The Truth About Ogun

Ever since the first realization of Orisa they have been slandered. Orunmila is a fortune teller than can be bought on the cheap with an animal sacrifice, a bottle of rum, and the proper monetary donation to a priest or two. The way most people talk about Osun she should be better known as the Orisa of prostitution. Personally I’ve heard an Osun initiate refer to his Orisa as the goddess of sex and money. The Orisa of the rainbow, Osumare, is accused of being gay or some kind of transvestite. Orisas are accused of human pettiness. Yemonja doesn’t get along with Oya. Esu is all about revenge and tricking people, and Baba is far from being Ifa’s version of the Christian’s devil. There is a lot of slander about the Orisa community.

Because too many of us don’t have the spiritual connection to talk to the Orisas directly we rely on the word of others to be our spiritual guides to the world of Orisa. Unfortunately, not all spiritual guides have the connection to Orisa themselves. Too many people have gotten the story from someone else themselves. Over the years and over the generations, the traditional understandings of Orisas have become little more than the fairy tales of the Ifa community. And when the African stories get translated from Yoruba into English or other languages, interpretations of the stories get twisted with the poor choice of words from the conversion. Such is the problem of a spiritual tradition that is taught word of mouth, especially when taught to people who usually learn from reading and writing.

However, if there was just one Orisa that I had to pick that was maligned the most it would have to be Baba Ogun, the Orisa of metallurgy and technology. There is a story in Ifa accusing Ogun of “raping” Yemonja, the mother of Orisas. Because of his infraction against the Yemonja and the rest of the Orisa community Ogun exiled himself from olorun and abandoned the Orisa community. The Orisas tried to make due without Ogun but their tools began to break and the community began to fall into disrepair. When the Orisas pleaded to Ogun to come back he was so ashamed he would grab his machete and run them off. Only Osun, who was able to use her sweet disposition, could lure Ogun out of the woods.

Ogun is not the antisocial thug of the Orisa community many people claim he is. If nothing else Baba Ogun is very respectful towards women and everyone. Although he can be intense and very no nonsense, he is not always angry or as quick to anger as people think he is. In fact, Baba has a very good sense of humor. Baba Ogun gets a kick out of seeing so many Ifa devotees try to win his favor by getting the largest Ogun pot they can lift. I actually knew an Obatala iyawo who had an Ogun pot large enough to hold a four foot shovel. The bigger the pot, the bigger you got! It actually makes Baba laugh to see so many people actually buy into the human presumption that the more the better. But it doesn’t buy Baba’s favor one iota.

Baba Ogun is the Orisa of war. He does get on the warpath when it is necessary according to Olodumare’s divine plan. But Baba doesn’t go to war at the slightest provocation. If Baba was to make the decision to go to war then trust me it will be for a very good reason. Ogun knows that war is not something to be taken lightly. War involves death and destruction. War is nothing to be glorified and Ogun does not dream of war for war’s sake.

Baba Ogun is the deity of metallurgy and technology. He is often depicted as a blacksmith standing over an anvil with a hammer in one hand and a piece of metal in the other. Ogun is credited for being the inspiration for human progress and development of technology. War machines are usually a strong proponent of technology. The defense contracting business of the United States has always been on the cutting edge of technology. The trickle down effect of this technological development usually finds civilian applications once the weapon developers move on to the more latest and the more greatest new thing.

With the foundation of Ifa going back something like five thousand years, it is the oldest spiritualities still in being practiced today. If this is the case, it is a reasonable assumption that the African Orisa Ogun was modified to fit the European’s belief system and became the ancient Greek god Ares, the god of war of Mount Olympus from about eight hundred to four hundred years before the birth of Christ, and then later Mars, the god of war in Roman mythology from about eight hundred years before Christ to about five hundred years after the year of the Christian lord. With this in mind and the fact that more people have been exposed to Roman and Greek mythology, more people are a lot more familiar with Ogun than they think.

But for some reason people within Ifa are responsible for some of the most misconstrued concepts of Ogun. And if he was as blood thirsty as a lot of people portray him to be a lot of people would find themselves suffering from Baba’s wrath. But like all Orisas Baba Ogun is gracious and he is above petty human emotions like anger and revenge. His patience is longer than a lot of people give him credit for. His sense of loyalty and correctness should be above reproach. More people need to learn Ogun for who he truly is and not for what tradition says he is.

Mo fe de fun Ogun!