Ifa World Creation Story Part 1
Before the existence of the Universe, there were eight Akamaras, including Olodumare. According to Ifa, the creation of our planet, in the beginning, does not involve Olodumare because it was the fourth stage of construction, not the first. Oludumare or Eledumare is one of the eight Akamara before the Holyverse (Universe) existed. Oludumare is the Supreme God of our solar system. Most Akamaras controlled the Galaxies and Solar Systems. In Ifa, there is no such thing as a universe but Holyverse.
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| The Holyverse or Universe |
The Eight Akamaras
One of the Akamara (A) (the Universal Spirit of the Universe), a powerful being, oversaw the making of the Universe. Akamara (A) is the end of nothingness and the beginning of existence. However, Taoists believe in Tao, the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, giving birth to infinite worlds from emptiness. The first thing Akamara created is a grain of sand. Many Akamaras are neither female nor male. After the grain of sand, he breathes dew (Iri) on it to enable the growth of different gasses.
Akamara (A) created another super deity (Origun), higher than the other 800 Orishas or Irumoles (Yoruba deities). The duty of Origun was to coordinate the expansion of various chapters or houses (galaxies) that kept moving and expanding, becoming very hot.
The temperature of the gasses got extremely hot, and nothing could survive it. So, Akamara created another fantastic being, Babaasemuogunsuwon, to cool the gasses down. After cooling down, solidification of the gasses began, and they became stars. After the formation of the stars, their rotations became chaotic as they collided. Meanwhile, Akamara created another Superb being, Oluiwaye, to control their movements, making it orderly and anticlockwise.
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| Ifa Odus Represented Galaxies, Chapters or Houses |
The sacred verse in Ogbe Ofun (binary 0101.1111) Holy Verses bears testament to the era when the orderly movements of the stars occurred. One of the Holy Verses in Ogbe Oyeku chapter stated stubbornness copulated with doggedness because tenacity wanted to become the god of helter-skelter and misdirection at the crossroad of stars formation, cast divination for the cult of Shasha, the divinator of heaven. According to one of the Holy Verses in the Irosun Owonrin (binary 0011.1100), immortal beings resided inside the moon before the origin of the USA and their Space program.
It is reasonable to suggest that the first things created are different kinds of gasses, followed by galaxies, stars, and planets. Even the Holy Bible stated before creation, our world was void. In addition, the origin of Buddhism is the void. The first thing Akamara created was a grain of sand, which expanded and became very hot due to his breath to become galaxies, then gasses turning to stars, and finally planets, the fourth stage.
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| Our Solar System |
Manifestation of Olodumare and Orunmila
During the fourth stage, Olodumare created our solar system and put Aye (Earth), another divine being, in charge of our world, who is not an Akamara but ranked above the 800 Orishas or Irumoles. And Aye sought a casting of divination before embarking on the responsibility Olodumare mandated.
Aye searched and found an Orisha requesting a divinatory session while the Earth was still in a state of nothingness because there were no objects to cast it.
To solve this problem, the chosen Orisha placed his hand on the ground, and upon lifting his palm, the odu magically appeared. The Odu that manifested is Oyeku on the left and Ogbe to the right. Orunmila is the mysterious Babalawo that cast divination for Aye.
He challenged Aye and stated that his reason for the divine session was loneliness. Aye confessed and agreed with Orunmila and said the world is devoid of human beings. Orunmila also told Aye that another deity was coming mightier than everybody in the solar system. He replied Okay, asking what to do. Orunmila told him to gather objects to perform a sacrifice. A bowl made on another planet was the chosen container for the collected sacrificial items.
After sacrificing, the rainbow (Oshumare) started oozing out of the bowl and continued for 333 days, according to Ifa. As soon as the rainbow expired, a supreme deity manifested, and both Orunmila and Aye prostrated to him. The name of this entity is Oloduikoko. He owned the mysterious bowl from another planet, ejecting rainbow.
The full name of this being is Oloduikoko Oshumare, changed to Oloduikokooshumare, the origin of the name Olodumare. And that is the story of Olodumare (the Supreme God), his first manifestation in our solar system. After materialisation, he summoned all the 801 Orishas from everywhere and divided them into three. Furthermore, Olodumare placed 200 Orishas on his left-hand side and another 200 on his left hand permanently, with the remaining 401 interchanging between heaven and Earth.
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| Orunmila |
Ogun arrived on Earth with several other Orishas. And he brought wood from other planets with him. As soon as Ogun arrived, all the other Orishas, including him, got on with their designated work. The job was hard, relentless and tiresome.
All the Orishas started losing their energy due to a lack of food (no plant or marine life, just a void). They do not need food to survive on their planets.
However, the Orishas must obey the natural laws on Earth. They all have to eat to live on our planet. Eventually, the mission failed, and the Orishas left and reported back to Olodumare. Olodumare summoned Obatala out of 801 Orishas, asking him to finish the uncompleted task.
