Ofun Ka

The good son receives his parents’ blessings

One day, the mother of a young man fell gravely ill and, despite every effort to cure her, she died. Before dying, she called her youngest son and told him: «My son, I know I am going to die, but even after my death, my blessings will reach you». The good son received his parents’ blessings. Obatalá lived at the top of a hill and could no longer come down from it because he had fallen gravely ill, but no saint was willing to visit him for fear of catching the illness.

Faced with this situation, Babalú Ayé sought out an etu, a white necklace and a silver coin and, leaning on his crutches, climbed the hill with great difficulty until he reached Obatalá, who was lame and nearly blind. Babalú Ayé cleansed his eyes with the silver coin and, with the etu, performed Sarayeye on him and killed it over his ailing leg. Then, with the bones of the etu, the necklace and the coin, he prepared an inshe. Obatalá recovered his health thanks to this help.

Oshún’s oñí

EWESES: Salvadera, rompe camisa, misi misi, paraiso, artemisa, zarzafra, algarrobo, escoba amarga.

• Make a joro joro
• Make omiero with the eweses, and give it eyerbale of the eyele, keeping a little of the eye for the sign on a plate.
• Take 9 plates and mark the Oddun on each one as follows:

-One with epo

-One with orí

-One with añari

-One with carob-tree ash

-One with tallow

-One with shop lard

-One with iyefa

-One with eye of the eyele

-One with atitan from inle Yewá

• Draw a circle inside the Oddun, lighting itana in its place.
• As the oparaldo is performed with the etu, the plates are broken behind the person; once everything has been broken, it is finished.
• When the oparaldo is done, the person must take off their clothes; these, with everything else, are thrown into the joro joro, and the person immediately bathes with the omiero and dresses in white or light-colored clothing.
• Two itana are lit, obi omi tuto is given and Azowanu is called, asking him that through this work he lift the curse weighing on the person and set them right; the person is cleansed with the jabado akuko, giving eyerbale of the akuko to the joro joro and to everything inside it in the name of Azowano, calling him and petitioning him.

CALL TO Azowano: Azowano keleyewe kutu, daguno josu kalabria tu buruku, afrosa kañanga, dele curu juju omalafo .

In this story, Orunmila approaches Babalú Ayé and asks him to control his impulses, since it is Holy Thursday and Olofin wants it so. But Babalú Ayé refuses and says that if Olofin gave him the Ashe, it is for him to use as he pleases. That night, Babalú Ayé lies with a woman, and the next day his body is covered in sores from the syphilis Olofin sent him as punishment. Despite this, the women intercede for him and ask Olofin to give him back his life.

Olofin refuses, but the women persuade Orunmila to set a trap for Olofin. Orunmila uses a sortilege of bee honey to sprinkle Olofin’s house, which stirs pleasant sensations in him. Olofin calls his secretary and asks him to find the person who has sprinkled his house with the bee honey.

Orunmila says that only a woman can obtain that honey, which leads Olofin to summon all the women. When he notices the absence of Oshún, he calls her and asks her to obtain more honey. Oshún replies that if Olofin has the power to take life, he also has the power to restore it, and asks him to give Babalú Ayé his life back. Olofin agrees, and Babalú Ayé regains his former privileges.

The akuko and the two itana go into the joro joro, and it is then covered over.

Kamaralaife, the son of Shangó

This inshe is covered with bogbo ileke, among which those of Azojuano and of Shangó may not be missing. All the eweses of this inshe must be consecrated in Ozain, and the one who delivers it must be sworn or have Azojuano. This inshe eats etu, jabado chicken, dry wine and rain water.

Along this path, Azojuano gave warning of every evil headed toward the owner of this Ifá. In the land of Layabe Inle, Shangó had an omo named Kamaralaife, for the boy had been born with a great secret of Azojuano, and Shangó lived proud of his omo, who carried the influence of Orun and of Azojuano.

Shangó, seeing his omo’s powers, one day called him and made him kneel. Taking some eweses he had prepared, he put them in his mouth, gave him eyegbale of etu and told him: «I am going to give you these powers so that in the life you lead you will not be mistreated, because, my son, you will choose the wrong path».

Kamaralaife set out on the road and came to a land governed by Azojuano, where everyone lived in peace and tranquility. When he entered, the people neither looked at him nor paid him any attention, so he began to sing: «Oba Sheni Shangó Kamaralaife Wademu Azojuano Moforibale».

Hearing this, the people began to lament and to look at him, and they all gathered around him, and he said: «I am the son of Shangó and I have come to see the king of these lands». The people present then brought him before Azojuano, who, upon seeing him, said: «I was waiting for you. You were born with a great virtue given to you by your father Shangó, and I support it, but now we must find the way to mount a great secret upon you, which I authorize to be given to you, because until you have it, you will not be able to rule anything in this world. Shangó performed ceremonies on you so that your heart would harden, so that the faith and the disenchantment of this religion would not reach your heart».

