SEVEN DIRECTIONS (Ernesto Tinajero 2007) To al of creation, to all of my relations I give respect to the seven directions I give respect to the East where the warrior is born And to the West where our mothers find their rest To the North where we look to find our wisdom And to the South where are memories are forgiven I give respect to the direction strait up to heaven And direction strait down to the ground, GET DOWN! I give respect to direction that’s inside of me, My Ori, my higher consciencenous my guiding light And to my right I have my Esu, leading me through every sticky issue, that’s my Esu Keeper of the roads, the ying and the yang. Come to me with jealousy he trips up your plan One of the warriors protecting me, to the left me the warrior Ochosi Well he’s the hunter with a bird’s eye view, who sees through astral plane telepathy Talking to universe, calling his prey, bringing me abundance, sending evil away And on my back im strapped with Ogun, Con su machete, me proteje, night and noon You see Ogun is the magic that is the Earth, Where a tomato and a bullet get its birth He is the metal that will cut you if you frontin’ to me, His sacred colors are the red, black and the green that you see And there’s the spirits of my ancestry The ones that come before me, always got my back constantly I remember the smell of the soil, volcanic rocks on fire, skin starts to boil Back to the womb of my birth, Everything returns to the Earth, returns to the Earth To the East: every day the Sun shows, mystery still grows, time to gather more arrows To the West: one day we all find our best, we put aside our baggage, keep on movin’ with the rest To the North: Abuelos are sendings us on, Wolewa Egungun wolelw wolewa To the South: Our children are finding the laughter, forgiving our past, forgiving our tresspassers In the middle I find my balance, the center of awareness and being, relating to everything, each and everyone living under the Sun, you got to be a warrior because the changes will come