Eulogy to "iyaami Olojongbodu"......................(Primal Womb of Creation)!

Hail to the Dark one


Iyaami Olojongbodu

Midnight's Dark Questor

Beneath the pale Moonlight

Hail and Fair Welcome defender of women

To you i Bring my Fears and Woe

To you my Heartaches....Bright Blessings Flow

My soul Quails to Look on your Face

Only the brave May see your True Grace

The Dark Gloom is Pierced by your Light

Great Womb of the World, from you all things are Born

From Struggle and Strife are all things made Right

To Rest in Quiet Slumber in your Arms

Hail Shadowed Lady,When its Time for things to End

To Be reborn of your Grace,From Death,We Transcend

Birth, Life and Death are all your Domain

Hail Great Mother of Shadow.....Glory to your Name

Ase O........


                     Egbe Aje iyami Temple Worldwide

OSUN SENGESE OLO'YAYUN, ALAGBO LODO!!!!!!!!!!

The Bag of Wisdom: Osun and the Origins of the Ifa Divination Wande Abimbola By “Ifa divination” we mean Ifa and related systems of divination based on the stories and symbols of the Odu such as dida owo (divination with the sacred divining chain called opele) and etıte-ale (divination with the sacred palm nuts), eerındınlogun (divination with the sixteen cowries), agbigba (divination with a divining chain slightly different from opele), and obi (divination with kola nuts). The purpose of this essay is to examine the intimate connection of Osun with Ifa divination both in her own right as a person, and through the instrumentality of Osetuura, her son. We will start with the popular view of the involvement of Osun in Ifa divination which states that she got to know about Ifa through Òrunmìlà, her husband. In the later pages of this essay, I will make the claim that Osun has much more to do with the origins of Ifa divination than the babalawo (Ifa priests) are ready to admit. I will, indeed, put forward the hypothesis that the entire divination system of Ifa started from Osun from whom it got to Òrunmìlà and not the other way round. I will base my claims on verses of Ifa which give us hints to that effect. We will then examine the possibility that eerındınlogun is older than dida owo and etıte-ale which are probably later developments of Ifa divinations. Let us begin with the popular view that Osun was introduced to Ifa divination by Òrunmìlà. Several verses of Ifa tell us about this. For example, a verse of Ogbe”Sa states that Òrunmìlà created the sixteen-cowry divination system and gave it to Osun as a reward for saving his life. In this particular verse, it was after Òrunmìlà had created the sixteen cowrie system for Osun that both of them became married. But as will be seen later from another verse of Ifa, even though they were husband and wife, they did not live together in one place because it was not the custom for couples to live together at that time. Let me now take some time to tell the story of Osun and Òrunmìlà as contained in Ogbe’Sa, especially because it relates to the importance of eerındınlogun in the Ifa divination system. The story goes as follows. It happened at a time that Olódùmarè summoned all the four hundred-and-one Òrìsà to Orun. But to their greatest surprise, the Òrìsà encountered a group of wicked “cannibals” in heaven (probably witches known to the Yoruba as aje) who started to kill and eat up the Orısa one by one. But since Òrunmìlà had performed sacrifice before he left earth, he was miraculously saved by Osun who successfully hid Òrunmìlà from the cannibals, and substituted goat meat for the flesh of Òrunmìlà which the cannibals had planned to eat on that particular day. When both Osun and Òrunmìlà returned to the earth, they became much closer than ever before. It was probably at this time that Òrunmìlà and Osun became husband and wife. Òrunmìlà then decided to reward Osun for saving his life, and that was how he put together the sixteen-cowry system of divination and taught Osun how to use it. Let me now quote a short portion of this verse of Ogbe’Sa. It goes as follows: This was how Òrunmìlà and Osun became close. Òrunmìlà said that the good turn which she did for him Was an exceptional one. He wondered what he should do in return. This was the most important reason why Òrunmìlà Created the sixteen cowries. He then handed them to Osun. Of all the Orısa who use sixteen cowries, There is none who had it before Osun. It was Ifa who gave it to Osun. And asked her to cast it And use it as another form of divination. This was what Ifa used to reward Osun. That is why the relationship between Ifa and Osun Is such that nobody else can know What is between the two of them. Òrunmìlà then got married to Osun. Of the several forms of divination, Eerındınlogun is next in rank to Ifa.
According to this particular story in Ogbe’Sa, even though Òrunmìlà was the one who created eerındınlogun, this system of divination later received its own ase from Olodumare. It happened as follows: Every sixteen years Olodumare, Olofin of Orun,used to Subject diviners of earth to a test To find out whether they were telling lies to the inhabitants of the earth Or whether they were telling the truth. This test involved Calling on Òrunmìlà and other diviners of the earth. Olodumare would say that he wanted to see all of them. When they arrived, Olodumare would ask them to divine for him. So, Olodumare asked Òrunmìlà to divine for him. When Òrunmìlà finished divining, Olodumare asked, “Who is next?” Òrunmìlà said that the next person was his partner Who was a woman. Olodumare then answered, “Is she also a diviner?” To which Òrunmìlà replied, “That is true.” Olodumare then asked her to divine for him. When Osun examined Olodumare, She hit on all those things in his mind. But she did not say it in full. She mentioned the gist But she did not tell the root of the matter like Ifa. Olodumare asked Òrunmìlà, “What is this one?” Òrunmìlà then explained to Olodumare How he honored Osun with the sixteen cowries. Olodumare said, “It is all right.” He further said that even though she did not go into details, He, Olodumare gave his assent to it. He added, “From today on and forever, Even if what eerındınlogun says may not be detailed, Anybody who disbelieves it Would see the consequences instantly. It must not wait till the following day.” This is why the predictions of eerındınlogun come to pass quickly Even though the stories may not be impressive. That was how eerındınlogun received ase Directly from Olodumare. Osetuura and Ifa Divination Sacrifice We will now turn our attention to myths of Ifa divination which tell us about the importance of Osun in Yoruba religion generally and how Osetuura became the representative of Osun in Yoruba divination and sacrifice. The full story goes as follows: When the Orısa first came to the earth, they must have arrived in waves—not all the four hundred-and-one Orısa arrived at once. In any case, according to this myth from the Odu Ose Otura, there were only seventeen Orısa in the first party, and Osun was the seventeenth. Olodumare gave instructions to the Orısa about what they should do as soon as they arrived on earth to make the young earth a pleasant place to live. They carried out all the instructions without
involving Osun in any of their activities. The result was that things did not go well for them. .. Rain did not fall. There was illness, bitterness, and restlessness all over the earth. Let us quote a few lines from this Odu at this juncture: When they arrived on earth, They created a sacred forest for Oro. They created a sacred forest for Opa. They made a small road leading to Ife. They sent people to make okun beads. They sent people to make brass objects. But nobody involved Osun in anything. Whereas Osun was the person taking care of them Giving them food and other things. All the things which the Orı.a were doing, none was successful. They prayed for rain, but it did not rain. Bitterness engulfed the earth. Restlessness took over the streets of the city. They exclaimed “Did Olodumare tell us a lie? What is this? We are doing everything according to his instructions.” The Orısa then decided to send Òrunmìlà to Olodumare to find out what actually happened. When Òrunmìlà got to Olodumare, he stated the problem. He said that they were living on earth in accordance with the instructions of Olodumare, but to their greatest surprise nothing they did on earth was good. Olodumare then asked whether they involved the only woman among them in all they were doing. But Òrunmìlà replied that since she was a woman, they did not involve her. To which Olodumare replied as follows: Olodumare said that he was a creator But he would never create any person or thing twice. He told Òrunmìlà to go back to his colleagues And that all of them should go and beg Osun. So that she could agree to be involved in their affairs. He assured them that their affairs would then be good. When Òrunmìlà got to the earth, he reported back to his colleagues, and all of them started to beg Osun, but Osun did not yield until Òrunmìlà appealed to her. She said: Begin to beg your ori and your creator So that the fetus which was in her womb Would be delivered as a male child. She assured them that if it was a male child, Their matters would from then on be straight. But if it was born as a female child, War would begin in earnest. Òrunmìlà reported back to his colleagues what Osun told him. When Obatala looked at Osun’s womb with his awo, he found a baby girl there. He then pointed his ado asure to Osun’s womb, and commanded that fetus to change into male with immediate effect. When Osun delivered the baby, it was born as a male child. Obatala was the first person to carry the baby. He petted the baby and coddled it. Then Òrunmìlà, the father, also carried the baby and named him Osetuura. He, Òrunmìlà, carried the baby with him wherever he went. Whenever anybody was to be initiated as an Ifa priest, Osetuura must be involved. Whenever anybody was making a sacrifice, Osetuura, the son of Osun, must be invoked last before the sacrifice was delivered to Esu. If any person was suffering from illness, as soon as Osetuura touched the person that person would be well instantaneously. Ose’Tura today is a minor Odu of Ifa, but he governs all sacrifices and
rituals of Ifa. Osun then became happy since her son was deeply involved in the affairs of the male Orısa. She then made the following pronouncement: From today on, all women without any exception, They must not know Oro, And they must not enter the shrine of Eegun. Eegun must not come out in their presence. This must be observed as a taboo. But all other things you are doing, You must involve Osun in them. Their lives then became smooth. They said, “If someone is pounding yams Without the knowledge of Osun, . His/her pounded yam will not be smooth. If someone is preparing oka food . Without involving Osun in it, His/her food will not come out fine. We will involve Osun in whatever we do. We will involve Osun in all our deliberations. Our great mother (Iyee wa), Who must be present at every important deliberation. We will involve Osun in all our deliberations. Agberegede ajuba, Ajuba agberegede Divined for Osun Sengesi, Owner of a hair comb decorated with iyun. When she was in a secret place, She spoiled the sacrifice of other divinities. Who is performing a sacrifice Without involving the owner of sacrifice? Osun, whose other name is Ewujı, We are all on our knees. We are all begging you. Let us all kneel and prostrate before women. We are all borne by women Before we become recognized as human beings. The Bag of Wisdom: Did Osun Originate the Ifa Divination System? Our next story from the Ifa literary corpus about Osun is taken from Okanransode. It was recorded from Babalawo Ifatoogun, a famous Ifa priest from Ilobuu, near Osogbo. The story is about a bag of wisdom which Olodumare threw down from the sky and asked all the Orısa to look for. Olodumare assured the Orısa that anyone who found it would be the wisest of them all. Olodumare showed the bag to the Orısa so that they would be able to recognize it as soon as they saw it. Since Osun and Òrunmìlà were a very intimate couple, both of them decided to search for the bag together. I will now quote this interesting story in full. A wise person tied ide, but it disintegrated. A sage tied ide, it became loose. Only a person who leans his back on Ope Will tie ide which will last for long. Ifa divination was performed for Òrunmìlà
