What Happens To A Deity When We Destroy It’s Okwu Mmuo?

Okwu Mmuo also known as Obi Alusi, and known by the rest of the world as Shrine, is regarded as a sacred location and also the burial site of most Igbo deities. These sites are dedicated to the worship of various communal deities and are also a place where indigene’s communicate and pay homage to their  ancestral deities. 

These shrines can be looked at as the cultural cum spiritual centers of Igbo people and also a place for refuge, in times of hunger and gross injustice. These sites are also seen as the great equalizer, a place where the poor, rich, the mentally ill, etc are all welcomed and attended to without discrimination. Each of these shrines has within them spiritual effigies which have existed for thousands of years but they are just the physical representations of these deities and not the deity itself. 

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What makes up a deity is its invincible component which can primarily be found within the earth, hence why I said these shrines are also the burial sites of these deities. Apart from that, in situations where an aspect of a deity has been moved into a different site, whatever is used to represent it, is also not the deity rather the consecrated essence within the effigy is what makes up the deity.

Can an Okwu Mmuo be destroyed?

This is one of those Christian lies that had almost crippled, destroyed, or brought Odinaani to near extinction. Igbo early Christians were encouraged to destroy effigies or Okposi that their ancestors used as a conduit to the creator, they perceived these effigies as idols and regarded them as the source of their misfortune and backwardness, therefore in their bid to remove these effigies they perceived as the source of these misfortunes, they began to destroy these ancestral shrines, by burning these effigies, and cutting sacred trees. 

They were only successful in destroying the things they can see but weren’t able to destroy the things they cannot see, which is what actually makes up the shrine and why the shrine is actually active in the first place.

Another reason why it’s near impossible to destroy some ancestral shrines, is that those locations were originally owned by these deities when they existed as humans, therefore by right that piece of land or Agbo belongs to these ancestral deities. While the destruction of these physical shrines is possible, what happens to the essence of these deities?

“Igba na mmuo” when the obi of a deity is being destroyed, the essence of such deity goes into the Obi of another deity. It attaches itself to that deity and strengthens the deity until such a time when the owners of the deity might have realized what was done and decide to fix the shrines that they destroyed. Also note that every deity that was instituted within a family, is simply an aspect of another deity, hence when a family decides to unlink themselves from a deity, it’s safer to inform those who are aware of what it takes to take back a deity instead of using the Christian method which is nothing other than a deceit.

The disadvantage of involving Christians is because of their penchant for violence and destruction even while attending to things they are not knowledgeable about. When the Obi of a deity is destroyed, it simply leaves that location and moves into another deity and from there it would metamorphose into a vengeful spirit, although not all deity has the zeal for vengeance, you cannot ascertain which deity is merciful, and which isn’t, especially if its a female deity. 

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