Osa Yekun

The punishment of Ad Sherpe

There was once a country that knew nothing of rain, for a long time had passed without a drop of water falling from the sky. As a result, every lagoon, river and well dried up. Faced with this, the people decided to go to Orunmila for help. When they consulted him, this Ifá came out, and he explained that they were being punished by Ad Sherpe, the spirit of the waters, because neither they nor their ancestors had kept the ancestral custom of making offerings to Olokun, Yemayá and Oshún.

Orunmila prescribed an ebó for them that included a rooster, two hens, two doves, sea water, river water and well water. So they offered the rooster and the hens to Olokun, two hens and two doves to Yemayá, and two hens and two doves to Oshún. Shortly after the ritual was performed, rain began to fall upon the land. The vegetation started to revive and both animals and people recovered their vitality. Calm and happiness returned to that country.

Why Ozain eats gallo grifo

In this Ifá, Ozain was searching for the power he lacked, so he decided to consult Orunmila for guidance. Orunmila performed an Osodde and revealed this Ifá to him. He said to Ozain: «To obtain the power you seek, you must eat something you have never tasted, and that something is akuko shashará (gallón grifo)». Ozain answered: «Well, but that frightens me, I do not know whether I can eat it». Then Orunmila told him: «Take out its left eye and set it on the ground with the beak». Following those instructions, Ozain ate akuko shashará and thus obtained the power he needed.

The ploughman’s dream

There was a ploughman who, one day, worn out from work, lay down utterly exhausted and had a dream that, on waking, he took for a bad one: in the dream he saw himself digging up the dead who carried prendas, and for that reason the law arrested him. When he woke, greatly alarmed, he told his wife. She advised him to go and have a reading with Orunmila. The ploughman accepted his wife’s advice and went to Orunmila’s house. In the reading, this Ifá came out as Oddun Toyale. Orunmila sent him to make ebó with: akuko, a pick, a shovel, a crowbar, a hoe.

Not long after making the ebó, the ploughman came upon a dead man in the forest wearing a belt full of jewels. As he was taking them, two policemen took half of that haul from him in exchange for not arresting him. The ploughman then made an offering to San Lázaro and fulfilled it. Some time later those policemen were thrown out of their posts, and since the ploughman was already rich, having multiplied his fortune through his businesses, the former policemen little by little sold him back very cheaply the jewels they had taken from him, for they could not sell them to anyone else without accounting for where they came from; in the end they even sold him their lands. Fulfil whatever you have promised the saints and always attend to them, so that your fortune may grow greater every day.

It is taken to the hill, the ikoko is set beneath a tree and the akuko is hung above it by the leri.

When Obatalá was ill

Shangó and San Lázaro went to Obatalá‘s house to see him, but he was ill and unwell because he had no eko and could not find any. So Shangó and San Lázaro said to him: «Baba, we will find the eko for you», and together they set out to look for it. At last they found the corn without leaves; Shangó took charge of wrapping it and San Lázaro took charge of preparing it.

Shangó had found the plantain leaves and San Lázaro wrapped the eko, and they cooked them. Then they took them to Baba, and Obatalá was saved. In gratitude for the help of Shangó and San Lázaro, he granted them ashé and blessings.

Religious disobedience

There was an awó who, in order to get to work, had to cross the river twice a day, going and returning. One day, while he was crossing the river, Oshún appeared to him and told him that he must pay her a tribute of two yellow hens directly into the river, so as to avoid misfortune and so that Oshún would keep favouring him.

On hearing this request, the awó replied: «For a long time now I have been in the habit of crossing this river from one side to the other and I had never heard such a request. Besides, I am an awó and I will give nothing to Oshún». At this answer, Oshún turned her back on him and withdrew. A few days later, in the morning, while the awó was crossing the river, a violent storm broke out and it rained so hard that the river rose and the boat the awó was in vanished among the turbulent waters. The awó struggled desperately to save himself, but he could do nothing against the fury of the elements, which were all against him. In the end the water dragged him down in a whirlpool to the bottom, and his body never surfaced again.

This Ifá marks tragedy; it forbids going to the river. Tribute must be paid to Oshún. One must be obedient in everything having to do with the religion. Here, this awó became awo kolaba.

The promise left unpaid

In a village there lived a married couple with three sons and two daughters, and the youngest was a twin whose brother had died at birth. That child had been born almost blind, but his grandmother made a promise when an iguin appeared at the foot of a dry, hollow tree, and that iguin was the spirit of a great oba. The iyare presented him at the foot of Zarabanda, who was the boy’s uncle, and from that moment the boy began to recover his sight.

The boy’s father was crushed by poverty, since he also had children with another woman, and one morning the good man died, leaving his wife and children a small sum of money that barely covered their needs.

