OBATALA and the Golden Chain of the Gods

"At the beginning of time, after the Orishas had emerged from the Godhead [Oneness] splintered by Atunda, there was no earth as we know it today, only a vast reach of water and untamed swamps. The Orishas lived then in a place above the sky, a heaven land ruled by OLORUN, the supreme Orisha, also known as OLODUMARE. Each Orisha had attributes unlike the others`. ORUMILLA, for example, the eldest son of OLORUN, possessed the keys to sacred wisdom; the ability to peer into the future; to divine fate; and to understand the deepest mysteries of being. OBATALA was a symbol of the power to create life. Then there was ESHU, who enjoyed his role as a trickster-God, playing with the elements of chance and serendipity; ESHU also commanded speech and language and was OLORUN`S interpreter.

OLOKUN was the only Orisha that lived apart from the others. She reigned over the primal waters of the misty earth, a twilight domain with neither plant or animal life. For untold ages these two kingdoms, OLORUN`S above, and OLOKUN`S below, coexisted without conflict, for the other Orishas were content and paid little attention to OLOKUN`S realm.

OBATALA, however, was not satisfied with this state of affairs; He believed that if land was raised from the primal waters of OLOKUN, then the Orishas and other forms of life could inhabit the terrain. He approached OLORUN with these concerns, and the supreme Deity gave His Blessing to OBATALA.


;OBATALA, the motive force in this tale, is called "KING OF THE WHITE CLOTH" in part because white symbolizes seminal fluid, the creative potency of the male, which He is about to introduce into the feminine realm of OLOKUN. But OBATALA is no certain how to go about impregnating the primal waters with life and land, so He first consults ORUNMILLA, the great Seer.

to the Family:
compare OBATALA symbolizing creative force thru reproductive organs with Neter MIN`S erect penis .
to RBW:
compare the feminine realm of OLOKUN to the primal waters of the Ntr Nu, and to the Dogon Nommo.
compare OBATALA`S uncertainty to the Dogon creator AMMA`S "mistake", or "Pale Fox" story
to Olblack:
compare the NTRW AUSAR and TEHUTI with OBATALA and ORUNMILLA.
note that even the Creator of Life consults ORUMILLA.
to Sesa and Sekhmet:
consider OLOKUN carefully........

"ORUNMILLA cast 16 palm nuts on a diving tray, and from the pattern by which they fell He read their meaning. After many such castings, ORUNMILLA said to OBATALA, "Go to the watery realm of OLOKUN by way of a chain of gold, being sure you carry with you a snail shell full of sand, a white hen, a palm nut, and a black cat as your companion. This is what the palm nuts tell us."

:ORUNMILLA is also known as Ifa, the Yoruba system of divination that uses 16 cowrie shells tossed on a sacred tray, 256 patterns are possible, and each pattern has several hundred verses of poetry associated with it that provide an interpretation. Thus, the same sacred forces that govern the mystery of the creation of life as a whole also govern the mystery ofeach human life, these forces are controlled by ORUNMILLA, the God and keeper of the sacred mysteries, and communicated to us through IFA.

to Olblack:
compare IFA and the Oracle Cards of AUSAR AUSET Society.
to Family:
if IFA is 256 patterns multiplied by "several hundred" verses each, wouldn't that make the "Book" of IFA one of the largest religious "epics" known to the world?

"OBATALA sought out a goldsmith to make the sacred chain, but when He discovered He did not have enough gold, He went from Orisha to Orisha collecting whatever gold they could donate. Still, the goldsmith informed the God that the chain would be too short."
"Make it anyway, commanded OBATALA, and make a hook at the end."
So the sacred chain was made, and OBATALA descended from the sky carrying a bag with the other items; a snail shell of sand, a white hen, a palm nut, and a black cat. Halfway down He felt himself leaving the realm of the Orishas and entering the misty, twilight realm of OLOKUN. When He reached the end of the chain, just as the goldsmith predicted, he was still well above the waters. In limbo, He held the hook and wondered what to do.

I LOOKED ABOUT, AND I HAD NO PLACE TO STAND. NTR PTAH

"The sand," whispered ORUNMILLA from above.

So OBATALA took the snail shell and poured out the sand.

"The hen," came the voice from above.