When he and Osun were searching for wisdom. It was Olodumare who called the four hundred divinities (of the right) And the two hundred divinities (of the left). Olodumare summoned them to orun. When they arrived there, He told them that he wanted to give them deep wisdom and power. He told the Orısa that anybody who had What he was planning to give them Would be the source of wisdom, And that person would be the wisest person on earth. He told them that nineteen days hence He would throw down a bag of wisdom onto the earth. But whether he would throw it into a forest, Or into a grassland, Or into a river, Or into a town, Or on a road, He would not tell them exactly where. Olodumare showed them the bag of wisdom. He said, “This is it.” Look at it well And note its distinctive features. When they arrived on earth, Some of them started to perform sacrifice. Some were making medicine. Some were planning their own strategies. They were saying, “This thing, I will be the one to find it.” Òrunmìlà and Osun used to do things together. They were always going about in company of each other. Both of them added two cowries to three, And went to divine. They asked the diviners to check both of them out. “The thing which all the Orısa are looking for Could both of them be the persons who would find it?” The diviners asked Òrunmìlà and Osun to perform sacrifice With the big garments which they were wearing. Each should offer a goat, And a house rat As well as two hundred-and-one oke full of cowries for each person. Òrunmìlà counseled that they should make the sacrifice. But Osun said, “Please, let me rest. Go make sacrifice with your garment, Go make sacrifice with other things, How does that relate to what we are searching for?” Osun refused to perform sacrifice. Òrunmìlà, whose other name is Ajana, Took his own garment, and surrendered it for sacrifice. He also used a house rat and money for the sacrifice. They looked for the bag of wisdom, They did not see it. All the other Orısa Did not see it either. They searched for it up to Egba aja They went as far as Esa adie Some went as far as Iko Awusı
Others searched for it in Idoromu Awuse While some looked for it in Iwonran From where the day breaks But they did not see it. One day a house rat went to the garment Which Osun hung up in her house. The rat ate up its chest pocket underneath. The next day, they got themselves ready And started to search for the bag of wisdom once again Then, Osun found it. She exclaimed, “Han-in! This is the bag of wisdom!” She threw it into the chest pocket of her garment. She started to go in a hurry. As she was crossing dead woods And scaling climbing stems, Suddenly the bag of wisdom dropped down From where the rat had eaten her garment’s pocket. Osun was calling on Òrunmìlà, Saying, “Òrunmìlà, whose other name is Ajana, Come quickly, come quickly. I have seen the bag of wisdom.” As Òrunmìlà was going, He saw the bag of wisdom on the ground. He then put it inside the pocket of his own garment. When they arrived home, Òrunmìlà said, “Osun let me see the bag.” Osun said that she would never show it to a man. But if a man must see it, He would give her two hundred rats, Two hundred fishes, Two hundred birds, Two hundred animals, And plenty of money. Òrunmìlà begged her for long, But she did not yield. He then returned to his own house. When Osun tried to take out the bag from her pocket, So that she could look at it once again, As she put her hands inside the pockets, Her hands entered into a hole, And came out on the bottom part of the pocket. So, Osun went to meet Òrunmìlà in his own house. She started to beg him. She started to please Òrunmìlà (with good things). That was how Osun went to Òrunmìlà’s house To live there with her husband So that he would teach her a little bit of the wisdom. In ancient times, when people got married, It was not compulsory for the wife to go to her husband’s home to live with him. That was how couples started to live together. When Osun removed the big garment from her body, She put ase into her mouth, She said that from then on, no woman
Must wear the agbada dress. She then went and threw the garment into the bush. After a lot of pleading from Osun, Òrunmìlà took a little bit of the wisdom . And gave it to Osun. That is the eerındınlogun Which Osun is casting. The bag of wisdom of that day is Odu Ifa, Medicines and all other profound wisdom of the Yoruba people. In the Ifa verse quoted above, Osun was the first person to find the bag of wisdom, but when the bag slipped through the broken pocket of her big garment, Òrunmìlà accidentally stumbled on it and kept it. One can speculate as to the morality of Òrunmìlà keeping for himself what should belong to his wife. But we must remember that before she discovered that she had lost the bag, Osun herself had boasted that she would take so many hundred of things as well as plenty of money from anybody who would see the bag of wisdom. One can further speculate that this myth is telling us that Osun was perhaps the first person to make use of Ifa — the bag of wisdom— before it was passed on to her husband, and not the other way round. Let us now turn our attention to two other matters which confirm our suspicion. The first one relates to iyerosun, the sacred yellow powder of divination on which Ifa priests print the marks of Ifa inside a divining board. Why is this powder yellowish like the color which is sacred to Osun? Did Òrunmìlà use this powder as a mark of honor to his wife? We may never know for certain the answer to these questions; but given the intimate connection between Osun and Ifa, especially in respect to the origin of Ifa as a bag of wisdom first found by Osun, it may not be far-fetched to say that the yellow powder has something to do with Osun. The second issue which I would like to mention here is the simple fact that when one takes a look at the Odu of eerındınlogun and those of Ifa, it would seem that the Odu of Ifa are based on those of eerındınlogun, and not the other way round. Eerındınlogun is based on sixteen single signs of Ifa such as Odı, Irosun, Owonrın, etc.; except Ejı Ogbe which is coupled as in the case of Ifa. Ifa, however, does not make use of single signs (even though Ifa literature refers to it). All the signs are coupled either as oju odu (major odu) or as omo odu (minor odu). It stands to reason to say that a single sign such as Odı I II II I must exist in reality or at least in the mind before it is coupled to become Odi Meji (two odi). We can go further to speculate that the apparent simplicity of the signs of eerındınlogun and even the short nature of some of its literature are indications of its antiquity upon which the more elaborate signs and wider frame of reference of Ifa were based. Whatever the case may be, there is no doubt at all that eerındınlogun has not been given its rightful place as a part and parcel of the Ifa literary and divinatory system. In one of the verses quoted above, Olodumare, while giving ase to eerındınlogun stated thus, From today on and forever Even if what eerındınlogun says may not be detailed, Anybody who disbelieves it Would see the consequences instantly. It must not wait till the following day. Conclusion It is customary for researchers to refer to Osun simply as an Orısa of fertility. This is true. In fact, a recent chanter of Osun’s literature refers to her as Iya abobınrin gbato
Mother who helps women to collect semen Ladekoju, abokunrin gbase Wearer of a veiled crown, who helps men to collect menstrual flow. There are many verses of Ifa which relate to Osun as a mother of many children both in the biological and religious sense. The city of Ooro (now simply called Oro) was where Osun had so many children that she did not have any more space to sit down in her own house. Since her children had taken up all available space, Osun was always found standing up. Ifa also speaks of Osun as a benevolent mother. She has the habit of bestowing wealth, fame, and honor on her adherents. A verse of Irete Oba tells us how Osun rewarded a poor priest of Ifa who had divined for her when she was childless and made it possible for her to have children. The name of the Ifa priest is Ojıyaomegun; he had two apprentices: Ifon, Ifa priest of Ido, and Duuru, Ifa priest of Lıkı. When Osun eventually had children, she rewarded the three of them with costly clothes, beads, and plenty of money. She brought all the presents personally to her Ifa priests, but Ojıyaomegun had traveled out to a far place. Osun gave the two apprentices a horse each. She also gave them their own share of the rest of the presents. She waited for a long time for Ojıyaomegun. When he did not arrive, she ordered her servants to dig a very deep pit inside which she carefully kept Ojıyaomegun’s presents. But she first covered the pit with sand before she dumped the money and the presents there, and then covered it up again with earth. That is why Osun is saluted as Oore yeye Osun. Hail the benevolent mother Osun O wa yanrın, wa yanrın, She who digs up sand, digs up sand, Kowo sı And keeps money there (for her own people) The benevolence of Osun goes beyond bestowing money and riches on people. She nourishes her own just as she nourished the original sixteen Orısa who first arrived on earth with Osun as the seventeenth. She nourishes people with with different kinds of vegetables, such as yanrin and tete (special vegetables of Osun) which are still her favorite foods today. She also likes different kinds of fruit such as pumpkins, bananas, oranges, etc. But she does not like guinea-corn beer. She drinks maize beer instead. Above all, she nourishes with the sweet waters of the sacred Osun River. We must not make the mistake of thinking that Osun is always meek, quiet, and long-suffering. Sometimes she can be a fierce warrior. A verse of Ogunda Iworı (Ogunda araa Do) tells us how Osun Apara (otherwise known as Yemese) delivered the people of Ido32 when their town was conquered and the people were being taken away as slaves. She beheaded their enemies and freed the people of Ido. When her people said that they did not know the way back to Ido, she fell down on the spot, became a river and flowed back to Ido carrying her people along with her. That is why Yemese is celebrated in Ido with the following song: Yemese ile Ido pagun ra o Osun Apara pagun ra lonıı O pagun ra Yemese of Ido annihilated war. Osun Apara annihilated war today She annihilated war Space will not allow us to go into other areas of the contributions of Osun to the religion and culture of the Yoruba people as a loyal wife of Sango, her second husband; as a physician who cures with her own water; as a founder of the Ogboni society to maintain truth and justice in the land; or even as the only Orısa who knows how to deceive the “cannibals” of heaven (see first story, above). All these and more are contained in the stories of Osun as enshrined in the Ifa corpus, a body of knowledge which she probably founded or at least helped to establish together with Òrunmìlà. Her role in this regard is often not deeply appreciated.
To understand this ancient Orısa is to know the intelligence, vitality, caring, and nourishing abilities of womankind—long-suffering, cheated, overlooked, and overworked, but always committed to the survival of humanity. In this sense, Osun is the icon not only of women, but of all creation. .. Omi o! Ota o! Edan o! E kore yeye Osun O! sacred water O! sacred stones O! sacred edan (symbol of Ogboni) All hail the Benevolent Mother ase

