Esu-Elegba: Ifa and the Spirit of the Divine Messenger
by Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi
Esu, for any of you who are familiar with any earth-centered religion, fulfills the role of the Divine Messenger. Every
earth centered tradition that I know of, believes that there is some Force in Nature, or Spiritual Presence, or some
power that allows humans to communicate with Nature and allows Nature to communicate with humans. It is the
function of translation. The Divine Messenger translates the language of Nature into the language of humans and the
language of humans into the language of Nature.
If you have ever gone to the beach feeling depressed and came away feeling better just by being in the presence of the
ocean, then we can say that you had some kind of dialogue or communication with the ocean. The translating factor in
this interaction is a Spiritual Force that we call Esu. That is the most immediate and tangible manifestation of Esu as a
Force in Nature.
I want to take it back to the more primal aspect of Esu and then see if we can't bring that forward to a place where it
relates to life in Oakland in 1993. The most abstract manifestation of Esu is as it comes into Being in the Odu
Ose'Tura which appears as follows:
I     I
I I     I I
I     I
I     I I
This is the symbolic representation of the energy pattern that incarnates Esu. This Odu is used as a magnet to invoke
the power of the Divine Messenger. In Ifá Creation Myth, the Eternal Rock of Creation is called Oyigiyigi. This Rock
separated into four Calabashes of Creation. These four calabashes interacted with one another to form sixteen sacred
principles called Olu Odu or the primal principles of Creation. In Ifá the sacred number seventeen represents the
sixteen primal Odu plus Ose'Tura which is the seventeenth Odu of Ifá. This Odu has the function of causing the Olu
Odu to copulate generating the two hundred and forty Odu that are generated by the first sixteen Odu. This suggests
that Esu, in addition to being the Divine Messenger, is also primal seed of generation.
Ifá is the religious tradition of Yoruba culture. It is the parent religion of all the different spiritual societies, fraternities
and sororities that exist within the culture. The reason that Ifá is considered the source of all the other forms of
worship within Yoruba culture has to do with the role of Esu and Ose'Tura in relationship to the primal Olu Odu. In
essence when an Ifá priest is initiated, they invoke the first sixteen Odu, then they invoke Ose'Tura. This is a ritual
reenactment of the original moment of the Creation of diversity within the Universe. This ritual event gives the initiate
a glimpse of the primal event that generated Being as we experience in human life. It is the mystical vision of that
event that gives the Prophet Orunmila the praise name "Eleri-ipin" which means "Witness to Creation."
The opening invocation for Ifá is always "Orunmila Eleri-ipin" meaning "The Realm of the Immortals is our
salvation, the Witness to Creation." The mystical invocation of this event occurs through the invocation of Ose'Tura. I
know that this is an abstract concept, but it is out of this primal event that all the other sub groups within Ifá emerge.
Every Orisa, every ancestral lineage, every society, every vocation are all manifestation of one Odu, or a grouping of
several Odu. It is understood that all of these groups come into the world through the Divine intervention of Ose'Tura.
In addition to being the Divine Messenger, Esu has several other functions. If we take them one at a time, I hope this
will give you a broader understanding of Esu as a Force in Nature. Esu is the Divine Enforcer in issues of Justice. Esu
also has a role as the Divine Trickster and Esu is the Orisa which opens doors.
So we all understand the idea of Esu as the Divine Messenger. If you can communicate with the ocean, if you can gain
inspiration anywhere in Nature you have established a relationship with Esu as the Divine Messenger. This is true
whether or not you have received some symbolic representation of Esu that you use in a ritual manner. For those of
you who are familiar with chakras, Esu communicates through the third eye. In Yoruba we say "Iwaju." The word
Iwaju means "The Eye of Character," and is used commonly to mean "forehead".
In order to communicate with Esu there has to be an unbroken connection between the head and the heart. If you are
in Yoruba culture and you hear someone say think about what you are doing, they do not point to their head. They
point to their heart. The reason for that is they understand the link between the third eye, the brain and the heart. So in
Yoruba there is a link between iwaju, ori and okan. That link is at the back of the neck. In the West they call this link
Esu ni ba ko. In Ifá we say "ipako" which literally means "not disjointed." No matter which phrase you use, the back of
the neck is still the link between the head and the heart.
