There was a time in Yoruba history that Yorubas had the belief that twins or Ibeji were a curse. Thus the law was then that when a mother gives birth to twins both the mother and the twins were put to death. In many parts of Africa and in the world twins are still considered a curse, put to death and in many other places misunderstood and mistreated. In a world where most people are born alone and by themselves or as singletons there is an envy towards those who are born with their soul mates. When singleton children are born most experience loneliness as children, as human beings they crave companionship, likability with others and acceptance from those around them. Where in as twins are born having a constant playmate, likability and acceptance from the others meaning usually with the other twin. Also twins receive special attention from the mother that her other children do not receive because twins demand more of the mother's time and energy because both babies cry together, play together and usually work together to get the mother's attention. Twins develop faster socially because of the constant interaction with another human being, having very artistic gifts in human activities like dancing, drumming and general happiness surrounding them thus promoting Oshun (Love) which is the force behind (Aje) prosperity. Also divine power (Esu) favors twins because of their energetic nature because divine power is energy as expressed in high forms within twins (Ibeji). This phenomenon stirs up envy or intense sibling rivalry in the other children. Not just the mother's children but other children in general and even from adults because twins experience an unshared reality that singleton adults do not experience, an experience that singletons secretly crave. We all want to be liked, we all want human companionship and we all want to be favored. Human beings crave the unreal world although, of power, money and fame, and seem to despise or be depressed almost naturally with the silence and solitude which comes with being a singleton or being alone. With this understanding comes my point of why twins are misunderstood and thus ultimately mistreated in this world besides that fact this world has no justice.

The hypocrisy comes when singletons find it just to take the life of twins because of their bizarre beliefs perpetuated throughout the society. Usually the justification for such a belief is the confusion twins can because people can't tell them apart. Usually the mother and those who know them can tell them apart, but yet not all twins are identical exactly as some twins are fraternal, fraternal means that the twins aren't of the same egg which split to become two, thus maternal, but can be one drop of sperm, which fertilized two different eggs, thus fraternal. But despite twins (human beings) born at the same time in the celestial order share the same astrological make up therefore share the same guardian spirit. In Ifa the guardian spirit of twins is Sango, the orisha of fire and intensity. Twins represent duality, one twin can be a girl and other a boy, one set of twins can be identical and another not identical, one twin can be playful and the other conservative, one twin can be evil and the other good, both twins can be evil and both twins can be good. It is this confusion which supports the false justifications aimed at mistreatment of twins, which is the product actually of envy. In further instance, one twin can commit a crime and people would not be able to decide which twin did it as both would deny it. Rarely the evil one will confess his crime, sometimes both may be playing a game of denial or sometimes one may be actually innocent but nonetheless assumed guilty because of the confusion. And sometimes the confusion may be feinted by the accusers because of the dislike for twins in general by the society. Historically Yorubas would consult a babalawo, who reads Ifa, to determine which twin committed the offense so that the evil one would be punished and the innocent one would be cleared. Yet still sometimes there is an insistence by the society because of hypocrisy to punish both for the evil of one this goes back to the real reason twins are mistreated in the first place due to envy.

Sango the 3rd of Oyo was a twin, he was the son of Oranmiyan Omoluabi and his wife, Queen Elembpa, who was a princess of Nupe sometimes called Tapa. The marriage between Oranmiyan and Elembpa was the basis of a truce between Ife and Nupe, there was constant war with the two but historically Nupe or Nok people were originally Yorubas who became their own kingdom. Sango was born in a time when the Yoruba law said when twins are born the mother and the twins would be put to death. Even as Alaafin, Oranmiyan was not exempt from this law. Nonetheless being Alaafin he had the power to advert the law, ordering his servants to send the mother and the twins both to Nupe in secret. These twins were the only twins to survive this unjust law at that time. Just because a thing becomes law within a society doesn't mean that it is just.

As the story of Sango proceeds, Oyo ended up being under attack by a group of Africans herdsmen who settled upon the border of Yoruba kingdoms. African herdsmen who wandered from place to place in order so their cattle, whom they reared, could graze and have water, they needed to be constantly on the move. Unlike Yorubas, who thanks to Ogun's machette, the invention of farming by women actually, were a pastoral and settled people. The Yorubas who had the benefit of farming their food were able to establish towns and cities and thus prosper. Women inventing gardening which in turn produced farming with the assistance of the men (Ogun) blacksmiths who invented steel or the smothering of metal. Again primitive stone axes can't chop down thick oak trees which had to be cleared to have open land for farming. As time passed the herdsmen being nomad, less developed, began to fight Yorubas over their farmlands and killing them. Ajaka was Alaafin at this time, being the one chosen by Oyo Mesi to be the Alaafin. But Ajaka although a good King had an inability to lead. Ajaka lacked confidence because of his plush palace life and lack of worldly experience, he couldn't get the War Ministers to comply with his orders. Yoruba armies were losing the war because they would always retreat when the battle was going bad for them. Being the first line of defense this left the town's people at the mercy of Oyo's enemies. There was an outcry from the people against this treason. These events were the cause of Oyo Mesi rejecting Ajaka, and the Sango the elder twin, Kainde, being summoned from the kingdom of Nupe and installed as Alaafin. The people were happy to know that the were two more sons of Oranyiman the great Alaafin of Oyo and one of them Sango was now their new King.

