Ogboni Explorations

  Image Above Earth Inspirations Across Cultures and Spaces I met you, Caitlin Mathews, left, scholar, writer, practitioner in the Western esoteric tradition, in the beginning of my intellectual and imaginative journey into the sacred feminine, your Elements of the Goddess my introduction to your work. Sister of Celtic wisdom, arcana of Tarot, a pillar of the Caitlin and John Mathews unity, conjugal team most fruitful in the Great Work. My sister within the space of Earth where Ògbóni brethren are assembled under various names, under the sky of English landscapes where you roam, within rock, tree and mountain you revere, all alive with the heat of Onile, imaged right, within Earth and Ògbóni iledi, sacred community of cult and all creatures visible and invisible on terrestrial sphere, her children multitudinous. Sister, I call you to the Well of Time in the hollow at the bottom of the tree of life, guide me through this liquid mirror, telescope into the most distant past in humanity

                                                                 Abstract This is a statement of my goals, the rationale for those goals, a description of my methods and an account of my progress in developing Universal Ogboni Philosophy and Spirituality, a new school of the Yoruba origin Ogboni esoteric order, centred in Ogboni veneration of the feminine, represented by Ile, Earth, universal mother, represented by male and female human beings as her children. This initiative is grounded in the aesthetic values of Ogboni bronze sculpture in dialogue with Ogboni philosophy and spirituality, within the context of classical Yoruba thought, framing these conjunctive streams in a global framework integrating African, Asian and Western thought. This creation is part of my effort in contributing to the development of female centred spiritualities in general, represented outside Africa by my expansion of the Hindu Sri Devi Khadgamala Stotram ritual dedicated to the Goddess Tripurasundari, of w