Threat Against Me by Supposed Practitioners of Traditional Yoruba Spirituality

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

                             Threat Against Me by Supposed Practitioners of Traditional Yoruba Spirituality

                                                                                                    

                                            

                                                                       Picture of me at Ouida Books, Lagos

                                                                             Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                                               Compcros

At about 3 pm, on the 16th of January 2025, I was woken from siesta by a phone call from a babalawo-adept in the estoretic knowledge of the Yoruba origin Ifa system of knowledge- Bamigbaye Sunday Onifade, known to me as a friend, and whom I have celebrated in various writings on social media, presenting what he described as a warning from the community of practitioners of traditional Yoruba spirituality, certainly from Nigeria, and most likely from the South-West, since I live in Lagos, that I should desist from my Facebook postings supporting Moyo Okediji's advocacy to stop animal sacrifice in Yoruba traditional religion, and that, if I persisted, they would collectively move against me.

I was first angry and later, sad and amused.

How can a person or group of people, in the 21st century, make such a threat?

Are they so uninformed about the inflammatory force of threats to fuel dissent?

Was the resistance of the Church not strategic to the success of Martin Luther's Protestant rebellion, the foundations of Protestantism?

Were those people threatening me with the much touted spiritual powers of traditional African spiritualities?

Are those powers absolute?

How effective have they been against the marginalization of traditional African spiritualities by Christianity, Islam and Western modernity?

Were they thinking of something physical?

Are they not aware that such threats are likely to escalate the vigour of those criticizing some traditional African spirituality practices, presenting the threat to the world as evidence of inhumanities in the tradition, inhumanities demonstrated by the desperation and short sightedness of some of its practitioners?

Are they not aware that they are putting the messenger in danger of suspicion of colluding with sinister activities they could be seen as planning?

Would they want to further stain the already demonized public image of a spiritual culture which is perhaps the greatest contribution of Yoruba civilization to the world, but is now better imaged in Nigerian public discourse by the most negative depictions?

So, someone or a group of people in their right minds concluded they needed to send a threat to a critic of animal sacrifice in their spirituality.

What could be motivating such immense short sightedness?

Is it ideological, a fear that the integrity of their tradition was in danger?

Is it a fear for the loss of revenue from reduced access to meat from people declining to participate in animal sacrifices mandated by traditional Yoruba spirituality priests as necessary to rites carried out on behalf of their clients?

So, such seismic consequences could be feared from Facebook posts of Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, building on the traction created by Moyo Okediji's advocacy on the subject?

Is Toyin Adepoju so influential?

So, instead of countering Toyin Adepoju and Moyo Okediji through debate, as traditionalists like Ayobami Ogedengbe, Sena Voncujovi , Christopher Voncujovi, Adetokunbo Shittu and others are doing, you resort to threats?

Has our tradition fallen so low?

Are we so hungry?

The messenger also stated that those who sent him had also resolved to deal with Moyo Okediji for his anti-animal sacrifice stance in relation to traditional Yoruba spirituality.

Did these people really understand what they claim to be declaring, I wondered.

Someone has started a fire. You are insisting you want to put out the fire by pouring fuel on it.

I told the messenger that, in response to this threat, I would make sure I compile the Facebook debate on the subject into a book and place it on Amazon.

Also Published On

My Facebook wall 

University of Ifa on Facebook

LinkedIn 

Ifa Student and Teacher blog

IFÁ TUNTUN: Contemporary Voice of Ọrúnmìlà on Facebook

[Toyin Falola]

Nothing unusual in this!

Historically, contestations over interpretations and practices lead to disagreements, violence, and wars. By the time of the fourth Caliph after Prophet Mohammad (May the Peace of Allah be Upon Him), disagreements led to assassination and the birth of the Shiites. Similar conflicts and threats in Christianity. If the Catholics made Peter the pillar of the Church, others disagreed.

So, accept the threat and move on.

Why not pray for spiritual elevation instead?

The ultimate does not lie in Ifa Titun but in the power to “save,” the concept of deliverance and salvation.

