Iroso Otrupon

Odara ni awo

On this path there ruled a babalawo named Odara ni Awo. When he was born in the land of Owala Yebe, it was governed by Shangó and Yemayá. Odara ni Awo’s father was called Awo Barayeni Ifá, and his mother was called Loyukudede, because she had been born in the land of Loyukudede.

When Odara ni Awo had just been born, his mother bled to death through the intestine, and Eleguá picked the child up and ran out when he saw him at the street door. At that moment the father, Awo Barayeni Ifá, arrived and threw himself before Eleguá, asking what had happened. Eleguá told him everything, and Awo Barayeni Ifá died on the spot.

Shangó and Yemayá arrived at the place, and Eleguá handed Odara ni Awo over to them while telling them what had happened. Then Shangó and Yemayá buried the father and the mother while singing: «Eggun Ikú Olona Eggun Eggun Ikú Olona Eggun Eggun».

Eleguá and Yemayá presented the boy to Olofin, who said that he would have great fortune and become a great Babalawo, but that he would also be ungrateful and disobedient, and would leave that land out of pride.

Shangó and Yemayá baptized him and, when he was seven years old, took him to Orunmila so that he would make Ifá for him. Although Orunmila did not want to, he finally agreed to make Ifá for Odara ni Awo thanks to Yemayá’s insistence.

Orunmila told Odara ni Awo that, so that he would not be lost and would live many years as an awó, the boy could never visit him. He himself would come to the boy’s house or his land to see him.

Every day, upon rising and before going to bed, Odara ni Awo asked Yemayá and Shangó for their blessing, and they were very pleased with him. To make sure he would live and populate that land, Shangó and Yemayá did something very beautiful.

Odara ni Awo kept growing, and each time he asked Yemayá for her blessing she gave him a secret, and when he asked Shangó for his blessing before going to bed, Shangó gave him another secret. When he spoke with Eleguá, he would say: «You are the only one who gives me no secrets.» Eleguá would laugh and run from one side to the other; this displeased Shangó and Yemayá and made them uneasy, so they asked Eleguá what was going on. Eleguá would answer: «This son of iro o tutu, nothing more.» Shangó and Yemayá paid no attention to what Eleguá said. Odara ni Awo was grown by now, so Yemayá and Shangó handed him command of the town. Eleguá warned them about this, but they did not listen.

Odara ni Awo turned out to be a great diviner, and the people believed in him deeply. Yemayá and Shangó, devoted to him, went out to other lands to find him followers and brought them to Odara ni Awo, who used part of the owo he earned to improve the town’s condition and kept the rest. Time passed, and Odara ni Awo was exalted. His fame was very great thanks to Shangó and Yemayá. Eleguá, who knew what Orunmila had done, rose very early, woke the awó and took him out to walk the streets.

Yemayá and Shangó waited for Odara ni Awo to ask for their blessing as usual, but they watched him always hurrying back because of the people waiting for him, until he no longer had even the time to ask for their blessing.

Eleguá, thinking of a way to make Odara ni Awo stop asking Shangó for his blessing, went to the land of Ilé Leyekun Lede, which was the land of Eggun Iyare, found him an obini named Fekelalo, and brought her for Odara ni Awo to see. He fell in love with the obini, and every day at bedtime he went to see her and came back late, no longer asking Shangó for his blessing.

Shangó and Yemayá were aggrieved because the awó no longer fulfilled his duty to them; every day Elegbá laughed in Yemayá’s and Shangó’s faces. Yemayá went off to the sea, and Shangó turned three ram’s somersaults and went with Elegbá to where Orunmila was, and Orunmila told him: «I made Ifá for him for your sake, and you should have done as I told you — leave him alone.»

Yemayá, in her fury, took advantage of Shangó being at Orunmila’s house: she went out to the sea, knelt down, called upon Orun and began to sing: «Eggun Ikú Felona Eggun, Eggun Iye Ikú Felona Eggun, Eggun Babá Ikú Felona Eggun». Odara ni Awo’s father and mother appeared and stirred up a wind; Yemayá returned to the sea forming a whirlpool and hurled the sea over the land, destroying it.

When Shangó and Elegbá felt these things, they wanted to go out and speak with Yemayá and Eggun, but it was already too late, for all that land had been lost, together with Odara ni Awo.

