 © Tavis Cockburn
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Ofun Twice, Again Click to read Click to |
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© Tavis Cockburn
|
Ofun Twice, Again Click to read Click to |
Ofun
Twice, Again
II II
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II II
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The work will be in the realm of the imagination as plain as the sky is to a
fisherman.
—William Carlos Williams, "Spring and All"
Omodé tó iku—
murmured el negro viejo after his spirit mounted someone’s head (Egungun). The spirit from another era, tiempo de la colonia, tiempo de senseribó, de los negros Kongo, negros Lukumí (Egungun). He said he knew the story—
Perhaps these were the last words he ever heard before the new pact was made. They said it would be of utmost importance for him to observe the taboo of not blowing out candles. The candle would be the measure, the vehicle of communication between Iku & himself—blowing the flicker would sever the dialogue. There would come a day when he would see through mystical vision a candle burning at someone’s bedside. As an herbalist and diviner he could not heal that person. Iku would need that life, probably so that another one can be born somewhere else.
There was actually a time, maybe this is still going on, when a person’s ori inu (that is, literally the "head inside," the entity within that says "do this" or "do that," that says "follow this path" or "follow that") would choose where and when it was going to be born, to whom, who would be the patron deity/Orisha, what course his life would follow, and finally when will he breathe his last sigh. This of course would be contingent on what kind of destiny, what kind of head the ori inu chose—oriré or ori buruku, good or bad head. But then sometimes a head chooses to be born and to die soon after and born and die and continue this cycle—the head of an abiku.
There was actually a time, maybe this is still going on, when before burying the abiku, someone (El Niño’s parents, priests presiding over his ritual), would clip a piece of ear from El Niño’s corpse or cut half his pinky. The idea was to identify him as abiku when he returned. If he had such markings his history, the paths he’s traversed, the heads he’s petitioned, would be known. The proper amuletos can be prepared, the taboos observed. Somewhere along the lines though, the ori inu in conjunction with his Orisha & Gun/ancestors must all make a pact with Iku.
El Niño actually wants to live.
The Pact:
1.
The candle will be our medium for dialogue
We must always
be on speaking term
2.
When you see the candle by the bedside burning
it will be my message to you
Do Not Touch!
3.
You will heal through herbs &
the words I give you to
spray unto the solution
4.
Never dress in black
I may mistaken you for
someone ready to die
5.
As much as possible
do not speak wickedly or damn anyone
6.
As much as possible
stay away from funerals
I like to work alone
Death is death’s work (Iku n’iku he)
7.
Egun will be my messenger
8.
You may also petition me
through that white staff
you know the one—
with bells & snail shells
You also know the chant
9.
Do not be tempted by possessions & titles
If you have patience
I will make possible
those you actually
will need
10.
Remember this pact
and I will give you health & long life (aiku).
All this was negotiated just prior to his birth. He probably kneeled before the Owner of the Sky while Iku, his patron Orisha & many Egun sat watching with fly whisks in hand and full regalia (after all, one of their own was about to embark on his journey to the human world). The ilé aìyé.
He probably placed in circular fashion inside a big calabash all his choices, probably whispered into the gourd a slow "Ashé tó iba Eshu." We say probably because one thing is for sure, El Niño does not remember the details, in fact no one does (except the deities & Iku). No one remembers the details of their creation. No one remembers the destiny, the mission they chose, their personal Orisha and, most importantly, the date of their last breath.
Memory & continuity. Keeping el hilo de la conversación. Never losing the wavy & fragile link that keeps you grounded to your root. The dialogue with spirits that may tap your left shoulder and all that. But no one remembers. No one remembers. Esto sí es trágico.
In order to recall the details of what went on in the other world, to map his destiny, El Niño must be taken for divination. And even then one session won’t do it. The story will get revealed as his life turns each page and changes rhythm and the oracle is cast several more times. So they took El Niño to the diviner Edikán’s house. After pouring libations & reciting the necessary ayuba prayers—greeting the creator, the ancestors, the divination, earth, wind, river, ocean, jungle & crossroad Orishas, Edikán cast the divining chain/ópele used by the babalawo. A picture began to emerge. He said the Orishas & Egun, collectively called ara orun or citizens of the other world, have given us certain verses & stories to deliver messages regarding the rhythms of our lives. He said eventually El Niño will be initiated into the Orisha priesthood. He said El Niño’s patron deity is Oshun but he will always have an affinity with Ogun & Obatalá. But most prominent is his close relationship with Egun, that is, the ancestors, Iku’s messengers. He said it would be through a kinship with Egun that he would accomplish his most difficult tasks: even the arts of divination. He will be a mouthpiece for Egun.
