Ogbe Ka

Ashereberebe, the son of Olofin

Ashereberebe, son of Olofin, was a very mischievous and badly behaved young man. One day he went to visit Orunmila to ask for guidance. Orunmila gave him a reading with the cowries and told him he had to make a sacrifice and feed Eshu. Ashereberebe decided to follow Orunmila’s instructions in order to mend his ways, so he made the sacrifice and prepared to set out on the road.

On his way, some criminals seized him and shut him in a room while they drank, ate and discussed their plan to demand a ransom. Ashereberebe remembered the suyere that Orunmila had sung to him during the sacrifice, and he began to chant it:

«Awen Wen Abibe Alado Obo Nimisheni Abibo Won Won Abibe».

All at once a heavy downpour began, and the thunder and lightning multiplied. The bandits took fright and fled in a stampede, leaving Ashereberebe shut inside the room. In the end, Ashereberebe managed to escape and return home safe and sound.

The coconut palm, the testicles, the member; the house is scrubbed with apasote, ewe dun dun and basil. This Ifá speaks of trouble at work. Beware of theft and fraud. The person is from the countryside or lives in the countryside. He is not much of a believer, pays little attention to his problems and sets aside the things he is told to do.

The goat and the elephant

A wild goat visits an awó named Ogbe Ka to have a reading of Ifá. The goat wanted to be taller, so Ogbe Ka marks an ebbo for her with various elements. After ordering everything she needed for the ebbo, the goat left the elephant working for her at her house.

Later, the elephant goes to see Ogbe Ka to have a reading of Ifá as well. Ogbe Ka tells him to make the same ebbo he had given the goat. The elephant asks the goat to lend him money for the ebbo, and she agrees on the condition that the elephant also carry out everything Ogbe Ka had ordered her to do.

Ogbe Ka prepared the ebbo for the elephant and enclosed him between two mortars in front and two mortars behind, putting a chain on him and ordering him to set his front and hind legs into the corresponding mortars. He covered the elephant with a white sheet, and little by little the elephant began to grow larger.

After completing the ebbo, the elephant set off towards the goat’s house, but he met Elegbá on the road. Elegbá asked him what he was carrying in his bundle, and the elephant told him everything that had happened at Ogbe Ka’s house. Elegbá warned him that it had not been the elephant who carried out all the ebbo and the sacrifices, but the goat, and that therefore the elephant now had a great stature and owed the goat his obedience.

When the goat saw the elephant, she was astonished at his size and fled, leaving all her responsibilities to the elephant.

Any awó who has this sign must never send anyone else to carry out his affairs, nor to deal with any matter on his behalf, because he will lose.

The lines of the hands were born

In the city of Ika, a king called upon the services of Orunmila because of the many troubles he had. Orunmila made osode for him and saw this Ifá, which marked recrimination and slander, and he marked a rogation for him; but Orunmila did not perform it, because he was in a hurry to return to the land of Ika, telling himself he would do it on his way back. Orunmila set out along the road, saw a kola plantation and with his knife cut off a cluster. But at that moment the owner arrived and tried to seize Orunmila, who escaped him, though he did not notice that as he put the knife away he cut the palm of his hand.

The owner of the plantation went to the king and told him what had happened, saying that he could identify the thief because he had wounded the palm of his left hand. The king gathered the whole town together and declared that whoever had a wound on his left hand was the thief and would be executed. Orunmila remembered what the osode had marked for him and made the ebbo, and through his board he called upon the great spirits of the various planets and of the human body, and each omode came and handed a different power to the ebbo that Orunmila had made. These entities are:

1. The power of the head, granted by the spirit of the Sun.
2. The power of the neck, granted by the spirit of the Moon.
3. The power of the right shoulder, granted by the spirit of Mars.
4. The power of the left shoulder, granted by the spirit of Mercury.
5. The power of the right arm, granted by the spirit of Venus.
6. The power of the left arm, granted by the spirit of Saturn.
7. The power of the chest, granted by the spirit of Jupiter.
8. The power of the belly, granted by the spirit of the Earth.
9. The power of the right leg, granted by the spirit of Uranus.
10. The power of the left leg, granted by the spirit of Neptune.
11. Emi ……………. The spirit of life
12. Olori …………… the spirit of thought
13. Okan ……………. The spirit of the vital fluid
14. Ipin ……………. The guiding spirit of the family

Orunmila made the ebbo and took it to the king, who accepted it. When the king asked Orunmila whether he was the thief, Orunmila answered that he was not. The king could not find the thief, and realised that he had made a mistake in condemning innocent people. From then on, the king respected and valued Orunmila’s counsel.

Where the debt could not be paid

There was a rich farmer who lived on a great estate bordering on a small, poor smallholding. The family living on the poor smallholding envied the family of the rich landowner, and rejoiced every time they saw them go out for a walk. The rich family handed their child over to Orunmila so that he would educate him, and he taught the boy a suyere with which to call him in case of need.

One day, the poor family decided to kidnap the boy in order to obtain a large ransom and ruin the rich farmer. They hired some bandits to carry out the kidnapping, and on one of the days when the boy went out to play alone, the bandits seized him. The boy’s parents went to the meeting place to pay the ransom, but the bandits changed their minds and demanded a ransom for the father as well.

