And Now

And Now

After the festival was over, Ife returned to find her father pacing up and down the room with a letter in his hand. Ife stared at him asking what the matter was, but he simply gave her the letter in his hand. It was a scholarship from her old principal to read medicine at the University teaching hospital. She sat down slowly unable to think.

Her father sat down and Ife was shocked to find he had tears in his eyes. He shook his head several times and Ife knew he was trying hard to control his voice. His hands shook as he placed them almost timidly on her shoulder, “You always wanted to be a doctor Princess”

“Yes papa, always” Ife whispered staring at the letter. Attached to the offer of scholarship was a letter of admission from the teaching hospital and a request to confirm her acceptance of the offer of admission. She opened the letter from her principal and cried silently as she read the words “Fly brightest and best, it will be a pleasure to call you doctor soon” He signed it simply as Ayo Lawrence.

Her mother walked in and stared at the picture of her husband and daughter in close embrace. She raised her eyebrows and Ife said quietly that there was nothing to worry about as her father explained in a quiet wondering voice that Ife was continuing her style of paying her way through her education. He explained what had happened and of course Ife’s mother removed her head tie and danced round the room singing praises to the Creator.

It was a quiet peaceful family that celebrated Ife’s imminent departure for medical school. Grandma asked much later how long the medical school was going to take and when she was told she became alarmed. Yeye Agba wondered if Ife might not be an old maid by the time she takes up her duties as the Princess.

Ife laughed, “Grandma, I am sure the Light above do not care about my intellectual ability, but I am sure as a woman I do need to equip myself properly you know.”

“Hmm.. too much of this western thing might spoil you. You will lose touch with your roots and become blasé.”

“I have not the slightest intention of being a village idiot nor of marrying one either” Ife replied sharply about to be irritated

“Did you choose one then? A village idiot?, and have you asked him what he wants to do about that?” Grandma countered

Ife turned puzzled eyes on her mother, ”What is she talking about now?”

Her mother coughed and explained that at the peak of the festival the priestess had announced that Numen Yeye had chosen her groom.

Ife was agitated. “I am sure I did no such thing mother, who started that story? I am not thinking of marrying anyone right now, Great Lights not when I am about to go to medical school”

Her parents stayed silent except Grandma who simply hummed a tune silently, then looked at Ife, “You are Numen Yeye and you chose a groom, you need to check with him, whoever he is about this trip of yours, I don’t like doctors. They are always poking at you and you want to start sticking knives into people”

Ife stared then turned straight into Babatunde who was standing in the doorway. He was holding in his hands, the string of cowries he found in his bedroom. Ife stared at him in horror backing away.

Ife disappeared into the grove to seek out Yeye. She stayed away for two days and her father had to seek her out . They went to sit under the tree and Ife had alarm in her eyes. “Papa, I am not thinking of being anybody’s wife right now and I definitely have no memory of choosing a groom. Somebody is playing a fast game on me Papa”

Her father gave her a keen look and gathered her into his arms sighing, “I thought I taught you never to run away from your problems for it will still be waiting when you run back, besides I don’t think the goddess meant you were to marry right away you see..”

Ife interrupted him ,”Papa, I am not marrying anyone. Being a woman does not mean I have to automatically be somebody’s wife. I am not ready.”

“I heard you the first time my dear.”

Ife stared at him and the hint of frustrated anger came into her voice,”Papa why in goodness did you ever agree to this?”

“we would never agree on that will we? You have to make arrangements to return to Ibadan, sign in to your school and we will take what happens in easy stages shall we?”

Ife was silent looking out and then turned to her father,  ”Where is Babatunde?”

Her father frowned and stood up from the hard bench, then looked down at her,

”You know what?, that young man looked like the most resigned groom I ever saw. When I questioned him, there was a strain of frustration running through his voice too. Seemed the goddess chose two very reluctant pair. He seemed really pissed I can tell you”

Ife suddenly laughed,  ”Yes he told me himself and I told him it was kind of silly coming to my place holding the string”

Ife’s father was puzzled and he stared. “You have talked with him? When? How?”

Ife bit her lip remembering that she could not explain about her ability to talk with Babatunde telepathically. She smiled and shrugged saying she really couldn’t remember when she talked with him as things had become hazy in her mind. Her father stared at her speculatively and she sensed he suspected her of lying. Ife felt terrible and looked at everywhere but meet her father’s eyes.

Her stated very quietly, “seems there is no real cause for alarm is there?”

