How to best teach and learn divination has been an evolving preoccupation for me. Groups of students have participated in my classroom and cyber space classes over a period of three decades. What I’ve learned from experience is what I’m sharing in this presentation, in part. An evaluation of past and present divination learning approaches can be defined as Situational Learning where the student acquires general knowledge that derives from random exposure to practice or topical allusion, hidden behind the most obvious observation reveals what may be categorically placed under Psychological Influence.
Elders would frequently say to a young enthusiast that learning divination originates at the point of personal olorisha itá. The lesson was personal itá odu’s are the priority before focusing attention on unrelated or impersonal others. Itá corresponds to the spiritual contract made by the olorisha in spirit before descending to the material world or commonly termed rebirth. It is a fixed blueprint for life.
Modernity presents challenges to the long-term traditional Lukumí random learning process. Learning divination operational mechanics and scripted diagnostic information is no longer confined to close knit community. Distance and modern daily distractions, and shifts in multicultural collective values, have influenced a new dynamic of teacher and student approaches with the appearance of reformism. Courses are offered in a classroom environment, over cyber space, and divination books are in the marketplace for self-instruction. Is the paradigm shift a discovery of something new or principally the same random learning being presented as different? Beyond what appears to be a new efficient approach, or progressive, hidden factors come to the forefront. Being inquisitive and enthusiastic may be good traits when wishing to learn divination but random learning and situational teaching reveal some deficiencies. Comparisons to the old idiosyncratic methods reveals that randomness is a central feature in modern approaches.
Random and Organization are two paths for learning divination. Random is any method that revolves around "situational" learning i.e. not systemic, or sequentially disorganized. As topical conversation rise generalized pieces or portions of information are expressed in manner that may be perceived as exhaustive or empirical. The information is untidy or lacks order causing difficulty to comprehend the contextual connection to the life of the olorisha. It may be further defined as learning through topographies of distractions, or randomness, creating a deficient belief of all-knowing. A classroom group module out of practicality cannot be individualistic; therefore, it is a random approach. It generally focuses on one or more scripted odu’s randomly accommodated to the rationale and objectives of the teacher. The random approach limits the student to acquiring superficial information without the benefit of specificity related to one’s individualism. In terms of divination itá represents the olorisha life blueprint. It presents the physiography in context of material rebirth and its relationship to spiritual dominion.
In juxtaposition, the organization approach differs from random learning. It is resolute on specificity. A student learns divination in a systemic module that holistically describes the features and nature of their respective itá odus. This approach avoids situational and random learning as a primary method. Furthermore, its purpose is to learn without deviation how to decipher personal itá odu’s, in their fullest potential of spirituality and materialism. The organization approach engages the student in direct consciousness of the spiritual contract. In other words, the student assumes the responsibility to learn the features of Who-Am-I prior to utilizing valuable resources in learning impersonal odus. The organization module is not a group methodology, therefore, it requires teacher guidance and student relationship that escape structures of superficial odu knowledge. Moreover, it is important to avoid co-dependency and role of therapist teacher. I recommend returning to the wisdom of the elders. First comes knowing personal itá odus. Acquisition of knowledge through situational learning does not mean managing itá and knowing thy self.
Oba Ernesto Pichardo 11/5/2013