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Date: 20 Aug 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: Re: What Ifa says
Message-ID: <20000820134724.11211.00000470@ng-fh1.aol.com>
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Subject: What Ifa says
>From: eballard@sas.upenn.edu (E. C. Ballard)
>Date: 8/20/00 1:18 PM EST
>Message-id:
>
>In article <20000820101117.15931.00000527@ng-ca1.aol.com>,
>
>
>> >act...If you know anything about IFA and the 256 different odus, you would
>> >know this...The word of IFA is truth...nothing more, nothing less..
>
>
>Well, without attacking the belief system of Ifa, I hasten to burst one
>bubble.
While you so hasten, please be aware that I did not make the statement you here
mistakenly attribute to me.
>Ifa has changed remarkably in the last century in particular.
>Those who go to Nigeria in search of the true, pure, and original Ifa
>system will find one that is profoundly different from what it was prior
>to the 1850s.
>
>The history is there. I can be read by those wise enough to read between
>the lines and to understand that books and documents tell stories beyond
>merely the words printed on their pages.
>
>Apart from this historical fact, which I am surprised those who follow or
>practice the religion are not more interested in, there is a fundamentally
>different manner used in Ifa consultations in traditional Ifa readings
>than that currently used by diasporic traditions or significantly, by the
>"reAfricanized" Yoruban followers in the US and Brazil, who while going to
>Africa for their pedrigree, largely seem to maintain diasporic
>proceedures, although they choose to dress differently (literally and
>metaphorically).
>
>None of this is meant as any kind of attack. My point is not that any of
>this is wrong. It is far from it. Just that it is important to recognize
>the process one is involved with and to view it with open eyes. To do so
>enhances one's own wisdom and deepens the spiritual experiences one has.
>If one refuses to recognize the changes and developments that have brought
>you to the place you are, the rock beneath your feet becomes quicksand. It
>feels great to say my traditions are unchanged for thousands of years. On
>some level you won't really believe that anymore than those you tell it to
>do. I believe there has to be an odu to the effect that when a thing stops
>changing, it is dead.
The target at which you take aim has about it the feel of straw.
One question, though: Do you know of any ese, to any odu, that has been
introduced since 1850?
>Salamaleko,
>
>Eoghan
>
>Tata Nganga Nsasi Endoqui Malongo Quimbisa
>
Peace,
Grisso
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