Her father took her home and two days later she traveled to Ibadan to sort out her admission requirements and filled form for hostel accommodation. Her medical studies began

Impressions of a spiritual kind.... Mary Magdalene

My first reaction when I downloaded this ebook was to give a sigh of relief that I could breeze through the  reading of the book, when I saw it was only 36 pages. I settled in and open the first page then blinked.  I was startled at my first experience of reading somebody talking to me through layers. No strike that, I had experienced that when I wrote my second novel Numen Yeye.

My eyebrows were raised when the first pages seemed to be questions from a Western outlook. I excused my disappointment as I recognized that I must have missed the first two books that Johanna was referring to. I am African, Nigerian, actually and specifically from that part  of the country where being a woman had both its limitations and strengths. I am a Yoruba woman.

As I grew up, I quickly learnt what it means being a woman and the first things were the limitations, so I tended to be impatient with the first few questions, which had very little to do with my world concept, until we got to a few questions and Mary started talking about womanhood, now she got my full attention and happily held it to the end. The beauty of Johanna’s writing was she handed over the story to Mary Magdalene and stayed severely in the background to the very end.

Mary Magdalene has held the attention of every spiri-t striving woman through the ages. I always asked this question when I was young. How could love be a sin? What annoyed the writers of the Holy Book so much that they defiled her so unremittingly?

Mary of Magda sums it all up for me this way: That I loved a man so powerful and yet maintained my own identity even in the face of no acceptance. That was the toughest love you could hand over and the toughest role that you could be asked to fill in.

She remained a beacon for women the world over who have faced such tough choices by a male dominated society. We still raise our brows at the sound or mention of her name and have a smirk, a self- complacent smile and I always wondered that even fellow women have not done any better in giving such a painful role to Mary of Magda.

I guess the seeking soul can only find the answers within. Like Mary says, Your role as a soul is to remember

Further on she urges, Honor your intuition, it is the voice of your soul.

The only offence Mary of Magda ever committed was she loved a powerful, great man whose divinity was clear, we also denied Him to right to love one personally for Himself and punished Mary to the forgotten pages of historical slumber.

Welcome to my blog and I would be happy to have, Mary give answers to these questions. Some of them will be regular and some will be as intuition guides me.

1.    Why should women be interested in politics at all, they are the guardians of the soul of the Earth?

Women are earthbound souls who chose to live a human experience.  It is the systems of the Earth that often dictate destiny.  Politics is part of a larger world system that should not be ignored.  Unfortunately, our voice as women is often small and unheard yet we should not ignore what is laid before us in the rules of any system.  Wisdom is an innate gift women birth at various moments in their evolution.  They feel truth in the heart of their soul and find it a challenge to put words into motion of their divine truths. Political history has silenced many voices through their archaic systems. 

The women of the earth as in all cultures and systems must never forget that the voice of a small kitten can turn into the roar of a lioness.  In this age, the lioness comes out of her cage and joins others. This is not only heard but seen as a force that can change political opinions and hence consciousness. It is a cause worth the effort.

2.    Woman carries the finer energies because she is expected to serve as the transition of the realms along the path of spirituality even unto divinity, how can she achieve that in today’s world of crass materiality?

Women were birthed into the Divine Feminine energy to remind the world of all that is receptive, emotional and in movement.  The evolved feminine soul has realization that she is a magnet of light who holds the beam of direction to understanding the material world that serves the higher aspect of all souls.  She realizes the blessings along the journey in the material world without being manipulated or held back.  She is unattached to this aspect of life and understands the desires of the soul and the needs of the physical world.

Take one look

Take one look

Priestess

Hunger is not a bed fellow you want to write love letters to or heavens forbid pray for, so he knew he had to do something. He had gone for the necessary bath and that is one thing he didn’t want to remember either. His skin still hung indifferently on his bones but his cheeks were beginning to fill out. He took a critical look at his rump and wondered  when the eczema would fade off. He wondered if she had noticed the ugly patches when she had washed him and his face burned remembering with some shame that he had involuntarily been aroused.

For goodness sake she was the frigging priestess. He wanted to know if she felt anything or was disgusted by his skeletal frame. His mother had given him one keen look  and said nothing. He was not going to tell her anything. But what would he tell her if she had asked? I had the bath and yes mother I was aroused by the frigging priestess and yes she acted like she didn’t know if I was human. He sighed and pulled on his shirt.

His new job was very tiring. He had to check on his junior staff who tended to take his instructions with a nonchalance that irritated him. He walked to the factory floor and met Modupe his secretary, who considered him with amusement.

“The machines are down this morning and the computer boys don’t seem to know what the problem is with the image transfer computer” she carried a flip chart close to her voluptuous breasts. He dragged his eyes away from those breasts, frowned as he concentrated on the problem.

“Where is Francis?” he asked looking around for the fellow.

