OGUN: more than a deity

I know a man who cannot be described as a herbalist, however, in my estimation, the perfect description of him will be traditionalist. The man believes in and reveres all the Yoruba deities. He never speaks ill of them. He believes in the power of plants, he laughs at those who rant at him for indulging in these practices, which has proven to be very effective.

A long time ago, while he was evaluating Yoruba deities with some of his friends, I overheard him say, of all, Ogun is the most powerful. He further said that, if one wants to test how powerful the deity, Ogun is, all that one needs to do is to carry an item that can be identified with him, most preferably, a gun — Ogun’s most potent weapon of destruction.

In his wisdom, he said, when spirits that reside in the forest of a million demon try to attack an individual and they find out that the individual is wielding this destructive device forged in the powers of the master blacksmith, they flee not minding the fact that the individual in question does not possess a charm of any sort.

According to him, to those who are denizens of that world where spirits, deities wine and dine; it is their belief that the fear of Ogun, is the beginning of uncommon wisdom.