The Osun Shrine, Osogbo and Connecting With Our True Nature
When reading about early Yoruba history one is struck by the influence of mythology and the role that deities played in everyday life. The deities represent different aspects or characteristics of the natural world that manifest themselves in the lives of humans. Obatala, the god of creativity, Shango, the god of thunder and lightning, Osun, the goddess of water and fertility are just three of four hundred and one deities in the Ifa religion. In many pre-industrial cultures around the world the proximity of populations to nature generally had a major impact on their belief systems and the view that nature and divinity were one and the same.
Due to the importance of these deities it stands to reason that shrines dedicated to their worship played a central role in these early communities. So much so that basic shrines were often decorated with art as this ‘Oriki’ (praise poetry) suggests:
‘A ko’ le ebo fi iwope se gbehin re,
Bi’ le ebo ko sunwon, iwope re a wuni wuni.’
‘We build our shrines and finish them with murals,
Even if a shrine building itself not be impressive,
Its murals would still captivate the passer by.’
Many shrines were located in forest groves at the edge of settlements deep within the natural environment they sought to honour. As Nigeria has developed, many of these groves have been felled to make way for the urban and commercial requirements of a country that is home to nearly 200 million people. With this development comes a loss of culturally significant sites and points of reference for modern day followers. Fortunately, one of the most celebrated shrines in Yorubaland, the Osun Shrine, located in the Sacred Grove of Osogbo, is still very much alive.
After having lived in Nigeria for about 5 years I decided it was time to visit this renowned city around a five-hour drive from Lagos. It is said that when you open your heart and embrace a more spiritual direction in life all sorts of new and invigorating energies start to cross your path. Having spent the last 6 months with a deep focus and attention on the spiritual practices of yoga and meditation I had noticed a shift in my consciousness which had been pushing me closer to nature and a more honest acceptance and appreciation for my true spiritual self. It was no coincidence, that after an initial period of spiritual realisation, I felt drawn to visit this city. I hoped for a connection with nature, local culture and music. I could not have anticipated what I found.
The beauty of a road trip is that one feels and notices every centimetre of travel. Flight is a wonderful thing but, in a spiritual sense, it doesn’t allow you to appreciate the journey. You are whisked from one place to another without witnessing the in between. On the road one appreciates the changes in landscape, the climate, the street traders, the patterns of the local clothing and the way people drive! Leaving the city for a rural Nigerian destination one gradually removes their urban body and mind armour. With every kilometre we moved away from Lagos the traffic gradually thinned, houses and industrial estates were replaced by palm trees and rivers, cars moved with less aggression and we were able to open our windows and allow the tropical air to enter the car without billowing pollution in to our lungs. Even the simple act of driving with the window open is an act of connecting with the outside world. My breath slowed and my senses became sharper.
Upon arrival in Osogbo we headed towards our guesthouse which is owned by the artistic powerhouse that is Chief Mrs Oyenike Monica Okundaye. Chief Nike is a Nigerian artist, gallery owner, and provider of vocational training to many artists and textile workers. She is a modern day matriarch of Nigerian artistic creativity. One can feel her influence on all the wonderful furniture covered with locally tie and dyed fabrics, indigo adire (local wax textile process) and the art work adorning the walls. The garden full of huge trees, plants and sculptures was beautiful. Butterflies of different colours danced in the late morning sun and birds chirped adding a calming sound track to the surroundings.
The Osun Shrine and Sacred Grove is a thirty-minute drive from the guesthouse. We soon jumped in the car and headed towards the UNESCO world heritage site to meet our guide for the afternoon Chief Mrs Doyin Faniyi. I’ll come back to her in just a moment.
In undertaking research for this piece it has been extremely difficult to verify the exact age of the Osun Shrine. The general consensus seems to be that the site is around 400 years old. The Osun river herself winds through the grove named after the deity that the shrine honours. The setting is simply stunning. Dense forest with a multitude of trees of all sizes and ages, a local population of monkeys darting around and eagerly looking at visitors for their offerings and of course the river herself. One could immediately sense a serenity as well as a powerful energy pulsing through the ether. As a visitor from a huge city it feels like an incredibly cleansing experience to walk in to a slice of nature, moving amongst trees that are hundreds of years old in a location revered by many.
As if entering a sacred abode such as this were not enough there is a significant additional dimension to relate. The entire shrine and surrounding land has become an organic and spiritual canvas for the work of a truly inspirational being and group of artists. That being, whilst alive, was known as Suzanne Wenger (1915–2009), an artist originally from Austria who came to live in Nigeria in 1949. During her first years in the country she contracted tuberculosis and was, by all accounts, very close to death but for the intervention of a local Yoruba medicine man. He managed to assist with curing her. Many credited her return to full health to the deity Osun. What happened next is truly inspirational on so many levels.
