Metaphors When Interpreting Odu Ifa

Agbo ato,

Based on the reaction to my post about the meaning of the word Odu (on Facebook) it is clear that some of the folks who read it do not understand the idea of metaphor. Every word in every language has both an objective meaning or function and a subjective meaning or function. Objective language refers to the original usage of a word. The usage of a word may change through its use in poetry, music, religious literature or as slang. Most dictionaries do not deal with the subjective interpretation of words. This is especially true when it comes to religious metaphor. The use of language as a religious metaphor shifts with a person’s religious orientation. The job of explaining religious metaphor is not the function of a person who prepares a dictionary that is the job of a theologian. When someone says a liturgical definition does not match the dictionary definition that does not make the liturgical definition wrong. It merely re affirms the idea that subjective definitions are not the function of dictionaries.

I can’t believe I am having this conversation.

Let’s move forward:
When the Christians say Jesus was a fisherman or fisher of men it does not mean he gathered folks up in a fishing net. The expression is a metaphor, meaning it gives the word fishing a double meaning. When the Old Testament says Moses saw God in a burning bush it does not mean God is a burning bush. The words burning bush is a metaphor for mystic vision. When Martin Luther King said he had been to the mountain and saw a world with no racism, he did not literally climb a mountain, go to the mountain is a metaphor for the elevation of consciousness that occurs when you have vision.

Metaphor(s) When Interpreting Odu Ifa 

In Yoruba language the word oko means husband, farm and male reproductive organ. To speak of Orisa Oko is a metaphor for the principle of virility and fertility. No one in traditional Yoruba culture thinks Orisa Oko is a male reproductive organ because they understand language as metaphor.
The same thing is true when we use the word Odu. The objective meaning of Odu is calabash, and the metaphor of calabash is womb. Further the metaphor of womb is used to refer to any interdimensional portal. For example the word igbodu can be translated as calabash of the forest but that does not convey the metaphorical religions meaning of womb of the forest which points to the idea that igbodu is used for initiation and initiation is a form of rebirth and all rebirth involves some manifestation of a birthplace or womb.

It is kind of like when a woman says I have a bun in the oven. This is a metaphor for being pregnant.
Now it is a true that woman can place buns in a real oven in the kitchen but the interpretation of the phrase is dependent on context.

I know some people have an obsessive need to challenge what I say and that is part of dialogue. But to challenge my interpretation of the word Odu based on the inability to understand the idea of metaphor is silly and a waste of time.

Ire,
Awo Falokun