call the Mandela standard. Nelson Mandela is
negotiating with the government of South Africa without any apparent anger, without
any apparent viciousness, without any apparent hidden agenda, without any apparent
need for revenge. He has a vision, he is right on it, he is moving towards bringing it
into being, he knows what it is going to take, and he knows what his place is in the
process. He knows all of this I believe because he knows what a family looks like, he
knows what it feels like, he knows what it smells like, and he is walking with
unyielding determination in a straight line towards creating that and everything else is
irrelevant. That is as inspiring as it gets. That is Ifá whether he's heard of it or not. He
becomes one of the living manifestations of what it is that we are struggling for. It’s
an example that we want to grasp and elevate. Believe me I am not saying this out of
some personal admiration of Mandela. My African elders recognize that he represents
something worthy of admiration and respect. We use the example of his life and we
say where do I fall short of that?
That's where the idea of Eṣu comes in as the motivating factor to give us a glimpse of
the bigger picture. Certainly as a religious community we need to be more outspoken
in our support of fundamental issues and in our recognition of those living elders who
embrace the ethical standards of our faith, even when they are not of our faith.
I encourage anyone who is concerned about these issues to become a prophetic voice
in expressing these ideas. The point is to express these ideas effectively. I don't say
get up on a soap box and say that you are right about everything. We can at least
engage in some dialogue on how to elevate these ideas.
So part of what Mandela represents, in the framework of Ifá, is a fundamental point
that is difficult to grasp in Western culture. There is a thing that exists in the Universe
that I call spiritual power, that Ifá calls ase. It is generally neutral, which means that it
can be directed towards creation or destruction. But it has physical substance. When
you are in the presence of spiritual power it is unmistakable. Once you have been in
the presence of ase, no one will ever be able fake the funk. If you have experienced
spiritual power, and someone says they have it and you don't see it, smell it, taste it
and feel moved by it, don't believe it.
What do I mean by spiritual power? It is the ability to place yourself so perfectly in
alignment with the Forces of Nature that surround you that you can move in such a
way that your life becomes continually transformed. And the life of those around you
becomes continually transformed. So again, power is not sprinkling juju on your head.
It is assuming a position in relationship to Nature that becomes transformative simply
because you are a conduit for the essential balance of Nature itself. In India they call
that darma, you get blessed by the elders by sitting in their presence. They don't have
to say anything. It’s all about having a real experience of spiritual power.
In Ifá they call it ase, in China they call it Chi, in Japan they call it ki, in Hinduism
they call it prana. Those are all real things that feel a certain way and the essence of
ceremonial work within Ifá is to unlock that power. If you are unable to unlock that
power on your own, being in the presence of those who can is of value. Ase will
become unlocked in you merely by being around it. At that point what you call it is
profoundly irrelevant. Because at that point you will know what it feels like.
I was very blessed to be with some elders from Ile Ife in Rhode Island recently. We
did an initiation. It is a three day ceremony and there is a place in the third day where
the Orisa is suppose to come and mount the initiate. In Rhode Island we did three
initiations and each time the Orisa came during the opening prayer on the first day of
the ceremony.
I felt that I was in the presence of real spiritual power. When you know this feeling
and you invoke Esu and ask for the power to do something, the issue of am I doing it
right, am I doing it in an African way, am I doing it Ifa, am I doing it Umbanda, am I
doing it pagan, doesn't matter. The question is am I raising the spiritual power that
will solve the problem. That is the only question. You can convince yourself until you
are blue in the face that you've caused a transformation that has not actually occurred.
As a diviner when someone comes to me, they want their problems transformed. They
don't care if I'm coming from a pure African point of view, a Santeria point of view or
doing a horse and pony show as long as the issue gets resolved and there are ways to
objectively evaluate that. This should be the basis for building a community.
Malidoma says that community is three or more people who have come together for a
purpose. The purpose of the Orisa community is to come together and to support each
other's spiritual development, so that we can have a life, have a family, experience
abundance and know a little joy. Its not a mysterious agenda that's being put out here.
But there are ways to evaluate this process that will give you some basis for
determining if you are standing in the presence of real juice or kool aid.