Wenger decided to dedicate her life to Osun, and thus Osogbo, with an intensity and energy that arguably was not from this earth. At a time when the Sacred Grove was being threatened by loggers, poachers and land developers she formed The Sacred Art Movement to protect the grove and to revitalise the Ifa culture that had been present for many generations. She soon became a priestess of the religion and was given the title Adunni Olorisa (the adored of the deities). The movement was formed of a number of local craftsmen, originally carpenters, bricklayers and the like who worked together with her to adorn the 185-acre site with awe inspiring works of art.
Chief Muraina Oyelami, a renowned Nigerian artist, notable drummer and community elder who we met later in our trip credits Suzanne Wenger with being the leading force for saving and conserving the grove. Describing her as “positively eccentric” he says, “As an artist she was entranced by her profession and was also lucky that the people of Osogbo were hospitable. She was given permission to do as she pleased within the grove.” Perhaps the local community sensed her noble intentions and the respect that she held for their culture. They can hardly have been disappointed with the fruits of their trust. She integrated herself so firmly in to local society that she became the adopted daughter of the local Oba (king) and married one of his traditional drummers.
As you enter and walk around the grove one witnesses sculpture upon sculpture; some no taller than one’s knee, others towering 5 or 6 metres in height and possibly up to 10 metres wide, all produced by the sheer creative will of Wenger. The sculptures blend so perfectly with their physical and spiritual surroundings it is incredibly hard not to get completely lost and absorbed by the sheer scale and meaning of the work. The sculptures themselves in pinkish, earthy hues pay homage to the deities through physical depiction and through a mystical, mythical style. One is left with the sense that Wenger entered the Ifa world, saw right in to its spiritual heart and was able to recreate in physical form the very energy and creativity that was being channelled through her body by the Orisa Osun. The expressions on the faces of some of the sculptures portray wonder, fear, joy, death, life, light, dark and an intensity that can only come from knowing and witnessing the source of it all. She literally captured all the dimensions of cosmic energy.
In order to create these works Wenger chose to live for days at a time in the forest, sleeping under the trees and stars, bathing in the river that nourished her spiritual life, and enduring all the pleasures and hardships that would evidently ensue from such a lifestyle. When one reads of the lives of important spiritual beings such as yogis and ascetics in India we learn that they spend many years solitary in forests or in caves. The purpose of this seclusion is both to understand their own nature without distraction and the nature of their environment. From this understanding they are able to cultivate direct experience of the divine omnipresence. Seeing Wenger’s work and gaining insight in to the way she lived it is hard not to draw comparisons with her yogic counterparts. Her creative out pouring was an extension of her meditation.
I had the feeling that she was able to give herself so fully to nature, without distraction, that energy flowed through her body and allowed her to accomplish work of a divine nature. Witnessing her sculptures in person left me feeling a reassuring sense that we are all part of a spiritual dimension that is accessible should we choose to follow its calling. It also confirmed for me that some of the answers to our modern predicament of over consumption and the chasing of eternal growth can be found by prioritising true spirituality and the simplicity of living that accompanies it.
At the heart of the grove is the shrine itself which perches on the bank of the Osun river. We removed our shoes, bent down to enter the low set door and found ourselves inside with the babalawo (father of the secrets/priest), the live-in spiritual caretaker of the godly abode. Once within, the outside world seemingly disappeared, a serenity descended and the air was dense with devotional energy. It’s at moments like this that I wish I had taken time over the past five years to learn the Yoruba language. The priest spoke many words. With the help of Chief Faniyi as our translator we were able to pick up some of what he said but I had the sense that we certainly didn’t catch it all. The experience left me wanting to find out more about the religion and how it had evolved in modern times. Not being able to delve further at that point in to the physical details of the shrine I decided to close my eyes and briefly meditate. Very rapidly I was able to reach a deep state of calm and felt vibrantly in tune with my surroundings. Spiritual sites throughout the world that are the subject of the energetic attention of devotees are well known to bring one more deeply in to union with the un-manifested. This location was certainly no exception.
Our voyage through the grove was made even more special by our guide Chief Mrs Doyin Faniyi who is one of the adopted daughters of Suzanne Wenger and also a priestess. She spoke lovingly of her ‘mama’ and the spiritual medicine she brought to the area both during and after her life. She was also able to relate to us some of the aspects of the Ifa religion and explain the stories behind the sculptures. Speaking of Suzanne Wenger’s work and life she said, “When you talk of nature, that is where the orisa’s live. She lived in the forest to meditate and as soon as she came out of meditation she was given the images to sculpt by Osun herself. She did not do any work unless a vision came to her through meditation.” Despite growing up in Europe and within a completely different social system she was able to to tune in to the local spiritual culture with stunning ease.
