Long life and good health to you by the blessings of Iworiwofun. Ase.
Category: IFA texts
Oracle Or Divination?
Blessings of long life and prosperity to you by the unfailing and efficacious blessings of Iworiwofun. Ase.
Ifa is the divine treasure of holy men. Heartfelt praise and devotion to the precepts of Ifa is the key to genuine peace, power, health and prosperity: An Ifa devotional.
Aboru Aboye.
Long life and good health to you through the efficacious and unfailing blessings of Iworiwofun. Ase.
Ifa grant your blessings as I praise and proclaim your glory, virtues and excellences, that your life giving ase may give uplift, strength, enthusiasm, hope and healing to all who consider these divine thoughts. May all who consider these words experience inner cleansing, peace, harmony, joy and holy empowerment. Ase.
Ifa, divine messenger, message and healing grace of Olodumare, we praise you! Ifa, you are competent to be King over us. In you Ifa, we find revealed the kindness, friendliness, power and gracefulness of Olodumare. Ifa, you are the wisdom and power of Olodumare. Ifa, who does not know that to know you Ifa is to know happiness, contentment and satisfaction!? Ifa, who is a better friend, relative and guide than you? Ifa, when you go to war against the enemies of truth, justice and goodness your enemies think that you are just playing!
Ifa, in your action you are more graceful than the centipede. In your patience you are more persevering than the ant! Nothing deters you from accomplishing your determined purpose.
Oh, Orunmila you who are one with Ifa and intimately united with Ifa, to know you is to know salvation, to know you is to partake of vibrant long life! Orunmila Ajana, you are the one who is young and small in stature yet great and full of wisdom. Your ways are untraceable, profound and difficult to comprehend. There is no better companion and friend in life than you. You are the one worth spending ones time with. Oh, Orunmila, are you not the one who is the owner of the large house that is high enough to see the limit of the flight of birds, oh dweller of heaven and earth?! To look upon your face is to behold the goodness, kindness and concern of Olorun. Orunmila you disarm us of our fears, worries and anxiety. Orunmila, you who are one with the Ifa spirit of limitless light and life, are you not the one who wards of imminent death?! Orunmila, you are a true friend and my father upon whom I can lean upon forever, because you are more firm and stronger than a rock. There is no one I would want to spend my time with more than you, for you are Iriju Olodumare (prime minister of Olodumare) . You know the secrets of the heart of Olodumare; and His glorious purposes are known to you because Olodumare hides nothing from you. To call upon you and rely upon you is to receive the full support, goodness and blessings of Olodumare Oba Ire. Strong, wise and powerful Orunmila, even the fierce and fearless leopard turns on its heels and flees when it sees you because it knows that it cannot ever overpower you! Homage to you Orunmila, you who sits majestically upon the skin of the leopard! Even death honors you!
Oh Ifa! Oh Orunmila! Those who follow you as whole hearted student-disciples are in turn pursued and followed by limitless blessings, honor, longevity and prosperity. Homage to you Orunmila, who are the divine mystic who eats a lot of palm oil yet does not turn red, you are the divine sage who wrestles death into submission! To know you Ifa, to know you Orunmila is to know and experience eternal life (the divine quality of life). Is it not you Ifa who gives life and hope to one and all?! There is no failure with you. Orunmila you are the refuge from death, sorrow, fear and destruction. You are the one who teaches us how to spiritually transform and evolve through the mysteries of Ela, the Spirit of Purity, Nobility, Godliness and Salvation. Ifa you give us power to joyously and contentedly persevere, prevail and conquer our inner and outer antagonists through patience, goodness, divine spirituality and humility.
Orunmila Awimilogbon (wise teacher and guide)! Orunmila Awinrin (the one who sees and understands all things with clarity and precision)! Orunmila Oba Atayese (King empowered to rectify, heal and correct) why do not men not know that if they call upon you with simplicity, sincerity, earnestness and good faith you would compassionately rush to bring them relief and deliverance from their troubles and afflictions?! Why do men not know that you are not far away but near, and that a sincere and devoted thought directed towards you receives immediate recognition and response. Compassionate and kind Orunmila, you are the one who feels our sufferings as if they were your own. You are the one who delights and rejoices in our success and happiness. Orunmila, master of the sixteen principles of creation, may we never forget you and lose sight of you. It is in the early morning we praise Ifa and Orunmila. It is in the morning I wake up to salute, greet and praise Ifa.