THE PRIESTHOOD OF IFA AND ITS HIERARCHIES IN ORDER OF FUNCTIONALITIES....

The Yoruban names of priests are the following:-The Babalawo, the Oluwo, the Ajigbona, the Aworo, the Odofin, the Aro, the Asarepawo, the Asawo, the Apetebi, who is sometimes called Ayawo.
The Babalawo is the president of the mysteries and the rites and ceremonies of religion and worship, and he is also the Sacrificing Priest, the teacher of the religion, and the Diviner by consulting the Sacred Oracles. He is always specially and in a formal manner consecrated to his office when he is to serve a king as his Consulting Priest.
An Oluwo in this class is a senior and chief of the class of Babalawos, whose directions the rest are all expected to obey; but often may a man be heard speaking of a Babalawo from whom he has received his Ifa as his Oluwo.
An Ajigbona is a chief assistant both to the Oluwo and any of the other Babalawos, and on an occasion of a great sacrifice, e.g., that of offering a human being, he is the only one, with an Aworo, appointed to accompany the Babalawo who would perform the sacrifice to what may be described as the most sacred place in the Igbodii, and which is the place both of slaughter and of offering.
An Odofin is a titled Babalawo next in rank to the Oluwo, and he is privileged to act for him in his absence.
An Aro is the third Babalawo in rank, and he is entitled to act for both the Oluwo and the Odofin in their absence.
An Asare pawo is a messenger whose office it is to call upon the Babalawos at their respective residences and invite them to a meeting whenever an appointment has been made, and he and all who bear the title with him are those who are also expected to prepare and extemporise an Igbodu whenever the Babalawos ask for one.
An Asawo is another attendant upon a Babalawo, and a special assistant to an Asare pawo.
An Apetebi or Esu or Ayawo is a woman who is regarded as the wife of Orunmila himself, and who may in reality be either a Babalawo's wife or the wife of any one for whom a sacrifice is to be offered and who is always expected to give assistance at it.
An Aworo is a chief minister devoted to a particular Orisha, and to him is assigned the difficult and revolting task of putting to death a fellow human being devoted to sacrifice.
A candidate for the office and dignity of a Babalawo is expected to be a pupil to a Babalawo well known for his wide knowledge of the mysteries of the religion and his skill in the exercise of it, and especially in the art of divination, for at least three years and learn the profession from him. But pupils who are ambitious of being much superior to their fellows of the same profession sometimes elect to continue their pupilage and apprenticeship to four, five, six, and even seven years.
As the doctrines and practice of the profession are not committed to writing, the teacher only employs oral teaching, reproducing from his memory from time to time such things as the pupil should learn and commit also to memory himself; and his witnessing of his teacher's performances frequently and assisting him at them are also expected to promote his education.
The course is divided into three parts covering the three years of ordinary pupilage. In the first year the candidate learns the names of all the Olodus and Odus,-the signs representing each of them and testifies by practice his mastery of them. In the second year he learns the one thousand and one traditions connected with the Olodus and Odus and-which are said to be so many that there has scarcely been a Babalawo found who has learnt and can recite the whole of them; but there are those who have learnt and committed to memory a much greater number of them than others have done, and who then can make a wider use of the consulting bowl. In the third year the candidate learns the method and use of lot casting and in connection with it assists at the consulting bowl.
A Babalawo, elected and appointed to wait upon a king always as his Babalawo who is to consult Ifa for him is always one who has distinguished himself above others by his superior knowledge of the traditions and his skill in using them and in the art of consulting the oracle Ifa. His term of pupilage must have exceeded three years, and he is generally formally set apart for this his very important and responsible office and the dignity connected with it by other Babalawos at a special meeting held for the purpose when they would amongst other ceremonies unitedly place on his head some leaves sacred to Ifa, to signify to him and to others his elevation to the office.
His specially appointed assistants are the Olwo Otun Awo, the right hand Babalawo, otherwise named Orisa; the Olowo Osi Awo, the left hand Babalawo, otherwise named the Osopo; and the Olopon ekeji awo, or the second consulting bowl Babalawo, each of whom has his own Ajigbona, who is sometimes called Lewere.
His ensign of office consists of a string of beads of various colours worn always round his left wrist; a cow's or bullock's tail which he always carries about with him; and a staff which is sometimes an Opa Osu, i.e., a staff sacred to Ofu; at other times an Opa Orerere, the Orerere staff, and at other times an Opa Osororo, or the Osororo staff.
The office is supported from regularly prescribed consulting and divining fees which are sometimes and indeed often exceeded on account of what is thought to be the superior financial position of an applicant for consultation of Ifa; the sacrifices and offerings made to the gods; and gifts from those whom they serve which these account it a duty and a privilege to make to them, especially at stated festivals.
The moral system of Yoruba heathenism teaches reverence to the gods, which is to show itself in, amongst other things, a daily early morning worship to them before their images before any business is done, the exercise of faith in them and their guidance and other assistances by consulting them on all important matters; respect and reverence for age and for all authority; filial regard and reverence for and obedience to parents-on the part of children always, and care and concern for them under the infirmities of sickness and old age, and in times of necessity produced by other circumstances; a great regard for marriage and the perpetuity of the bond, submission to their husbands on the part of wives, and care and protection on the part of husbands; the exercise of the duties of hospitality to all, and especially to strangers; fidelity to friendship under all circumstances; chastity, truthfulness in speech, honesty, kindness, and amongst some tribes courage also; whilst under its influence murder and theft, and sometimes the practice of witchcraft are punished with death; adultery and fornication with a severe social disgrace and fines and a selling into slavery, and, where the honour of a king's wife is concerned, with death sometimes; suicide, with a dishonoured burial; and neglect and indifference to pay a debt, and insolvency, with much social dishonour; and it discountenances, amongst other things, pride and vanity and extravagance.
Among these may be reckoned revenge and retaliation, hatred, jealousy, malice, ill-will, worldliness, anger and wrath and selfishness, some of which have contributed to supply a basis for the system of slavery and the slave trade, and for the life of Polygamy which have ruled the country for centuries, and for the very long incessant inter-tribal warfares which have ruined it.
The motives for virtue are a belief in a retributive providence, either for good or for evil; the fear of social disgrace and of punishment also, which would fall not only upon an individual wrong and evil doer, but upon his relatives and other connections also; the prospect of a long life on earth, desire for prosperity, and dread of the anger of the gods and of punishment from them.
It teaches that the soul of man is not liable to death, and that after the death of the body, which results from its quitting it, it hovers about the earth for some time, and after this departs into the world of spirits above. Hence the following parable referring to the death of a Babalawo, and which is applicable to other persons also who have died:-"Awo ki i ku:-Awo lo si Itunla. Itunla ni ile Awo." "Awo-or a Babalawo does never die; he goes to Itunla (the world where men live again after death). Itunla is an Awo's home.....ire ooo!

