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kemetic-dreams · 1 year

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THE IFA CONCEPT OF SOCIOLOGY

Yoruba culture has used the Ifa paradigm of the cosmos as the basis for building their major cities. The structure of the Yoruba Nation was a federation of city states. Each city was ruled by an Oba. In ancient times the Oba was never seen by his subjects, so he became the invisible nucleus of the circle that formed the city. He was surrounded by a female council of elders called Odu and a predominantly male council of elders called Ogboni. The city itself was supported by male and female work parties who tended to divide their labor along gender lines. The men were traditionally farmers and the women traditionally controlled the market place. Both men and women participated in craft guilds that preserved the techniques used in the arts. The cities were built in a circular formation with the compound of the Oba at the center. The symbolic image of Yoruba culture appears as follows:

There is some archeological evidence in the Yoruba cities of Ile Ife and Oyo that suggests that this design was used as the basis for the actual layout of those cities. The extent to which this occurred in other cities has not been thoroughly researched. It does appear that this structure was used in pre-colonial times as the basis for establishing political and religious institutions both of which were built upon the cosmological model found in Ifa.

Variations on this structure involved the system of establishing the location for sacred shrines. The system is called Gede which is a very old form of astrology. In Gede the path of solar bodies and planets is marked in relationship to the ways that they transverse the landscape. Celestial bodies are believed to enhance the ase (inherent power) of natural forces that arise from the Earth. By correlating the influences of Olorun and Ile, the ancient diviners were able to consecrate their shrines in places that reflected the essence of specific Odu.

Earth (ile) was considered a reflection of Heaven (Orun) and the layout of Yoruba cities was designed to make them mirrors of the cosmic order. The religion of Ifa originally comes from the city of Ile Ife. In lfa scripture, Ile Ifa is described as the original home of humans. The words: "Ile Ife” translate to mean; "Spreading Earth." So Ile Ife is a city and it is any place where land formed on Earth that allowed for human evolution to take place. Ifa scripture also refers to Ile Ife as a Spiritual place. It is the home for those ancestors who have returned to Source.

D. THE IFA CONCEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Perhaps the most accessible manifestation of Odu is through the portal of individual consciousness. Ifa teaches that Odu represent the energy patterns that create consciousness. They are analogous to what Carl Jung called archetypes of the collective unconscious. Jung believed that there exists a set of primal patterns that form the content of self-perception and place the self in relationship to the world. According to Jung, these patterns remain abstract until the unconscious gives them a cultural and personal context. In both Jungian psychology and the Ifa concept of consciousness, Odu (archetypes) can be revealed through dreams, where they take on personal qualities and manifest as mythic drama. By grasping this particular manifestation of Odu, Ifa teaches that it is possible to create internal balance which is the foundation of living in harmony with Nature.

Ifa psychology is linked to the concept of ori. The literal translation of ori is "head." This is a limited definition because ori also implies consciousness and Ifa cosmology teaches that all Forces in Nature have ori or consciousness.31 Because Ifa believes in reincarnation, every ori forms a polarity with ipori. The ipori is the eternal consciousness that exists in Orun (Heaven).32 It is the ipori that forms the link between past and future lives. If a scripture describes the ipori as the perfect double of ori. According to Ifa cosmology, every ori makes an agreement with Olorun prior to each incarnation.33 This agreement outlines the type of life that is to be lived and the lessons that are to be learned in a given lifetime. At the moment of birth the content of this agreement is lost to conscious thought. Part of the process of establishing internal balance is viewed as the task of remembering the original agreement between ori and Olorun.

This agreement is the source of individual destiny. Because divination is considered a method for discovering destiny, all divination based on Ifa is related to the question of enhancing the alignment between ori and ipori.

The link between ori and ipori lies within ori inu.35 The Yoruba words; "ori inu" translate to mean; "inner head." This is a reference to what Jung called the individual consciousness or self. Ori inu is the nucleus of that circle of Forces that creates self-awareness.

In addition to the polarity between ori and ipori, ori inu is the center point of the polarity between ara and emi. Ara is the physical body. Ifa psychology includes the heart (okan) and the emotions (egbe) as part of the physical self. According to lfa, the nature of one's ipori can only be grasped if the head and the heart are in alignment. In other words, the mind and the emotions must be in agreement if spiritual insight is to occur. Similarly, Jung understood that a conflict between the mind and the emotions is one of the sources of mental illness.36 In Ifa this conflict is called ori ibi. It is difficult to make a literal translation of ori ibi, but the term suggests a lack of alignment between ori and ipori. When the ori and ipori are functioning as one, it creates a condition called ori ire. A literal translation of ori ire would be; "wise head." .Jung referred to this condition as individuation, which was his basis for defining mental health.37