If you only look at the world through the power centers in your head, you have shut down the power centers in the rest
of your body. When this occurs your shoulders tense up, you get a pain in the neck, this tension leads to agitation and
the development of illness and is considered reflective of bad character.
Ifá tradition describes this lack of connection by saying that the hands and the feet are moving in different directions.
So if there is no unity between what you feel and what you think, which is a fundamental issue of psychology, you
have a problem. The image of hands and feet suggests that hands bring what you need to survive and feet take you out
in the world. You need to have your hands and feet motivated by the same program in order to function with
efficiency.
In the role Esu as Divine Trickster, most of the anthropological literature identifies the Trickster as a random form of
harassment. In some literature Esu is described as an "evil" phenomena. But there is a very sacred function for all
Tricksters in all traditional cultures. That function is to bring to each one of us the truth that we are all interconnected
and interrelated. It is the Eternal Truth that no one can be totally self reliant. Once you have the idea that I can handle
all of my problems, I've got it covered, I'll never cry, I'm the tough guy, call me John Wayne or now-a-days Rambo or
whatever archetype that you're stuck in, the role of the Divine Trickster is to let you know that this self perception may
not be true. Occasionally things occur and we don't have all the answers. So there is a spiritual influence that pushes
us all towards the idea that one tree does not make a forest and no man is an island. It is pushing us towards the idea
that we are interrelated, that when take the solitary, I can handle everything approach, sooner of later reality is going
to greet us in the street.
I am not just speaking here of other people. We are dependant on other people to survive in the world and we are
dependant on communication with Nature to survive in the world. The Divine Trickster slaps us up side our head
when we empty too much garbage in our water. When we piss in our drinking water, eventually it tastes funny. As
George Carlin said the whole purpose of life on earth is to feed Mother Earth Styrofoam cups. That maybe true, but
until we know for sure, that could be disruptive. If it is disruptive, we can expect a wake up call from Esu.
The Divine Trickster is not some arbitrary, malevolent Force that is out to get you if you don't behave. That is the
Christian "boogy man" model. The Divine Trickster is a fundamental principle of the structure of reality, based on the
idea that if you see an egg that hatches and something comes out with wings, there's a pretty good chance that its a
bird. The universe is not arbitrary.
The great African Shaman Malidoma has said that rocks, trees and animals are much smarter than humans, and that
humans are the lowest rung on the consciousness scale. He said that because birds always act as birds, you rarely find
a bird trying to be an elephant. You rarely find a tree trying to be a rock and you never find a rock being anything but
a rock. That is one of the reasons rocks are sacred. They are inflexible in their insistence on maintaining their intrinsic
identity. A rock is very evolved spiritually because it always functions in perfect alignment with its destiny. Humans
on the other hand are constantly trying to be birds and elephants and whatever else they can image. It is the role of the
Divine Trickster to suggest that we might have a personal destiny and that we may have a purpose for being on earth
and that we may have some eternal essence that the Universe is guiding us towards bringing into
Being. So the Divine Trickster has a very important and very sacred function. This leads us to the idea of opening
doors. I hate to trash the literature on Orisa, but right now I'm going to. You read time and time again that Esu opens
doors. That sounds good, but what does it mean? Its like everybody is rewriting what someone else wrote. Let us
consider what door it is that Esu opens. And when in the course of your life it is important to have that door open.
Fa'lokun: Does anyone know what door we are talking about?
Answer: Your head.
Fa'lokun: Well, sort of. Let us say it like this. In Ifá they say initiation is the process of elders guiding the novice up
the seven steps of initiation. They knock on the door and kick it open, then step back. This is the door that they are
talking about. I'm not just speaking of the door that is kicked open during ritual. It is a bigger door than that. Initiation
occurs every time we expand our own consciousness. This can be in the context of a communal ritual, or it can be in
the context of overcoming difficulty in the world.