The boy sang a suyere of Orunmila, and he heard it and made osode. Before setting out to look for the boy, he found the slave who was in charge of him and reproached him for his negligence in guarding the child. Orunmila and the slave set out to find the boy, guided by his singing, and on reaching the place, Orunmila made the slave commit himself to paying the rest of the ransom.

In this way, Orunmila saved the boy and his parents from the hands of the bandits, but the slave had to work for them and died without having finished paying his debts. The story shows the consequences of envy, greed, sacrifice for one’s children, discontent and neglect of duty.

Through this Ifá one must be careful with the custody of a child, lest there be trouble with the law and with the child’s parents. Beware of dealings with thugs, for you will surely lose. Beware of envy, since, because of how well you are getting on and of your good fortune, the neighbours wish to see you poor and ruined. A feast must be given to the Ibeyis.

The doves for Oggún and Oshosi, the akuko for the Warriors, the hens for Orunmila, the chain for the door, the trap goes into the ebbo.

The three hooked sticks

Elegbá, the Orisha of the crossroads and of opportunity, disguised himself as a beggar to test his children. He was turned away everywhere he went, and among them by an okuni who refused to give him anything at all, not even hospitality. Elegbá marked him as miserly and lacking in kindness.

However, the okuni was in truth neither miserly nor hard-hearted; he was simply capricious and had a poor memory. He thought he had already given something to Elegbá and that he was coming back a second time. But afterwards the okuni found himself caught up in a war and was unjustly accused of something he had not done. While he was lamenting his fate, Elegbá appeared to him in the form of a shadow and gave him three hooked sticks so that he might save himself.

Elegbá asked the okuni to give him an akuko in the enigbe so as to settle the matter, since he knew the oba of that place and could help him. Elegbá disguised himself and convinced the people that the okuni was innocent and that the guilty one was another man who had run away. In the end, the okuni was set free and gave Elegbá his akuko in the nigbe in thanks.

From then on, the okuni always fulfilled his obligations to Elegbá and never again complained about anything that he asked of him. This story teaches us how important it is to be kind and hospitable to others, and how even the smallest act of kindness can have a positive effect on our lives.

The okuni had gone to the other town in search of his wife, who had left him. What the shadow, that is to say Elegbá, told him he had to do in order to save himself was to keep calm at that moment and call upon his Guardian Angel, and then to perform the work of the akuko.

When Elegbá saved Bara Petu (Orunmila)

One day Bara Petu, which was Orunmila’s name in the land of Iyesa, looked at himself and this Ifá came out, in which he had to make rogation to his head. However, since he had to go out, he did not do it. Near his house there was a farm with a coconut grove. As he passed by, Orunmila had to go in because he needed to relieve himself. As it happened, some thieves were stealing coconuts from that farm every day. Orunmila, who was carrying a sack, set it down under a tree and was left open-mouthed when two coconuts fell into the sack without his noticing.

When he had finished, Orunmila picked up his sack, put it on his shoulder and left the farm by jumping the fence. It turned out that the men guarding the farm stopped him, searched him and found the two coconuts in his sack. So they said that he was the thief and took him before the owners of the farm. At that moment a young man was passing by who was none other than Elegbá, who saw what was happening to Orunmila and, since he knew him, went up to him and asked what was going on. Orunmila told him everything.

Then, without saying a word, Elegbá went off to his house and made an ebbo of betrayal. When he had finished, he went to the house of the owner of the farm and said to him: «Sir, that man is Orunmila, an honest and good man known by everyone as an excellent person.» In this way he managed to have the owner of the farm let him go.

Turn your back on everything evil. Give an akuko to Eshu so that he may open your roads and you may handle the money you need for your peace of mind. When you see arguments or fights, do not get involved, even in your own house. Do not go clearing up gossip, and pay no attention to anyone who brings it to you. Here, through disobedience, one ends up in jail and may lose his life. Let the world run its course and wait for your opportunity. Maferefun Elegbá.

Through this Ifá, if you are going to steal you must make ebbo, because you will be found out and arrested. You are a person who likes adventure and disorder, and with that you will achieve nothing good in this life. Do not keep company with people who are not good. Do not let temptation get the better of you.

The sixteen sins of Olofin

Okuna lived in a very poor land where it was hard for him to survive with his three children. One day, on returning home, he found his wife weeping and his children with nothing to eat. In despair, Okuna went out to the edge of the town and there he saw a fisherman with a basket of fish. Seizing a moment when the man was distracted, Okuna stole the basket, not knowing that the fisherman was taking it as an offering to Olofin.

After eating the fish, the whole family fell gravely ill, and Okuna went to Orunmila to ask for help. Orunmila gave him a reading with the cowries and discovered that the fish he had stolen was the property of Olofin. To put the matter right, Orunmila told Okuna to make a rogation for his family and to offer a fish to Olofin for each one of them, together with a ceremony with salvadera leaves and a sacrifice of two white doves.

After carrying out these instructions, Olofin granted Okuna a favour and told him to go and live in another land.

SECRET OF Ifá

An atena board is laid out and the 16 meyis are written on it. On each meyi a fish of the snapper kind is placed inside that meyi, with the head towards the cross of the Oddun. Adie dun dun is given to Orunmila and to the atena; 16 awoses are gathered, and they kneel before the atena each with an itana, which must be lit, and each will recite one of the meyis, and when the last one recites Oragun they will place the candles on the ground in front of the cross.

After giving the adie to Orunmila, on the third day itá is taken.