Historical and cultural notes: Ase O!

The trickster Eshu comes out of the African psyche, generated from the environment surrounding the Western part of the continent among the Benin and Yoruba people. He is a passionate embodiment of the forces of nature, the shifting fates of life. He is likened to Hermes, the messenger god of ancient Greece, and his message is to reveal our interconnectedness not only one with the other, but with the forces of the natural world. He is the keeper of keys, the guardian of the crossroads and doorways, of new beginnings, and as such I muse on how important he must have been to the people of West Africa who became the African diaspora, moving from their homeland as slaves under horrendous circumstances. He must have given them strength to endure as he lives and thrives among their ancestors in Haiti, Cuba, in the islands of the Caribbean, and among the countries of South America. He has stayed constant and yet transformed as he moved into new circumstances, changing and yet remaining the same. It is consciousness that Eshu, Papa Legba, wishes to bring forth, because it is through consciousness that we find our proper place in life, and it is only through consciousness that we will survive. Eshu embodies the sacred bringing together of opposites, sacred and profane, earthly and divine. In that we find Ase: the generative power of the cosmos. It is this force that is brought to bear in the often feared rites of Voodoo, an offshoot of the traditions that evolved out of the diaspora of the African slaves. In my hope for the future, Eshu will continue to assist mankind in showing up for life, for bringing together at the crossroads unlikely partnerships, for smacking us up side the head so that we can grow and tap the power that is all around us. Ase O.