TF

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, January 19, 2025 at 8:22 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>, Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>, comp...@googlegroups.com <comp...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Threat Against Me by Supposed Practitioners of Traditional Yoruba Spirituality

                             Threat Against Me by Supposed Practitioners of Traditional Yoruba Spirituality

                                                                                                    

                                            

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

great thanks prof

my response is to compile the debate into a book which shall be recurrently updated, and share freely as well as publish on amazon and in print in nigeria

ive gone a significant distance in the compilation

im currently at  89, 193 words and 441 pages

thanks

toyin

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

Another message derived from the Akedah / the Binding of Isaac  - at the last minute a ram is substituted for Isaac, leading to the conclusion that the Almighty thereby put an end to the idea of human sacrifice. 

But then came Christianity and the idea of Jesus’ atonement on the cross…

There is also Animal Sacrifice in Islam . Hopefully, our Oluwatoyin is not going to incur the wrath of his Muslim neighbours including Boko Haram, by embarking on a campaign against animal slaughter in Islam, and thereby put his own life in danger? 

Over here in civilised Sweden there have been several campaigns against circumcision ( a sign of the covenant) some of the critics describing it as “barbaric”

There have also been campaigns against shechita ( Jewish ritual slaughter of animals for human consumption) and campaigns against halal slaughter on the grounds that such slaughter was “ cruelty to animals” 

The hypocrisy of some of these meat eaters when they have the option, of saying  just like George Bernard Shaw, “I choose not to make a graveyard of my body for the rotting corpses of dead animals.”

( George Bernard Shaw who also said, “ With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his.” (BTW;  We are to assume that no doubt the Owerri motor park artist would have also felt  grossly insulted if Shakespeare  had said that about him )

Re  - the threat, in your own words:  “I should desist from my Facebook postings supporting Moyo Okediji's advocacy to stop animal sacrifice in Yoruba traditional religion, and that, if I persisted, they would collectively move against me.”

So why persist? 

Even if  you have no details of what they mean by  “they would move collectively against you “, you ought not take the seriousness of the threat lightly just because they have not said that specifically or explicitly they would move collectively with their AK47s or machetes - or send a commando unit to take you out if you do not desist. 

To begin with, I think that in all humility you should re-examine your position / attitude towards animal sacrifice

The other day , you  referred to Rudolf Otto and his seminal The Idea of the Holy - in the same spirit 

we have to approach other peoples’ religion /s and notions of the holy with at least some respect. With regard to Yoruba religion, I have only read one / a book about it, namely, Yorùbá Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites by J. Ọmọṣade Awolalu who remains my authority;  and you who have read so much of what Ojogbon has written about these matters ought to know better 

Re - Korbanot ( animal sacrifices

There are still questions about whether or not Korbanot ( animal sacrifices ) will be offered in the Third Temple 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks.

Its my religion too.

Even if it were not, I have a right to respectfully express an opinion about it.

Those people don't know the time of day

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks for your careful analysis, Cornelius

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

From where does the authority for animal sacrifices derive? In the eyes of the priesthood and other adherents of the faith, it would appear that you are challenging that authority - blasphemy  - akin to Paul babbling about " the curse of the law" , causing the faithful to ask who the hell is Paul to  forbid what the Almighty says is legal fare, and to bless pork, because Peter had a dream about Cornelius?

You'd definitely get into troubles with Muslims if you tell them to listen to and implement whatever views you may have about some of the major Muslim festivals, such as the one known as  "Tabaski" in the Gambia...

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir Oluwatoyin,  

As you say, it’s your religion too, and that solves half of the problem since it means you are not a member of another or any other group or religion that could be deemed to be the enemy or the enemy religion.

Over here in Sweden, there’s a law against  olaga hot // unlawful threats 

Maybe you should not have publicized the threat? Or perhaps you feel safer that way?

What does your guardian angel say? 