Iba Umberere. Here was born the loss of blood through the intestine. The wind was also born here.

When this ebbó is performed, the corresponding signs of Eggun are marked on the floor, and the igba is set out with everything for the ebbó; in the middle, akuko is given to Eggun babare and ori ninu iba, adie to Eggun iyare, orí umbeborosi iyara Babá. If the parents are living, akuko must be given to Eggun okuni and adie to Eggun obini. The jío jío is for oparaldo. On this path, one must carefully find out what Elegbá wants, and something must always be done for him.

Orunmila’s venereal illness

Orunmila, Inle and Orishaoko lived together in the land of Shukuru Nile. Inle grew corn, because it was his favorite food, and Orunmila devoted himself to divination. Orunmila had a son who had the bad habit of eating Inle’s and Orishaoko’s food without permission, which offended them.

Inle and Orishaoko told Orunmila that his son needed a lesson, since he kept eating their food. So they decided to take revenge by afflicting Orunmila with gonorrhea. Meanwhile, Inle and Orishaoko took Orunmila’s son, dressed him in mariwo leaves and carried him to the land of Shukuru, where evil spirits are taken to be burned.

Orunmila was gravely ill, but even so he performed a divination in which a path to his cure was revealed. Following that path, he performed a ritual with the herbs of Inle, Orishaoko and Agutan Meyi. One of the herbs he offered to his mother, who was a spirit, and the other he released into the forest with a bell around its neck. In this way Orunmila managed to cure himself of the gonorrhea.

Orunmila called his son and told him that only the children of the ignorant make mistakes like the one he had made. But thanks to the bell that Orunmila sent along with the son of Inle and Orishaoko, his son was saved from being burned alive. The people of Shukuru already had the bundle of mariwo prepared with Orunmila’s son inside, ready to be burned, when Agutan arrived with the bell and saved the boy.

Orunmila made his son repent and swear never to make such mistakes again. Then they made a pact of friendship, whereby Orunmila’s children would respect Inle and Orishaoko, and they, in turn, would protect them.

For the venereal illness, two inshe are made: a sopera of okra soup is prepared, from which one liter is set aside for bathing, placed inside a basin; that water is collected in a bottle. The other part of the soup is placed on top of Yemayá. Two hemp ropes are taken: one is tied with seven knots and goes around the waist, and the other, plain, is coiled and placed beneath Yemayá, both wrapped in blue and white thread. Yemayá’s soup goes to the corner of the house; the soup from the bottle is smashed at the seashore, with one’s back turned, asking Yemayá for the cure.

The path of hearing

OPARALDO: osiadie, ayakua, akuaro, igui ewefa, álamo gun gun, eya oro (guabina), eku, epo, eya, awado, efun, otí, oñí, aye oshinshin, opolopo owo. Here was born the path of hearing, which Olorun gave, by the hand of Orun, to the son of Ogue and to the son of Ozain.

In the land of Awa Yeifa lived Oggue, who had a son named Awo Alara whom he had consecrated at the foot of Orun and of Ozain. As he grew, he enjoyed good fortune because he tended his secret well. When they consecrated him, they made him a great secret of Orun and Ozain and instructed him never to reveal it, so that he would not lose his good fortune, which would become greater than his father’s. After this, everything he undertook he managed to resolve favorably, because at times Eggun spoke into his ear, and at other times it was Ozain who spoke.

One day his father Oggue had a conflict with Yeyekun (a son) who lived in the land of Abooron, the land of Yeyekun’s father, and it had very nearly destroyed Oggue. Awo Alara was feeding his secret of Orun when he heard voices in his ear telling him about the trouble Oggue was facing. They told him that, to win the war on his father’s behalf, he had to take a red stone, three palm nuts, land snails, an eko bird, ataré, peonia, a hairy spider, seven kinds of igui — pierde rumbo, yaya, graya, jokuma, jiki, moruro, ayua — and coarse salt. With the stone he had to strike the earth while invoking the enemy’s name. It also carried a leri of aguema, a leri of eel, aroma root, pica pica, araba mala cara, red bleo, seeds of piñón de botija, and the root of any plant growing in the ile of Yewá and in his own land. He was to write the name of his father’s enemy inside and outside the cauldron with chalk, together with the stone. This work had to be done at the foot of Oggún, giving him a red frizzled cockerel with which he was to be cleansed, so that he would win the war his father was waging against Awo Yeyekun. He was also told: «when you go there, carry the frizzled cockerel in your hand and go calling: ‘Baba Ikú Orun Babá Ikú Ikú Olona Yeyekun Babá Aniare Ikú Arere Oggún’«.

