Irinajo- An Ode to the deity of one’s head; Ori

When you wake up, pay homage to your head Ori

Ori is the only orisa that can be with us and accompany us through all life’s journeys

Ori laa ba bo, ka fi orisa s’ile

Ori eni ni awure eni

A kii b’ori eni di ijakadi, bi a ba ba ori eni di ijakadi

Ori a ma da’ni.

Ibi ori da mi si naa, ibi ire ni

Your head is the only orisa that can lead you well.

Of all the deities in the Yoruba folklore, just next to ogun the god of iron, ori is the other orisa i find quite intriging. Ori, literally meaning “head,” refers to one’s spiritual intuition and destiny. It is the reflective spark of human consciousness embedded into the human essence, and therefore is often personified as an Orisha in its own right. It is believed that human beings are able to heal themselves both spiritually and physically by working with the Orishas to achieve a balanced character, or “iwa-pele”. When one has a balanced character, one obtains an alignment with one’s Ori or divine self.

It is also believed that Ori be worshiped like Orisha. When things are not going right, Ori should be consulted. And to make things right Ori should be appeased. This is because whatever one becomes or whatever happens in one’s life is as destined by Ori. I had first come across this deity as a young man growing up in Osogbo waking up to the beautiful songs of “beautiful Nubia” almost every day of my life, thanks to living spring fm 104.5 Osogbo, they seemed to have no other tracks in their radio station. Permit me to refer to him as Nubia in the course of this article. Nubia’s Irinajo was on that stuck me in numerous ways. While working at the University of Ife, I had met Professor Olayinka who was a professor of Arts at the University of Ibadan, we met at a book reading session where he had spent about 25 minutes talking about Ori and its application even in today’s world. Prof invited me to dinner at his host’s house and the entire conversation is definitely something for another day. However, Nubia’s Irinajo was playing that night over dinner and on so many days ever since then, I had found comfort in that song as it perfectly summarizes the entire concept of and beleifs around the deity Ori .

I find Ori a very comforting deity, unlike ogun who appears to be violent and filled with power and energy, ori is a deity that was sent by orunmila to accompany and guide men (and women) through all of their journeys. I have tried my best to reduce the use of the word destiny through out this article to the bearest minimum. Ori is very related to destiny as to some extent, one could say Ori shapes a person’s destiny and as reflected in Ola Rotimi’s the gods cannot be blamed, one can not run evade the path in which ori sets down however, I do not beleive in destiny as I beleive a person’s destiny is usually shaped by one’s actions and present decisions. Moreover the reduction of our suffering in life mainly depends on us alone.

Human beings are not resistant to suffering. We have common sense which helps us react to suffering that happens to us — which we triggered in our life and are now trying to regulate it with help of common sense. We are all born capable to make changes to reduce our suffering, and precisely for this reason we have to be in touch with our inner mind so that everything functions perfectly. We know many people, whom somehow everything goes wrong. They don’t have a plan or some special intention. Things just happen to them. These peoples’ lives are on autopilot. Nothing is conditioned on their activity. They don’t think and they don’t feel their life. Such people are lead only by the consequences in their lives. However other people who whish to dominate over the events and paths in their lives, are here to get to know their Ori and to work with it every single day. Ori is the one, who helps us become the conductor to our fate. Ori is the one, who provides us with the minimum wisdom and intelligence to save things, to react to events in our lives in the right way.

On days when I feel sad, days when i am unsure and days when I have no clue what direction I am heading, I walk down to the river, listen to Irinajo, knowing that my journey is still early and life would always bow down to the man with faith. My ori is good and I know where it is taking me and all I have to do is give my journey all it takes, give it all I know and give it all my heart. So I go into the world, into the deeps and into the wild,

Irinajo wa ni’le aye, y’o l’adun, y’o dun j’oyin
Oro ileri y’o si se, b’o pe, b’o ya
Akololo a pe baba, eni gbin wura a se bebe
Onikaluku ni y’o jere ise owo re b’olojo de
(Our passage through this existence shall be filled
with happiness
It may be long but each will get his due, good or
bad.
It may tarry, but soon the covenant of the ages shall
come to pass). -Beautiful Nubia

May our Ori lead us well.