Sango's first act as King was to declare a no retreat and no surrender order to the War Ministers. Which meant that the army could not return to Oyo unless they were victorious in battle. Also any disobeying of commands from the Alaafin was an automatic death sentence as this was a time of war. Thus Sango improved the military discipline of Oyo's armies. Sango instituted the art of Calvary and the use of sorcery in war. The Yoruba's began to make an advancement against Oyo's enemies and a time of prosperity settled over Oyo for many years. So despite how Sango meet his fate, as their are many false stories meant to calumniate the character of the great King of Oyo, many stories started by Christian missionaries centuries later to break their resilience of Yoruba people in their own deities, Sango had a huge impact upon Yoruba civilization. In gratitude and in appreciation of his life, the Yoruba people evolved from the wicked practice of killing twins and saw the benefit of everyone's life. Ajaka was reinstated to the throne after the transition of Sango. Ajaka and the Oyo Mesi ordered Sango to be defied, a temple created in his honor as the manifestation of Jakuta, the thunder deity celebrated at Ife. The Ibeji was defied and honored as well. So were Sango's 3 wives, Obba, the Queen Mother, Oshun, the most beautiful woman in all of Oyo, and Oya the warrior queen who fought at the side of Sango like the women of Dahomey.

Thus Sango was the bringing together of the people and a healing of them of their wickedness which had brought upon the many curses they suffered. Twins are powerful souls born with 7 times the ashe of singletons. A testament of Olodumares (The Creator's) double blessing to families wanting children. The saving of Oyo and Ife by a twin was not the first time in history that a twin saved an African kingdom. Going back into history to the Old kingdom of Kemet. We will find that the Hyskos, known as Shepherd Kings, who came from within Africa from the mountain ranges took over Kemet for 700 years an established a wicked rule. As two lands, Kemet, the Hyskos ruled the Northern part called Lower Nile, while the Southern part called the Upper Nile, remained in the control of the Kemet people. Yet war ensured to overthrow the invaders who had grown obsessively arrogant. And two princes of the Southern Kingdom, who were twins, fought in that war. One twin died in battle, two axes clinched tight in his hands, he had to be buried with them as rigor mortise had set it. The other twin Ahmoses I, (Sometimes called the twin flames) who lived went on victorious, overthrew the Hyskos, driven them out and re-establishing the reign of the Kemetic people over both lands once again. Jacob the father of Israel was also a twin and his son Joesph blessed by God went on to save the Hebrew people from a devastating famine which destroyed many kingdoms at that time. It is hard to say who will be a savior, Heru or hero to his people yet heroine as women sometimes have saved a people. But one thing is for certain that twins have played a major role in keeping the light in human civilization from dying out in moments of darkness.

So the message from Sango today is don't be a hypocrite. All life is sacred. No one has the right to take someone's life for any reason unjust. No law or society can insist upon taking someone's life for whatever reason. Such a society is evil and will suffer the fate of being cursed by the divine as did Oyo at one time. People who lips say one thing but actions say another are hypocrites. If you value your life then you must value the life of all including animals. Demons know and recognize hypocrites and will enter their houses, their bodies and their hearts as they have decadence and filth in which demons thrive. Esu unleashes demons upon those who make the choice of evil. Service to the underworld promises people the unreal and the temporary. Underworld people sacrifice their own family, those who trust them and the innocent so they can rise within the material and unreal world. Ultimately this will lead to punishment from the divine and a reckoning will ensue. That is evil you do to others will be returned unto you 10 fold or a 100 even. All the gold you earned from evil will turn to black worthless metal. The empire of the underworld will be destroyed in this new age of enlightenment in which we now behold. Repent, have faith and return to your traditions. The traditions of Africa which were established by the divine as true paths of love and light for all men to adhere and experience spiritual growth, thus re-connect their spirits with the Creator. Ase.

Love,

Sango.

Patiently waiting for someone that read all of the above