Edikán said El Niño has a predisposition to a vivid imagination. Because of this there are and will be mysterious phenomena happening to him like visions & dreams of secret songs. He will not regard them as strange.
He said El Niño should be taught even at a young age the rigors of an herbalist. He should be taught at least how to recognize certain trees & plants, the healing properties of the most commonly used herbs, their harvesting times, how they mix and with what substances. All this will eventually lead to an encyclopedic knowledge not only of their healing properties but of their ability to alter the invisible rhythms that underlie most things.
Edikán said there will be certain resguardos that must be prepared so as to begin bridging the gap between the Orishas, Iku, Egun & himself. Even though El Niños‘s inner head/ori inu chose a good destiny in the other world, such destiny must be aligned with his physical head/ori in this world. It will be Orishas & Egun that will focus his life and help him fullfill the destiny he chose in the other world. He said beginning with the feet El Niño must be securely fastened to the earth so as not to depart too soon for the other world. (You see there is always the detail of Iku being overprotective. The relationship is like playing with a leopard—even an affectionate jab with its paw will cause a scar.) The head will also have to be ritually prepared and fed with bits of white fruit among other ingredients and thus given a firm root stability—"para que su cabeza no esté en el aire," he said.
We were witness to this event. We heard what needed to be done. There was actually a time, maybe this is still going on, when people consulted with the spirit world, the other world, on such occasions as the third month after birth. We collected the ingredients that would shape his destiny and began to assemble them. Much of them were from the river, the jungle & of course the cemetery. We heard what needed to be done.
Ara Orun are hip to the images & subtle rhythms that stories & verses evoke. The same images & subtle rhythms running through our lives. Edikán said that barring some details of modernity, this life would follow a certain ancient story pertaining to the divination—
Ofun is like this/
Ofun ni jé bé—
The page continues to turn. The rhythm, the rhythm will come from dreams.
In this essay I have not italicized Spanish. I have, however, italicized Lukumi. This word denotes a language, a culture, and a religion. As I was growing up in southwest Miami in the 1970s, Lukumi or Santería religion was around me, on the periphery. When I went to college I became more curious about the religion intellectually and culturally. I started writing. At first I was writing very different stuff, mostly Beat-influenced poetry. By the time I left college, however, I was using Leukemia culture and aesthetics in my writing. It was a vehicle of self-expression. After graduation I spent a lot of time around the Leukemia community and studied the cultural history more in detail. My interest deepened, and I decided to make a personal commitment. Now I am an initiated priest (babalosha is the Leukemia term). There are large Leukemia communities in Miami and New York and smaller growing communities in Chicago and Los Angeles. For your information, a couple of definitions:
Yoruba: a tribe from the African West Coast (now Nigeria) from which many slaves were captured and brought to the new world. A major influence in Afro-Cuban culture. Their descendants were founders of Santería or Regla de Ocha (the most predominant of Afro-Cuban religions), also referred to as Lukumi.
Orisha: deity, a god or goddess in the Yoruba religion from Cuba and West Africa.
Profile
We all grew up: the Cameo is now an ultra-chic venue featured on the covers of endless ultra-chic magazines; Cessie married ex-NPR/BBC correspondent Alan Tomlinson, had three kids, and moved to Philadelphia, via Brazil and Colombia; and Geoffrey, Adrian, and I do poetry in public places and in schools on our two-wheelers as "The Bicycle Poets."
—Jeffrey Knapp
Bio
Adrian Castro
Place of residence: Miami Beach.
Birthplace: Miami.
Day job: Building inspector for a private engineering firm.
Education: B.A. in psychology and English. Currently studying Chinese medicine.
Book: Cantos to Blood & Honey, from which the above essay is excerpted,
forthcoming from Coffee House Press in 1997.
Anthologies: Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets. One Century of Cuban Writers in
Florida. Little Havana Blues.
Serial publications: Forkroads. Bilingual Press Review. Conjunctions.
Awards: NewForms Florida (sponsored by NEA). Florida Arts Council state grant.
Current project: Finishing another collection of poems, a collaborative performance
piece with visual artists, entitled Ogun: Iron, Conflict, and Creativity. I will
write the text and do the performance.
Favorite books: Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes, Canto General by
Pablo Neruda, Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano, and many others.
Beliefs: Well, I’m an initiated Yoruba priest. I’m what you may call an
animist. Belief is too complex to get into in a couple of sentences. See most of my poetry
for what I truly believe!
Cravings: To be in constant communication with the essential energies that surround
me and to summon them at will. To be able to go back in time to the decade before the turn
of the 20th century. To be a plank of wood on a slave ship.
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