OBATALA let the hen drop on the mound of sand He had just poured out. The hen instantly started to scratch at the sand, scattering it in all directions and thereby creating dry land; the scratching wasn't uniform, so the sand formed high and low places, hills and ravines, mountains and valleys. After the hen stopped, OBATALA let go of the chain and came to rest on solid earth, which went for great distances in every direction. He called the place where He landed IFE!
OBATALA built a house there and planted His palm nut, which quickly grew into a palm tree. The palm tree matured, and ripe palm seeds fell, giving birth to vegetation. OBATALA lived for some time this way, with only a black cat for a companion.

for the Family:
the golden chain is the "World Axis" or "Ladder to Heaven" that enables communication between Heaven and earth.
the palm tree is the "Tree of Life" or "Celestial granary" or "World Tree", symbolic of the first life upon earth.
the sand is "Consecrated Holy Land" from OLORUN`S realm.
IFE is the original Holy City, or "Garden of Eve".

OBATALA asked the supreme Orisha OLORUN for some light to warm and brighten the twilight land He now called home, and OLORUN in response created the Sun, and set it in motion. OBATALA tired of just His cat as a companion, and one day determined that He should make men and women to share the earth with Him. Working non-stop, He dug bits of clay, which he formed into small figurines, male and female, shaped like Himself. Eventually, OBATALA grew exhausted and thirsty from all this work and longed for some palm wine to refresh and rejuvenate Him. So He paused from the task of creating humans and drew the sap of a palm tree, which He lets sit and ferment. Then He took a long draught of palm wine before returning to the task of creating humans. But now OBATALA had become drunk from the wine, his world grew out of focus, His fingers unsteady. And some of the figures He created reflected this, they were albinos, cripples, hunchbacks, dwarfs, or deaf-mutes. But in His drunken state OBATALA did not notice.

After creating a great many clay figures, OBATALA turned again to OLORUN and beseeched the supreme Orisha, "I have created these clay figures to inhabit the earth, but they are without life. Only you, OLORUN, have the power to bestow life on them. I ask that you give this gift so I may live with them as My companions."

for the Family:
A God that created us to be His companion??? A God that created us so that He may live with US??? Compare this to Ra Un Nefer Amen`s contention that the NTR AMEN begat creation because HE/SHE/IT was............alone.

OLORUN was pleased to comply with OBATALA`S wishes and breathed life into each figure created on earth. These newly created human beings saw OBATALA`S hut and began building of their own around His. In this way, the village of IFE grew up around the Orisha`s home.

When the palm wine wore off, OBATALA looked around, and seeing some beings malformed, realized what misery His drunkeness had brought. His heart was filled with compassion and remorse. "Never again will I drink palm wine. And I shall always protect those have been created with deformities and imperfections."

As the village of IFE grew into a great city, OBATALA longed more and more for His home above the clouds. One day He ascended back up the chain and arrived at OLORUN`S realm to a great celebration in His honor. When the other Orishas heard him describe the land and the people He created below, many of them decided to descend to earth to live among humanity. They prepared for their depature with this code from OLORUN: as Orishas, never forget that you are bound to the protection of even the lowliest of human beings. Always be open to their prayers, and offer them assistance when they are in need. OBATALA, who first descended the golden chain, will retain dominion over all earthly affairs, but each of you will be given a unique role to fulfill among humans. excersive this trust and responsibility well."

The other Orishas then left for the new land, while OBATALA enjoyed a long period of rest, occasionally descending the golden chain to check on His creation below.

The Yoruba Pantheon symbolizes the human psyche, so the myth squarely presents OBATALA`S human side, for He is drunk at the crowning moment of His glory. "The Yoruba assert straightforwardly that the God was tipsy and His hand slipped," observes Wole Soyinka, "bringing the God firmly within the human attribute of fallibility. Since human fallibility is known to entail certain disharmenous consequences for society, it also requires a search for remedial activities, and it is this cycle which ensures the constant regenerative process of the universe. By bringing the Gods within this cycle, a continuity of cosmic regulation involving the worlds of the ancestor and the unborn is also guaranteed."

This cycle of fallibility and remediation, itself a variant of the cycle of death and resurrection, regenerates not only the society and the universe but the individual as well. For now human fallibilty can be viewed on Godly terms, and Godly remediation becomes a potential that all humans can realize in their lives.

this work was taken from: THE HERO WITH AN AFRICAN FACE by Clyde W. Ford,
bantam books, ISBN 0-553-10544-2 [hc]
please buy this book, and support brother Ford in his work.

PNF
BLACK ROOSTER FAMILY
DONT STOP CANT STOP