The Clearing Knife of Osainyin / Osain
By Baba John Adelanwa
Plants eat sunlight, the energy they use to change the molecular structure of carbon dioxide into sap sugars. Osainyin is the holder of the limitless power of the sun, and owns the capacity to transform physical reality in an instant.
As guardians of the planet, plants convert barren soil into a fertile forest, have the power to create rain, and produce Oxygen that all non plant species use to breathe, there by sustaining all life on earth. As an Orisa of healing and transformation, the powers of Osainyin are without equal.
This Osainyin knife is made in the style of tools from Magelmosian culture (Northern Europe, 9,000 – 6,000 BCE). In this time period, many of these ancient ancestors would have lived in a version of Europe in which many areas contained vast expanses of tundra, and what little wood that was available would have been a very precious personal item (typically used in tools for hunting and ritual use.)
This tool is made from Elk bone, wire (or sinew, when available), and full cycle Black Locust wood. The term “full cycle” means that the tree was sprouted from seed, lived 70-90 years, died naturally, and dried on the stump – an entire life cycle in the forest. Black locust is a pioneer species, and in the South East US, is the first to occupy cleared land, rehabilitating earthen wounds and driving the transformation into thriving, biodiverse forests.
Elk was a traditional food and tool building source, and the subject of ritual items in Magelmosian and Doggerland cultures, and to this day is a forest dwelling animal of great power. The Elk used in this tool was sustainably harvested, blessed in rituals, and have visited the treetops with Osainyin.
The marrying of bone with wood is symbolic of our connection to Osainyin. As animals, we truly stand on the shoulders of plants.
