In order for the body of wisdom we call Ifa to be used as a vehicle for illumination, elevation, healing and social transformation the issues of the day need to be directly engaged and passed through the lens of the Ifa transcendent perspective.
Not an easy process.
For me personally the rubber hit’s the road when we examine the dynamics of racism, sexism and homophobia. These are all incredibly complex topics and nothing I can say is going to heal the collective impact of generational denigration. I get it. However, as a community we have a social, spiritual and I believe ethical obligation to initiate the dialogue and to aggressively push these issues towards resolution and healing.
That is an extreme challenge.
The process of dialogue begins by sharing our personal journey into engaging the problem of social denigration.
I want to examine the issue of sexism first.
My relationship with my mother is deeply wounded. Sexism is important to me because I want to first and foremost find a way to heal that relationship. Her method of dealing with sexism is to embrace a conservative Christian World View. I believe the conservative Christian World View defines and shapes global sexism in its current historical form. For me her approach does not work.
This observation is the starting point of my journey towards healing the effects of the sins of sexism because I believe the gender beliefs of conservative Christianity has influenced the theology of Ifa in both Africa and the Diaspora and has served to confuse the original message.
In simple terms the conservative Christian theological view on gender roles is that women are responsible for evil in the world and consequently should be given no responsibility and no authority in matters of spiritual growth.
That may or may not be true, only God knows for sure.
What I know is this; my understanding of the message of Odu Ifa does not demonize women and clearly articulates their place of leadership and responsibility in matters of spiritual growth. That message resonates with me. I also know this; many of my elders, brothers, and sons who share my involvement in Ifa do not share my perspective on this matter. In other words the conservative Christian view of women has I believe infected our faith.
That is hard to prove, hard to reconcile and nearly impossible to transform through words alone.
Lets address these fundamental difficulties.
I am a student of world religion. Every major institutionalized religion I know of has advocates for the idea that women are inferior to men. The reasons vary the affect is the same. In my study of world religion those who advocate the idea that women are evil consistently ignore the scripture of their own faith and claim to have “special” knowledge of God’s Will.
How convenient.
In other words I notice those who advocate what I describe as a sexist point of view always do so with no reference to scripture, spiritual principles, psychology, sociology or metaphysics it is simply based on their belief that sexism is a reflection of God’s Will.
Nice try, but no sale.
The word for God in Yoruba is Olorun and it is taboo to claim to understand Olorun. Nothing in traditional Ifa scripture reflects the idea that Olorun made women evil, inferior, malicious, deceitful or worthy of denigration. There are no references in Odu Ifa to the content of Gods Will.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
I cannot say God is not sexist, I do not know one way or the other, that is the point of saying we do not know God’s Will. What I can say is that claiming sexism is God’s Will as a justification for the denigration of women is not consistent with the ideas expressed in Ifa scripture, protocol, liturgical language, ritual or metaphysical beliefs. It is an idea clearly made up by men to justify their inability to deal with women as equals.
What to do, what to do?
I believe as a student of theological that every question has an answer and that we find the answer by asking the right question.
So, in my humble opinion the first question is this; why in the spiritual discipline we call Ifa, is there so much confusion over the question of gender roles in our faith?
Roles are best examined from a historical perspective. There is no doubt in my mind that traditional Yoruba Ifa originated in the conception of gender balance, gender equity and shared political power. The history is most clear in the rules of traditional Yoruba social interaction.
The Oba or king appears to be a patriarchal center of political power. The Oba cannot serve as king unless he is wearing his crown and the women of Iyaami are keepers of the Crown. If the women believe the Oba is abusing his power they refuse to allow him to wear his crown and at least temporarily he is no longer the Oba.
In Ifa the system of checks and balances is intricate and multi layered. Women have approval of which men enter igbodu for Tefa. Women feed the trays of the awo once a year to publicly endorse their work. Without this endorsement they have no patronage.
Men tend to be mediums for the Egun or the collective spirit of a family. But women have the responsibility of placing them in altered states of consciousness. It is a mutually dependant relationship.
Men tend to be farmers and produce products that are sold at the market. Women run the market. It is a mutually dependant relationship.
In polygamous relationships the first wife determines who the husband can and cannot marry. It is a matriarchal system, meaning women are in charge.
If a women is threatened or abused by a man the elder mothers can insist that the elder men in the community fix the problem. If the men refuse the women take the matter into their own hands. If you are a man committing violence against women you do not want this to happen. It is not good for your health.
Nothing about any of these arrangements feels patriarchal to me.
Nothing at all.
