Commentary:
There are different variations on this verse and there is widespread debate on the nature and meaning of this taboo. Here we see the taboo against letting women see Odu is not directed against all women, it is directed against women other than Odu.
Some of the debate on this topic advocates the notion that only men can look inside the Odu pot and because only men can look the pot this taboo somehow makes men more powerful than women, or more spiritually developed; any number of similar variations.
The purpose of looking into a pot is to receive the ase or spiritual power of that pot and to allow the ase of the pot to transform the ori or consciousness of the person who is blessed to view the ase. If Odu represents primal feminine spiritual power than men who look into the pot during initiation do so as a way of expanding their own consciousness to include an experience of the feminine perspective. If a woman looked into the pot it would only serve to show her something that she already has, there would be no transformation. Nothing suggests, implies or infers anything at all about the relative worth of men or women. It is simply a reaffirmation of the message implied by the name of the diviner’s suggestion a model for cooperative effort.
This section of the Odu is also an implied reference to a rule of order in Ogboni. It is one of the functions of Ogboni to assign an elder mother from Iyaami to protect the awo of a particular community. The elder mother is usually the first wife of the awo. However there can be exceptions, in particular when an awo is married to a non-traditional woman who does not participate in Iyaami ritual.
"Odu told Orunmila she would transform his burdens into good fortune. Odu said she would heal all things. Odu said she would change anything that went wrong and make it right."
Commentary:
This verse is simply saying Orunmila who has access to the tools for divination and therefore the knowledge of how to fix a problem must still rely on Odu for the spiritual power to implement that knowledge.
I would argue that those awo who claim Ifa is only for men have not made a close reading of Odu Ifa. In my opinion Irete Ogbe is just one of many Odu that stress the value of men and women working together.
Commentary:
"Odu told Orunmila if he honored her taboo she would makes things good in the world."
Honoring the taboo means both not letting the uninitiated look into the Odu pot and insuring that men integrate the feminine perspective into their own ori. The feminine perspective is not so much a gender issue as it is a symbolic reference to the need for Ifa priests to embrace the qualities of empathy, compassion and the unconditional love of a mother to a child. These qualities are needed to insure that the power of Odu, the power of the primal female ase, is used in a positive way that elevates the entire community and not just the needs of a single person.
On the level of topographical metaphor some scientists have recently suggested that the structure of DNA is coded into gravity. That means whenever evolution creates a planet with water the fundamental forces of nature conspire to produce life. The scientist who advocate the idea that DNA is coded into gravity say that this structure is transformed into physical reality when the form of DNA comes in contact with water and light. We have the Forces of Nature of feminine water meeting masculine light.
The verse is clearly making a reference to the fundamental nature of pro-creation and making the point that this interaction is coded into Ifa ritual.
Ire,
Awo Falokun
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