The Igbo ancestral perception of life is that this world is a market “Uwa a bu ahia onye zucha onaa”, this metaphorically means that we are here to purchase different life experiences but ultimately, this life is finite and at the end of our cycle, we’d permanently relinquish our consciousness/soul in order to be part of an ancestral plane known as Ikelekwu Mmuo or Obi Ndi-Ichie. Therefore, Ilo Uwa “Reincarnation” is the belief that the soul or consciousness begins a new cycle after the shedding of the mortal coil “Ogodo”.
The Igbo idea of Ilo-Uwa, is not an endless adventure or an opportunity not to be held accountable for every life action or inaction, hence the purpose of Ilo-Uwa is to gather experiences, in order to evolve our essence “Soul” into a higher Aka “Consciousness” and the only way to achieve this is by fulfilling our cosmic purpose “Iyi-uwa or ihe mmadu biara uwa imee”. The determination of this cosmic oath “Iyi-Uwa”, is more or less the path-way through which we as sentient being can be able to feel the world, experience and understand it, and in order to achieve this, we build or take this cosmic oath based on the life experiences of our avatar “Onye-uwa” and upon reincarnating or birth, we loose touch of these oaths and purpose but through the experiences we garner, we are able to align ourselves on this predestined path, therefore cosmic forces such as Agwu affects us negatively when we choose different parts that do not align with this “Iyi-Uwa”. Therefore, the biblical hell as a place for eternal suffering and condemnation does not exist in our cosmology, instead, we reap what we sow, in this reincarnation or the next.
When we make reference to character flaws, we are making reference to “Ihe mmadu metaru”, this could be within the scope of behavioral flaws Ndi-Igbo refer to as Aru, which include Murdur, Incest, Suicide or behavioral flaws that affects others and yourself. The repercussion for these character flaws would either be received in this life or the next. Inadvertently, this means that we owe the universe to be good to ourselves and our neighbor because such debt would be paid forth while negative interactions or expressions would also be paid forth by the universe, we call this “Ugwo onye uwa ji or Ugwo mmadu iji uwa”.
This expression “Ugwo Onye Uwa Ji” is not limited to character flaws, it also includes, unfulfilled promises made to a deity. For instance; A friend of mine shared his experience with this phenomenon, he said that his “Onye-Uwa” made a promise to a female deity “Nne Ogwugwu Solide” in my community, but didn’t fulfill it until his death. In this reincarnation, he said he had a natural affiliation to this deity and occasionally comes around to spend quality time with the deity, we call it “Itu mmuo afa” by saying “Nne O Mu”. This form of greeting is also popular within my community. We use it to identify ourselves to our aged grandmothers or grandfathers, who most definitely may have lost their sight and can only identify us through the sound of our voice. This affiliation and how he constantly visits this deity was what led the deity to confront him with the event of his past life by telling him that she was holding him by his waist “Onye Ekeru Omu N’ukwu”.
Another instance, in this regard was of a man that killed his pregnant wife in his past reincarnation, only for him in his current reincarnation to have issues with having a child. According to him, he had married a total of three women and while these women were with him, they couldn’t conceive, and when his third wife got pregnant, she had series of miscarriages and a stillbirth, but mysteriously when these women divorce him and remarries, they immediately conceive. Eventually, he sought a solution through the Dibia and this led to the revelation of his past life, therefore for him to be able to have children in this reincarnation, he has to uplift and pay his karmic debts. Traditionally, we perform rites of Ikwu ugwo onye uwa ji as a way to alleviate the effects of karmic debts and during this rite, the individual is not supposed to consume any item used in performing these rites. For some individuals, this karmic debt and the payment of this karmic death is a lifelong endeavor, which cannot be alleviated until the situation or the spirit of the offended is totally and wholly appeased. Failure to identify these past life character flaws and redeem them can perpetually, keep an individual in misery, stuck in this loop of reincarnation, constantly reincarnating until this past life flaw is redeemed and the individual goes on to lead a fulfilled life. The ancestral perception of these past life character flaws, points to a reminder that the good we do, we do it unto ourselves, likewise the evil we do, we do it unto ourselves “Ome mma na emeru onwe ya, ome njo n’emeru onwe ya”, therefore whatever goes around comes around “N’odinihu”.
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