Reposted from FB note:
I woke up with Yeye on my mind. Due to the fact I have been taught to respect elders at all cost I struggled with how to write this and remain respectful. So here goes.
I am being taught both by Yeyelawo Olomitutu and Iya Ifalola Sangoyemi. They have been such a blessing to me and have saved me from many things that I couldn't see with my own eyes, things I could see but was to "young" to comprehend, and even things I refused to see out of stubbornness. They are EXTREMELY strong women, but don't confuse strength with anger or hate. They are very much like the vulture that will prick her own thigh to feed her children the blood.
A lot of the imbalance and disharmony I see going on around me does hurt because I came into this culture with very high expectations that it was going to be all love. As I grow in life I see that is not the case anywhere. I will say, however, that for ME these two women have been salvation. I have only seen humility in them. When they have been wrong on any level, they let us learn from their mistakes. They didn't hide them. Humility responds to humility. Further, I would humbly suggest that humility should be something for all of us to strive for will on this path. It is a integral part of this path.
As for money, like anyone else I don't always have it. Now most times I will just save it up until I have what I need, because I HATE being indebted to ANYONE. There are times, however, when you NEED things done for your own well being and they must be done RIGHT THEN. In this case if I didn't have the money for something that NEEDED to be done, I was allowed to repay Yeye and I we worked hard to do it in a timely fashion. She never once complained, never once talked about us, she just waited and treated us well. Spirit takes precedence over money. Now is money necessary? Yes, but believe that it won't come before your life or well being at any point.
The reason that I am writing this is because I woke up with Yeye on my mind. I read somewhere once that when you have good elders that it doesn't fall to them to defend who they are and how they are. It falls to the ones that they have shown their character to. Well Yeye like any other person has her ways, BUT she will fight like hell for the integrity of Ifa to be kept, she will kill for those she loves, and she will sacrifice of herself. These things I have seen. Am I saying she's perfect? Nope, because then I would be lying. She strives from good character daily, especially in a world that I know for myself is hard on strong women. I will say this, however, you don't have to like her. There are a lot of people that don't and the won't like her. You don't even have to respect her, but know that she walks upright in her spiritual life and you would do well to do the same. If not, no matter. It's your funeral.
For all that are reading this, may you have all that you put into the world with both your mouth and actions, in secret and in public returned to you 10 times over. Ase, Ase, Ase o
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| Yeyelawo Olomitutu |