Ifá says that we can draw a map of consciousness through the use of a circle that contains an equal armed cross. So
lets image a circle with a cross that is the size of a baseball. Lets say that this circle represents the consciousness of a
young man the day before puberty. Then puberty kicks in and your consciousness is forced to deal with the issues of
being an adult, raising a family, finding a productive role in society and so on. Lets say the consciousness of man
before puberty is the size of a baseball. Lets say the consciousness of the man who has assimilated these new roles is
represented by a circle the size of a basketball. To get from the baseball to the basketball requires the death of the old
self. The boy no longer exists and in his place stands a man. This shift in consciousness can only occur if we tear
down the parameters of conscious that define how we see ourself in the world.
When this barrier breaks down we go through a period of death and rebirth. The death of the old self and birth of the
new self. This process always involves walking through some doorway, some portal, some barrier that leads us into the
realm of the unknown. This is always true, there is no exception. This occurs daily if you are in tune with it. Ifá says
that once we are initiated, it is our task to re-initiate ourself every day. Each day you have to incorporate, assimilate
and integrate the life lessons that occur in the world. Otherwise you become stagnant, you regress and the circle that
represents the parameters of your consciousness becomes smaller.
So there is a doorway that we walk through that allows us to make the leap into the next level of consciousness. The
key to unlocking that doorway is the willingness to confront the fear of the unknown. It always involves embracing the
need for change. The doorway that Esu opens is that doorway that exposes a mirror that allows you to see yourself.
When you see yourself clearly, you grab yourself by the lapels, you look yourself in the eye and you say, "Who I am in
this moment isn't going to cut it, what do I have to do to take the next step?"
Esu as the Orisa that opens doors, really becomes the primal source for the confrontation with fear. So historically, one
of the reasons why Esu tends to be described as "evil" or "negative" is because he brings us face to face with our fears.
If you don't like this experience, or if you can't handle it. The tendency is to blame Esu rather than admit to your own
lack of courage.
I want to say that again. If you are unwilling to walk through the door that Esu has opened, the common human
response is to blame the door keeper. Esu as the opener of doors is that which we invoke so that we can confront our
fears. The point being, don't invoke Esu unless you are ready to deal.
What happens is that people come to me saying they are ready for growth. We invoke Esu and they blame me for all
the problems that greet them in the street.
But I am not the one who is causing the problem. The problem was caused by asking the Universe to open the door.
The key point here is that Ifá is not about sprinkling juju dust over your head and washing away all your problems.
Anybody that tells you that maybe doing something wonderful, but it isn't Ifá.
Let's say I did have some juju powder that gave you the courage to confront your fears. So every time you had a
problem you'd come to me and I would sprinkle the juju on your head and you would handle the problem. What you
would be creating is reliance on me and not the ability to work through the fear. There is only one antidote to fear and
that is courage. Understand? Courage is the only antidote to fear and there is no way to invoke courage other than to
do the right thing in spite of the fear.
Fundamentally, cosmologically, psychologically and spiritually that's just the way it is. In fact, most initiations include
a healthy dose of time to allow you to experience your fear. This is the primary reason why initiations are secret,
because if you really figured out what they were doing, its not all that scary. If you don't know it can make your anus
pucker. Believe me I have experienced many an anus pucker and it is a valuable process.
All this to answer the question what doorway does Esu open? The doorway that allows you to confront your fears.
There is an idea in Ifá that appears in every earth centered religion that I have ever encountered. It is the idea that
everything is interconnected. If you read all the great mystical writings in literature, they are all about trying to
explain how it feels when you really get that idea. The point is, we can sit here and talk and say; "Oh yeah we're all
interconnected, I can get with that, we're all connected to Source, so we're all the eyes of God, sounds good." Its a
wonderfully noble and universally recognized idea. But it remains an idea until you really experience it. Now all the
folks who write about experiencing it say that the prelude to that experience is what I call the Mother of all Fears. Ifá
literally calls it "Fear of the Mothers." It is the fear of total loss of self, which it is, followed by a sense of we're all
inter connected.