Azojuano completed the ceremonies and told him: «Now go to those lands, for with the power of the secret Shangó gave you and with my power, you will prevail, and I will warn you and alert you of every evil that comes toward you; and when something breaks in those lands and you see it, leave those lands at once and never return». Kamaralaife continued on his way to the land Azojuano had named, and when he arrived, he was received with full honors for the powers he held and carried with him — and that secret was part of a very great Eggun who rules over this sign.

He settled in these lands, and there they made all the preparations to give him Ifá, and at the hour of the atefa he came with Ofun Kamaralaife; at that moment Shangó and Azojuano appeared, saying to the Awoses present: «You are going to treat him with hypocrisy and you will never hold him in regard. He will never be anyone in this land, for here the younger ones are not respected.

You will be the object of mockery and you will never receive the supreme power, because they will never give it to you, for being a son of Azojuano and because of the consecrations that were made upon you. And though you hold the power of Azojuano without having received it, you have not fallen ill, nor will you lose your ashe. Take a silver real, break the letter, cleanse yourself and place it on your Elegbara. After four days, give it away, and then go and worship the secret Azojuano gave you, so that you may live». Then everything began to break, and Azojuano spoke before Shangó did. To Iban Eshu.

When this letter comes out and something breaks, it is Azojuano warning of a danger, and everyone must withdraw from the place where they are. Along this path, the godchild separates from his elders, because they will try to crush him and will never hold him in regard. He should strive to receive all the powers of this religion so that he will be respected and taken into account.

This sign is where the reason lies why, at the hour of the atemoleta, Azojuano is not sung to last.

Where Azojuano became patron of Obatalá’s children

Obatalá wanted the Santo to be worshipped in the land of Ife and sent his children to spread the word, but the people met them with blows and they had to flee into the bush; Azojuano took them under his patronage, and Obatalá had to go and fetch them.

The monkey does not trust even its own tail

In a town inhabited by believing monkeys, they used to attend church every Thursday. But a hunter harassed and threatened them, which made them stop going to church. A brave monkey decided to speak with the hunter to look for a solution. When the hunter saw him, he tried to shoot him, but the monkey proposed a pact: to let them go to church on Thursdays without being hunted, in exchange for not being disturbed on the other days. The hunter accepted, and the monkey asked Olofin for permission to make the pact.

Olofin gave them his blessing and warned the hunter that if he did not honor the pact, he would be punished by the beasts of the forest. For seven months, the monkeys were able to go to church without trouble, but one day the hunter broke the pact and killed one of the monkeys. The monkey who had proposed the pact was deeply saddened and blamed himself for his brother’s death, but another monkey suggested they try to live in peace for seven more years.

The monkeys went to Olofin to inform him that the hunter had broken the pact, and Olofin decided to punish the hunter: the beasts of the forest would attack him whenever he went hunting, and he would not be able to eat any monkey he caught.

Where Orunmila’s enemies tried to harm him with epo

In the days when Oluo Popo lived in Dassa, Orunmila, his godfather, visited him often and stayed at his house, on the corner by the market. Orunmila’s enemies were lying in wait and hired the epo vendor to lace the epo Orunmila bought with a magical substance, so that he would fall ill and die when he used it. It so happened that in the osode that was performed, this Ifá came out for Oluo Popo, ordering him to feed the corner of the house and not to use, for 16 days, a thing he used daily, since his enemies would use it against him.

Oluo Popo thought it over and realized it was the epo, so he quickly sought out his godfather Orunmila and told him about the letter that had come out in the osode, which said that neither he nor his children should use epo for 16 days. «I believe this letter is alerting you not to use the epo», said Oluo Popo. After this, Oluo Popo sent his soldiers to search the market and seize all the epo; they buried it and killed its vendors for having conspired with the enemies of Oluo Popo and Orunmila.

The corner must be fed.

How Obatalá recovered his health

Obatalá lived at the top of a hill and fell ill, and none of the Santos wanted to visit him for fear of contagion. Faced with this situation, San Lázaro decided to go and see him, which he did carrying a silver coin, a fun fun necklace and an etu (guinea hen); leaning on his crutches, with great effort, he began to climb the hill and so reached Obatalá’s house.

Babalú Ayé, with the silver coin, cleansed Obatalá’s sight, for he was nearly blind; then he performed sarayeye on him with the etu and killed it over his left leg, for Babá had it ailing. Babalú Ayé, with the bones of the etu, the fun fun necklace and the silver coin, prepared him an Inshe Ozain, and Obatalá recovered his health.