Faced with this, the mother began to work hard to support the children and her iyare, who was by then very old. One day the eldest son, fourteen years old, decided to leave home, which caused his mother great suffering; she exhausted every resource searching for him.

Some said they had seen him in a distant town, so the mother left her children in the grandmother’s care and set out for that town hoping to find her son, but all her efforts were in vain. That woman came back desolate and went on working tirelessly. She was a daughter of Yemayá, to whom she paid tribute daily so that her son would return, for she longed to have all her children together. Yemayá granted her part of that wish: she had a sister who in turn had several children, and that family came to live in the town. Together they bought a very large house and they all began to live under one roof. Even so, that woman always felt the unease of her eldest son’s absence.

On one of the occasions when she went out looking for her son, she met a man who fell in love with her on seeing her beauty and elegance. The woman told him of her hardships and the man said that what mattered was to go on raising her other children, and that he was willing to help her. So they decided to live together. Although the man was fond of drink, he kept his word faithfully and helped care for and provide for the children.

Yet the happiness did not last, and troubles began to weigh on that household. Some of the children died, as did the children’s grandmother, and sorrow settled into the home.

One day the woman decided to consult Orunmila, who performed an osode for her and revealed this Ifá. Orunmila told her that she had to fulfil a promise she had made to Azojuano on behalf of her eldest son, one she had still not kept. The woman left Orunmila’s house and forgot everything he had told her, including her commitment to Azojuano.

In time the woman died, and her remaining children died one after another, until only the twin was left. One day the twin carried a vessel of oil and a hen to the foot of a hollow tree, the very place where years before the iguin had appeared. The iguin drew near the young man, who then began to face difficulties until he was unjustly accused and imprisoned.

While he was in prison, the young man dreamed of his mother, who told him that to save himself he must consecrate Shangó and so avoid further hardship. Once released, the young man consecrated Shangó and became the awó of the town, leaving his misfortunes behind.

San Lázaro, the envoy of Orunmila

On this path, there was a town whose inhabitants were utterly disorderly. Olofin, seeing this, decided to send Orunmila to set it right. After much effort and struggle, Orunmila managed to improve the situation to a certain degree.

One day, on waking, Orunmila looked at himself and saw this Ifá, which told him that he must leave those lands and go to another place where his presence was more needed. Orunmila gathered all the town’s inhabitants and told them that, by order of Ifá, he had to depart, but that he would send someone to carry on his work.

Shortly after Orunmila’s departure, a sickly-looking man with sores on his body arrived in the town, asking for hospitality. Instead of taking him in, however, they decided to drive him out, believing that the man might be carrying some contagious disease that would affect them all.

From that moment on, the townspeople began to suffer intestinal ailments, and seeing their state, they decided to go looking for Orunmila.

When they reached the place where Orunmila was, they asked him about the envoy he had sent. The townspeople told him that only one poor, sick person had come, and that they had driven him away. Then Orunmila said to them: «That person you threw out was San Lázaro, and he was the only one able to protect you against illness».

Orunmila told them to make an ebbó with various ingredients and a black cockerel, and to hold a celebration once the ebbó was complete so that San Lázaro would return. Following Orunmila’s instructions, they carried out the whole procedure and San Lázaro came back. With his return, prosperity and wealth came back to the land, and the sickness disappeared, filling everyone with happiness.

By this Ifá the intestine must be kept lubricated so that there is no dryness and no suffering from haemorrhoids or intestinal obstruction. For the stomach, cundiamor must be taken. An ebbó misi is to be made with gbogbo ewe of Oluo Popo.

The poor man, the jar and the landowner

There was once a man going through hard times, in very precarious financial straits. He decided to leave his town and look for better opportunities in another land.

On reaching that new place, he sought shelter in the house of a rich landowner who had a stretch of uncultivated ground on his estate.

The landowner offered him lodging on the condition that he take charge of working that neglected land. The man began to work diligently. To his surprise, while ploughing, he found a jar beside a güira plant that had been struck by lightning, opening a crack in its trunk and revealing the jar. The jar was full of money and at the bottom of it lay a thunderstone.

The man, overjoyed and elated at having found that treasure, ran out shouting and leaping for happiness at his great find. When the landowner learned of it, however, he was filled with rage and envy at not having been the one to find the treasure. He accused the man of having stolen his land and his treasure, and as a result the man was arrested.

When the case was brought before the court, the man’s account was proved true and he was given the chance to bring a claim against the landowner.

During the trial, the landowner could not prove when or how the jar had been buried, nor what was inside it, while the man was acquitted. The jar was returned to him and he was granted ownership of the land, becoming master of it all and acquiring immense wealth. The landowner lost the land and had to pay damages.

NOTE: On this path, it is necessary to look into what debt or commitment is outstanding. Any connection with a daughter of Orunmila and Oshún must also be looked into.