So how does this relate to the idea of the Divine Enforcer? You can only move so far away from this idea before
Nature itself, and human beings who are in the process of becoming conscious, create counter - balancing forces to
guide you back to center. Esu has the function of Divine Enforcer. You can all say, "What about this tragedy, and what
about that tragedy?" That is a difficult question to come to terms with objectively. But as an aspect of faith, in Ifá there
is the belief that within the bigger picture, Divine Justice is at work. This is based on the belief that it is possible to get
along, that it is possible to relate.
The symbolic analogy that Ifá uses is "Ifá Olokun o saro dayo," meaning "The
Spirit of the Ocean always provides for those who live in the sea." Every fish that lives in the ocean has a home and
food to eat. So they have it figured out in the ocean, we just haven't figured it out yet on land. That's probably because
they've had more time in the ocean to work on it. The idea of Esu as the Divine Enforcer is that the ground rules for
figuring it out are in place. When we get too far away from that, things occur that bring the truth back to us.
This is all related to Chaos theory. Western science has a discipline called Chaos theory which postulates the idea that
things which seem to be symmetrical in the universe have a range of variation when viewed at a distance. Things
which appear random have a degree of symmetry when viewed at a distance. So the issues of justice and randomness
are issues of perspective. If you get the big picture, the pieces start to fall in place. So Esu as the Divine Enforcer is
what we invoke to get the big picture. You can do things on the short term that feel effective, righteous and ethical
that can have long term negative effects.
You can do things that seem negative in the moment and end up having positive results. It is Esu that we invoke to get
a clue where we are in that polarity.
Fa'lokun: So what does all of this have to do with life in Oakland in 1993?
Answer: One thing that I get is there are no absolutes.
Answer: It seems like Esu is necessary to find some form of spiritual centering.
Fa'lokun: The Yoruba word for shrine is "Ojubo." I'm going to tell you a secret. Every shrine I've seen in Africa
contains a rock. In our religion we pray to rocks. Ojubo means "the place we face when we say our prayers." So when
you are given a rock during initiation by wise and powerful elders, they bring a Spirit to live in that rock so that you
have something to dialogue with when you face the rock. They also teach that if you don't talk to the rock, that which
they brought to the rock will go away. What you are left with is just a rock.
Despite what the Christian missionary's taught, no one in Africa believes that the rock is Esu or the spirit. They
believe that the rock is the place you face when you are speaking to Esu. This gives you a place to initiate the centering
process.
If all the Universe is created by the 256 Odu, then those 256 Odu have to be a part of your consciousness, because they
all emerged out of the light that came from the Big Bang. That same light created your consciousness. This
consciousness includes the Odu Ose'Tura which we said invokes Esu. So somewhere inside of you Esu is alive and
waiting to go to work. When you are centering, you are facing that rock and you are calling Esu out of your own
consciousness and bouncing it off that rock. Hopefully, if Ose'Tura exists somewhere else in the world, which we
believe it does, your prayer will attract other manifestations of that Odu. That will create a convergence of forces that
will allow for dialogue and inspiration.
Nobody believes that Esu is a rock. Ojubo, just look at the language. The rock is the place you face when you say your
prayers.
Now the thing that I didn't realize when I went to Africa for the first time was the importance of the extended family
in relationship to Ifá and Orisa worship. First and foremost, Ifá is the sanctification of the extended family. The
extended family is an eternal structure that exists forever and different faces evolve into the role of elders within the
ongoing family unit. I think the reason why no one has ever written about this aspect of Ifá is because we in the West
don't know what a functional extended family looks like. We barely know what a two parent family looks like, let
alone an extended family.
There is a lot of talk about dysfunctional families and co-dependant behavior and that's all good. But we need to start
thinking about, seeing and understanding what a functional family looks like. For example the role of grandmother
and grandfather are eternal roles within the family that are assumed by different faces. Children are being trained for
the day when they become grandmother and grandfather.
Jobs are also sanctioned through initiation. The profession of blacksmith is sanctioned through initiation to Ogun. The
role of healing female problems is sanctioned through initiation into Oshun. The role of herbalist is sanctioned
through initiation into Osanyin. Divination is sanctioned through initiation into Ifá. Within the extended family there
are different roles that sustain the well being of the family.