Yorubas have a lot of beliefs about many things but the beliefs they have about menses, menstruation and menstrual blood will petrify many. Enjoy this piece.


He is the husband,

He is the wife.

Warm like the sun,

Cool like the harmattan.

He builds a house of parrot’s feathers

a wall of darkness

that reaches into the sky.

In this poem above, the iko oode or ikoode are the crimson tail feathers of the African Grey Parrot and they represent the aje (mother) of menses while Oduduwa (who can be male or female depending on the part of Yorubaland you are from): builds a mansion of aje that changes into the uterine calabash of cosmic proportions.


A woman in Yoruba beliefs, is not seen as an object of impurity, either with or without the menses. The female is accorded the greatest sense of respect in Yoruba traditions and that explains why many of the gods and divinities are demonstrated as female entities. Even Oduduwa and Olodumare (Creator God) are seen as females by some Yorubas. Unlike what obtains in some other Middle Eastern religions where a menstruating woman is forbidden from certain acts of worship or even sexual intercourse or in Hinduism where menstruating women are banned from the temples, menstruating does not stop a woman in Yorubaland from carrying out any of her religious duties. As a matter of fact, men become babalawos and almost never an Iyalawo and that is because women are believed to be the source of the secrets that the Babalawos (men) are searching for. That explains why Babalawos often turn to the Iyas and Awon Iyami Oshoronga for help and assistance from time to time. In short, menses does not diminish a woman in any way in traditional Yoruba religions. A woman is seen as the embodiment of divinity and the living manifestations of Olodumare or the Odu.

Menstruating women are not barred from Ifa because they are seen as the sources and activators of the Ifa oracle itself. Like the males, they can take all their time to learn the Odu Ifa with its countless Ese Ifa, medicines and prescriptions of power.

Menstruation is no obstacle for a girl or woman in Yorubaland.

Osun is the root word of irosun, which represents menstrual blood. In Yoruba mythologies, blood is not only necessary and relevant to one’s lineage, it is also an integral part of the destinies of humans. Irosun is also the red powder from the camwood tree that is used to consecrate the pot (Odu) of Ogun, the god of war and iron. Blood in Yoruba mythology is generally seen as a type of fertilizer, which explains why shedding blood to the earth in forms of sacrifices is quite common.

The reason Yoruba men and even other men in some other cultures are afraid of being slapped with a menstrual cloth of a woman is that the woman’s (usually his wife or mother) body is her Apere, representative of the Odu so the fear stems out of respect and reverence and not out of repulsion or hatred. This is based on the deep-rooted belief that a woman’s breasts, menses and her vagina are her actual sources of power as seen in the Igbadu and for a woman to go naked deliberately out of fury or slap the man with her menstrual cloth is seen as the height of anger or disapproval from the woman, something the men do not want. Female sexuality plays a great role in Yoruba cosmogony and that men can see glimpses of heaven through the female sexual organs during coitus means they are objects of intense worship. But it is known among the Yorubas that the same path that can lead to bliss can lead to eternal damnation so when a woman deliberately exposes her nakedness or hits the man with her menstrual cloth, it can derail his destiny forever. To be slapped with the menstrual cloth of the mother is to be rejected by the ancestors and the unborn generations forever. Because men came from women (that is the belief in Yoruba traditional religions and not the other way round as seen in other Middle Eastern religions where the woman is believed to have come from the man), he cannot destroy that which created him (the woman or female body) no matter how much he tries.

Menstrual blood is sacred among the Yorubas.

Yorubas seen the crescent moon as a symbol of renewal, freshness and regeneration. This is why they call the menses nkan oshu meaning ‘sign of the moon’ as oshu (oshupa) means the moon. This is because the women use the waxing and waning of the moon phases as a calendar for their cycles. When the moon is at its highest level of waxing, maidens and new brides pray to it to grant them ‘newness’ (fertility) and the strength to carry a child on their backs. Thus, menstrual blood in Yorubaland does not come with fear, disgust or seen as impure. It is rather seen as a sign of renewal, bounty and fertility. That explains why some priests use menstrual blood of a virgin (or any lady) to do some of the most powerful magic charms eyonu or ogun owo , the charm for fame and wealth. This is because menstrual blood is considered to be sacred and powerful. This belief is also seen among the Cherokee Indians of North America and in various tribes of Africa.

Menstrual blood can also be used in some rituals in Yorubaland. For example, one of the most powerful women in the traditional Yoruba society known as the Iya Lekuleja can prepare one of the most potent medicines by removing her cloth, standing naked before everyone, moving round a circle countless times while reciting incantations quickly then kneeling over a calabash and washing her breasts and vagina (with its menstrual fluid) inside it. This concoction is then given to the subject, usually a son or any male, to drink. By kneeling and assuming the posture of Ikunle Abiyamo, Iya Lekuleja is believed to open access to her sacred Igbadu and her Aje for the subject to tap from the powers within. When the son drinks the potion, he is believed to be a born again as he tasted his mother, via the cleansing waters of her vagina and the omi ero of her breasts.