Awo Alara did exactly as instructed and sang as he walked. When he came before his father, he cleansed him, presented the osiadie to Oggún and then performed the work. He gave eyerbale to Oggún and to the work, and afterwards set fire to the work. When he finished, he buried the cauldron in nigbe. He bathed his father Oggue in water with indigo, roguele and espanta muerto, and gave a cockerel in the Obori Eleda with obi tuto ori efun.

After a few days, Olokun came to where Oggún was and asked him: «You have won the battle thanks to your son. What do you intend to do now?» Oggún answered: «I have given my son all my secrets, but he cannot tend them properly because of his work.» Olokun said: «I will give him part of my riches so that he may live well, since he is a good son.» And so Awo Alara became rich.

The evil bird

In the land of Batuto Nile lived Abiendon, son of Shangó and Oshunmila. This awó was envied by the oba of that land, who wanted to destroy him because he had so much good fortune, and for that reason sent the araye (strife, the enemies) against him to finish him off.

Abiendon performed osode on himself and saw this Ifá; he took an akofa (arrow) and killed Atokate, the «pájaro judío», which symbolized the destructive power of Iroso Batrupon. With it he made ebó and prepared an Inshe Ozain.

He took the Inshe Ozain to his father, who told him: «this is a forbidden food»; he took it to his mother, and she said the same; then he took it to the oba, and the oba ate it.

On the third day, they came for Abiendon so that he would perform the ituto and bury the oba wrapped in deerskin. Abiendon was crowned abanile of Batuto Nile.

The secret is the Inshe Ozain used to defeat one’s enemies.

Obatalá’s money

On this path, there came a time when all the saints were stealing Obatalá‘s money. Wherever he hid it, they found it, and the thief was never discovered. Obatalá, tired of being robbed, called Oshosi and ordered him to build a basket and a ladder. When they were finished, Obatalá put his money in the basket and, using the ladder, hung it high up in a mamoncillo tree (igi omu). Then he summoned all the animals of that place, so that anyone who dared to steal it would be devoured or poisoned by those beasts.

The Ibeyis, who were near the igi omu, saw everything Obatalá was doing without his noticing that they were watching. Shangó, who needed money, went to see Orunmila. There, Orunmila performed Osode and saw Iroso Batuto. Ifá told him that he had to make ebó, give fruit to the Ibeyis and appease his wife Oba, for she is a daughter of Obatalá, so that he might have the ashé of the money. Shangó neither made the ebó nor appeased his wife; he only gave fruit to the Ibeyis. Then he went to where Obatalá had placed his money. When he reached the igi omu, the beasts came out at him and he had to flee back home. Faced with this difficulty, on arriving home he prepared the ebó that Orunmila had prescribed, with gbogbo tenuyen, put it in a sack and went back to where the money was, scattering the food all along the way and around the igi omu, as his wife Oba had instructed. Thus he was able to take the money, sharing it with her and her subjects, and attaining happiness. With the fierce animals, his güiro of Ozain for Owe was made.

Eyele meyi are given to the Ibeyis and fruit is set out for them. The adie meyi are given to Oba. Akuko meyi to Shangó and Elegbá.

An Ifá of gratitude

This traveler passed through three places or lands before reaching the place where he found the safety and peace of mind he was seeking. That place was desolate in appearance, and there the arayes were few — three, or a few more. Even so, the place grew and prospered widely, and it may be said that it became a very large town. In this Oddun, the help of Obatalá plays its part — the action of Obatalá, Shangó and Eggun, who aided the protagonist.

OPARALDO TO EGGUN IN THE SCRUBLAND OR IN THE WILDERNESS: A medium pot of corn kernels, 9 balls of ishu, 9 akaras, 9 balls of eko, everything placed inside the pot (herbs may be added). Sweep along the doorway of the house from time to time, always asking about the atiponla; bathe with Indian laurel (ask first).