Ara or the physical body exists in polarity with emi. The Yoruba word emi means; "breath.” Ifa teaches that the breath of life comes from Olodumare and contains the eternal essence of consciousness. Emi in this context would translate to mean; "soul." The Ifa symbol of self would appear as follows:

#ifa #vodun #kemetic dreams #traditional african religion #african spirituality #african culture #west africa #odunlade adekola #ori #orunmila #oya

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onlyrains · 11 months

Text

Snack Box

— pairing: tsukasa x f. reader

— t/w: harsh words

the school bell rang twice a minute ago, signaling it was time to go home. you could hear your best friend who also your seat mate hurriedly packing up her stuff before bowing to the teacher.

it's not something you can see every day, actually. it's happening because she’s too excited to see her crush. and no, they're not planning to go somewhere, it's just her wanting to give a snack box she made for him. and honestly, you don't know him. you've only heard of him a few times from her and that's all.

actually, there are a lot of guys from different schools who are popular among girls in your school. you don't know much about them since dating someone is not your intention at all for now. so, you don't understand what makes them so desirable.

“help me, please, please, please.” sakura hold your hands while she give her doe eyes.

you look at your best friend's eyes in doubt. “are you sure you want me to give this to him?”

sakura nod her head repeatedly. “yes, please.”

“but what if it makes him thinks that i was the one who liked him?”

“i wrote a note with my name inside and he knows me, don't worry.” she smiles widely.

you exhale heavily. this is going to messed up your study schedule at home and more importantly, you're not into this kind of thing.

she hands you the box. "come on," she says, then pulls your wrist towards the school front gate.

you know how shy sakura can be when it comes to someone she likes. so it's always like this: she does you a favor, and then she asks you to do something for her crush. she already helped you yesterday when your senior asked you out on a date. she diverted his attention for you because she knew you were too uncomfortable to reject him. and now it's your turn to give the snack box she prepared for her crush.

"he will come from that street," she points to the alley next to your school. "that's his way home."

you look down at the box in your hand. "you already know him, it's better if you give it to him yourself," you say.

"but i already helped you yesterday," she pouts, and you roll your eyes in response.

"but how am i supposed to know it's him? i don't even know what he looks like."

sakura thinks for a moment. "i think he wears a red jacket lately. but i'm sure you'll easily recognize him, just give it to the most handsome guy you see. i'll wait here." you bite your inner lip unconsciously.

"go, go," she pushes your back and then hides behind the walls.

you look at the box one more time before heading to the alley. many of your schoolmates also pass through that way, so you start to feel nervous, knowing that someone you know might see you handing over a well-decorated box to a guy and misunderstand the situation.

your feet can't stop tapping as you wait in the alley, some people you know greet you with a confused look. their eyes always land on the box you try to hide against your chest. then, in the fifth minute of your wait, you finally see someone in a red shirt appear at the end of the street, heading your way.

you can feel your heart start pounding as if it would shake your whole body. you can hear people around you murmuring about him with their eyes sparkling. ah, so he is one of the popular guys.

his eyes doesn't meet yours, but somehow you can feel his gaze piercing through you. his blond hair flutters beautifully in the wind as he come closer, both hands in his pockets. he doesn't seem to care about the people frankly looking at him. he looks so calm and accustomed to the situation. you finally understand how attractive he is and why he is popular among your schoolmates.

"excuse me," you manage to voice when he finally in front of you, almost stuttering.

he stops and looks at you, raising his eyebrows.

you hand him the box. "for you," you say, then walk away in a heartbeat, leaving him in utter confusion. You can hear some people gasping at you, making you almost want to sprint back home.

“how was it?” sakura pulls your wrist to the corner when you met her behind the walls.

“you didn't see it?”

she shook her head. “i couldn't, my heart could've exploded.”

"he accepted it," you say then she jumps to hug you.

“thank you!” she exclaims while bowing to you.

the next day, you find yourself being the center of attention since you enter the school gate. the stares aren't a bad thing, but rather filled with amazement, or so you think.

sakura notices it too, and she is also clueless about what's going on until the senior who asked you on a date earlier approaches you during break time.

“i saw you yesterday,” he says languidly. you look at him, confused.

“you have a boyfriend, right?”

ah, so it's about that.

“i didn't expect someone like you to have one, actually,” wait, what?

“i'm sorry.” he continues. well, maybe he didn't intend to offend you, but you somehow feel deeply offended. he didn't expect someone like me to have a boyfriend? what does it even mean?

“yeah, that's fine.” sakura suddenly replied in the most unfriendly tone then pulled your arm to walked away.

“sakura, i'm sorry.” you spoke to her after not denying the prejudice in front of the senior.

sakura nodded. “that's okay.” she smiled. “what do you think about him, by the way? he's so charming, right?”

you tried to keep a poker face. “he's quite attractive.” you replied. a grin appeared on sakura's face. “this is the first time you've called a guy attractive.”

you looked up at the tree. “well, his blond hair quite interesting.”