Some Yorubas hold the belief that a menstruating woman can render the magic or the charms of a native doctor useless.

The Yoruba belief is that menstrual blood has healing powers. Well, this is true and it is confirmed by modern science. The stem cells in menstrual blood have the same powers of regeneration as the stem cells harvested from the umbilical cord blood and the bone marrow. How the Yorubas of the old knew that menstrual blood had regenerative capacities should be a source of curiosity to us all. Scientists are already thinking of how to use menstrual blood stem cells to treat heart diseases, stroke, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a host of other diseases.

Red, the colour of menstrual blood is also one of the three main colours of the Egbe Iyami Oshoronga (red, black and white) with the red standing for not just the menstrual blood but also the activation and authorization of the ashe (divine order). For the curious, black represents vitality, pure melanin and perfection in Yorubaland while the white stands for the ancestors.

Because of the mystic power attached to menstrual blood, all women are seen as potential members of the Iyami Oshoronga cult as they are all linked through their menstrual blood. So far from being an impurity that will taint the sacred and pure, menstrual blood is seen in Yorubaland as a source of purity and sacredness in itself. This explains why women are not prevented from reaching the highest levels of hierarchy in the traditional Yoruba religions simply because they bleed

4 Hard Truths......

 Money is a hoax

“The Western worldview says, in essence, that technological progress is the highest value and that we were born to consume, to endlessly use and discard natural recourses, other species, gadgets, toys, and often, each other. The most highly prized freedom is the right to shop. It’s a world of commodities, not entities, and economic expansion is the primary measure of progress. Competition, taking, and hoarding are higher values than cooperation, sharing, and gifting. Profits are valued over people, money over meaning, entitlement over justice, “us” over “them.” This is the most dangerous addiction in the world, not only because of its impact on humanity but because it is rapidly undermining the natural systems that sustain the biosphere.” –Bill Plotkin

It is not the more evolved aspect of ourselves that tricks us into thinking that we need money to survive; it’s the less evolved aspect of ourselves that does the tricking. With our advanced technologies we imagine that we know the way the world works, when, for the most part, we have forgotten how everything is connected.

Until we can relearn “a language older than words,” and once again engage in a healthy dialogue with nature and the cosmos, we will continue to be tricked by the less evolved aspects of ourselves. The more awareness we bring to this extremely complicated cognitive dissonance, the more possible it will be to achieve an ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable world.

As it stands, however, the Federal Reserve is a house of cards guarded by a red herring. Money is the opiate of the masses, and the masses are too busy spending it on worthless crap to get to know each other as healthy individuals, let alone as a healthy community. We have become Pavlov Dogs, and money is our dinner bell. But money was never meant to be horded, or even amassed, it was meant to circulate as a way of uplifting the community. And yet here we are, hoarding and amassing, while our communities are in unhealthy disarray. It’s high time we abandoned the force-fed shibboleth that having more money makes us better people. It doesn’t. Being healthy, compassionate and moral is what makes us better people.

2) Debt is fiction

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” –John Adams

Unfortunately our nation has been enslaved by debt. Our current system is not an economic system at all, but an ecocidal system; an intrinsic obsolescence of conspicuous consumption. It’s a grave misfortune that efficiency, sustainability, and preservation are the enemies of our socioeconomic system. This has got to be the most bizarre delusion in the history of human thought, a retarded Ponzi scheme en masse.

But it’s difficult to get people to understand something when money, and especially debt, prevents them from understanding it. Instead of ownership, give us strategic access. Instead of equity, give us equality. Instead of one-track-minded profit, give us open-minded people. Instead of unsustainable monetary-based economics, give us a sustainable resource-based economy, which is basically the scientific method applied to ecological and social concerns.

As tough as it is to hear, nature is a dictatorship. We can either listen to it and fall into harmony or deny it and suffer. Ask yourself this question by Fleet & Lasn: “When the economic system fails, will we know how to behave, how to act, how to appreciate, how to value, how to survive, how to be and how to love in a world that no longer defines relations by money?”

3) Media is manipulation

“Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media.” –Noam Chomsky

Media has always been an effective method for manipulating people. We are social creatures who are also psychological creatures. This combination makes us unwittingly vulnerable to the power of suggestion. As it stands, media has been our Achilles Heel. These days the “news” we receive from corporate media is more likely to be disinformation. Skepticism is a must when reading or viewing the information provided by these outlets.

Defenestrate your TV set!

The key: Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. Analyze the Kool Aide before you swallow it. Even then, be prepared to vomit it back up at the first sign of deception. Remain circumspect and question all authority. They don’t have our best interest at heart. They only want our money, and to remain powerful.

Like Wendell Berry wrote in the Unsettling of America, “People whose governing habit is the relinquishment of power, competence, and responsibility, make excellent spenders. They are the ideal consumers. By inducing in them little panics of boredom, powerlessness, sexual failure, mortality, paranoia, they can be made to buy virtually anything that is “attractively packaged.””

We are slowly becoming more aware of corporate media lying to us. But they know we know they’re lying to us. And we know they know we know they’re lying to us. With enough inertia, this debacle of a process just continues until we are eventually lying to ourselves. And here we are. Like the great Baruch Spinoza once surmised, “The supreme mystery of despotism, its prop and stay, is to keep men in a state of deception, and cloak the fear by which they must be held in check, so that they will fight for their servitude as if for salvation.” And here we are, unless we decide to wake up.

For it is seeking you

4) Government is a corporation

“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” –Thomas Jefferson

Here’s the thing: we do not live in a democracy, and we probably never really have. A prestigious Princeton study recently concluded that we live in an oligarchy: rule by a few individuals. And these individuals just so happen to be plutocrats, making this particular flavor of oligarchy a plutocracy: rule by the rich.

The problem is that money itself has become an immoral agent within an otherwise amoral system that praises itself as moral. Ask yourself: do you wish to live out harried lives of nine-to-five slavery, giving up your days to heartless corporations that don’t give a damn about anything except making money, or do you wish to live a happy life of loving compassion, doing what you enjoy, in spite of plutocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny?

The Occupy Movement succeeded in shifting the tenor and shape of debate in the world, but we must not rest on our laurels. Trickle-down economics DOES NOT WORK! Austerity economics DOES NOT WORK! Corporations are NOT people. Money does NOT equal speech. It’s a trap. If we don’t get big money out of politics then everything we want to do will be hopeless. We need to be smarter with our mobilization tactics for the change and allocation of power within our society. So far the security and surveillance state has boxed us in, like the great MLK Jr. said, “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

The trickster is an alchemist.......

The trickster is an alchemist, a magician, creating realities in the duality of time and illusion.

In mythology, and in the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. It is suggested by Hansen (2001) that the term "Trickster" was probably first used in this context by Daniel G. Brinton in 1885.

The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually with ultimately positive effects. Often, the rule-breaking takes the form of tricks (eg. Eris) or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both; they are often very funny even when considered sacred or performing important cultural tasks. In many cultures, (as may be seen in Greek, Norse or Slavic folktales, along with Native American/First Nations lore), the trickster and the culture hero are often combined. To illustrate: Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from the gods to give it to humans.

He is more of a culture hero than a trickster. In many Native American and First Nations mythologies, the coyote (Southwestern United States) or raven (Pacific Northwest and coastal British Columbia) stole fire from the gods (stars or sun) and are more tricksters than culture heroes. This is primarily because of other stories involving these spirits: Prometheus was a Titan, whereas coyote and raven are usually seen as jokesters and pranksters.

Frequently the Trickster figure exhibits gender variability, changing gender roles and engaging in same-sex practices. Such figures appear in Native American and First Nations mythologies, where they are said to have a two-spirit nature. Loki, the Norse trickster, also exhibits gender variability, in one case even becoming pregnant; interestingly, he shares the ability to change genders with Odin, who despite being nominally the chief Norse deity also possesses many characteristics of the Trickster.

