Olódùmarè: Our Creator

Olódùmarè is the creative and generative force of existence that the Abrahamic traditions have likened to God. However, Olódùmarè has not created and divorced itself from creation, but is the intrinsic force    permeating and governing all aspects of creation. The nature of Olódùmarè is awareness, expansion and contraction. Olódùmarè is the veiled and accessible divine force of intelligence and creativity radiating through all realms of existence. Every single and collective aspects of nature is an aspect of Olódùmarè. In the Odù Ọ̀sá Aláwò (Ọ̀sá Òtúrá), Ifá sheds more light on the essence and nature of Olódùmarè.

Ifá ni, Ẹní ó bá kóónú omi, Nii mọ ibi ti omí muni dé, Ẹní ó bá ké ìbòòsí, Nii fẹjú yànyàànyàn sókè, À dífá fún Ọ̀rúnmìlà, Níjọ́ tí ńlọ rèé rídìí Olódùmarè, Òun le rídìí gbogbo nkan báyìí? Wọ́n ní kí Ọ̀rúnmìlà ó rúbọ, Wọ́n ní ṣùgbọ́n ní ẹsẹ̀ òkun ni kó gbé ẹbọ ẹ̀ lọ, Ọ̀rúnmìlà bá rúbọ…

Ifá says, He that steps into the river, Would know the depth of the water, He that shouts a cry of help, Would widen his eyes up to the sky, Cast Ifá for Ọ̀rúnmìlà, On the day he was inquiring of the secrets of Olódùmarè, Would I discover the secrets of everything on earth? Ọ̀rúnmìlà asked, He was told to make Ẹbọ, And that he should go and place the Ẹbọ at the beach, Ọ̀rúnmìlà made Ẹbọ…

In this narrative Ifá speaks about how Ọ̀rúnmìlà was guided to make offering so as to know the secret nature of Olódùmarè. Ifá directed them to bring the Ẹbọ to the beach. As he was placing the Ẹbọ, Olódùmarè removed his clothing and was stark naked. The large part of Olódùmarè’s buttocks was the ocean. And as Olódùmarè inhaled the oceans currents would be pulled outward toward the sea and as they exhaled the ocean currents would be pulled inward toward the shore. The breath of Olódùmarè was the reason for the oceans movement. As Ọ̀rúnmìlà was about to place the Ẹbọ down on the beach, Olódùmarè asked Ọ̀rúnmìlà if they had seen their secret. Ọ̀rúnmìlà replied I had only seen the robust part of your buttocks. Olódùmarè told Ọ̀rúnmìlà that there was nothing that they would not know from that day forward. 

If we examine this Ẹsẹ̀ Ifá, we can see that it speaks to Olódùmarè’s inherent nature as being hidden in plain sight. The ocean as a divine aspect of nature personifies Olódùmarè’s presence as being vast and omnipresent. The nature of Olódùmarè personified as the breath giving rise to both inhalation and exhalation is a direct reference to the expansive and contractive nature of existence. The secret which Olódùmarè revealed to Ọ̀rúnmìlà when going to rest the Ẹbọ on the shore was that the access point to Olódùmarè’s nature is awareness. The placing of the Ẹbọ by Ọ̀rúnmìlà is a symbolic reference to taking conscious action inspired by divine intelligence. This is further emphasized by the names of Diviners, Ẹní ó bá kóónú omi, Nii mọ ibi ti omí muni dé, Ẹní ó bá ké ìbòòsí, Nii fẹjú yànyàànyàn sókè, meaning he that steps into the river would know the depth of the water, he that shouts a cry of help would widen his eyes up to the sky, both speak to coming into different states of varying awareness through effort and action. In short, this Ẹsẹ̀ shares with us that Olódùmarè is as close to us as our breath; Olódùmarè is the obscured presence but eternal source of our inner nature accessed through conscious effort giving rise to awareness.

Aboru Aboye.

~ Ifáwuyi Opeifa