This Ifá is one of injustice, of struggle, of ingratitude on the part of those who receive benefits and help from the person.

This Ifá speaks of envious people, and despite receiving ill treatment, ingratitude from others and disappointments, the person concerned must go on doing all the good possible, for that is where their greatness lies. Even so, they must beware of traps and of people who try to lead them down bad paths and give bad advice. They must take care of their blood and their stomach, for the slightest neglect can bring fatal consequences. They must guard against tragedies and disputes; it is important to master one’s temper. Things must be done little by little so that they bear positive results.

Here speak Obatalá, Shangó and Eggun.

The eran of elede

Awo Are was eating the leri of Elede together with Olokun when Shangó warned them not to forget that it belonged to Elede, and that if they kept it in mind, it would harm them. He told them to take the leri to the land of Awo Ere.

Elegbara Larota ran to the land of Awo to tell what had happened and met Obatalá, whom he greeted with moforibale. He told Awo Are everything, and Obatalá decided to cook the eran of Elede.

Obatalá told Oke and Elegbara to gather all the dried corn and pound it in the mortar, leaving a few cobs unshelled. The first meal they cooked was for Yemayá, and Elegbara brought a basket of eran Elede so that she would find her food cooked when she arrived. But Elegbara, wanting to play a trick to vex Obatalá, picked up some root vegetables along the way and put them in the basket.

Awo Are and Oke, who had already prepared the cauldron, were delighted at the sight of it all and mixed it with the corn in the trough for Yemayá’s arrival. They cooked the squash into an ajiaco stew for Awo Are, and hulled corn with epo (palm oil) and oñí (honey) for Shangó and Oggún, who came singing along the road without knowing Obatalá was there.

Obatalá and Awo Are stood in the middle of the town with the cooked food and called everyone to see what was coming. As the people arrived, they knelt down with their heads to the ground, which was all strewn with epo and oñí. Elegbara and Obatalá began to play the drum, and when Shangó, Oggún and Yemayá entered along with Awo Are, the latter began to dance. They placed the baskets of eran Elede before Babá, gave him Moforibale, and Shangó began to distribute the eran and to teach how to cook it.

They gave Yemayá the trough they had prepared for her, and she was astonished; and Awo Are was given an igba of ajiaco, at which he too was astonished. Yemayá and Awo Are said: this smells good, it tastes delicious — from now on we shall always eat of this food.

Elegbara took a pot full of flour, added elede to it, and began handing it out to the whole population of the land of Awo Are. Shangó, seeing this, said: «All the flour you see is mine; it is strong and healthful, a great food, but it can also do harm. And that eran elede you are eating is the tastiest there is, but it too can do harm. When you eat it, remember us, and keep the leri to cook it in an ajiaco for Awo Ñare, so that he never lacks food and this land may prosper.»

Awo Are stopped the drum, gave Moforibale to all the Saints, and Shangó gave him akuko fun fun.

The owner of this Ifá uses corn tassel and elede tusk for any work. The Iyefa of this Ifá is corn tassel and Awado, and it is given to no one else, so that he may prosper.

Indecision

Ajatuka Awo was an awó of the land of Malele, whose sign was Iroso Batrupon. Oshún Ibo Laro, who lived in the celestial spaces, was in love with him, but did not know how to win him. So she decided to provoke him: she undressed and anointed her whole body with oñí. One day, while Ajatuka Awo was at the riverbank performing ceremonies, she came down completely naked, gleaming like gold, and embraced him. Ajatuka Awo had to ofikale Otrupon with her.

When they had finished, Ajatuka Awo told her: «you do not know how to make love, and you have left me unsatisfied.» Ibu Laro was offended and cast a curse on him, saying that he would find only women of ill repute on his path, women who would make him unhappy.

This curse pursued Ajatuka Awo for many years, keeping him unstable in all his relationships with women, which never lasted more than six months. Tired of this life, he went to the house of Orunmila, who was his father, asking for help. Orunmila told him he had to make amends to Oshún to obtain her forgiveness and so lift the curse.

Ajatuka Awo, hesitant, went to find Ibu Laro and asked her forgiveness, offering her abeboadie meyi akueri, igo marun, oñí and okan eleguede. With these ingredients, Ibu Laro made him an Inshe that allowed him to find stability in his home and attain happiness.