You say that “Even if it were not (your religion, you) have a right to respectfully express an opinion about it. “  

I have not read your “Facebook postings supporting Moyo Okediji's advocacy to stop animal sacrifice in Yoruba traditional religion“ to be able to assess whether or not they were “respectfully expressed opinions.” Moreover, what may not be offensive to you or  me may well be offensive to members of your religious group. For some people any kind of dissent or opposition to their principles of salvation, according to their own conceptions of the requirements when treading their path ( straight, wide or narrow) - any deviation from that path can be deemed heretical or offensive. 

So you want to forbid animal sacrifices in your religion?

Telling us that "Those people don't know the time of day" doesn't sound respectful 

On the positive side, you are already blessed to be living in a powerful, vibrant, cosmopolitan Yoruba community over there in Lagos and the best thing that could possibly happen is that you should solve this problem that is of your own making, amicably

Surely the community has mechanisms for conflict resolutions?

You could enlist the help of some elders within the community to mediate between you  - arrange a meeting with representatives of your High Priest  to discuss the issue. 

What you don’t want to happen is that you wind up being excommunicated like Baruch Spinoza….

Alpha Blondy : Afriki 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks.

The discourse is about Orisha spirituality, a very different culture from Islam.

On the issue of animal sacrifice in Orisha spirituality, I simply express my views. I can't force them on anyone.

I see with you on some Olorisha seeing my views as blasphemous, particularly since animal sacrifice is built into the religion's scriptures.

But what do I do?

Its also my spirituality and am committed to advancing what I understand will promote it while respecting the boundaries of others.

Thanks

Toyin

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Great thanks Cornelius.

Talking of people not knowing the time of day I was referring to the claimed threat makers.

I can't be excommunicated bcs I work on my own and belong to no group of believers.

I'm not forbidding animal sacrifices.

Im questioning it's indispensability and suggesting options to it.

I suggested to my supposed friend who brought the message that I should meet with those who sent him and he declared it was not possible but might be later.

Anyway, im completely unimpressed by the whole thing.

But, happily, it has spurred me to compile the debate in a book to be freely shared, regularly updated and later sold on Amazon.

If not for the anger inspired by the incident I would not have dropped everything to attend to that task in the last four days though I had been intending to do it but the urgency of other commitments would have meant the time I would get to the task would be uncertain

The casualty of the episode is my relationship with my friend the messenger whom I can no longer visit as I used to, even taking him two of my friends for divination and getting to know his family - his children and his wife and celebrating him in Facebook posts.

I had planned to do a video or documentary of his superb Ifa ritual chanting but all that will have to be put aside.

Thanks

Toyin

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Oluwatoyin,

We will keep you in our prayers.

I’ve amended ( rehashed) and am posting this after reading the shocking headline which you posted, and which on the spur of the moment I thought was about you and that  - too late “they” had already moved against you : ‘I can’t believe I have survived’ - but it was all about Gaza.

In your case, let it be “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

Fear not. 

So far, the best advice has come from Ojogbon 👍

“ So, accept the threat and move on.

Why not pray for spiritual elevation instead?”

Re - “I suggested to my supposed friend who brought the message that I should meet with those who sent him and he declared it was not possible but might be later.” So there's hope yet. 

Be patient, and in being patient you don’t have to go ahead right now with your publication. 

Take note  : In this our very extraordinary world,  Orisha Spirituality must be privy to many secrets of which you may not be aware. One of the unforgivable crimes that has its own inevitable consequences is to divulge any secrets ... .and , some simple secrets can be way beyond our understanding. 

 Remember Rumi’s first meeting with Shams Tabrizi 

In some circles, it is a common understanding that Obedience is the first law of heaven

I don’t know how democratic the Orisha Organisation is today, or if such organisations are supposed to be “democratic” in the sense that every member or private practitioner has a voice and  in the name of freedom of speech, every voice has an equal right to be heard, but I’m almost sure that if you had been a member of that spiritual brotherhood  or community a few thousand years ago, you would not have had the cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity, and the gumption to be suggesting to the Babalawo or the Ifa High Priest  or Ezra or the Prophet Jeremiah, ”I can't be excommunicated bcs I work on my own and belong to no group of believers. I'm not forbidding animal sacrifices. I'm questioning its indispensability and suggesting options to it.”

