₦airaland Forum

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER ONE
ORISANLA, which translates as the great divinity or ‘the one of most grandeur’, was the first deity OLODUMARE created. He was full of meekness, calmness, patience and gentleness. His character (IWA) pleased OLODUMARE. It delighted him so much that he continued to extol ORISANLA and give him more power, authority, and wisdom much to the chagrin of other deities.
OLODUMARE was satisfied with the IWA of ORISANLA that he crowned him the head of all divinities and bestowed upon him the honour of OLOKUN (possessor of the earthly water) amongst other honours.
This caused grumbling among the deities. The chief cause of the carp was that marshy waters the ORISHAS usually descended from the heavens to meditate and chill out in now belonged to ORISANLA.
Most were furious and jealous but none as ILE (the mother earth) because her authority covered the sea of the earth and the honour of OLOKUN made ILE lose significance.
OLODUMARE noticed the tacit dissatisfaction and decided to make a new creation that will be completely an awe to them, but once again OLODUMARE chose ORISANLA to accomplish the task. This irritated the ORISHAS.
ILE convened a secret meeting. At this assembly, the focus was a plot to strip ORISANLA of his numerous honour and glory. ORUNMILA AGBONNIREGUN did not utter any word at the gathering and ESU LALU ELEGBARA did not honour the invitation.
Lead by ILE, a cluster of deities approached OLODUMARE. They beseeched him to send ORISANLA on a quest that will prove that ORISANLA is worthiness for the task at hand. OLODUMARE knew they were up to something but played along to observe how far jealousy would drive them to act against ORISANLA. The quest proposed that OLODUMARE do not to give him the materials required to complete the task so easily but on the contrary, the materials should be given to ILE, who will test ORISANLA in order to ensure that he is worthy of the task of the new creation.
OLODUMARE agreed but decided not to give all the materials to ILE but to place the four materials in the care of four different ORISHAS. Their charge was to each assign a task to ORISANLA. The reward for completing an ORISHAS task was the material in his custody.
Once again ILE spoke, saying “If ORISANLA is unable to complete these tasks, all the ORISHAS that agreed to send him on this task will be given parts of his power, honour and glory”.
OLODUMARE once again agreed, for he had full confidence in ORISANLA. He warned them that once ORISANLA is able to complete their quest, they will lose all rights to interact with the new creations.
ILE and the other deities agreed to his terms. ILE spoke once more, asking OLODUMARE to choose amongst them the one that will complete the task of creating mankind; in case ORISANLA fails, she asked this with high hopes that the buck will be passed to her since she was the guardian of the watery earth.
OLODUMARE saw into her thoughts and decided to choose ODUDUWA; the most reserved of the ORISHAS as his replacement. This he did so in order to send a message to ILE; that she would never be permitted to interact with mankind.
OLODUMARE still had full faith in ORISANLA.

....to be continued

And so it was in the BEGINNING of the BEGINNING (IWASE).

PROLOGUE
Deies did not see the beginning of days neither will they see the end of life. They cannot
change nor be discoloured by age like men. They are immortal. They dwell in the heavens
with OLODUMARE and share in his characteriscs. They share in his in"nite divine
excellence, completeness, and wholeness.
Long ago, before men walked the earth, when the earth was without form and empty, when
darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The one true breather of life
OLODUMARE created deies. This he did to substanate his glory, nature, and phenomenal
status.
OLODUMARE is a mystery. He is neither man nor woman, he is what he chooses to be.
Likewise, the deies take a'er him as they are bene"ciaries of his magni"cence. They reveal
themselves in whatever form they see "t.
OLODUMARE created 1700 deies in all. To each he gave separate responsibilies, a reason
for existence. From the smallest task to the biggest task; there was a deity to oversee it.
He gave to the deies the prerogave of choice. It was a deity’s responsibility to choose his
path – either posive or negave.
The posive and dynamic powers of the heavens called IRUNMOLES (the great and
extremely posive deies) were led by ORISANLA. Foremost among them are IFA ORUNMILA
BABA AGBONMIREGUN (the oracle of divinaon), OGUN (the god of iron, war, jusce, and
the chase), SANGO (the god of thunder and lightning) and ESU (a trickster deity who
generates confusion but is also a protector). The counterparts of the posive powers with
negave spiritual vibraons were known as AJOGUN ORUN (THE PUNITIVE KNIGHTS OF
HEAVEN).