“his what?” sakura almost yelped.

“his hair…” you whispered as you look at her fearfully.

“IT WAS BLOND???”

you nodded.

“do you think i would ever attracted to someone who's blond?”

you gasped, covering your mouth with your palm. sakura would never fall to a blond guy: she had a traumatic memory with one.

“WHO DID YOU GIVE THE BOX TO, STUPID?”

you put your palms together in front on your face then fell on your knees. “i don't know, sakura, i'm so sorry.” you said, almost crying out loud in guilt.

she clicked his tongue. “how was he looks like?”

“he was blond and quite attractive. some people even stops to see him,” you spoke so quickly. “and he was wearing a red shirt,”

“i said red jacket, not shirt, you dumbass.”

you gasped again. “i'm so sorry, i forgot.” you held her hand, begging for forgiveness.

she sighed. “ah, okay. the thing now is, we need to know who you gave the box to.”

you stood and nodded while pouting. “i'm sorry, really.”

“no, that's okay. maybe it's the time for me to push myself?”

you let out a deep breath. what a relief. you couldn't lose your five year friendship just because of that box, right?

when school was over and you were ready to go home, once again you found yourself at the center of attention. the difference this time was that one of your classmates approached you from outside the school as you neared the front gate.

“tsukasa is waiting for you.”

you furrowed your eyebrows. “tsukasa?”

she nodded.

“tsukasa of oya kou?” sakura gasped.

“yeah, he's your boyfriend, right? he asked me to look for you and sakura.” your classmate added.

your eyes were about to leave its place while sakura's jaw might have dropped if she hadn't held it. your classmate left, but you still couldn't move a muscle.

“so you gave the box to tsukasa?” sakura's laughter filled your ears as your body remain frozen. “no wonder you've got the spotlight, then.” she added.

“i don't know who he is,” you mumbled, eyes blanked. “but why is he looking for me? why?”

“don't worry, he's not like what you're thinking, i think. he used to receiving gifts from the girls but no one has ever dated him. he's not into this sort of thing either.”

“really?”

sakura nodded and guided you to the gate, holding back her laughter at your emotionless face.

“there he is,” she pointed a blond guy across the street. “do you want me to take you to him?”

you shook your head. “nah, i'm fine. it's my fault,” you said determinedly.

she smiled widely. “okay, fighting!”

you tried to catch your breath before crossing the street and walking straight to him.

“hi,” you greeted softly. he turned to you. “are you looking for me?”

he smiled a little. “sakura?”

“no. sakura is my friend. i'm so sorry, i misrecognized the person.” you bowed.

“no, no, it's fine. i knew this wasn't for me. but i saw the note inside, this box are meant for nakagoshi, right? i can take you to him.”

you stood up. “really?”

“yeah, he's not far from here.”

you nodded happily.

you walked side by side with him, telling him everything about the situation. he just laughed and you were almost dying of embarrassment. he wasn't that talkative but good at responding to your story. you kept apologizing repeatedly, worried that you were oversharing, while you were just trying to explain the story behind the box so he would understand everything.

but that moment could've lasted longer if you both hadn't encountered the senior you've rejected.

“oh, so this is the boyfriend?” he exclaimed from across the street. tsukasa stopped and stared at him.

he approached you both. “are you sure dating this girl?” he pointed at you then his friends were laughing from afar.

“and you, why are you dating him? seeking validation? ah, you want to be popular too?" he laughed.

what an asshole.

“what do you want?” tsukasa stepped forward.

you bit your lower lip, realizing which school tsukasa came from and now you were scared if something bad would really happen.

“i don't need your opinion, okay? it's up to you. and please, move aside. you're blocking my way.” you tried to sound as calm as possible and looked straight into his eyes.

tsukasa grabbed your wrist while still glared at your senior, signaling to continue your walk.

“are you okay?” he asked after those assholes disappeared from sight.

you nodded. you unable to take your eyes off his grip in your wrist.

“we're almost there,” he said still weren't aware of his own hand.

this was actually worse than facing your senior. at least you knew you could defend yourself from them. but for thing like this, you don't know what to do. it couldn't be like this, you couldn't fall for him so easily.

but your body couldn't lie tho. your blood rushed to your cheeks, giving them a rosy color in it, and even more when tsukasa finally released his hand.

“oh, i'm so sorry.”

shit, shit, shit. it's harder to deny your own feelings. but still, “it's okay.” you replied.

#it's so long wow #i'm sorry for the grammar error :’)#tsukasa takajo #takajo tsukasa #high & low fanfiction #high and low #high and low x reader #high & low the worst #high&low #high & low the worst cross #high & low x reader #high and low the worst #oya kou #oya #oya high #hnl #high and low imagine #high and low fanfiction #tsukasa x reader

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