But times have changed and in this incarnation you're a brilliant,  curious, cosmopolitan, twenty-first century dude and with Kant as background, the founder and director of Compcros Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge

Once you make it clear to your friend / former friend that you are not forbidding animal sacrifices, you are only questioning its indispensability and suggesting options to it” - which sounds reasonable enough to the likes of Cornelius Ignoramus, if he ( friend / former friend) understands this, he and they should no longer want to move collectively against you.

The only reason why they may think that you pose a threat is because they are sure that you are not crazy. 

We tend to simply ignore crazy people.

( That was the main difference between Abu Yazid al-Bastami and Mansur Al-Hallaj

 Bear in mind that David escaped from Saul by pretending to be crazy 

Albert Einstein  : 

“A question that sometimes drives me hazy:

 Am I or are the others crazy?”

It’s always the crazy guy who desperately wants to prove that he’s not crazy, and the idiot who thinks that he’s a Genius or “enlightened” maybe, post-Enlightenment, because he saw a little light last night…as in “ and the light shineth in the darkness but the darkness comprehendeth it not “

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

This was my reply, but I can't remember if I posted it or not

Sir Oluwatoyin,

You could start casting a wider net by preaching AHIMSA 

Whilst you’re at it, you could also start preaching Ahimsa to the war criminals in the Gaza Genocide that have been indicted by the ICC, so that perchance they might at least repent. 

I  understand your dilemma and sympathise with your terming “Orisha spirituality, a very different culture from Islam”, by which I suppose you mean that whereas what’s regarded as  heresy and blasphemy in Islam is liable to merit the death penalty , you don’t run the risk of being slaughtered for being at loggerheads with the idea of animal sacrifice according to the practices of Orisha Spirituality 

Or is there such a risk - as in “If shit happens, take a hostage” and if he does not desist, the unfortunate hostage this time could be Sir Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, and they could be promising that if he recants his former advocacy they will be requesting a mere $1 million in cash, for his release. 

$1 million shouldn't be too high a price for the purchase of your freedom, should it  ?

What you can do : If it’s a matter of personal choice, then of course, I don’t suppose anyone is forcing you to  do something that your conscience does not permit, such as sacrificing animals. What you can do is to stop advocating that others should stop sacrificing animals.

I’m sure that some former Hindus who embrace Islam must have the same kind of inner  conflict , and the fact is that no one is forcing any Hindu convert to violate the universal Hindu principle of “No beef”

In his Hindu Views and Ways and the Hindu-Muslim Interface: An Anthropological Assessment

the author Agehananda Bharati tells us how those who were anxious to partition India before their Independence Day, embarked on a cycle of provocations : someone dressed as a Muslim would drag a holy cow and slaughter it right outside a Hindu Temple, while the faithful were doing their  Puja,the worshippers would rush out only to see a turbaned head disappearing around the corner, and the ensuing anti-Muslimn rampage that would ensue that evening would leave several hundred corpses on the streets the following morning. The cycles of violence would continue with some people dressed as Hindus chanting Hare Krishna and dancing outside a mosque with effigies ( “idols” ) of Rama and Krishna. More communal riots that evening 

Muslims are also free to be vegetarians …

So are those who espouse the doctrine of transubstantiation

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Great thanks.

Ironically a no of the more articulate of the pro animal sacrifice group have permitted me to include their essays and the discussions those essays provoked in the book compilation.

A big book, above 100,000 words.

Leaders of the Ifa community are having a zoom discussion with Moyo Okediji on that and other critiques of his on Feb 1.