The Trickster is an example of a Jungian Archetype. The Fool survives in modern playing cards as the Joker. In modern literature the trickster survivors as a character archetype, not necessarily supernatural or divine, therefore better described as a stock character.

In later folklore, the trickster is incarnated as a clever, mischievous man or creature, who tries to survive the dangers and challenges of the world using trickery and deceit as a defense. For example many typical fairy tales have the King who wants to find the best groom for his daughter by ordering several trials. No brave and valiant prince or knight manages to win them, until a poor and simple peasant comes. With the help of his wits and cleverness, instead of fighting, he evades or fools monsters and villains and dangers with unorthodox manners. Therefore the most unlikely candidate passes the trials receives the reward. More modern and obvious examples of that type are Bugs Bunny and The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin).

The trickster is an important archetype in the history of man. He is a god, yet he is not. He is the wise-fool. It is he, through his creations that destroy, points out the flaws in carefully constructed societies of man. He rebels against authority, pokes fun at the overly serious, creates convoluted schemes, that may or may not work, plays with the Laws of the Universe and is sometimes his own worst enemy. He exists to question, to cause us to question not accept things blindly. He appears when a way of thinking becomes outmoded needs to be torn down built anew. He is the Destroyer of Worlds at the same time the savior of us all.

The Trickster lives inside and outside of Time. He is of our world, yet not of our world, so our laws will not always apply. Other symbols, associated with him include keys, clock, masks, infinity among other mythological images

Trickster is a creator, a joker, a truth teller, a story teller, a transformer linked to the spiritual frequency changes humanity is experiencing at this time.

We seem most accessible to the synchronistic gifts of the Trickster when we ourselves are at or near boundaries or are experiencing transition states, periods of major life transitions seem to be occasioned by an abundance of meaningful coincidence. Personal growth sees not only to facilitate synchronicity, but in turn to be facilitated by it. As an archetype, the Trickster, the boundary dweller, finds expression through human imagination and experience.

The Trickster as an Alchemist

Shamanic aspect that transforms or evolves

We live in a dual reality, opposite polarities, yin /yang, male/female, good/ evil, God/Devil or Trickster. Our reality is created by electromagnetic energy fields, the poles (North and South), positive and negative energy. This is much like a game. In order to win the game you must create balance. You can beat the trickster if you ignore that which he brings as challenges.

Our soul spirals its consciousness into a physical body to experience different roles and emotions. The trickster 'stirs the pot' and creates the drama, to that end.

When you abuse someone, that is the trickster in you, showing itself. When you allow yourself to be abused, playing the victim, and remain stagnant in your life, the trickster aspect of you is in control.

The trickster seems to have supernatural powers which help him perform his tricks. He lives, dies, comes back, shape shifts, all sorts of magic as our reality is nothing more than an illusion. It is the mythology of our reality, birth, death, and rebirth from the ashes, the flame of creation.

There are times the Trickster brings lessons that we came into this experience. Trickster is almost always portrayed as male. In the duality he represents the lower emotions, lower chakras, that which gets us into mischief. This represents the aggressive side that deals with the lower frequency emotions, fate, jealousy, anger, self destruction, rage, depression and goes to mental illness.

Trickster is the emotional body, our Inner Child or wounded soul, who evolves in our lifetimes as it spirals back to higher light.

The concept of the Trickster is as much a part of humanity's history as the concept of God. All creational myths deal with polarity, good god vs. bad god, the duality of our nature and with each of us. To be emotionally challenged, is to listen to the voice of the trickster and live in a space of drama and negative emotions. To create balance is to live in the so-called 'god aspect' of who we are.

Physical reality is a game in which the Trickster challenges us at every turn. That is his role in the duality of this bio-genetic experiment in liner tome and emotion.

Trickster is the teacher, when you attract lessons into one's life. With his lessons, he awakens us to who we are and allows us to explore the true purpose of our soul's journey in the holographic experience through which we experience consciously at this level of awareness.

His energy allows us to break out of old stereotypes, whether they've been imposed by ourselves, our families, our culture, or circumstance. This is the energy that opens the world of limitless possibilities and it behooves us all to work with it before it destroys us, to touch the Trickster as he touches us.

Trickster is a teacher, survivor, hero, always traveling, outrageous and cunning, foolish and wise, mischievous and often doing good despite himself. He is a metaphor for the evolution of consciousness in the alchemy of time.

Trickster Roles

Eshu

African people have tales about tricksters (hare, spider, tortoise, etc.), which slaves brought to the New World.

In Yoruba mythology, Eshu is an Orisha, and one of the most respected deities of the tradition. He has a wide range of responsibilities: the protector of travelers, god of roads, particularly crossroads, the deity with the power over fortune and misfortune, and the personification of death, a psycho pomp.

Every magical ceremony or ritual began with an offering to Eshu; failure to do so guarantees failure in the intent of the ceremony. Within the Orisa'Ifa, Santeria/Lukumi religion developed by the descendents of enslaved West African, Eshu was identified with Saint Anthony or Saint Michael, depending on the situation.

He is identified by the Colours red and black, or black and white and his caminos, or paths (compare: avatar) are often represented carrying a cane, shepherd's crook, as well as a pipe.

Eshu is a trickster-god, and plays frequently tempting choices for the purpose of causing maturation. He is a difficult teacher, but a good one. As an example, Eshu was walking down the road one day, wearing a hat that was red on one side and blue on the other. Sometime after he departed, the villagers who had seen him began arguing about whether the stranger's hat was blue or red. The villagers on one side of the road had only been capable of seeing the blue side, and the villagers on the other side had only been capable of seeing the red half. They nearly fought over the argument, until Eshu came back and cleared the mystery, teaching the villagers about how one's perspective can alter one's perception of reality, and can be easily fooled.

(In many versions of this tale, the two tribes were not stopped short of violence; they actually annihilated each other, and Eshu laughed at the result, saying "Bringing strife is my greatest joy". Eshu is thus a prototype of the atheistic view of God's nature.)

Amaguq

In Inuit mythology Amaguq is a trickster and wolf god.

Japanese Culture

Kitsune

In Japanese folklore, the kitsune are often presented as tricksters, sometimes very malevolent ones. The trickster kitsune employ their magical powers to play tricks on people; those portrayed in a favorable light tend to choose as targets overly-proud samurai, greedy merchants, and boastful commoners, while the more cruel kitsune tend to abuse poor tradesmen and farmers or Buddhist monks.

Susanoo

Nezha

Nezha is a deity, the enfant terrible Trickster of Chinese mythology. Nezha is often depicted flying in the sky with a wheel of fire under each foot, a golden hoop, The Cosmic Ring around his shoulder, and a spear in his hands. Nezha is usually depicted as youth and rarely as an adult. As the third son of a military commander called Li Jing, a military leader in Chentangguan Fortress, his birth was peculiar. When his mother got pregnant, she waited for three years to deliver the boy, but unfortunately a meat ball was born. His father got so angry that he split it with sword, thus finally Nezha jumped out with full figure and grew rapidly, even though his mind and temperament were that of a child. He flayed and disemboweled himself after committing several crimes in the eyes of the Heavenly Court but was brought back to life by a Taoist priest who used lotus blossoms to reconstruct a body for his soul to inhabit. Some traced his origins to the Vedic god Nalakuvara, and the legend goes that he was born in the Shang dynasty, and he is also identified with the Japanese god Nataku.

Krishna

The World Magician, tricking all men and gods by his playful ruses as an incarnation of Vishnu, Lord of the World.

Loki Norse Mythology

Greek Mythology

Eris, Prometheus, Hephaestos, Hermes -- Hermes Trismegistus -- Odysseus (example of a human trickster, who manages to evade dangers thanks to his wits. The Cyclops Polyphemus is an example of this)

Reynard The Fox

Reynard the Fox, also known as Renard, Renart, Reinard, Reinecke, Reinhardus, and by many other spelling variations, is a trickster figure whose tale is told in a number of anthropomorphic fables from medieval Europe.