Historically the British officially Colonized Nigeria after the meeting of the Berlin Council of International affairs in 1912. The Colonized Nigeria for the purpose of economically exploiting the oil reserves in West Africa. In order to maximize the economic exploitation of national resources England needs rulers in Nigeria who had no interest in sharing the prophets from the oil resources with the good people of Nigeria. As an oil company you cannot maximize your profits when the local government insists you share some of your profits with the people who own the land and live on the land where you are drilling your wells. In order to make this does not happen you need corrupt rulers who are easily bribed. Several hundred years earlier the Jesuits who settled in Nigeria to lie the foundation for the slave trade figured out how to corrupt the moral fabric of the culture. They simply demonized women and removed them from the dialogue related to ethics and commerce.
When you set up an economy based on stealing children eventually the mothers get pissed. The Jesuits saw that one coming and marginalized women by denigrating them spiritual, meaning anyone who opposes slavery is inherently evil.
Really that is what they said?
Really that is what they said.
Eventually the women organized Gelede and put a stop to the slave trade from Nigeria. Historically we need to be clear that Nigerian women appeared to have initiated the African abolition movement.
The British say it was Stanley Livingston, I say it was African women.
The emergence of Gelede gave the British a heads up that the problem of female moral outrage was a potential problem for the exploitation of oil. The British dealt with this by making involvement in Ifa female mysteries a crime. From the British point of view anyone who supported the idea that Brits should share the profits from the resources of a British colony with the people who lived in the colony was obviously a scum sucking devil worshipper. This was the basis for the profound British notion that African spirituality is mumbo jumbo.
That was the best British theological minds could come up with mumbo jumbo.
Be clear the idea that Iyaami are evil witches comes from the British. The symbol of Iyaami is found on the crowns of Yoruba Kings no where on earth do kings put evil symbols on their crowns. It is the British imposition of a Christian idea related to the belief that women are the source of evil in the world that is the basis for the idea Iyaami are evil.
There was a brilliant African Psychiatrist named Franz Fanon. He wrote a book called the Wretched of the Earth. In the book he does a psychological analysis of what happens when a conquered culture is exposed to destructive non traditional ideas from the colonalizing power structure. He said some people will rebel and suffer retaliation from the colonalizing power and others will internalize the oppression and be rewarded. In Nigeria you cannot work in a bank, a school, in government or in a hospital unless you convert to Christianity or Islam. Belief in Ifa is used as the basis for job discrimination.
In British controlled Nigeria believing Iyaami are witches is necessary for economic survival. It is not a theologically based idea.
Confusion about gender equity was imposed on the culture then associated with issues of survival. That is called mind control.
We continue to see the affect of this manipulation even after colonalization is rumored to have ended.
So here is my point; it is no surprise that we do not find agreement on this issue among the good men and women who practice Ifa in Nigeria.
Outside forces have influenced our faith.
I cannot say if ultimately that is good or bad I can say it is a source of confusion.
Because there is confusion on this matter it forces those of us who deal with this issue on a daily basis to make a decision. It begs the question: who do you believe?
I don’t believe anyone. I tend to trust my lying eyes.
Women in the Diaspora suffer from the sins and abuse of sexism. The question is how to we heal those wounds.
For me that is the only question, how do we heal the wounds caused by sexism?
Here is a news flash to the dudes, we do not heal the wounds of sexism by telling the women of Ifa they must listen to us because we know best. We do not heal the wounds of sexism by telling women their power to create babies contaminates our rituals. We do not heal the wounds of sexism by telling women they cannot touch the tools used to communicate with the Immortals. We do not heal the wounds of sexism by telling women they have no place at the table of theological dialogue. We do not heal the wounds of sexism by refusing to listen to the moral judgment from women on the state of health of our families. We do not heal the wounds of sexism by ignoring allegations of sexual abuse by men who call themselves awo.
I can say with no hesitation and with no confusion and with no threat of contradiction none of that works.
Never has, never will, end of discussion.
There is an another alternative.
When I visited with the Awoni in 1993 they answered my question about women in Ifa. The Awoni are the diviners for the Oni of Ile Ife. The Oni of Ile Ife is our spiritual chief, he has given the Awoni the authority to define our faith and to set protocol. I asked the Awoni what can a women do in Ifa? They said a woman can do everything a man can do.
That is what they said, no more, no less. Their exact words were and I quote; “A woman can do whatever she knows how to do.”
That means training trumps taboo.
The last hiding place for sexism in Ifa in the Diaspora is to refuse to train women.
Not good.
So we have a choice.
We can follow the guidance of our spiritual elders in Ile Ife or we can follow the guidance of some self-delusional guy who is afraid to deal with women who assures us he does not have to deal with his fear because he knows God wants him to put women in their place. Really that is your best argument, that is all you got.
Hmmmmmmmmm, for me this is not a difficult choice.
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