Modupe shrugged and pointed in the general direction of the computer room and stated mildly that she was sure Francis would be somewhere in the inner room, moved close and thrust her flimsily covered breasts at him, she was chewing gum as usual.

Bode frowned at the breasts turned on his heel and headed back to his voice. He felt the sweat trickle down his anus and made for the toilet next to his office alarmed.

His picture of the priestess came again and he sighed in some despair, gradually wondering if she had placed a spell on him. He entered his office and opened a drawer taking a generous swig of brandy to calm his jumping nerves. Modupe stood by the door watching him.

“Now what”? He snarled at her

“You are in some temper this morning so what is the problem”? Modupe complained.

Bode imagined himself burying his head in those breasts and mumbling the truth and then swore violently asking his secretary to get the hell out of his office that instant.

His secretary fled.

He sat at his desk and held his head in his hands, rocking himself in some unnamed and unrecognized pain.

The office was silent and his thoughts were loud in his heart. He did not even dream, so when had the fascination with the body of the priestess taken over his thoughts he asked himself.

Last market day, he had visited his mother and watched the pleasure in her eyes when he gave her money and announced with pride that he would ensure she could expect that on a monthly basis.

He was happy until she gently asked him if he was going to be thinking of settling down now. He told her, he would do that when the time was right. The anxious look his mother wore came into her eyes and he knew in that instant ,the secret she had been hiding. Man, she thinks I can’t get it up. She thinks maybe that is why I have avoided girls and not mentioned a coming bride and shown interest in any of the village girls. He was horrified. He looked at his mother and their eyes met and Bode saw the fear, the anxiety and he was chagrined. They stared at the each other the knowledge like a naked bride stood silent between them untouched. Bode swallowed, muttered a goodbye and hurried away.

Two days later, the picture of the priestess when she washed him flashed into his mind, he had been aroused and had stayed that way ever since.

There was a knock on his door and he growled a permission for the person to enter. Seconds later he was gasping in shock, desperately trying to draw in breath to a constricted throat, because in resplendent white with white gloves stood the priestess.

She smiled and walked further into the office.

He stared at her as he tried to swallow his salty saliva. Had he conjured her up he asked himself?

She smiled and stretched out her hand for a handshake and he shuddered. His voice was flat when he spoke

Practicing spells in the open now are you?

The priestess laughed and he was shocked to find the sound pleasing. His palms were sweaty. He cursed inwardly. I didn’t go to school, make the grade, be jobless for eight years so that I can find a darned priestess attractive did I? Who was playing a trick on him he wanted to know. He forced himself to listen

I am sure you have a reason to say what you just did but I am the doctor attached to the division here and I was asked to talk to you about your staff

Bode stared in disbelief, you are a doctor for real?

I am a traditionalist by religion but a doctor by profession, what seems to be the problem?

He was still staring in shock wondering if he was dreaming but he watched her as she sat down, removed her gloves and presented him a letter which introduced him as Dr. Miss Oladunni.

He read the letter slowly and his inner equilibrium returned so he became businesslike. Hew asked her what she wanted to know. They shared notes on some of the staff. She asked to have an office where she could talk to the staff. Working hours, if the staff had time given to them to have small recreation like darts or play scrabble.

Bode went through the conversation with half his mind noting small things like the fact that she had good nails, had them polished and did not wear heavy perfume. He caught himself watching her curiously.

Minutes later the conversation was at an end and he casually asked her if she would like to walk round the premises. He explained that he was the production manager and he had the responsibility to watch the printing machines, determine bill boards and sometimes he had to supervise the copyists.

On their walk round the premises, the young male staff gave her admiring looks which she didn’t seem to notice but had a small smile and a firm handshake for the ones she stopped by to say hello.

He returned to his office after a light lunch and was surprised that he was exhilarated. His secretary Modupe was not impressed and had a scowl on her face.

The next day she came to the office more skimpily clad that Bode called her into his office.

“Did you plan on coming to the office to work today”? He growled at her

Modupe smiled and went over to sit close to his desk crossing her legs. He saw more than he wanted and shoved her off his desk angry.

In a voice that had gone cold and steely he demanded that she should go home and come back when she was more appropriately dressed and ready to work.

Modupe gave him one long look and decided to be bold. “I don’t think I have a  set of clothes different from what I am wearing. It does not affect my work”

Bode gave her a look and suddenly reached for his phone.

“Hello Mrs. Adedeji, could you find me a replacement secretary for tomorrow morning, my present secretary is on suspension from this morning. In the meantime please ask the security to remove her from my office right now, I will be in the accounts office while that is effected. Thanks”.

Modupe stared at him in shock, but he simply walked past her, out of the office.