Bayo Akomolafe | Trickster Makes and Unmakes the World | HITW117

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This episode has been a long time coming. Over the past five years, Bayo Akomolafe has consistently been the most frequently requested guest. At last, the gods conspired to bring us together to howl about the Trickster in global traditions and what their role might be in the unmaking of the old world and the ongoing creation of the new.
Our conversation takes us on a far reaching journey from the rich cultural soil of ancient Africa to the desolate plains of modernity and trails off on a delightfully blasphemous note, suggesting that within the figure of Yeshua hides the Yoruban trickster deity (Y)Eshu(a).
Please join us as we unravel and revel in the complexities of the Trickster and their role in making and unmaking the world.
Topics: Eshu, trickster, colonization, whiteness, language, ecology, post-activism
Links:
brianjames.ca
/ brianjames.soulwork
/ @howlinthewilderness

[@leanneolivier6]

One of the best conversations I've heard so far. As an artist, cultural appropriation is something that I've always grappled with, within the narratives of my work. This conversation feels expansive and freeing...one that I will listen to again and take notes!! Thank you xx

[@howlinthewilderness]

Thanks Leanne!

[@martynrobinson5399]

1:14:23 A crack has opened a space for a comment: This is music for my soul. The eloquence, spaciousness and generosity of the interchange reveals the ‘what can be’ in a time of ‘thou shalt not’.
So many resonances as the ebb and flow sweeps like a tide across my awareness. For example:
I hear Rumi - “there is a field beyond right and wrong doing; I’ll meet you there”
My go to Franciscan, Richard Rohr for Panentheism. And of course Carl Jung whose ‘Red Book’ arrived yesterday. Some delightful synchronicity that arrives just when I needed a creativity transfusion.
Off to research cosmic dust music and creolizing.
As always Brian you get brilliant guests to rap with. Thank You.
Martyn

[@valeriewhitworth4573]

I loved this conversation. I am a huge fan of Bayo's ( I love the transcript Bio okoma Lafayette 😁). First time I have come to your channel, and must say that it felt as though you actually "got' him and close to where he was at . Many thanks to you both

[@howlinthewilderness]

Thank you Valerie. That’s nice to hear.
Brian

[@tiwantiwaabibiman2603]

Esu is more than a trickster. He is NOT the devil. There NO such western/Christian/Islamic concepts of "the devil" or "hell" in organic Afrikan Ancestral spiritual/religious traditions.
There's no way an opinion can ever connect with Esu/Awuku/Set/Legba...

[@dr.amandakemp4711]

I'm loving this conversation about the trickster! It maps on to what I've been thinking about mystics--they are inconsistent on purpose to destabilize our tendency toward either-or thinking.

[@howlinthewilderness]

Thank you Doctor! Glad you're enjoying it. When you've transcended either/or thinking you can't help but destabilize the tendency toward binary fixity. Not on purpose, just by the nature of your presence. The way I think of it is that you become an instrument for the trickster. The Native American mystic Frank Fools Crow called it "becoming a hollow bone." (Interesting note: hollow bone flutes found in European caves are the earliest known instruments, dated to at least 35,000 years old).

[@jacquesvincelette6692]

We have cracked the meaning of life: "the chicken is in the egg and the egg is in the chicken".

[@chelseafisher6881]

Re: polytheism of Christianity I recently came across the Canticle of the Sun by St. Fancis of Assisi in which he acknowledges Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water etc.

[@howlinthewilderness]

I love that prayer...it's more animistic than polytheistic though.

[@ronalddegoede]

❤

[@martynrobinson5399]

Thanks

[@howlinthewilderness]

My pleasure Martyn. It’s a joy to share this convocation with Bayo…Brian

[@mindyjoyfullplay5340]

Very great conversation. I will take notes and notes .

[@jeffersonpower3356]

I loved this conversation sooo much! Sooo rich on so many levels. One question I had is your comment about people returning to polytheism....through the back door of astrology? As Richard tarns says "for most educated people in the Western world Astrology is the gold standard of superstition". Why? Because it posits that the cosmos is alive in some way. if western culture admitted that this would crack it right open. Cosmology is the Crack! Hmmmm so much food for thought. I love your work.

[@howlinthewilderness]

My wife is a professional astrologer, and I think it can be a wonderful system for reawakening the polytheistic worldview, particularly the natural magic of Ficino type of approach, where astrology is paired with herbalism, music, art and ritual.
Thanks for your comment!
Brian

[@kdsimaz]

thank you, brothers ❤

[@howlinthewilderness]

Thank you Kim!

[@ericrobinson7184]

Bayo leaves a trail of crumbs to the heights of experience.