Oh Ifa, oh Orunmila; remember me as I remember you. Do not forget me as I do not forget you. Do not forsake me as I will not abandon you! Others may forget you; others may not appreciate you, but I will not abandon you, I will not lose my appreciation towards you because I know you have done me only good. I will not hide from others my confidence and faith in you! I will never be ashamed that Ifa is my father and I am a loyal and grateful son (or daughter)! Ifa I call on you! Ela I call on you. Ifa! Ela! Receive and be pleased with the offering and sacrifice of my heartfelt praise and words of gratitude. Weigh my heart on the balance of truth, sincerity, honesty and good faith and bless me according the the measure, weight and quality of my heart! Ifa you live in my heart and no where else! Ifa I live in your heart and no where else! Ifa you and I are surely united. We are one! For many life times Ifa have I been following you and you have been following me! Who can understand this mystery of friendship, love and respect between you and I. Countless times I have come from Orun (pre-mortal divine spirit world) to Aye (earth) and countless times I have ascended from aye to orun, and in all my my journeying you have been with with like the loyal and trustworthy friend that you are.
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! Your excellences and perfections cannot be enumerated. In one fell swoop no one can attain to your sublime status or condition, but little by little I seek to be firmly established in Ifayelele. Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! Many are my defects and flaws, but one sure virtue do I have and that is that I do not forget nor neglect you, and that to the best of my ability I trustingly and humbly exert myself to obey you as a son obeys a loving, caring, gentle and wise father. Ifa may I never forget you! Ifa may you never forget me.
A man can have many material goods and riches of all sorts and yet be far from you. Ifa may I never forget you, may I never be far from you. May you Ifa, be my inexhaustible treasure of inestimable value.
A man can be endowed with great intelligence, wisdom and ability and yet be far from you. Ifa may I never forget you, may I never be far from you. May you Ifa, be my intelligence, wisdom and ability.
A man can be a partaker of great affluence and be endowed with a great following and yet be far from you and your ways. Ifa, may I never forget you, may I never be far from you. May you Ifa, be my charisma and may I be masterful in my following of you.
A man can be a partaker of good physical health and well being yet be spiritually unhealthy and impoverished. Ifa, may I never forget you, may you never be far from me. May, you Ifa, impart to me mental, emotional and spiritual serenity and vitality. May I be inwardly healthy, strong and robust. Ifa, may you be my strength, stamina and vitality.
A man can be outwardly happy, content and satisfied and yet be far from you. Ifa, may I never forget you, may I never be far from you. May you Ifa, confer upon me the grace and means, to have and enjoy genuine, deep and lasting happiness, contentment and satisfaction.
Oh Ifa! Oh Orunmila. You are fully aware that our lives upon this earth are often beset with afflictions, sorrows, adversities and challenges of all sorts. Ifa, you know that at times we are under stressors and pressures that rob us of clarity and the resolve to always do what is right.
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! We must admit before you that at times we fall short and stray from the proper path you have shown us, due to ignorance, despondency, stress or neglect. Ifa, extend the mantle of your compassion, gentleness, understanding and forgiveness upon us. Ifa uplift us, mend and heal our personal lives.
Ifa, if I have offended you please do not demand of me sacrificial offerings but instead grant me Ifa, unconditional remission as you did for the people of the town of tranquility. Ifa I take full responsibility for my choices and actions and ask of you for the gift of strength and understanding to correct myself and do what is right, proper and acceptable before you.
Ifa, if I have offended you please do not demand of me a sacrificial offering, instead grant me Ifa, complete remission, as you did for the people of the land of tranquility. Ifa lead me and empower me on the path of good conscience.
Ifa, if I have offended you by harming, injuring or deceiving others by my thoughts, words and actions please do not demand of me a sacrificial offering. Ifa, I resolve before you to make what reparations I can and I now renew my vow to proceed henceforth with honesty, truthfulness, kindness and integrity. Ifa, grant total remission and complete forgiveness as you did the people of the town of tranquility. May I be pursued by the blessings of a good character.
Forgive me great King, the forgiving King. May it be so.
Oh Ifa. Oh, Orunmila you know my great reverence and affection towards you. You are my joy and delight night and day. When I look upon my sacred Ikin Ifa, I see much more than sacred black kernels of the holy palm tree. When I look upon my mysterious, sacred, powerful and beautiful, black Ikin kernels I immediately am reminded of you Orunmila, the holy sage of black hue who came from Iketi, and with great kindness, thoughtfulness, perseverance, and power of character and personality served the people and filled their lives with meaning, hope and values. Oh Orunmila! You served, remembered and cared for so many but only few truly appreciated, loved and remembered you in their hearts. Orunmila may I never forget you. May I always appreciate and value you.
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! When I look upon my sacred, wonderful and powerful Ikin Ifa, I behold more than just alluring black kernels from the sacred palm tree. Orunmila Awinrin! When I look upon my Ikin, each with four beautiful eyes, it reminds me that you Orunmila are always with me and that you are always looking out for me. Just like the Ikin Ifa with four eyes, you too Orunmila have four spiritual eyes with which you see, survey and comprehend fully the events of the past, present, future and the timeless realm of Olodumare and Irunmole! Orunmila may I never forget you. May I always appreciate and value you.