Most promising.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/a8bc7e1e-93b5-46a2-b8c3-c3db1726abc3n%40googlegroups.com.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is chasing ringworm while leaving leprosy. To begin with, most animals used in sacrifice always end up being eating by someone or some people. If Mr. Adepoju is a vegetarian he should not limit his objection to the killing of animals to the traditional Yoruba spiritualists. Killing of human beings for money ritual is more common in Nigeria than killing of animals for sacrifice. This is because the few educated elites on attaining government power always become overnight millionaires along with their cronies. Majority illiterates and semi-literates Nigerians use to attribute sudden wealth of leaders of governments at states and federal levels to money rituals since they cannot see correlation between their sudden wealth and industrial work or production. I think Mr. Adepoju will help a lot to educate Nigerians that there is nothing like money ritual. Moreover, he should start campaigns, whereby the EFCC should take every Nigerian millionaire to court to explain the source of their monies and failure to account for the legal accumulation of such huge wealth should result in forfeiture to the government.

Mr. Adepoju claims that he is a member of traditional religion too. The question then is, was he not aware of their animal sacrifice before he joined them? If his knowledge of their offering of animals became known to him after joining the cult, what effort did he make to change the tradition of his own cult? It smacks populism to open a Facebook just to attack his cult member, who certainly will regard him as a traitor. In that case, he needs to be afraid of the consequence of his betrayal. He has perhaps heard the history of Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara who was a member of Orò cult before he converted to a Muslim and became an Islamic Preacher in Nigeria. As a preacher, he ridiculed and exposed Orò practice. Then, in December 1952, he notified the people at Oko Baba area of Ebute Meta, in Lagos mainland that he was coming to preach on January 3, 1953.  As this area was infested with Orò cult adherents they warned him not to come but he defied their warning. He showed up in the evening of that fateful night and he disappeared never to be found till date. 11 adherents to Orò cult at Oko Baba were later arrested tried and sentenced to death even though the corpse of Bisiriyu Apalara was never found. Traditionally, it is said that one can never find the left-over of the meal of Orò. Mr. Adepoju can withdraw his membership from the traditional religion sacrificing animals but he has no moral right to attack them. As I said earlier, it will be more meaningful if he can start campaigns against killing human beings for money rituals as practised in Nigeria than against animal's sacrifice in traditional religions.

S. Kadiri  

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: 21 January 2025 14:07
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Threat Against Me by Supposed Practitioners of Traditional Yoruba Spirituality

 

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

I have long ago written about the logic of human sacrifice, why it's wrong and what substitutes should be used.

"Human Sacrifice: Incidence, Logic and Alternatives".

https://ifastudent-cognitivediary.blogspot.com/2015/05/human-sacrifice-incidence-logic-effects.html?m=1

I treated it as both a moral and a technical issue.

In addressing its technical implications,  as a spiritual strategy, I examined why it may be believed to work.

In addressing its moral dimension, I examined why it's dangerous to individual and social well being and so should not be engaged in.

I then discussed wholesome alternatives to it.

Why did I not simply dismiss it as something barbaric rather than taking time to examine its logic and its moral implications and suggesting substitutes?

Because I am an occultist in the Western and African traditions, an explorer of various dimensions in which unusual forms of sentience are believed to thrive, an investigator of spiritual universes, where one may encounter various opportunities for good or bad, leading to the need to make choices, as described by my teacher, English occultist Dion Fortune, reading her warnings along those lines making me prepared for such encounters.

Hence, as I advocate spirituality of trees, one of my major spiritualities, I also warn that one may encounter certain trees, in the course of developing a relationship with  whom could offer one a choice along the lines described, and one must be prepared to respond decisively.

These issues are not related to money rituals in my own experience but are part of the general interactions enabling knowledge and power as a person explores various spiritual universes.

I have not investigated the factuality or otherwise of money rituals and the belief does not currently interest me except to wonder about its rationale and the incidents of people being caught with body parts in Nigeria.

I have not joined any cult or religious group beyond my early Christian and Rosicrucian (AMORC) affiliations and am now a solitary practitioner who shares his views without infringing on the rights of others.