When speaking with Chief Muraina he stated, “Suzanne Wenger’s work is definitely not Yoruba.” My sense is that this can be interpreted as not necessarily following any previous styles or genres of work by notable Yoruba artists. Interestingly Chief Faniyi does not agree with this assessment. She stated, “Art is ritual, was what mama (Suzanne Wenger) used to say. Any piece of her work came directly from orisa’s and thus Yoruba culture.” She goes on to say, “She did her work to let people understand their identity.” She clearly believes that the restoration of the grove and the related art works have allowed the local community and those from afar to strengthen their association with their roots. It’s hard to disagree with this view.
After the tour of the grove she also guided us to the late Suzanne Wenger’s home in Osogbo, another mystical and enchanting creation. The house, which sits aside a winding road in the centre of the town, greets you with bougainvillea’s that flow from the roof all the way to the ground and with sculptures lining the walkway from the road to the entrance. It now serves as the home of Chief Faniyi and her family.
Once inside one is met by another sensory assault. Slightly decaying, but alive with character, the wooden structures creak as you move across the floors and around the building. A musty smell lingers in the air that hints at the creative and spiritual energy that has permeated the property over the years. Corridors, stair cases and the rooms are literally littered with sculptures, cultural artefacts and art work. One senses that very little in the way of restorative work has been undertaken since Suzanne Wenger died. Apart from a small room housing a gallery on the ground floor and a room containing local cultural items for sale it feels like a very personal almost intrusive look in to the high priestess’s former home. Everything is on display, nothing is kept out of sight and this allows a sense of privilege to arise at being so intimately close to the spiritual force that was Suzanne Wenger. This is one of the clear paradoxes of Nigerian tourism. On one hand the lack of investment or attention paid to key cultural sites means that many of them fall in to disrepair or are just simply not known to the public. On the other hand, when you visit a site such as this, you are able to get far closer and more intimate with the subject matter than if it was maintained and manicured. This should not be interpreted for a second as supporting the inexcusable abandonment of national cultural treasures by the government and its associated agents.
One of the highlights of our visit to the house was stumbling across a number of Obatala traditional drums. The instruments, carved from local hardwoods, are used in Ifa ceremonies to praise the orisas and I was honoured to be able to play them with the priestess for a few minutes in a dark corner of this iconic building that has known so much that is unknown. As those that know me will attest, I have had a spiritual infatuation with West African originated drums since my early teens. The opportunity to play in this setting and context with the priestess was extremely profound. It felt like the perfect end to a truly inspiring day and allowed me to present my own gratitude for everything that I had been shown and experienced. Later in the trip I was also able to visit Rabiu, a local drum carver, from whom I purchased a similar instrument to the one we had played in the house.
Osogbo and the surrounding area is a fantastic setting in which to spend time. Whilst in the area we were fortunate enough to visit the waterfall at Erin Ijesha, a natural phenomenon of supreme beauty set in the hills about a one-and-a-half-hour drive from the centre of town. We were also able to visit the home of Chief Muraina, mentioned earlier, to view his spectacular collection of drums, artefacts and art work. Moreover, the slower pace of life that one immediately slips in to was a huge tonic to the fast paced urban life of Lagos. The presence of our natural surroundings and the calming effect they have on the soul combined with bathing in the aura of the grove made this a truly memorable experience.
The legacy that Suzanne Wenger has left in the shrine feels profound on a number of levels. She is a reminder to all of us that a lack of spiritual passion and connection to our environment is one of the most pressing issues of our modern age. The rupture that has occurred between the modern interpretation of the purpose of humans on earth and the absolute truths that govern our inherent nature is driving huge destruction across the globe. The psychological damage that is being caused by our ‘feed on inadequacy’ consumer culture which in turn drives unsustainable levels of growth and exploitation of our natural resources has created a death spiral on earth and a spiritual vacuum for many. As life speeds up, as we move further in to dense urban environments and place economic growth on a pedestal above all else there is little chance of respite.
When speaking of her legacy, Chief Faniyi said of Suzanne Wenger that, “the forest is now in safer hands. When UNESCO declared the grove as a world heritage site her mind was at rest and she said could now die at any time. She invested her lifetime in the grove and it gave her great relief.”
Nature based religious systems and spiritual practices emphasise respect for our surroundings as the very starting point of all action. Not a peripheral thought to be dealt with at some point in the future. By losing sight of this not only do we corrupt and poison our environment, we corrupt and poison ourselves as we drift further and further from our true identity. There is still work to be done within the grove both in terms of ensuring that a culture of maintenance is developed, which of course requires funding, and ensuring that visitors taking spiritual baths in the river do not leave their plastic litter on site. We witnessed this in a few areas around the grove.
The grove and all that is contained within serves as a beacon of hope as to what can be achieved when humankind prioritises these essential truths. It offers us an opportunity to heal our environment and ultimately to heal ourselves by aligning far more closely with what our ancestors rightly held to be dear.