On a communal level there is a sanctification of farming and a sanctification of the role of those who run the market.
All these roles fit into an ideal version of how a family and a community functions. Can you imagine what shopping at
the mall would be like if every shop keeper was initiated into the Mysteries of Oya. It would be a different place.
Just so that you will know, when I say sanctification, I mean some form of communal blessing, another way to say that
would be initiation. Sanctification is a communal process that identifies certain people as carries of a particular kind of
wisdom.
Now in the United States, Orisa families are not usually using the African model of the extended family. Instead they
are using the General Motors model of the extended family which has one patriarchal leader at the top of a pyramid.
That isn't it.
Superficially, the Yoruba extended family looks like a patriarchy. It is not. The women have veto power over what is
apparent in public. There is a balance of power within the structure of community. So for example, if you go through
an Ifá initiation, it looks like you are being initiated by a fraternity of men. But the last thing that you do involves a
blessing from a mother. If she does not give her blessing you are not initiated. You have to walk past her to come into
the world after initiation. So there is a weave of influences that sustains the eternal structure of the family.
Part of the function of Esu is to maintain the cohesive fabric of the family structure.
So here comes my answer to the question how does Esu relate to life in Oakland in 1993. I think that Esu can begin to
give you a vision of the big picture. That vision here and now gives us insight on how we can relate as extended
family. In Africa there is no word for uncle and there is no word for cousin. Anybody older than you is father or
mother, and if you don't call them father or mother you are in deep trouble. It has nothing to do with them being
initiated.
My baba is the Araba of Ode Remo, he bows to no man in the village, but when his older sister comes into the room he
bows to her as Iya or mother.
We are talking about the eternal idea of respect for elders as part of the process. Ifá is one particular vision of how to
make the family work and every other vision that works is Ifá whether they call it that or not. And if you call yourself
doing Ifá and you don't know what a family looks like, then you are lying to yourself and whoever you're talking too.
So within the Orisa community there is a lot of concern about disruption, competition, jealously and the question of
why can't the community come together. That is a very real issue. The way you deal with that is not to try and
convince everybody that you are right. You deal with that by joining hands with those who have the same vision of
family and it doesn't matter what they call themselves. It doesn't matter if they are Ifá.
Luisah Teish has gone to New Zealand and Australia and joined hands with people who know what an extended
family looks like and they have treated her as a sister and mother. That is the point. If you are just trying to make a big
theological argument, you know I've got the right way, I've got the most information blah blah blah, all this nonsense
that goes on in the community is not relevant. There are people who get it and there are people who don't. If you get it,
you join hands with those who do and together you become the model for what a family looks like. That's where the
transformation occurs, in the doing, not in the saying.
Based on a simple idea, the idea of Esu's power as Divine Enforcer, we come up with the ethical notion that if your life
gets better my life gets better. If you suffer, I suffer. If I really get that idea and not just think about it, but feel it, then I
have to examine the notion that jealousy is inappropriate, competition is inappropriate, gossip is inappropriate, back
biting is inappropriate, diminishing anyone verbally is inappropriate. That's regardless of background, status,
intelligence, poverty or abundance. The feelings I have listed are inappropriate to alignment with Esu as Divine
Enforcer, end of story.
When you find yourself experiencing these emotions there is transformation work that needs to be done. Its not hard to
identify and its not hard to recognize. The problem is taking those emotions and transforming them into something
worthy of praise.
It becomes a real struggle. There are the eternal images of Ifá scripture that motivate us to transcend our limitations.
Then there are the contemporary manifestations of those principles. One example is what I call the Mandela standard.
Nelson Mandela is negotiating with the government of South Africa without any apparent anger, without any apparent
viciousness, without any apparent hidden agenda, without any apparent need for revenge. He has a vision, he is right
on it, he is moving towards bringing it into being, he knows what it is going to take, and he knows what his place is in
the process. He knows all of this I believe because he knows what a family looks like, he knows what it feels like, he
knows what it smells like, and he is walking with unyielding determination in a straight line towards creating that and
everything else is irrelevant. That is as inspiring as it gets. That is Ifá whether he's heard of it or not.