He seems to have originated in French folklore. An extensive treatment of the character is the Old French Le Roman de Renart from around 1175, which sets the typical setting. Reynard has been summoned to the court of king Noble, or Leo, the Lion, to answer charges brought against him by Isengrim the Wolf. Other anthropomorphic animals, including Bruin the Bear, Baldwin the Ass, Tibert (Tybalt) the Cat, and Hirsent the She-wolf, appear to give testimony against him, which Reynard always proves false by one stratagem or another. The stories typically involve satire whose usual butts are the aristocracy and the clergy, making Reynard a peasant-hero character. Reynart's principal castle, Maleperduys, is available to him whenever he needs to hide away from his enemies. Some of the tales feature Reynard's funeral, where his enemies gather to deliver maudlin elegies full of insincere piety, and which features Reynard's posthumous revenge.

Till Eulenspiegel

Character who originated in Middle Low German oral tradition. In the folk story, he is presented as a trickster who played practical jokes on his contemporaries. Although craftsmen are featured as the main victims of his pranks, neither the nobility nor the pope are exempt from being fooled by him.

Br-er Rabbit, Tar Baby

The tar baby was a trap made of tar used to capture Br'er Rabbit in a story which is part of American plantation folklore. Br'er Fox played on Br'er Rabbit's vanity and gullibility to goad Br'er Rabbit into attacking the fake and becoming stuck. A similar tale from African folklore has the trickster god Anansi in the role of Br'er Rabbit. The story was originally published in Harper's Weekly by Robert Roosevelt of Sayville, New York. Years later Joel Chandler Harris wrote of the tar baby in his Uncle Remus stories.

Coyote

The trickster is teacher, survivor and fool, coyote has inhabited this land we call America much longer than the later arriving humans from Asia, who have only been here about 10,000 years or so. The European refugees who started showing up around 500 years ago and who now act as if they own the place, do not pay as much attention to Coyote as do their indigenous predecessors. The small prairie wolf known as coyote mostly attracts their interest in a long standing, unsuccessful effort at extermination; but this creature with a perpetual bounty on its hide resembling a medium-size dog with a narrow face, tawny fur and a bushy tail, is only one aspect of what native American peoples have called Coyote, Coyote Man and Old Man Coyote.

In some Native American traditions, Coyote impersonates the Creator, making humans out of mud and bringing into being the buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and bear. In these myths, Coyote-Creator is never mentioned as an animal, though he can and does meet his animal counterpart, coyote; and they walk and talk together, addressing the other as "elder brother" and "younger brother." In these traditions the spiritual and corporeal are brothers who always walk and talk together.

While coyotes (the animal) are certainly responsible for destroying some domestic livestock, they are important to the larger environment as scavengers and destroyers of rodents. They are omnivorous feeders; they prey on small animals, eat plant matter, carrion and garbage, and they sometimes though not regularly team up to hunt larger animals. They are an invaluable part of a healthy ecology and environment, which sustains all life, including that of domestic livestock.

That the livestock industry has waged a brutal, unrelenting and environmentally irresponsible slaughter (most of it at taxpayer, not industry, expense) of coyote for more than 100 years is as shameful and scandalous as it is unsuccessful, unnecessary and expensive. That coyote has persisted, prospered and expanded, both in numbers and range, since the livestock industry put a price on his head is an indication of why Old Man Coyote continues to live in the mythology and dreams of native America and in the literature and imagination of its more recent arrivals. Coyote Man is the primordial trickster/teacher of American lore.

Carl Jung, The Trickster Archetype, Coyote

A primitive cosmic being of divine-animal nature, on the one hand superior to man because of his superhuman qualities, and on the other hand inferior to him because of his unreason and unconsciousness. The more civilized we become, the more we will blame a "shadow" for our misfortunes. Like the trickster of old, the shadow represents a quality that isn't accepted into the awareness. It can 'pester' us unmercifully but always has a gift for us, a missing quality, an attitude needed to cope, or self-realization.

Kokopelli

Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with a huge phallus and antenna-like protrusions on his head), who is worshipped by many Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god. Because of his influence over human sexuality, Kokopelli is often depicted with an inhumanly large phallus. Among the Ho-Chunk, this penis is detachable, and he sometimes leaves it in a river in order to have sex with girls who bathe there. Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women (for this reason, young girls are often deathly afraid of him). He often takes part in rituals relating to marriage, and Kokopelli himself is sometimes depicted with a consort, a woman called Kokopelli-mana by the Hohokam and Hopi.

Manabozho or Hare of the Algonkian peoples

His father was Earthmaker, who sent Hare to be born of a virgin as a human being in order to destroy evils threatening mankind.

Cin-an-ev

The Ute are a tribe of Native Americans from the western United States. Siats is a cannibalistic clown monster. Cin-an-ev is a wolf trickster and culture hero. The Ute especially venerated a bear spirit, who occasionally went on killing sprees. Sunuwavi, a Ute hero, once rescued his people from this by finding the qumu, the bear's fire medicine (spiritual power), and covering it with water, thus ending the spirit's power.

Mannegishi

The Mannegishi (singular the same) are a race of trickster people in Cree folklore. They are described as semi-humanoid, being sexdactylous humans with very thin and lanky arms and legs and big heads minus a nose. According to one Cree schema of the mythology, there are two humanoid races, one being the familiar human species and the other being the "little people", i.e. Mannegishi. These people are said to live between rocks in the rapids. One of their biggest delights -- a completely non-heroic form of trickster behavior -- is to crawl out of the rocks and capsize the canoes of people canoeing through the rapids, spinning them to their death. The Mannegishi is also known as the gahonga. The Mannegishi has gained interest in recent years due to its possible cryptozoological connections. It is believed by some that the Dover Demon is what the Cree saw when they told stories of the Mannegishi.

Raven

Raven is famous among the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. Raven assumed the divine trickster role, similar to Coyote in other parts of the country. The divine trickster could play the fool and the joker, but the intent of doing so was to teach. Raven is also credited with sheltering the first humans, and with placing the sun, moon, and stars in the proper places in the sky. He was an expert in magic, and brought revelations from the spirit world to those who needed them.

Tonenili

Navajo trickster rain god whose name means 'water sprinkler'.

Bamapana

In Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Murngin), Bamapana is a trickster hero who causes discord. He is obscene and profane and once committed incest, thus breaking a strict taboo.

Tezcatlipoca

In Nahuatl mythology, Tezcatlipoca ("smoking mirror") was the god of the night, the north and temptation. He owned a mirror (Itlachiayaque, "Place From Which He Watches") that gave off smoke, killing his enemies. He was the antithesis and rival, and eventually, the twin of Quetzalcoatl. He was a god of beauty and war.

Attributes of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl originally came from older traditions than the Aztecs: the Olmecs and the Toltecs. The Aztecs assimilated them in their religion, and the two deities were equated and considered twin gods. They were both equal and opposed.

Thus Tezcatlipoca was called "Black Tezcatlipoca", and Quetzalcoatl "White Tezcatlipoca".

In one of the Aztec accounts of the creation of the world, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca joined forces to create the world. There was only the sea, and the monster of earth Cipactli. To attract her, Tezcatlipoca used his foot as bait, and Cipactli ate it. The two gods then captured her, and distorted her to make the land from her body. After that, they created the people, and people had to offer sacrifices to comfort Cipactli of her sufferings. Because of this, Tezcatlipoca is depicted with a missing foot, and the bone of his leg exposed. There are several nahuas accounts of how gods made self sacrifices to help humanity.

Tezcatlipoca kidnapped Xochiquetzal, the goddess of flowers, because he felt that he deserved her more than her husband, Tlaloc. He was also said to be married to Xilonen.As Mixcoatl, Tezcatlipoca invented fire by rotating the heavens on its axis as a drill. Omacatl and Titlacahuan, Tezcatlanextia, were also aspects of Tezcatlipoca.

Saci

The Saci (pr. sah-SEE) is the most popular and bizarre character of Brazilian folklore. He is a one-legged dwarf, with holes through the palms of his hands, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap which enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes. Considered an irritating prankster in some parts of the country, and a dangerous and malicious creature in others, he will nevertheless grant wishes to anyone who manages to steal his magic cap. There are actually three types of Saci: the best-known Saci Perere is black as coal, the Saci Trique is mulatto and more benign, and the Saci Sacura has red eyes.

