Ika She

Path 1

An Ifá of Sacrifices

The Rich Woman and the Servant

• PATAKIN: A wealthy woman was looking for an honest servant. After consulting Orunmila, who advised her to make an ebbó and cast it into the river, she met Oshún, who gave her a stone to care for. The stone, after being cleaned by a servant, provoked the woman’s fury, which led her to lose everything she had.

How the Fingers of the Hand Were Born

: The hand, complaining to Olofin because it had no eyes, went to see Orunmila. He read this Ifá for it and promised it the blessing of Olofin and the gratitude of men. After an ebbó, the hand covered itself and hid, but it was summoned by Oduduwa Awo to argue its importance. When it uncovered itself, it was revealed that it had five children who acted as its eyes. From then on, the hand gained power through Ifá and through its children, with Ika Bela as its principal support.

: There was a war between two peoples that was decimating both. Oshún, having no other way to end the war, undressed and walked between the two sides, capturing the soldiers’ attention and thus bringing the war to an end. Later, Orunmila found Oshún fainted on the seashore, came to her aid, and after her recovery promised her the eternal blessings of Olofin and his own. Orunmila then married Oshún.

: The people who have benefited from your help, and from the sacrifices you made for their sake, give you no thanks for any of it.

: Mention is made of the practice of taking someone’s voice with an eñi adie and ewe adormidera, asking which Santo it is to be placed before. Here speaks the club (the garrote). An Ifá of sacrifices. Onire ifagui. Kaferefun Yalorde, Eshu and Orunmila.

How the Sacred Word of Orunmila Was Born

• On this path, Olofin, mighty king of all secrets and phenomena, had a son with his first wife Aiye, whom they named Ela, the future Ifá. After Ela they had many more children, both boys and girls, to whom they gave rigorously secret names.
• Ela’s childhood was unlike that of other children. He cried often and could not speak. He seemed to suffer from mutism and did not utter a single word until adolescence. One day, after a nightmare, Olofin tried to wake him and struck him with his staff. Astonishingly, still in his sleep, Ela uttered a word: «Baba Ejiogbe». Olofin kept striking him and Ela uttered one phrase after another, until at last he awoke.
• On another occasion the same thing happened, and after an even harsher beating, Ela told his father that he could only utter one word for each blow he received. Olofin followed his son’s counsel, and one day Ela told him that he was going to die, but that he would leave him a magnificent inheritance he would never forget. The names Olofin heard each time he struck Ela with the staff were the names of his future spiritual sons and daughters, born of his breath. These were eight sons and eight daughters:
  • The males are: Ejiogbe, Iwori, Iroso, Obara, Ogunda, Ika, Otura, Oshe.
  • The females are: Oyekun, Odi, Ojuani, Okana, Osa, Otrupon, Irete, Oragun.

• After Ela’s death, Olofin tended with care and devotion the new palm tree that had sprung up in his courtyard, just as his son had instructed. The palm grew quickly, becoming a beautiful, strong plant with fruits that Olofin gathered carefully, called ikinis.
• Through the ikinis, the secrets of life were revealed through Ifá, and the present, the past and the future were foretold. The new palm was called Ifade, and its presence in Olofin’s house was regarded as a great treasure, for the ikinis were an essential tool for diviners and Babalawos in their divinatory practice.
• Thus the teaching and knowledge of Ela were passed on through the palm Ifade and the ikinis, kept alive for the generations to come. Olofin cared for the palm with great love and respect, as if it were his own son, making sure its fruits were used rightly for the benefit of humankind.