He becomes one of the living manifestations of what it is that we are struggling for. Its an example that we want to
grasp and elevate. Believe me I am not saying this out of some personal admiration of Mandela. My African elders
recognize that he represents something worthy of admiration and respect. We use the example of his life and we say
where do I fall short of that?
That's where the idea of Esu comes in as the motivating factor to give us a glimpse of the bigger picture. Certainly as a
religious community we need to be more outspoken in our support of fundamental issues and in our recognition of
those living elders who embrace the ethical standards of our faith, even when they are not of our faith.
I encourage anyone who is concerned about these issues to become a prophetic voice in expressing these ideas. The
point is to express these ideas effectively. I don't say get up on a soap box and say that you are right about everything.
We can at least engage in some dialogue on how to elevate these ideas.
So part of what Mandela represents, in the framework of Ifá, is a fundamental point that is difficult to grasp in
Western culture. There is a thing that exists in the Universe that I call spiritual power, that Ifá calls ase. It is generally
neutral, which means that it can be directed towards creation or destruction. But it has physical substance. When you
are in the presence of spiritual power it is unmistakable. Once you have been in the presence of ase, no one will ever
be able fake the funk. If you have experienced spiritual power, and someone says they have it and you don't see it,
smell it, taste it and feel moved by it, don't believe it.
What do I mean by spiritual power? It is the ability to place yourself so perfectly in alignment with the Forces of
Nature that surround you that you can move in such a way that your life becomes continually transformed. And the life
of those around you become continually transformed. So again, power is not sprinkling juju on your head. It is
assuming a position in relationship to Nature that becomes transformative simply because you are a conduit for the
essential balance of Nature itself. In India they call that darma, you get blessed by the elders by sitting in their
presence. They don't have to say anything. Its all about having a real experience of spiritual power.
In Ifá they call it ase, in China they call it Chi, in Japan they call it ki, in Hinduism they call it prana. Those are all
real things that feel a certain way and the essence of ceremonial work within Ifá is to unlock that power. If you are
unable to unlock that power on your own, being in the presence of those who can is of value. Ase will become
unlocked in you merely by being around it. At that point what you call it is profoundly irrelevant. Because at that point
you will know what it feels like.
I was very blessed to be with some elders from Ile Ife in Rhode Island recently. We did an initiation. It is a three day
ceremony and there is a place in the third day where the Orisa is suppose to come and mount the initiate. In Rhode
Island we did three initiations and each time the Orisa came during the opening prayer on the first day of the
ceremony.
I felt that I was in the presence of real spiritual power. When you know this feeling and you invoke Esu and ask for the
power to do something, the issue of am I doing it right, am I doing it in an African way, am I doing it Ifa, am I doing
it Umbanda, am I doing it pagan, doesn't matter. The question is am I raising the spiritual power that will solve the
problem. That is the only question. You can convince yourself until you are blue in the face that you've caused a
transformation that has not actually occurred.
As a diviner when someone comes to me, they want their problems transformed. They don't care if I'm coming from a
pure African point of view, a Santeria point of view or doing a horse and pony show as long as the issue gets resolved
and there are ways to objectively evaluate that. This should be the basis for building a community.
Malidoma says that community is three or more people who have come together for a purpose. The purpose of the
Orisa community is to come together and to support each other's spiritual development, so that we can have a life,
have a family, experience abundance and know a little joy. Its not a mysterious agenda that's being put out here. But
there are ways to evaluate this process that will give you some basis for determining if you are standing in the presence
of real juice or kool aid.
Awo Fa'lokun Fatunmbi is co-founder of Ile Orunmila Oshun and founder of the Awo Study Center, both based in
Oakland, California. He is a popular author of several books on traditional African Orisa worship, including
"Iwa-Pele; The Search for the Source of Santeria and Lucumi," "Awo; Ifa and the Theology of Orisa Divination," and
"Iba Se Orisa; Ifa Proverbs, Folktales, Sacred History and Prayer."