That being so, I have a right to state why I think African spiritualities are better without animal sacrifice as long as I don't try to disrupt the activities of those engaging in the practice, a legally recognized activity in some parts of the world.

I can develop and share my own approach to Ifa initiation as long as I don't disturb the traditional initiators.

I can develop my own school of Ogboni as long as I don't disturb traditional Ogboni members from doing their thing.

I can develop my own methods of Orisha invocation and new ese ifa, Ifa literature, as long as I don't interfere with the activities of the traditional Ifa oral artists 

I can develop my approach to the interpretive range of Ifa hermeneutics, Ifa interpretation theory and practice, without interfering with the traditional practitioners of Ifa.

All those activities of mine described above involve my practicing Orisha spirituality in my own way, in my own space, and have no connection with the example you have of someone tangling with Oro practitioners in their own physical space.

Moyo Okediji not only composes new literature in the form of ese ifa, Ifa literature, using it in addressing topical issues, and is working at expanding the odu ifa, the mathematical organizational structures of Ifa, as well as engaging Ifa iconography in his art, but is also addressing what he describes as negativities in Orisha spirituality in general, issues complaints about which have been gathering momentum for  years, using his Facebook wall for that purpose, something fully within his rights, initiatives to which I and some others are giving full support while some others vilify him as a traitor to Yoruba and Orisha spirituality.

Its is therefore ridiculous and legally actionable for anyone to threaten me for supporting an initiative which I am carrying out without interfering with other's own lives nor slandering any one.

My response to the ridiculous threat has been, not only to continue my advocacy for practicing Orisha and other African spiritualities without animal sacrifice, but to compile the arguments for various sides of the debate into a book and share it freely in digital form as well as publish it on Amazon for greater global visibility as a print on demand text as well as distribute the print text freely worldwide from Nigeria, with receivers paying only for cost of printing, shipping and my movement between my location. the printer and the courier company.

I intend to update the book digitally every month, accessible through its online portal on academia.edu and bring out an updated edition every year as necessary.

The plan is to develop a comprehensive overview of what Okediji has fittingly named Ifa Tuntun, New Ifa, presenting various approaches to it, not all of which are necessarily in agreement but all representing fundamentally new approaches to the Orisha tradition while also presenting challenges to this new orientation.

This book textualisation  is a means of adequately mapping this moment in history as what might become a critical mass gathers in presenting widely sensitized options in the practice of an ancient tradition.

Thanks 

Toyin

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[Noel Amherd]

Dear Colleagues,

I am humbly submitting some thoughts as I feel moved by this conversation linking sacrifice, threats, religion and the bio-political.

It feels to me that we are neglecting indigenous Yoruba language and epistemology while using concepts and words foreign to those heritages. To speak of "sacrifice," "belief," and evoked comparisons to Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc. inevitably invokes the history of both the "invention of religion as an anthropological cateogory" as Talal Asad laid out, thereby universalizing what could be local and contingent while also dredging up associated accoutrement such as "belief" as another expected universal (see Needham, or Hallen and Sodipo).  Just to be clear, orisa and Ifa never ask for 'belief.'

Additionally, to speak of "sacrifice" so confidently in an Isese context is to ignore the bio-political-juridical history provided by Agamben. If the 'sacred' delineates that which is doubly banned both from the divine (as unsacrificable) as well as banned from the human (killable by anyone without committing homicide) thereby delineating the space of the sovereign, then why are we utilizing this term so uncritically in an indigenous context that fundamentally differs?

It feels risky to me also to make implicitly moral/ethical distinctions between lifeforms as though some are killable (vegetation) and the vegetarian is somehow virtuous for doing so but some are not killable because deemed qualified and the human doing so is now amoral and guilty. This dichotomy appears to succumb to Agamben's caution between the Greek zoē and bios, bare life vs. qualified life, that has given rise to the greatest atrocities across centuries.

