Irosun-Meji
I I
I I
II II
II II
In the fixed order of Orunmila, Irosun-Meji occupies the fifth position.
The esoteric representation Irosun Meji is a hole which symbolizes
the possibility of accidents and misfortune. It is an image of the need to embrace
caution.
In Irosun-Meji you are inclined to do things the hard way.
In heaven Irosun-Meji was called "the man who can alter the course of death"
Physical body element = Blood, liver and arteries
Children would be disposed to be secretaries or journalists.
Conquers the pitfalls of others.
A lot of disappointments are caused by bad organization of the life.
Cautious behavior would take person through difficult times with abundance.
Pay iba (homage) to ancestors to preserve their wisdom.
Irosun is things that have not surfaced yet.
Death before Dishoner
Mirror, no matter how big cannot be used to perceive one's image for the future.
This is the proclamation of the Babalawo to the mirror addict When longing for all the
good things of life She was asked to offer sacrifice. She complied. There is
no other true mirror than one's child. One's child is the truest mirror one can get.
Ifa says the lady is too fashion-conscious. It is not advisable to marry her unless she is
prepared to change her attitude to life. She must start to think of settling down and
getting married in order for her to have her own children insted of concentrating on how
to look good and smell nice alone.
Before Irosun-Meji came to the world he was advised to make
sacrifice with a cock and a tortoise to the misfortune divinity and a he-goat to Esu.
He was also told to give a guinea fowl to his guardian angle. He refused to
do any of the sacrifices. He then came to the world where he was practicing Ifa art.
When he grew up, he was so poor that he could not afford to marry, let alone have a
child. The hardship became so severe on him that out of frustration he decided
to throw his Ifa seeds away. Meanwhile, he had a dream in which his guardian angel
appeared to him telling him that he was the one responsible for his problems because he
had stubbornly refused to make the sacrifice prescribed for him. When he woke up in
the morning, he decided to sound his Ifa and it was only then he realized that it was his
guardian angel that appeared to him in the night.
He quickly arranged to do the sacrifice to his Ifa and gave a he-goat to Esu.
His Ifa advised him to return to heaven to report back to God from whom he failed to
obtain clearance in the first place. For his trip to heaven, he was told to go with
a cock, a tortoise, a pack of yams, a gourd of water, a gourd of oil, pepper, okro and
snuff. He collected all the things and packed them up in his divination bag.
After travelling as far as the boundary of heaven and earth he went straight to the
divine palace where he met the keeper of the Divine chamber, the Misfortune divinity or
Yeye Muwo, the mother of obstacles. He knelt down at the Divine chamber and
proclaimed that he came in all humility to renew his earthly wishes. Yeye Muwo
intervened that it was too early in the morning to make any wishes because there was no
food in the house. From his divination bag. He immediately brought out his fire
wood, water, oil, pepper, salt, okro, snuff and finally, the cock all of which the mother
of obstacles demanded in turn. Yeye Muwo was up to her usual delaying tactics, but
Irosun-Meji was fully prepared.
Thereafter, Yeye Muwo cleared him to make his wishes. Since it was forbidden to
kneel down on the bare floor, he knelt on the tortoise which he brought from earth.
After making all his wishes, God blessed them with his Divine Mace. When Yeye Muwo
heard the sound of the Mace she quickly finished her cooking, but before she could come
out, Esu motioned Irosun-Meji to leave quickly for earth.
When the mother of obstacles finally emerged from the kitchen, she asked God for the
man who had been making his wishes and the Almighty Father replied that he had gone.
When she queried why He did not ask the man to make bad and good wishes, God
replied that it was not His tradition to interfere when His children were making their
wishes.
In spite of all the gifts he had given to Yeye Muwo, she nonetheless left quickly in
hot pursuit of Irosun-Meji. As she was pursuing him, she sang...
He replied with a refrain of the same song saying that he had already made sacrifice
and his wishes, leaving nothing out. As he was singing he was racing along in
fright!
When Yeye Muwo saw that she could not reach him, she stood still and stretched out
her thumb and tore through his back with it. That is the hollow line running through
the human back-bone, to this day, which is to constantly remind us that the only way
we can escape the long hand of misfortune is by making sacrifice. With that mark,
Yeye Muwo proclaimed to Irosun-Meji and to the rest of humanity, (a curse) never to
remember his/her heavenly wishes on getting to earth since the eyes cannot see the back of
the body and that before realizing his wishes, he would have to grope in darkness for a
long time and experience a lot of hardship in the process.
The pain of the injury made Irosun-Meji unconscious and he lapsed into a trance of
utter-darkness. When he woke up, he found himself on his bed on earth. He had
forgotten everything that happened before then. He however went about his business
and prospered long afterwards.
The state of darkness symbolizes the gestation period we spend in the womb, during
which we lose all recollections of what we plan to do on earth.
Ase O!
Note: These verses are only a fraction of the entirety of Irosun-Meji