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! When I look upon my sacred, attractive and divine Ikin Ifa, I see more than just sacred black kernels from the holy palm tree. I know that your gentle, powerful and divine fiery (active) presence, power and ase is within Ikin and envelops them. I know that through my Ikin you receive my hospitality, friendship, affection and the outpourings of my heart. Your strength, wisdom, gentleness and power are communicated to me by Ikin through which I am empowered, motivated, divinely informed and inspired! When I looked upon you Ifa I recall the sixteen principles of creations by which Olodumare brought all things into existence, upholds them and guides them to perfection! Ikin are small in size and seem to be powerless but just like you Orunmila who were small in stature and unassuming in appearance yet you were and are filled with fathomless sagacity, gracefulness, sanctity and power! Orunmila may I never forget you. May I always appreciate and value you.
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila may you always respond to my call and act on my behalf when I call upon you. May I not have to wait long to experience and see your relief, salvation and consolation. May you hear me and descend immediately, when in sincerity and earnestness I call upon you. May you never say to me Ifa:
“My son (or daughter) I have heard your call and will not descend because I have nowhere to affirm my feet!”
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila, may my heart be the place of the descent of your presence, power and ase. May my sincere (clean heart) be your spacious, proper and pure dwelling place!
Oh, Ifa! Oh, Orunmila! May my intelligence, conscience and spirit be one with you in quality. May my heart and intelligence be an extension of you Ifa, great, wonderful and unfailing oracle, guide, mentor and friend.
May my conduct and behavior honor you and make your heart rejoice and delight in me.
Ela Ela! Praise and reverence to you.
Ela Ela! Imbue me with your light, truth and purity.
Ela Ela! May the sacrifice and offering of my praise, words of acknowledgment and gratitude be accepted.
Ela Ela! May my spirit, heart and mind soar above to Ile Ase (divine house of power, command and authority) to receive comfort, strength, wisdom, sanctity, consolation and godly power.
Ela Ela! Spirit of purity, truthfulness, honesty, courage, godliness, authority and power lead me on your path and grant me access to treasury of the divine gifts and blessings of Olodumare.
Ela Ela! Bless and prosper me so that I may be able to bring something new, original, needful and beneficial to this ailing and hurting world from the limitless treasure store of Olodumare Oba Aiku, that will contribute to the uplift, healing and rectifying of humanity.
Ela mo yin aboru.
Ela mo yin aboye.
Ela mo yin abosise.
The distinction between Irunmole and Orisa. Part I
A Powerful IFA Prayer
Aboru Aboye.
This is a simple, beautiful and powerful Ifa prayer. I will surely memorize this supplication. It is full of deep meaning and esoteric wisdom. This iwure resonates deeply within me. Ifa and my own life experiences has previously made known to me they we can convert poison into medicine. We are able to gain and manifest power of the soul through the ‘poisons’ of adversity, trials, opposition, temptation and challenge. From these poisons we should not run from. We should utilize them to convert them until medicine and longetivity by overcoming, persevering and prevailing against them. Just like the medicine which cures us from the venom of the snake is made from the same poisonous venom in like manner we can gauge virtue, spiritual power and divine radiance by courageously confronting and sublimating these poisons into life giving medicines. There is so much meaning and application that can be unpacked and brought out from this single prayer of Ejiogbe. Whoever fervently recites this prayer will be surrounded by and filled with the light of Ifa. There is deep power, meaning and grace in this prayer. I particularly appreciate the symbolic meaning of the igbi bin laboriously and perseveringly moving through the rough grains of sand and ‘eating, the poison like sand yet gaining strength, resilience and longevity as a product of its effort, exercise and determination to keep moving against the bothersome, cumbersome and irritating resistance. This prayer on the surface looks like a simple poetic analogy but us in fact permeated with many divine lights, powers and truths. Ifa is truly astounding in how it communicates its sacred meaning, power and benefit. The words of this simple but profound prayer was arranged by a masterful and holy seer, sage and priest. Simply beautiful and unassumingly powerful.
The verse under ejiogbe or ogbe meji:
Orunmila koo fi yedenu
Koo fi de kun
Ko fi yede gbogbo ara
Ifa koo seti were
Orunmila koo ro wale aye
Ki o jebo nan I fin
Ko o je ru o da
Ifa jee a saye re
Ki ire yi o dode orun gbure gbure bayi ifa
A difa fun igbin nla ti o jele ti o ni ku
Igbin jele , omo awo
Igbin jele e si ku mo
Igbin jele omo awo
Jee won gbo
Ki won to bayi ifa
Translation under ejiogbe
Orunmila calmly hear our supplications
Merciful accepts our prayers
Compassionayely receive our desire
Give full attention to our request
Orunmila we ask you to descend on Earth
Accept our sacrifice
Grant our desire and needs
Grant us happiness in life
Let our prayer ascend to the highest heaven
Thus declare ifa to the Giant Snail
Anything you eat , even the sand of the Earth
Shall make you live long
Devotees and disciples of ifa are Giant Snail with absolute patient to live long
That eat poison and live long
Bless all good and faithful devotees with long life , sound health and victory
Ase
Aalafia.