An incorrigible prankster, the Saci will not cause major harm, but there is no little harm that he won't do. He will hide children's toys, set farm animals loose, torment dogs, and prevent chicken eggs from hatching. He may suck the blood of horses, like a vampire bat, and tie knots in their manes.

In the kitchen, the Saci may spill the salt, sour the milk, burn the bean stew, or drop flies into the soup. If a popcorn kernel fails to pop, it is because the Saci put a spell on it. Given half a chance, he will dull the seamstressÕs needles, hide her thimbles, and tangle her sewing threads. If he sees a nail lying on the ground, he will turn it with the point up. In short, anything that goes wrong, in the house, or outside it, may be confidently blamed on the Saci.

Besides disappearing or becoming invisible (often with only his red cap and the red glow of his pipe still showing), the Saci can transform itself into a Matiapere, an elusive bird whose melancholic song seems to come from nowhere. A Saci will not cross water streams, lest it will lose all his powers, a fact that will be undoubtedly useful to people who find themselves being pursued by one. If that happens, the victim should drop ropes full of knots; the Saci will then be compelled to stop and undo the knots, thus allowing his victim to escape. One can also try to appease him by leaving behind some cachaa, or some tobacco for his pipe.

He is fond of juggling live coals or other small objects and letting them fall through the holes on his palms. An exceedingly nimble fellow, the lack of his right leg does not prevent him from bareback-riding a horse, and sitting cross-legged while he puffs on his pipe. Every dust devil, says the legend, is caused by the spin-dance of an invisible Saci. One can capture him by throwing into the dust devil a rosary made of rosary bead plant seeds, or by pouncing on it with a sieve, reinforced by two crossed bamboo strips. With proper care, the captured Saci can be coached to enter a dark glass bottle, where he can be imprisoned by a stopper with a cross marked on it.

Kappa, Maui God of One Thousand Tricks

An ugly, excitable, but quick-witted half-divine, half-mortal trickster who was covered in tattoos. If he didn't like the ways things were, he changed them. And there were many things Maui didn't like. For example, the sun.

Every day, Maui watched human beings scramble to work, or plant, or cook, or make bark cloth in the few precious hours between sunrise and sunset. There was never enough time, the sun moved too fast, the people suffered. They had no choice but to eat their food raw.

Maui grabbed his rope and his grandmother's magic jawbone. With a quick flick of the rope, he lassoed the sun and beat the sun-god with the jawbone, until the golden one agreed to move more slowly across the sky. Then Maui looked closely at the sky itself. It hung way too low. With a mighty heave, Maui shoved the firmament up higher.

The Maui went fishing. His brother wouldn't share their bait, so Maui punched his own nose and used his blood to fish. He hauled in catches so big they became the Polynesian islands.

In mythology the pranks of the trickster seemed almost a compulsion, something they could not control. The trickster was usually blessed with a curiosity that led them into trouble, but also had a cunning wit to get them out of trouble. He played the Game! Humans would forgive the trickster, knowing that when the gods were plagued by the trickster's wit and arrogance, with the side effects sometimes beneficial to humans. We recognized that at the heart of the trickster was a savior. So even if Coyote caused a great flood because of a theft, he did lead the human race to a better world.

In oral traditions worldwide, a story of deceit, magic, and violence perpetrated by a mythical animal-human trickster. The trickster-hero is both creator god and innocent fool, evil destroyer and childlike prankster.

Trickster is at the same time, creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes others and who is always duped himself. He possesses no values, moral or social, is at the mercy of his passions and appetites, yet through his actions all values come into being. Many of the Trickster's traits were perpetuated in the medieval jester, and have survived in the Punch-and-Judy plays and in the clown.

Few mythological figures have such a remote origin in time and broad distribution among cultures as the one called Trickster. This character has long puzzled its commentators, largely because Trickster defies any purely rational or intellectual analysis. In fact, anyone who has studied any particular trickster story can testify to its disturbing undertones of perplexity and provocation.

Trickster contains a transcendent nature whose epic qualities are truly awesome. We can think, for example, of when Maui, the Polynesian Trickster, snares nothing less than the sun. Yet with all his enormous power he is enormously stupid, the fool of the ages, the epitome or personification of human absurdity.

In world mythologies Trickster's guises are legion; so much so that Joseph Campbell, has called him The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

This outlandish, yet remarkable being in human form, learns, grows in understanding, changes, and at a certain point in his adventuresome blunders, is transformed. Until that moment, however, Trickster keeps changing shape and experimenting with a thousand identities, including shifts in sex, in a seemingly never-ending search for himself.

During all this he inflicts great damage on those around him and also suffers innumerable blows, defeats, indignities, and dangers resulting from his thoughtless, reckless forays. On entering upon existence he is first seen as a blurred, chaotic, hardly unified being, having no self-knowledge or life-knowledge, despite his divine parenthood. It is only later on in his travels that Trickster emerges as a culture hero, demigod, and savior of peoples. But this occurs only after his transformation or self-integration takes place, and brings to the fore the great and epic qualities initially given him by his divine progenitor.

The unity of Trickster with Hero-Benefactor is clear in a great number of the mythoi. The hero must trick the gods of their wealth, steal it, and in some manner make it available to humankind. This heavenly treasure usually is "fire" or is related to it. Raven steals the gods' fire sticks. Maui goes against Mahu-ika, the guardian of fire, to get it and bring it back to the people. In Greek myth it is Prometheus who does this. The many references to the sun-snaring feat of Trickster-turned-Hero extend illustration of this development (Katharine Luomala, Oceanic, American Indian, and African Myths of Snaring the Sun, Bernice P Bishop Museum Bulletin 168, Honolulu, 1940; reprinted by Kraus Reprint Company, N.Y, 1971). The hero who deceives, slays, or by his "wiles" appeases the gods, is honored as a savior of the world.

Trickster's hero qualities were present from the very beginning. But they lay dormant, in seed, until he decided to exercise them, which he did only after a long and painful process of trial and error, growth and metamorphosis. For in all of his manifestations Trickster remains a primordial being of the same order as the gods, despite his prolonged sojourn in the human condition.

No matter how often scholars have analyzed this myth in the attempt to reduce it to any strictly rational value, it endures in all of its polyfaceted and multileveled grandeur. To restrict understanding of it merely to one or two of its features would be to rob us of its unusually important meaning. For serious reflection upon the myth in all of its world variety brings a conviction that it can refer only to the evolution of human consciousness and the full range of phases and multiple colorations which this implies. Yes, the evolution of our consciousness, but from a gigantic perspective and nothing less, one which carries us back to the fabulous illo tempore: into the night of time millions of years ago to the magic moment of first creation, that, dawn time "when first the world was born" and we "walked with the gods."

From the initial dimness of a consciousness newly-born, lacking any real integration of its components, and having forgotten his divine mission, we follow Trickster as his awareness steadily comes forth in ever greater measure. We watch as the self-knowledge of this inchoate entity develops, bringing with it strength, remembrance, and a firmer sense of identity, all this until, at a certain point, by capturing the fire of inner illumination from the gods, he gains a full measure of self-consciousness or self-recollection, and can act to benefit mankind. To use Jungian terms, the Unconscious within himself has been transmuted into the Conscious, bringing lucidity of spiritual vision of self and the universe.

Planet Saturn and the Trickster

Saturn, the grim reaper, rules responsibilities, restrictions, limitations, and the lessons you must learn in life. He does not deny or diminish imagination, inspiration, spirituality, or good fortune, but he does demand that these things be given structure and meaning. The karmic lessons we have come to experience and overcome in this lifetime are expressed by Saturn. Saturn is a great teacher if you allow it to be so. If you resist, then you feel like you have been dealing with the Trickster. It takes spiritual maturity to move beyond the challenges of the Trickster and to embrace Saturn the Teacher.

Trickster Gods

Trickster Goddesses

The Trickster weaves the Patterns of Reality and illusion of TimT