The multi-crises of our times are outcomes of a modernity that refuses to acknowledge the connectivity of all as relations - humans, other-than-humans, the Earth itself. Both the Alasuwada and likely the arguable resurgence of Soponna as global pandemic demonstrate the necessity of making ourselves good relatives because everything is connected. Ebo, in my experience, is an affirmation of connection and relationship. The taking of life can be an act of "sacred" consumerism-modernity-domination that denies connection and accountability. Alternatively, ebo may participate (stumblingly and not without complexity) in an enmeshment of relationships that include life and death as thresholds of being in Life itself.

As all the esteemed minds on this listserve already know, the atrocities of genocide, enslavement, incarceration and camps create zones of non-life in life, justifying the "industrial production of corpses" where death loses meaning. Looking at our natural world, we see that life feeds on death and so all dying, including mine and yours, serves as nourishment for what lives on after us that might otherwise starve. Death is not the opposite of life but is life's continuity as much as any birth. Ebo might arguably be an effort toward life's continuity amidst the ecology of relationships - human, other-than-human, ancestors, orisa, and on and on.

As for threats, I hold that orality and heterogeneity of local praxis resist dogma, orthodoxy, and homogeneity. It appears that Isese heritages in fact privileged "difference and departure" as our beloved Ojogbon Yai asserted. How much have modernity and systems of dogmatic hierarchy leeched into indigenous praxes provoking responses of violence and domination adopted from elsewhere? 

With respect,

K. Noël Amherd

Aláwo Orísàn

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[Toyin Falola]

I must confess that this is the best piece I have read thus far on this thread. Every sentence is loaded. Watch out for my forthcoming book:

Yoruba Metaphysics.

I wish I had read something as brilliant as this while writing the book.

TF

 

                                           

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Noel Armherd is a powerful warrior on Yoruba and related discourses

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

“Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once”said  Shakespeare’s Mighty Caesar on the way to his death at the Capitol where he was stabbed 23 times by his Roman Senators. 

It’s difficult to imagine something like that, ghastly beyond imagination, occurring in Washington DC this century. Should such a conspiracy - God forbid - see fruition, then the events of 6th January would pale into insignificance, not to mention that at no future date would there be an executive order, signed with a flourish, granting a Presidential pardon and forgiveness of sins to the miscreants. 

K Noel Amherd “ is a powerful warrior on Yoruba and related discourses” saith Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju in awesome acknowledgment, perhaps feeling hopeful of tolerance and reassured that the heat could be off , because  ”It appears that Isese heritages in fact privileged "difference and departure" as our beloved Ojogbon Yai asserted”, although Brer Adepoju is nevertheless still standing on the brink of the everlasting abyss with the possibility of arriving either down there or up there, (missionary mindset) like Thomas Becket, through martyrdom - another  convenient, nice, Islamic, foreign, Judeo-Christian, nomenclature for the transition event, like what happened en masse at Masada 

If only Ahimsa an ideal of Jainism could apply universally, and for all time! 

Last night I listened to Ramesh Balsekar on Death & Reincarnation

[Michael Afolayan]

I also agree that K. Noël Amherd's submission here is so apt and instructive. One thing I must add, though, is that we cannot treat the spirituality (even the religiosity) of ẹbọ (poorly translated as sacrifice) without looking at the sociology (ipso facto secularity) of it. Even Ifa literary corpus  is quite laconic about it, when in Odu Ọ̀wọ́nrín Meji (one of the major 16 Ifa verses) declares that mutual celebration and mutual sharing are the whole essences of sacrifice because the mouth is the father (ultimate) recipient of the sacrifice:

Ǹjẹ́ kín l'à ń bọ nÍfẹ̀?

Ẹnuu wọn,

Ẹnuu wọn l'à ń bọ nÍfẹ̀

Ẹnuu wọn . . .

(I ask, what do we venerate (offer sacrifice to) in Ife?

Their mouth,

Their mouth is what we sacrifice to in Ife

Their mouth . . .).

In essence, spirituality is just a means to an end in sacrifice, the actual end is in itself the feeding of the human stomach. The mouth is the euphemism for the feeding of the whole body.

Just thinking loud!

MOA

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