Obatala utilised the astronomical path previously charted by Ogun to travel to our world. He arrived on Earth accompanied by eight other Orishas. The names of the eight Orisha that came with Obatala are Alanu, Olore, Shugbemi, Fagbemiti, Loshuntoro, Oroko, Lamugbe and Iye. Even though Obatala brought large quantities of water with him, it still needed to be more sustainable for incessant labour for a long duration. After persistent toiling without food, the Orishas gave up and returned to Olodumare to report their failure again.
Olodumare called Orunmila (their second encounter) and told him to go and complete the job. Before embarking on the journey, Orunmila consulted some Babalawos in heaven for a divination session, and the Odu that transpired is Eji Ogbe (1111.1111). The divination forecast advised Orunmila to take plenty of Ase (Spirit of Energy), food and seeds to plant on Earth. And the first seed to germinate is Efo Tete.
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| Symbol of Obatala |
Orunmila also brought 1,4060 herbs with him and gave 60 to another Orisha called Osanyin. Orunmila planted all the herbs he had left. Meanwhile, Osanyin began to manipulate the 60 plants given to him and became disagreeable.
Orunmila returned to heaven to report to Olodumare that the mission was accomplished and received a blessing. Ogun and Obatala also went to Olodumare with Orunmila, who asked Ogun what he ate while residing on Earth and queried the other Orishas, asking the same question.
Ogun replied wood, and Olodumare nicknamed him wood eater (Ajegi). Obatala replied, water, and he nicknamed him a water drinker (Amomi). Orunmila replied, food, and he nicknamed him a food eater (Jeunjeun).
For example, in Yoruba culture, when you wake up, the first action taken is to Runpako (chew chewing stick), representing Ogun. The second step is to use water to gaggle, cleaning the chewing stick residues, signifying Obatala. Finally, with a clean mouth, you are ready to eat your food, symbolising Orunmila. Olodumare summoned two young Orishas and tasked the first Olorududu with supporting the Earth at the North Pole and the second Olobilkin in the South.
The Materialisation of Super Beings
Meanwhile, Orisha Olokun Ijinji (the primordial one), a male, was already residing on Earth. There are four different kinds of Olokun. Strategically placed in the world were six pots given to Olokun Ijinji. After a while, the water in the six pots began to dwindle, inhibiting other entities from their daily cleansing routine. Olokun Ijinji and the other entities consulted Ifa and made many sacrifices as forecasted to alleviate their water problem. During his consultation with Ifa, Olokun Ijinji utilised all 256 odus and made offerings to the rest of the Orishas (about 800).
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| Orisha Olorududu and Olobilikin Supporting Earth |
Olosa, another water deity, had the same problem as Olokun Ijinji but much worse because her volume of water was even less. Olosa also made sacrifices to 128 odus to remedy the situation. However, the Earth was still devoid of oxygen, but the plants previously planted by Orunmila and Osanyin began to flourish in a carbon dioxide-rich environment, producing a small amount of oxygen.
Orunmila created more entities called Eniyan, who are not human. The Eniyans were technologically advanced entities, and their job was to manipulate all the elements and plants in the world. As soon as the Eniyans got to work, oxygen level rose considerably, and everybody benefitted, including the plants and themselves.
Olodumare Decided to answer the prayers of Olokun and Olosa by overwhelming the Earth with water from below. However, the current was too strong, and our planet was covered with water, killing almost everything.
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| Orisha Olokun symbols |
A few Eniyans and many powerful entities survived. After the flood subsided, Olodumare called Obatala again and told him to fix the world.
Obatala failed again because as soon as the plants on Earth recovered from the flood, he made alcohol, got badly intoxicated and returned to Olodumare. However, Olofin Otete volunteered to go and finish the uncompleted task of Obatala.
He is the first manifestation of Oduduwa. Olofin Otete was the primordial Oduduwa. His mode of transport from the city of heaven was a mystical chain, symbolising the umbilical cord. When he arrived on Earth, he met seven extraordinary women who survived the flood.
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| Orisha Ogun Voodoo Symbol |
The names of these seven women are Afoori, Amoori, Okemowo, Ogemese, Ogomagoari and the others (unbeknown) are called Iyamis. They are the initiators and manifestation of the Eniyans. During this time, no human existed on our planet. Finally, Olodumare decided to create a human being because there were none in the world apart from the 801 Orishas and other entities.
The first human being he created is Enibieni (person in person), and she is a female. Enibieni was fourteen when she arrived on Earth with 450,000 herbs. She married Olofin Otete, and they had eight twins. Meanwhile, Olodumare monitored what was unfolding on Earth, including another resident deity (Omolugbo). As the children of Enibieni and Olofin Otete grew up, the temptation of incest increased because they were the only humans in the world.
