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Odu:
The Phoenix of Ifa
Her
imminent rise:
There is a parallel shared by all ancient philosophies.
Basic Truths were expressed in metaphorical tales. One of these, which
have enormous significance to the ancient African philosophy of Ifa,
is that of the Phoenix.
"A
mythical bird that never dies, the Phoenix flies far ahead to the
front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents
our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about
our environment and the events unfolding within it." - Master Lam
Kam Chuen
In ancient Egyptian mythology
the Phoenix is a female mythical sacred bird said to live for 500 years.
At the end of its life cycle the Phoenix builds itself a nest of twigs
that it then ignites. Nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to
ashes, from which a new, young Phoenix arises.
In today’s world
the accepted ideas that have driven Western culture for hundreds of
years are not only growing old, they are being increasingly proven
incorrect. A world where global warming threatens our way of life,
where the economy is beginning to fail from the thoughtless  diminishing
of natural resources, where social stability is threatened by rampant
crime, overflowing prisons and ancient tribal conflicts, the “World
is ending” feeling can become overwhelming. Be it the Apocalypse
of the bible or the destruction predicted by the Mayan Calendar, it
can be easy to give up hope and feel, at the very least, that the best
is behind us.
Ifa’s imminent
rise:
What we see is the ending
of one era, and like the mythical Phoenix, or the very real Odu, it
portends the beginning of the birth of a vibrant new stage where the
new values cast out the old. Where the flaws of Newtonian physics are
replaced with the endless possibilities of Quantum reality; where the
disproven absolutism of our being controlled by our RNA/DNA is replaced
by the reality of spiritually programmable cells that can relate to,
and work with, other communities of similar cells in harmony, rather
than through supremacy. Where the practicality and rewards of good
character and long-term thinking replace the destructive focus on instant
gratification and self-absorption. Rather then the end, it is the beginning
of the next evolutionary imperative.
Program for the
new era…
The most difficult thing
for most people is change. People stay in bad relationships, unrewarding
jobs and failed philosophies not because they do not understand they
are bad, but because they are afraid another situation might be worse.
The old ways might not be satisfying, but the new ways? Too scary!
So, year after year, generation
after generation, people stay stuck in the old ways, growing increasingly
less rewarded, increasingly less empowered, but comforted by the familiarity
of the process. They parrot proverbs such as: “Better the
Devil you know than the Devil you don't” to rationalize
their failure to change. Yet, change is the ONLY constant in
life…and the philosophy of Ifa was designed to recognize,
adapt to and embrace that change through the inherent flexibility and
adaptability of the eternal living energies it is composed of.
Every significant advance
of civilization was ultimately the decision of some one, or some group,
willing to challenge the flawed or diminishing results of the past. Ultimately
they found the world was not flat, man could fly
and communication across thousands of miles could be as
quick and clear as speaking to someone across the room. Each and every
one of these and almost every other advance were met with huge resistance.  For
example, in the spring of 1633,
Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, was delivered before the dreaded
Roman Inquisition to be tried on charges of heresy. He was denounced,
according to a formal statement, "for holding as true
the false doctrine . . . that the sun is the center of the world, and
immovable, and that the earth moves!" The statement
went on to read that "the proposition that the sun is
the center of the world and does not move from its place is absurd
and...heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture!" Galileo
was found guilty and forced to renounce his views. Ill and broken in
spirit, he was sentenced to a life of perpetual imprisonment and penance.
Today the same resistance
meets any logical, pragmatic and thoughtful change that threatens the
fixed position of any entrenched group.
The Ifa Foundation has
spent more than thirty years in research, analyzing, testing and presenting
thoughtful, logical energy observations and techniques that have often
flown in the face of those who claim the same infallibility the Church
used to silence Galileo. Yet, almost without exception, after the hostility,
attacks and fury have subsided, the vast majority of Ifa priests have
begun initiating women into Ifa, performing Divinations via the phone
and Internet, becoming aware of the existence and significance of Ori,
initiating men and women regardless of race nationality and sexual
preferences.
Today, as we observe the
currently painful exit from 500 years of fixed beliefs and self-indulgence,
and enter the dawn of a new era in scientific and spiritual understanding
and partnership, the Foundation is once again comfortable presenting
the next logical evolutionary energy step in the living energy of Ifa.
Unlike many of our previous
conclusions, this opportunity presents itself only as
the result of years of intense study, good character, acquired wisdom
and enormous spiritual growth. Under these conditions many will eventually
grow into the ability to perform this step. To deny its reality is
to remove you from the possibility of expressing and benefiting from
it.
This step offers
individuals, for the first time, the opportunity of genuine initiation
in either the traditional system utilizing animal sacrifice, or through
an equally powerful, yet bloodless Orisa or Ifa initiation!
The Ifa Foundation, as
it has for more than a quarter of a century, will continue to work
with logical, open minded men and women that seek self-empowerment
through the guiding principals of Ifa. Individuals who understand the
time to be tethered to the past is over, that as the Phoenix of our
previous behavior bursts into flames, the eternal living Truths
of Odu will rise from the ashes, fresh, powerful, adapted to the realities
that must now be observed and worked with if all – our self’s
included – are to reach our Destinies.
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