The modern Igbo man does not believe his fate can be defined or determined by supernatural forces that can be benevolent or malignant to him, he is also filled with European ideas which have invariably separated him from his indigenous spiritual beliefs.
This separation has therefore causes or contributed to his misfortunes, tragedy, and adversity.
Originally, his ancestors created rules and spiritual practices that are targeted at protecting his life and properties, these practices first and foremost start with his interaction with his immediate environment.
His separation cum negligence of these practices has left a vacuum that is now being filled with social catastrophes at a personal or communal level and Christianity which was supposed to be a moral conscience has also failed in preventing some of these human catastrophes.
In our society, there are other lead causes of these catastrophes and I’ve looked into them and narrowed them down to this trilogy;
- Human wickedness and interaction
- The destruction or desecration of deities and ritual objects
- Generational curse.
Human wickedness and interaction: Part of the hallmark of identifying Igbo spiritual beliefs is through the concept of “Onye Uwa- a reincarnate”, the rites of acknowledging this reincarnate is usually performed on an infant and through that process an individual’s past lives can be verified and negative effects of “Ajo-Chi- a person whose reincarnate didn’t live a good life”, can be curbed and amended, that is to say, that the consequences of one’s choice is carried over across lifetimes.
This reality has not stopped people from using their knowledge of Odinaani for malignant purposes, therefore involving in “Iku Nsi” practices. This compounds the spiritual problems of an individual, especially one that has an already rooted karmic debt or is under the malevolence of his ancestral spiritual forces.
2.The destruction or desecration of ancestral deities or sacred objects.
This is the aftermath of colonial infiltration which has polluted and derailed the minds and hearts of Ndi-Igbo causing them to wedge cold wars on these ancestral forces.
In most extreme cases, they’ve burned down these ancestral shrines or alters and have soiled/desecrated these shrines including sacred objects such as the Ofo. Individuals partaking in these destructions or desecration are of the mindset that these items are the cause of his misfortunes and tragedies therefore he seeks to destroy them whilst being under the delusion of his pastor and reverends capacity to destroy pure energy.
In reality, these alter and power-points are simply channels or mediums through which his ancestors communicated with the divine, these effigies only house these essences as their physical representation.
Without having the right information on these ancestral forces, the modern Igbo Christian is manipulated into the destruction of his forces and this destruction is what manifests itself as his misfortunes or tragedies in his life.
He also lacks the basic understanding of the origin and history behind the institution of his linage deities and his connections to them, that is to say, that his ancestors instituted deities out of pure necessity and went into an agreement with them.
An agreement which they upheld until the Christian erosion which goaded an Igbo man into demonizing these practices and the result is what he is seeing in his life and our social system. Generational Curse: We need to understand that the Igbo man is at liberty to worship or venerate any deity “Alusi”.
The misconception that we have is that these deities punish us because we refuse to venerate or worship them, this perception has made the understanding of Odinaani impossible, hence why Igbo Christian would enlist the service of pastors to breach ancestral contracts through destruction and desecration.
Ultimately, in order to breach these agreements that our ancestors made with linage or community deities, it is expected that you enlist the service of a Dibia or individuals who can perform the appropriate rites, which involves the removal or taking the essence of such deity back to its origin, this is called “Idona mmuo”, this process avoids the destruction and desecration of these alters.
The logic here is that you as an individual, may not be aware of the origin of these deities therefore you are expected to treat them wit
h maximum respect for their effort and contribution towards your existence.
When we neglect these principles, it often results in what we refer to as a Generational cure, which is a form of misfortune that affects a family from one generation to the next. It is also is a form of karmic debt which its cause can be traced to the desecration of these shrines.
Another cause of this phenomenon, is the result of wickedness on the part of a person’s ancestors. Actions like the killing of a woman “Nwaada” is a perfect example of the lead cause of a generational curse. The reason for this manifestation can be gotten through understanding reincarnation “Ilo Uwa”. This system allows a soul to reincarnate and with that reincarnation comes his/her karmic debts until atonement is made.
Ultimately, these phenomena are targeted at steering an individual into an atonement, hence why these misfortunes are usually fixed when a targeted appeasement ritual is done. This may be unfortunate but most Igbo families are at the mercy of these trilogy, irrespective of most of us acting out of ignorance, but the beauty of Igbo spiritual system is its tendency to proffer solutions to those who are contrite of heart and willing to make amends.
Culled from Igboshrine.
