by Baba Awotunde Dosunmu Yao Faseyin ©2007

I’ll bet you are saying "Here is Baba Awotunde with some more controversial stuff". If that is what you were thinking you are absolutely correct. I want to quickly address something that most are not willing to deal with. The issue? FAKE ELDERS IN AFRIKAN TRADITION. On pages 67-68 of my third book, New Afrikan Vodun Volume II: Rites of Spiritual Nationalism, under the section entitled "The Divine Tripartite in the New Afrikan Spiritual and Social Order", I state:

"Within the finite world of gbe (Fongbe for “life”), or life, we have yet another tripartite in relation to the socio-spiritual order in which we function. (omitted is a diagram of a triangle depicting the elders on the right bottom corner of the triangle, the priests on the left bottom corner, and the individual at the APEX angle of the triangle). The previous diagram depicts the individual in relation to aspects of the whole. The person, from youth to elder, is dependent upon elders and priests within the mundane part of the Afrikan cosmogram. Each has its function and as Ancestral protocol would have it each answer to an authority above it… The elder here represents the Kúvitô. Individuals go between and across these three stated roles throughout life. It is according to purpose, reason, and function how we deal within this tripartite."

"Both elder and priest are to support the seeker’s own kpoli. The elders, through earthly and spiritual wisdom, provide a supportive backdrop for those on the quest for knowledge of self. They morally support you through discipline, advice, information, and love. The priests are there to tap into the divine. When divining or doing spiritual consultation they are only consulting your own destiny! This is the empowering point of reference for the seeker. The more in tune with Self you are the more the Self will resonate with the messages of Fá as conveyed by the priestess or priest. Both elder and priest are simply there to support your own kpoli (Vodun for the spiritual consciousness of the individual Afrikan)."

Now, the emphasis of the above quote is based on the elders SUPPORTING the individual spirit or consciousness of the person in society. Just because someone is OLD does not necessarily make one an elder in the true Afrikan sense of the word as we use in Yoruba AGBALAGBA. An elder is one who supports the individual and the culture. Continuously displaying behavior counter to the culture makes one unworthy to even be CALLED an elder.

I am writing this because it seems as if many younger people in the Orisa tradition in particular harbor some sort of unfounded FEAR of these FAKE elders in their tradition. Some are scared that they are more spiritually powerful. However, there should be NO fear because rest assured that THE DEITIES HAVE LEFT THOSE FAKE AND UNRULY ELDERS. All they may possess in the mundane world is a TITLE, but no real ASE. Some of the younger people in the tradition need to realize also that they have more ase in their pinky fingers than these FAKE ELDERS. Please believe it because it is true! And here is another big controversial one right here: once you find out that they are FAKE ELDERS then you are NOT obligated to respect them still as elders. That is coming from the CULTURE and not me. In the sacred Odu Ifa Iwori Meji, Ifa states:

The hands of children can not reach the altar
While those of the elders can not enter the gourd
The errands that children send the elders
Let them refuse not
For there are assignments which fathers ought to carry out for their children

The first two lines obviously speak of a symbiotic relationship. Lines 3 and 4 speak more directly to that support I speak of in relation to elders in relation to individuals and the culture. The "agbalagba adamodi", or FAKE ELDER, does not pay attention to Iwori méjì or the culture though they may be decked out in all of the fineries of the tradition. However, Olodumare sees all and deals with them accordingly. A commentary from Odu Ifa Okanran Ogbe states:

There is a person, Ifa says,that we all look up to, but who holds himself in too high a regard. It is good to honor our parents and our elders, but sometimes we know more about,and have better insight into certain things than our elders. Sometimes an Elder must be forced to RESIGN, for such is life. We strive for good character, so that we can succeed that Elder.

The sacred Odu Ifa Ika Irete states: "A town that is difficult to live in lacks elders. An elder who is difficult to live with lacks a knife at home and lacks a knife in the woods"

The reference to a "knife" is a reference to have a tool to complete certain necessities (eating, carving, kwk) in life. Ultimately, the "elder who is difficult to live with" cannot survive. But note that Ifa says that "A town that is difficult to live in lacks elders". This is vital for any and all Afrikan temples, organizations, kwk to overstand. To have such fake elders in your midst creates a bad image no matter how good your intentions are. Some people are not able to weed out the good from the bad and will take such persons as representative of your organization. I also want to emphasize the fact that these people are not to be physically or spiritually feared in no form or fashion. They can do NOTHING to you and they must be exposed, called out, and REMOVED!

Finally Ifa states in Ogbe Iwori: "Bad CONDUCT is what is attributed to the youth. Bad CHARACTER is what is attributed to the elder."

Odabo

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