Atamu Ifa
Atamu Ifa is the divination or spiritual exercise for the entire group, entire city or entire country. It is provided during the yearly celebration or during the five or sixteen days divination by assembly of babalawo.
During atamu ifa personal consultation are avoided because of the long incantation and the chanting of ifa verses or ese ifa by babalawo. It is a long expression of ifa to induce and invoke the spirit of the land or the divinity of the land to work in favor of the people, dwelling in the land or group of people working toward the same objectives. It entails rethoric and divine pinnacle of Enitolodun to speak through babalawo concernimg the matter relating to the country and the land. Such ese ifa or ifa verses are usually long and extended to captivate the mystical force of the nature in relation to the land.
Not all problems are due to wizards, witches, spirits or divine decrees. Many problems are self created and avoidable.
Author of the text: Mark Casillas, one of our members from North America
Aboru Aboye.
Sometimes it has to be stated that not all problems emanate from wizards, witches, negative spirits etc, or divine decree. Most of the time our problems are caused by our individual and collective bad, unwholesome and selfish actions. For instance, in Odu Ogunda Meji we see the that King Olofin was the architect of his problems through greediness and acts of ungratefulness.
Oju o kan won laaaro
Lale, lale loju n kan won
A difa fun, Orunmila, Ifa n ro omo
Agbonniregun,
Ifa o lowo ti o fi te omo re nifa.
‘They are never in a hurry in the morning. But they are hurrying up in the night. Ifa divination was performed for Orunmila. Ifa complains about Agbonnireguns son. Ifa has no money with which to initiate his own offspring.’
Orunmila at a time helped prince Olofin to become the king of Ootu-Ife. When Olofin became king, Orunmila ran to him for help because he needed to borrow some money to heal his son’s sickness. On the advice of Elegbara, Orunmila went to King Olofin. On getting to him, King Olofin told him to look for a guarantor before he could be lent the said amount. Elegbara brought one of his sons called Alapatase to work as a pawn for the king pending the time Orunmila would pay the borrowed money.
One day, Elegbara visited Atapatase and gave him a hoe which he instructed him to be using hereafter. Immediately Alapatase started making use of the hoe then several catastrophes began to befall the entire household of King Olofin. One such problem was that one of Olofin’s sons called Abolowopowo fell sick. When Olofin sent for a babalawo, the babalawo revealed Ogunda Meji and said that one of the kings servants was responsible for the bad happenings and that there was a need to stop him immediately. When Atapatase was identified as the culprit, he refused to stop working and said:
Oju o kan won laaaro
Lalaale loju n kan won
Hin…n
A difa fun, Orunmila
Ifa n romo Agbonniregun
Hin…n
Ifa o lowo to o fi te omo re nifa
Hin…n
Abolowopowo n lomo Olofin o
Hin…n
Atapatase lomo esu odara o
Hin…n
A ki i ma maa yani lofa ka ma sinni o
A ki i mamii yanii lofa ka ma sinni
E e
A ki i mamaa yani lofa
Ka ma sinni
‘They never hurried in the morning. It was in the night that they were hurrying up. Yes. Ifa Oracle was consulted for Orunmila. Ifa complained about Agbonniregun’s son. Yes. Ifa (Orunmila) has no money to initiate his son. Yes. Abolowopowo is the son of Olofin. Yes. It is not possible for a pawn not to serve his master. Yes.’
And so Atapatase refused to stop working until both Orunmila and Elegbara were invited. It was then that King Olofin realized his mistake and acknowledged that he was an ingrate. He then and there bed for forgiveness, made rectification and reparations. Afterwards Orunmila pardoned King Olofin who has then given him two hundred she-goats, two hundred dried fishes, two hundred bush rats and two thousand cowries.
Moral of the story: Our own ungrateful and thoughtless actions will surely catch up to us, bringing sorrow, shame and affliction to ourselves and to our household. It is better to be grateful and appreciative. It is better to remember the kindness of others and compensate them (help them) when they are in need especially when we are in a position to help and give relief.
Ogbo ato asure Iworiwofun.
IWURE – Prayer For Victory And Safety Using The Vibration Of Ogun
Laziness Is Incompatible With A Spiritual Life Power. Laziness And Isese Cannot Live Together.
Author of the text: Mark Casillas, one of our members from North America
Ela ‘boru.
The Power Of Self Confidence
Author of the text: Mark Casillas, one of our members from North America
Aboru Aboye.