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| Orisha Eshu |
Once aware of the situation, Omolugbo contacted Olodumare, who decided to create more human beings. Olodumare Immediately created 2,000 more humans. Eshu Odara had to travel the cosmos to retrieve the first grain of sand made by Akamara as a building block for human production. Olodumare put Obatala in charge of the construction of human beings.
At the final stage of creation, Obatala injected fluid into the male and female beings (an Egg and sperm), including Ase (Spirit of Energy), to enable embryo development. Obatala possesses every male before ejaculation, kickstarting embryo development after ejaculating through Ase begotten to men. Olodumare declared that every child coming from heaven would use the same mode of transport as Olofin Otete, the umbilical cord.
When Olodumare materialised for the first time in front of Orunmila and Aye, putting his hand on the ground to cast divination, the Odu that transpired was Odi on the right and Irosun on the left. So, reading from right to left, the binary number for Odi (1100) and Irosun (1001) is 1100.1001.
All of us are the product of Olofin Otete, Obatala, Orunmila, Ogun, Oshoshi and Eshu Odara, overseen by Olodumare. Ogun built the bones in our body, hence the names Ako Irin (male iron) and Obi Irin (female iron). The name later became Okunrin (a boy) and Obinrin (a girl). Babaasemuogunsuwon and Oluiwaye were responsible for the elements that created our world and the anticlockwise rotation.
Ile-Ife has earned many enviable appellations, which are:
Ile-Ife, ile Owuro, the land of the most ancient days
Ile-Ife, Oodaye, where the word of creation took place
Ile-Ife, Ibi ti ojumo ti mowa, where the first day of dawn manifested
Ile-Ife, Ori aye gbogbo, head of the whole world
Ile-Ife, Ooye Lagbo, city of the survivors.
The language spoken was Ife and not Yoruba.
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| Odu (Galaxy) of Eji Ogbe, Ese (Holy Verses) |
The Ifa literary corpus, called odu, consists of 256 parts subdivided into holy verses called ese, whose exact number is unknown because of the constant increment (around 800 ese per odu (chapter) = 240,800). The formula for calculating the 240,800 Holy verses originated from N=8 ternary 2-structures. However, Ifa also has an N=8 ternary 3-structures, and to calculate the sum of the Holy verses, we multiply 6,561 by 800 = 5,248,800 divine messages.
The hierarchy of the sixteen major Odus (Chapters) of Ifa is as follows:
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| Orisha Oshoshi |
- Eji Ogbe is the perfect alignment of destiny (Pure Lights), adapting it to self-destination. Characteristic: good behaviour and deeds
- Oyeku Meji is black holes (Death) signifying the end of a cycle. Characteristic: the end of illness, poverty, loneliness, and so on
- Iwori Meji focuses on the ability to identify real possibilities in life. Characteristic: Commerce and wealth
- Odi Meji is about sealing something in a ceremony to guarantee manifestation. Characteristic: the spirit of the female reproductive organ
- Irosun Meji is the stable and inflexible reality that comes before us. Characteristic: Osun, the spirit that protects the head and past
- Owonri Meji says the solidification of the past lays the foundation for the future. Characteristic: spectrum of human potential manifestations
- Obara Meji is the incarnation of human humility. Characteristic: struggles between arrogance and humility
- Okanran Meji is the first step to accessing your ability to create abundance. Characteristic: change of direction in human life
- Ogunda Meji is about the courage needed to take responsibility for your problems. Characteristic: Ibi (bad) and Ire (Good) and facing your problems head-on
Enibieni Artistic Impression - Osa Meji is the story of interactions between humans and birds after coexistence, which ended in tragedy for the birds. Characteristic: Eshu (Guardian of the crossroad between heaven and Earth) told humans to break the taboo and kill birds for food, subjugating human beings to worshipping Eleye (the Spiritual King of the Birds), asking it for assistance.
- Ika Meji is about Keeping away from evil ideas, actions and vocalisations, stipulating that evil does not pay. Characteristic: Good deeds, words and thoughts that should encourage the blessing of Olodumare
- Oturupon Meji is the image of instability within the forces on Earth. Characteristic: Egungun (Spirit of the Ancestors), conflict resolutions from courage
- Otura Meji is peace, harmony, love and light through a thorough examination of the mind, heart and soul to find infinite wisdom. Characteristic: Growing our spiritual power using peace, harmony, love and light with our mind, heart and soul
- Irete Meji is about Orunmila asserting that initiation to Ifa guarantees long life and good health. Characteristic: Orunmila rituals and sacrifices lead to the fulfilment of life and happiness.
- Ose Meji is the story of a woman desperate to have children but could not until performing a sacrifice to Ifa. Characteristic: human fertility and financial gain
- Ofun Meji is the alignment of a person to their destiny, receiving blessings due to prayers and spiritual discipline. Characteristic: Ogbe Ofun 0101.1111, prayers and spiritual discipline
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| Olofin Otete and the Umbilica Cord Artistic Impression |
